NYTHERA
CHAPTER ONE
The van's headlights barely cut through the fog. Rachel Jones, the driver, squinted, but still couldn't spot a thing. She shot a look at the very short strip of visible asphalt directly in front of the vehicle just to make sure she was still on some sort of road, then turned her hazel eyes back to the impenetrable fog. Her white button-up shirt (two buttons undone, as was her preference) tucked into brown, maleish-style slacks gave her a somewhat professional look belied by her ultracasual sneakers. She took one hand off the wheel to push some of her shoulder-length brown hair back behind her ear and attempt to clear her generous bangs out of her eyes, then shot a look to her digital watch. It was already three in the afternoon.
Rachel sighed. She had no idea where she was. She shot a look to the radio – at least, she might be able to pick up a local station. Might give her an idea if she was near a town or something. She leaned over and turned on the knob. Static white noise flooded the van as she turned the knobs, frustration mounting as she tried to pick up something on any frequency, but got nothing across the board. She growled as she switched it off. Probably the fog, you couldn't get through with a chainsaw. She shot a look to her glove compartment, considering taking out the map. She had to get to Brahms, and preferably before sundown. She decided against the map when she realized she didn't even know what highway she was on.
But the glove compartment seemed intent on catching her attention anyway. It beeped.
Rachel's head swiveled. The beeping went on, before Rachel realized what it was. Keeping one eye on the road, she leaned over and opened the glove compartment. She plucked the chirping cell phone and regarded it for a moment before raising it to her ear. She wondered who could be calling – this was just her emergency phone, in case she crashed her van and need to call a tow or an ambulance. No one knew its number, not even she remembered what it was. She wasn't exactly much of a talker.
"Hello?"
Her mysterious caller was silent for several seconds, then came a hiss, like a recording was being played. Rachel frowned and leaned forward, eyes narrowing as she strained her hearing to its maximum. She thought she could almost make out something in the hiss, almost like a voice –
When a sudden, loud rush of static blasted out of the speakers and assailed Rachel's right ear. She cried out, yanking the cell phone away as it continued to spackle much like the radio had done before. It landed on the passenger's seat, blasting white noise so much Rachel momentarily worried it would blow out the speakers, when it started to whine.
It started out quietly, hiding underneath the static, but in the space of seconds it loomed in intensity, a high-pitched screaming tone cutting through the air and jabbing into her head. The woman cried out in surprise and pain, skull feeling like it was splitting. Intense pain flooding her system, she let go of the wheel with both hands and grabbed at the cell phone, randomly pressing buttons in an attempt to silence the device, but it failed to respond. The sound was taking control of her mind, all she could think of, pounding through her brain, the whine now developing, sounding bizarrely like air raid sirens as her head threatened to explode. Rachel grabbed blindly with her left hand and found the door handle, yanked, and felt air whip into the still moving van. She flung the cell phone out, the clanging disappearing more speedily than it came as the speeding vehicle left the item behind. Rachel pulled the door closed and slumped against the wheel. She opened her eyes, ears still ringing.
Which gave her a perfect view of the result of her little seizure. The van had gone off the highway and was heading straight for a deep ditch. Rachel yanked the wheel to the side, pulling the van onto the asphalt and overshot. The side of the van hit the concrete median, sparks flying up against the metal side of the door. Rachel tried to bring the maverick vehicle under her control, but it refused to co-operate. The van flew into the highway's shoulder for a few split seconds before a black shape loomed out of the fog. Rachel was only halfway to the brake when the front of the vehicle smashed into the object, she heard the sound of breaking glass and everything went immediately black.