It was late night when Philip and Rachel arrived in Foresbrook.

After a brief argument over Philips 'evasion tactics', they'd both eventually decided that it had worked, and therefore was the right thing to do. They'd continued down the same road without seeing the fat bloke and the crack head, and although anxious, they were both confident in their escape. The fear of being found by the two weirdoes caught up with them again when they paused for 5 minutes at a petrol station to refuel, but back on the road with a full tank, and still no headlights in the rear-view mirror, they finally felt safe.

'How much longer Phil?' Rachel asked. 'I'm really getting tired now'. She glanced at her watch. It read 11:57. Nearly midnight.

'Not much further I don't think. Only a few miles.' He himself yawned and in doing so, violently swerved the car.

'Shit Philip! You want me to drive?' she asked, clearly concerned that he was going to go off the road and kill them both.

'Erm, yeah, if you don't mind,' he replied wearily. 'It's been a long day for me.'

With the image of the pursuing car still clear in his head, he made a concise effort to pull over and swap seats as quickly as possible. After a brief but carefully executed switch, they were back on the road, this time with Rachel at the wheel.

Philip sighed with relief. 'Thanks babe. I didn't know how much longer I could keep my eyes open for,' he said, beginning to doze off. Rachel prodded him in the face and he opened his eyes. 'What?' he said irritably.

'Stay awake dammit! We're nearly there and I need you to direct me to the right house.'

He bolted upright. 'Oh shit!'

'What is it?' she panicked, the thought of the car being behind them again was the first thing that sprung to mind.

'I can't remember what house it was. Damn… It was like, 21 years ago. Shit!'

Rachel groaned in disbelief. 'Isn't there an address on the letter?'

He shook his head. 'There's nothing. Just the note.'

'God dammit!' she growled, hitting the wheel angrily. 'How the hell are we supposed to find it then?'

Philip shrugged. 'I dunno, I guess we could book into a hotel till tomorrow or something? It would be easier to find by daylight.'

'Oh really? How many hotels do you think will still be open at midnight?' she shot at him sarcastically.

He was beginning to see the dilemma that faced them both. 'We could sleep in the car I guess…'

This did not please Rachel one bit, but she kept her torrents of rage locked inside. Philip could see that she was seething, but as they passed the worn wooden sign depicting the name 'FORESBROOK', he knew that the worst was over for now.

- - - - -

Katie Marlin, as the least injured person was volunteered by her peers to be buses nurse, despite her complete lack of medical knowledge. Mentally she was as distraught and confused as the rest of them, but managed to compose herself knowing that she had to be strong, not only for the others, but for herself.

She brushed her shoulder length blonde hair out from her eyes and began to count once again. There were originally 2 teachers, and 22 students, she knew that much. Now however, both teachers and 7 students were dead. There was no sign of the bus driver. By dropping a pencil on the floor and watching it roll very slowly to one side, she knew that the bus was on a slight tilt, which was barely noticeable, but still significantly more tilted than if they were say, parked on the kerb. Were they off the road?

With the help of some other, mildly injured, strong stomached students, she moved the corpses to the front of the bus and out of the way. There was a lot of groaning, as all 15 of the remaining students, including her, were injured in some way. Using a biro and a page ripped from a science exercise book she'd noted down these injuries, self rating them as serious or minor. She herself was suffering from a biting pain in her side which on closer inspection turned out to be a couple of broken ribs. Other ailments ranged from shattered limbs to deep lacerations, none of which she had the slightest idea of how to treat.

There was a great deal of upset amongst the teenagers but Katie did her best to try and calm them down. To make matters worse, the radio continued to spew out feedback and static at an annoyingly loud volume. To begin with she was creeped out by it, but nearly 3 hours down the line, it was really grating on both hers and the others nerves.

'I'm gonna sort that thing out,' said a tall, well built teen with a deep cut that ran all the way down the side of his face, neck, and onto his shoulder. Before she could stop him, he marched down the bus to the radio and began to stamp on it maliciously. The pitch of the squeal changed suddenly, ascending to a very high frequency but still at the same volume. This sudden change combined with the rhythmic stomping of his heavy hiking boots began to upset the others even more. A girl with a badly twisted leg began to cry.

'Leave it Chris,' Katie said in a distressed tone. 'You're just making things worse.'

'Shut your face!' he barked aggressively, not slowing.

'Leave it for god's sake! It's not going to stop by you stamping on it!' she shouted back at him.

'Yes it bloody well will!' he shot back through gritted teeth.

'Surely you would've at least dented it by now, don't you think?'

Chris stopped and looked at the radio, his lip curling in annoyance. It was just as secure as it had been before his attack, albeit a few skid marks caused by the rubber on his boots. Then, almost as a reward for his efforts, the volume and pitch of the radio decreased to a low buzz, occasionally crackling with life to show them that it was still capable of being as loud as it had been if it so chose.

