Beckett turned and left the coast to head a little way inland where she joined one of the state park roads which would eventually lead her back to the Long Island Expressway. The road was edged at each side with woodland for about a fifteen mile stretch until it met with a minor road which would take her through one of the smaller hamlets and finally to the expressway. She sped up when she hit the remote stretch as the daylight was fading and there was the unmistakable rumble of thunder in the distance. The last thing she wanted was to get caught up in a storm on this section of road. Storms made her nervous as it was and she hadn't passed a single vehicle for a couple of miles now; she was beginning to feel a sense of isolation which made her somewhat wary.

The daylight faded quicker than she had expected that evening; perhaps it was the heavily wooded areas lining the road that seemed to darken that stretch, but she began to curse her own stupidity, and Castle, for her not having left sooner. Her eyes moved anxiously from the road ahead, to the darkness beside her, to her mirror and the road behind, and back to the evening sky in the distance which flickered with light every now and then, telling her that she was going to have to race against the approaching storm if she was going to reach the relative safety of the expressway before it caught up with her.

As the rumbles of the night sky became all the more evident with their frequency and volume, she contemplated turning on the radio at an attempt at drowning out the sound and achieving some kind of distance from the surrounding gloom. Reaching for the car stereo however she paused and her hand hovered over the controls. For some reason she didn't feel comfortable with the distractions of music; instincts told her to have her wits about her however uncomfortable the developing scene outside was making her feel.

Soon spots of rain began to fall onto the windscreen and she turned on the wipers to aid her vision. The rain at that point was minimal, however just the fact that she was forced to use the wipers added to her nervousness because she saw it as a diversion which was distorting her vision of the road when trails of water smeared across the window and the wipers swayed in and out of her view.

Then, through the mist of her rear window, she saw a car approach and disappear for a second before it sped past her. Initially she felt some form of relief: at least there were other cars on this road. However, as it passed her she turned briefly to look for the driver and frowned with confusion when she couldn't seem to see anyone at all in the car! Her mind must have been playing tricks on her. She even wondered if she had imagined the car completely after there was no sign of it in the distance just moments later.

Straining to see through the hazy windscreen, it was then that she spotted an object on the road a few hundred metres ahead. The object looked to be quite large and seemed to be stretching out across the entire length of her path. As she approached it soon became clear however that it wasn't only one object but a series of fallen tree trunks haphazardly blocking her way. Strange she thought, because the car that had just whizzed past her was still nowhere in sight. How could it have got through the blockade? Perhaps the driver had somehow managed to clear a path enough to drive through, although how they could have done this so quickly she wasn't sure.

It wasn't long before she was forced to stop her car. What would she do now? She contemplated turning around and driving back to Castle but she didn't relish having to face the smug look on his face when he realised that she had come back to him. He was that arrogant he would probably think the fallen log story was an excuse and that she had changed her mind about staying at the beach house with him. Outside the rain was still only spotting and the twilight at least afforded her some light. If the other car had passed then she could too and still make the expressway before the storm hit with more force.

Against her better judgement, but with little other choice, she opened the car door and took a good look around her. The road behind was deserted of vehicles for as far as the eye could see, the road ahead, strewn with branches and littered with leaves from the fallen tree trucks. To either side of her the woodlands appeared to be a dark and foreboding presence but she had to ignore any irrational fears if she was going to make it to the highway; she took a deep breath, left her car and moved towards the blockade.

Most of the fallen trees were only saplings crisscrossed over each other and it seemed quite possible that with a few pushes or kicks, she could clear a space big enough for her to get the car through. She took hold of one of the branches of a trunk on the top of the pile and hesitantly pulled. It shifted slightly, along with the logs underneath it. If she was careful the best way to move the logs would be to pull at the top trunk and cause the logs underneath to roll so that a section of the blockade would collapse. She just needed to ensure that she was standing back when it did.

In theory her plan should have worked however the tree trunks underneath hadn't moved as much as she had anticipated and she was reluctant to use more force for fear that the logs would collapse too suddenly and roll towards her uncontrollably. Then a loud clap of thunder which came from above seemed to shake the very ground she stood on and she went rigid with fear. It was irrational of course, it was only thunder, but ever since she had been young the sound of thunder had forced all rationality out of her: she was petrified of it. She had made a big mistake; she should have headed back to Castle when she first saw the blockade and noticed the approaching storm. Who cared what he thought, she wanted out of there!

