CHAPTER 1
The road was dark, still difficult to see even with the headlights turned on high. I raised the volume of my stereo to calm my nerves, I haven't had my drivers license for a long time and was admittedly a terrible driver. It didn't help that I was traversing streets unknown to me and that there were scarcely any lampposts to light the road.
I looked at the time displayed on my dashboard. It read 11:34 p.m. Scratching my neck anxiously, I tried to focus on the road ahead of me. Unfortunately for me, my eyelids had started to become heavy as I could practically feel my under eye bags becoming darker. Turning up the AC to help keep me awake, a bright light could be seen just at the end of the road. I squinted my tired eyes, believing that someone had not turned down their high beams. Sighing, my eyes travelled to my side window. It was then that I realized that I was on a one-way street. I knew then that it could not possibly be another car. I snapped back to attention, realizing that the bright light started to get closer and more brilliantly bright. In a split second, it had become so bright that I slammed on my brakes right before I was completely drowned in light.
When it had seemed that the bright light had passed, I slowly opened my heavy eyes. I jolted up when I realized that the bright light had been replaced with the natural light of the daytime sun. It was then that I also noticed that I was no longer in the comfort of my car chair but rather the soft and rough terrain of a grassy forest.
I looked around me in bewilderment, rubbing my eyes with the hard part of my palms. I looked down at myself, still wearing my plain grey hoodie and sweatpants I wore when I was driving. Fumbling to get my phone, I also felt my portable charger, wallet, and sunglasses in the various pockets of my pants and hoodie. Finally getting a hold of my phone, I turned it on, showing it at full battery. The time read 11:34 p.m.
I pulled at my earlobe as I stood up from my sitting position. "How can it be 11 at night," I started quietly as I looked up at the sky, "when it's clearly daytime?"
I started to walk down what seemed to be a path through the small woods when a loud voice startled me. "Who's there?" the voice demanded.
"Hello?" I asked, raising my voice. "Who are you?"
"No, who are you?" The person demanded firmly. The owner of the voice stepped out from behind a tree some feet in front of me. The person of the raspy voice was a man around his mid-twenties with shoulder length black hair and what seemed to be fresh scars on his face. He seemed somewhat familiar but I couldn't quite place it. I had no time to think because suddenly, the man pointed a long gun in my direction.
I became startled and wasn't sure what to do. I wasn't about to give my name to a random man, especially a man so odd looking with a gun pointed towards me. "W-Wait a minute s-sir, I-" I said, stumbling on my words. As the stranger started to approach me however, I was able to get a real good look at him. I tilted my head and squinted my eyes when I figured out why the man looked familiar. "J-John? John Marston?" I questioned.
The mention of the name seemed to surprise the guy as his eyes widened. He was close to me now but I started to back up in fear. "Aren't you...John Marston?" The second mention of the name must have triggered something in the man because before I knew it, he raised the butt of his gun and struck me on the head, knocking me out cold.
My sight was littered with dark spots as I came to. As I started to awaken, the pain on the side of my head became apparent, throbbing with every breath I took. Blinking a few times seemed to restore my vision some, making it more clear that I was surrounded by unknown people.
"She knew my name, Arthur," said a familiar voice. The voice of the man who struck me. "She's gotta be someone from Blackwater or some kind of Pinkerton."
A new but another strangely familiar voice spoke up. "It is odd that she knew your name. You ain't the memorable type," said the voice sarcastically. "And she does look strange. Definitely not some local who wandered into camp."
I groaned, shaking my head in order to relieve some of the pain. "Fuck," I gasped softly. I was about to try nursing my cranial wound by applying pressure with my hand when I realized that my hands were securely tied behind the stump of a thin tree. "What the-"
"Look, she's awake."