Chris relaxed and turned back to Katie, smiling wearily.

'It looks like we get a break huh?' he said.

She ignored him and walked over to one of the windows.

'Where the hell are we?' she muttered more to herself than Chris or any of the others.

'I dunno, we could be anywhere in-between school and Toluca Lake, ' Chris began.

Katie shot him a scornful look. 'It doesn't take a genius to work that one out does it?'

Chris blushed. 'Chill out Katie! I'm just trying to help!' he protested, sidling off to an empty seat close to the back of the bus.

'Well try a little harder!' she shouted after him.

She felt a tug on her leg and turned to face a busty, red haired girl with a deep wound just below her stomach. She was lying on the bus seat next to where she was stood in the aisle. 'Cut him some slack Katie. As the – ,' she took a deep breath, with great difficulty it seemed. 'As the fittest people on the bus, you… you need to work together to get us out of, here,' she gasped.

Katie put a finger to the girl's lips. 'Shhh, save your strength.'

The girl opened her mouth to speak again, but decided against it and just quietly lay still, lost in thought. Images of what had happened blossomed in her mind… The kids on the bus were all in her geography set, and they had taken a week out of school to do an investigation of Toluca Lake, such as sediment levels, wildlife… blah, blah, blah. She couldn't help but wish that it was only a one day trip rather than a residential, because at least then there would already be a search party looking for them. As it stood, the school wasn't expecting a call about whether everything was OK or not until tomorrow afternoon, which was hours and hours away. She remembered leaving the school at about 5 o'clock in the afternoon and stopping at a gas station to refuel and so that anyone who wanted to could use the toilet. Then she remembered them all arguing about sleeping arrangements and then… what then? All she remembered after that was waking up in the dark with a gaping hole in her belly. She'd got up, plugged the dripping hole as best as she could with the packet of tissues she always kept in her pocket and then passed out. She'd been drifting in and out of consciousness ever since.

Katie was in another world, she observed, staring blankly out of the window. There was nothing to see other than the glass-like ripple of ice, and beyond that? Just greyness, like a very heavy fog or smoke. But then, her eyes widened suddenly.

'Chris! Come take a look!' she shouted.

Startled, he jumped to his feet and came racing over. 'What is it?'

'There's somebody out there!' She pounded on the window as a skinny silhouette shuffled towards them carrying what looked like a torch on the end of a long rod. The figure must have had a leg injury at some point because it limped horribly and shuffled towards them at an agonisingly slow pace. They squinted through the window as hard as they could, and saw the figure poking at the window with his rod, merely inches from their faces. The light cut a swathe through the icy covered glass, illuminating the darkness which they'd cowered in for hours now; a symbolic ray of hope.

There was only one problem. How the hell was he going to get them out?

The figure continued to pound on the windows trying to find a way in, but was no more capable of doing so than the teenagers on the bus. Then all of a sudden, the figure jumped back from the bus and began to run away.

'Come back!' Chris and Katie yelled, bashing the windows with their fists as hard as they could.

As the light slowly disappeared into the fog, the static on the radio crackled back into life and slowly began to grow in volume. However, it sounded different this time. It was no longer just irritating. It was angry! The screeching became deranged shrieks, and the crackles became so heavy and pronounced that they sounded like gunshots. Every teen on the bus awoke in fear and pressed their hands against their ears to try and block out the sound, but it was useless.

Katie pulled her hands away and could have sworn that behind the hideous wail issuing for the stereo somebody was laughing…

- - - - -

Geoffrey and Gary pulled into a small deserted street and began to make sense of the surroundings. Foresbrook was a surprisingly small town, not small enough to be a village, but very small nonetheless. There was a cluster of rundown bungalows, a high street with a few shops on it, and a very small estate of large semi-detached houses. They wandered down the high street and were very surprised about how quiet it was. Sure, it was the middle of the night, but other than the odd streetlamp there was not a single light in view. At the end of the street was a short road which led down to a relatively large park situated at the edge of Toluca Lake.

'Geoff, where the hell are you man?' Gary yelled into the darkness. It was so difficult to see through both the darkness and the fog without a light.

A shout came from his right. 'I'm over here Gary!'

He followed the sound of Geoffrey's voice into the park and found him perched on a swing that was way too small for him.

'So, we're here,' said Geoffrey. 'You reckon we should wait till morning before beginning our search? There should be a few locals we can quiz, plus we'll be able to see further than a meter in front of us,' he chuckled.

'Yeah, sounds like a good plan. What do you want to do in the mean time? I don't know about you, but I daren't sleep in this town,' Gary replied, taking a seat in the swing next to Geoffrey.

He glanced at his watch. It read 12:19am.

'We could take a look around. Maybe there's some kind of meeting place for the cult, like a church or something.'

Gary nodded. 'The rest of the town is down that way,' he said, pointing along the edge of the lake towards a small forested area. Despite the fog, Geoffrey could see triangular sloping roofs amongst the trees, and as he looked more closely, a small bobbing orb of light.