Abandoning the fallen tree trunks, she swiftly turned towards her car which she had left some eight or so metres behind but as she did so she found herself temporary blinded by sudden flash of white lightening which obliterated everything around her with its brightness. She stood rooted to the spot; the lightening was directly overhead, it was a wonder she hadn't been hit by it! The next thing she was aware of was being drenched by the ensuing rain when the heavens opened. Then the lightning disappeared as quickly as it had struck and there was utter blackness. The remains of the daylight seemed to have seeped out of the sky in the seconds since the flash of lightening. Maybe it was the intensity of the light that made the surroundings look so much darker, or maybe she had been so intent on moving the trees that she hadn't noticed the darkness creep in, but now it overwhelmed her all the more because of the remoteness of her surroundings. As she stood there, waiting for her eyes to register any small shimmer of light and bring her back to reality, she could feel panic begin to take hold.

The next flash of lightening almost came as a relief to her because at least she had some respite from darkness for a few seconds. However, relief swiftly turned to confusion and then horror when an image flashed into her vision as the lightening illuminated her car and inside she saw a dark shadow: the figure of a person behind the wheel! Her confusion came from the fact that she doubted her own eyes because surely there couldn't be anyone there but fear struck like a scene out of a horror movie when the light hit the person's face. It looked inhuman, stark white and devoid of any facial features. In fact it was devoid of anything; there was a person in her car but a person without a face! What the hell was going on? Darkness fell again. Her sensible head was telling her that she was seeing things, letting her fears and imagination run away with her, but out there, in the middle of nowhere in the darkness with nothing but the cold wind, rain and her own fears, shed never felt so alone, helpless and vulnerable. For the first time in a long time she had no idea what to do: whether to run to the car and face the ghostly figure or stay where she was, or to run and hide.

She knew from her police training that her indecision in itself was a vulnerability because standing there in the open on that dark deserted road, she was without protection. But making the wrong decision there could put her in more danger.

In the end the decision was taken out of her hands when with alarm she began to realise that her car was moving slowly backwards. In the flashes of light from the stormy sky she could see the car retreating and again, the shadowy figure at the wheel was present. She ran forward but it was then that she heard the engine start before the car made an abrupt manoeuvre, turned and sped off. In terror she stood helplessly watching it go. In it was every last shred of security she had on that dark road: shelter, her means of escape and more importantly, her firearm.

Finally she made a decision of what to do as her instinct for survival kicked in and she ran to the shelter of the trees at the road's edge. There at least she would be less open to the elements or any approaching danger. Clambering up a grass bank, she darted amongst the trees to infiltrate the edges of the woodland without becoming lost in its darkness or losing sight of the road. She stopped and turned away from the disturbing sight of the endless darkness behind her among the trees. Gasping for breath, she took a few moments to recover, trying to force down the terror that was threatening to overpower her.

When she finally began to catch her breath and the sound of her desperate gasps faded, there followed an awful quietness which only drove home how totally alone she was in that wilderness. All she could hear was the pelting rain and wind whistling eerily through the trees as she stood there trying to gather her thoughts. With her senses working overtime, she became aware of other noises behind her: the rustling of leaves, the creaking of branches, movements in the darkness. Paranoia set in and it prompted her to move cautiously towards a large tree where she stood with her back to its trunk for protection, focusing on the dim light of the road and trying not to imagine anything creeping up from behind her.

Okay, what was she going to do? She could attempt to walk back but it would take her hours and if she was honest with herself, she was simply too frozen with fear to attempt it. When the car had disappeared out of sight a question had formed in the back of her brain which she had, up until then, been too panicked to focus on. Where had she put her cell phone? If it was in her car then she was in big trouble but there was a glimmer of hope if she had it in her pocket. She placed a hand on the right hand pocket of her leather jacket and her heart raced when she felt the hard object inside. She slipped in her hand and pulled out her cell, feeling tears of relief form in her eyes at the sight of it.

With a shaking hand she dialled 911 and put the phone to her ear. It beeped and then fell silent. She went cold inside and took a look at the screen. It had cut off the call, but why? She tried again and again it cut off. Her heart began to race once more with rising panic as she tried for a third time, suspecting that again she would be cut off. She was. She scrolled to another number in her phonebook and tried again and again but each time the call failed to connect. It made no sense. Why was this happening to her? Tears streamed down her face as she hit the buttons with force, willing the phone to work. It didn't. In despair she began to sob in earnest and slid down the tree trunk to crouch on the floor with her arms wrapped around herself. What was she going to do?

In a desperate last attempt she scrolled to Castle's number, if she couldn't phone him maybe she could send him a text message. Then she remembered he had told her that he couldn't receive a signal in his house but… he had given her his landline number! She fumbled in her jeans pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper which she opened to reveal his telephone number written in bold black ink. She wasn't sure why but just the sight of it was of some strange comfort to her. As she dialled the number with no expectations of it connecting, she smiled when she thought of the way they had both blushed earlier and how he had teased her.

When she heard the phone ringing out she thought for a second she had imagined it but no, she was being put through! It was no coincidence that his was the only number she could connect to that evening but Beckett and Castle had yet to figure out why. She prayed that it wouldn't cut off or that Castle would be at home to answer it. As she waited she found herself holding her breath, so much relied on this.

Then she heard his voice and her heart raced.

"Washed up mystery writer here, who's calling?" he answered sarcastically.

Her breath came out in a rush of laughter and then sobs.

"Castle! It's Kate," she whimpered. "I need you to come get me…I'm…I'm…" she struggled for breath to get the words out in between sobs.

Immediately the tone of his voice changed. "What's wrong Kate? Where are you?" he asked urgently.

"I'm on the state park r r r road. There's some fallen trees…I got stuck… But Castle… someone stole my car and …and …" The words came out in a rush as she tried to explain everything in her muddled head.

"Okay, alright, I'm on my way," he assured her, grabbing his keys from off the kitchen counter and rushing to the front door. "Where exactly are you?" he asked again.

"I'm on the ….road, where the road is blocked. Hurry Castle…" she pleaded.

"I'm in the car now. Stay on the phone," he said, turning on the ignition and speeding out of the driveway.

She slumped back against the tree trunk, at last now with hope in sight of leaving that godforsaken place.

"Kate, are you there?" Castle asked, unsettled by the silence from her.

"Yes," she answered weakly.

He was now on the winding street that led from his house to the state road and he calculated that if he put his foot down he should be with her in five or ten minutes, depending on how far she had driven.

"Kate, are you hurt?" he asked; he'd never heard her so distraught.

"No, I'm okay" she replied. "It's just that the person who stole my car…" how could she explain how surreal and odd it had been? "He came from nowhere and there was another car and…" she was aware that she was sounding ridiculous but at that moment she didn't care, all she wanted was to get away from there. "Just get here," she finished, "I'll explain then."

"I should be there in five or ten minutes Kate, just hold on," he said, accelerating when he hit the open road.

She tightened her arms around herself and crouched with her chin on her knees, waiting and watching the road for signs of Castle's car. Then from behind the fallen trees there seemed to have been a movement. Her heart began to thud again as she watched in terror when first one, then two, then three pale figures emerged onto the road. They were all dressed in white and as one of the figures turned in her direction, she saw the same unearthly white face of the figure who had been in her car.

She lifted the phone to her ear. "Castle, are you there?" she whispered.

"I'm still here," he assured her.

"Castle, there are people here," she said in a shaky voice.

"Where? What people?" he asked.

"I don't know…" she cried, "…like the person who stole my car. I don't like it, hurry," she appealed.

"Don't go near them," he warned. "Have they seen you?"

"I don't think so," she whispered. But the figures were on the move; they had split up and seemed to be searching for something. For her?

Come on castle! Come on, come on! She buried her head in her lap and prayed that he would appear soon.

"Kate? Kate? Kate?"

The first few shouts came from her cell phone but then she realised that her name was echoing around her. She looked up to see Castle's car parked below and the figures moving back to the fallen trees. Standing up with her cell phone clenched in her hand she just managed to hold it up and catch the figures in a shaky photograph before they disappeared. Then she ran from the trees and down the bank onto the road.

Castle was partly dreading finding Kate for fear that she had been hurt or worse but when her bedraggled figure emerged from the trees he was overwhelmed with relief that she seemed to be unhurt. She ran to him sobbing but then stopped in front of him, unsure of how to act. She had never been so relieved to see someone in all her life but she struggled to keep as much composure as she could, holding out a shaking hand to him and clenching hold of his arm.

"I…I'm…" she stuttered, hardly knowing what she was saying as tears streamed down her face.

"Come here," he said, pulling her suddenly to him and wrapping his arms tightly around her shaking body. She clung onto him for dear life.

"It's all right now," he said, his words as much as a comfort to himself as to her. For one terrifying moment a thought had popped into his head: he could lose her. He buried his face into her hair and revelled in her nearness. He couldn't seem to get close enough to her even though he was closer than he had ever been. He simply didn't want to let her go now that he had found her safe. She leant into him and rested her head on his shoulder as she sobbed. She was being weak and feeble but she couldn't help it. His arms tightened. She felt fragile and soft against him and he could feel her body trembling as she cried.

"It's okay," he whispered into her hair. "No one's going to hurt you now."