'Gary! Can you see that?' he gasped, pointing frantically in the direction of the light.

Gary was perplexed. 'What? What are you pointing at?' The light disappeared suddenly.

Geoffrey cursed. 'You missed it! Didn't you see it? Did you see the light?' Gary shook his head as Geoffrey began to run towards the trees. 'C'mon! We'll find it!'

- - - - -

Parked up in a small woodland lane, Philip and Rachel dozed fitfully in the discomfort of the car, occasionally waking up to the sound of an owl hooting, just to fall asleep again.

Philip awoke and rubbed his eyes tiredly. There was a strange crackling noise, but he couldn't tell what it was or where it was coming from. It sounded like the rustling of leaves overlaid with some kind of demonic squealing. It was very faint, but began to get louder.

'What the hell is that noise?' said a sleepy Rachel. She too had been awoken.

'I don't know. It's close though.'

'Really close! Is it something in the car?'

Philip shrugged and glanced around the car, feeling under the seats, the glove box, his pockets, the dashboard, wait! His pockets! He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a handheld radio that was indeed the culprit. A small red light blinked furiously on the front of it, and the tuning needle darted frantically to and fro. He turned it over, but there were no batteries in it.

'Whoa! Déjà vu!' Philip exclaimed. 'Holy crap… Where did this come from?' he asked, holding the radio up so that she could see it.

'How should I know? It was in your pocket,' was her answer. She proceeded to get out of the car and stand shivering in the cold, her warm breath turning to white steam in the air and the light of the car. Philip also got out, but as he did so, the static increased in volume. He was getting irritated by it, so he threw it into the backseat and slammed the door, muting the sound.

'Are you still angry with me?' Philip asked, walking up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.

She tensed, but then relaxed in his hold. 'No, I guess not. I'm sure we'll be able to ask around in the morning or something. It's not a very big town after all.'

He smiled and kissed her on the top of the head. 'I'm sorry,' he chuckled, and she joined in.

They both sat in the brown loamy foliage in front of the car which was softly illuminated by its headlights. Sharing each others body heat they just sat there, lost in their own thoughts. These were soon broken by a muffled scream.

'Phil! Did you here that?' Rachel whispered, eyes wide open.

He nodded. 'Yeah, I did. Shall we go see? We can't just sit here,' Philip replied.

She looked fearful. 'Can't we call the police or something?'

Philip took his mobile out and dialled 911. He put it to his ear and froze.

'...C-C..A…N….Y-O-U…F…F..FI.N…D..T-T..-HE…B..B…U-US?...' hissed the voice on the other end through the scream of feedback.

He hung up, looking very confused.

'So? Are you going to call them or what?' It was Rachel, but she seemed so far away. What the hell was the voice doing talking to him through a secure emergency line? He dialled 911 again and listened carefully. But there was nothing. No dial tone. No connection was made.

The scream returned.

'My phone isn't working. We have to go look!' He pointed into the dark woods on his left. 'It came from down there.'

'I think I'm gonna wait in the car,' Rachel shivered, clearly scared out of her mind.

Philip nodded. 'OK, but lock the doors.'

She threw him the small blade she kept in her purse, just in case. 'Be careful. I love you!'

'I love you to…'

Philip disappeared into the woods and as promised, she sat in the passenger seat before locking all the doors and turning the powerful headlights down into a warm glow. She was frightened, but wasn't entirely sure what of. She decided to listen to the radio, but found that she couldn't find a station. It was all static. Frustrated, she rummaged around in the glove compartment before pulling out an old tape and slotting it into the tape player. Soft, sombre rock penetrated the silence and she relaxed, awaiting the return of her beloved boyfriend.

She sat and let herself be absorbed in the music, but then she remembered the radio that Philip found in his pocket. It was now silent, but the red light continued to blink furiously, and she could see it winking at her in the rear-view mirror. She reached round, picked it up and looked at it, perplexed. How was it working with no batteries in it? She was tempted to break it open and look inside, but decided against it. Her favourite song on the tape had begun to play.

- - - - -

The power of the static was rattling the windows in their frames which considering the amount of ice encrusting them, was an amazing feat. Katie screamed for the third time, which could barely be heard amongst the awful screeching of the radio and the groans from her classmates. As she opened her eyes slowly, she saw a figure at the window looking in on them. The ice on that one window seemed to melt away before her eyes, and she screamed once again at what she saw.

Its papery brown skin was filthy, dripping slivers of blood and large clumps of dirt. Its featureless oval face quivered, no, vibrated at an inhuman speed. Its straggly arms were pulled behind its head by some kind of invisible force and something seemed to be writhing uncontrollably within its chest, like a demonic baby that had somehow worked its way upwards from the womb …

…but she blinked, and it was gone. The static had also gone, which was a great relief to everyone. She made to sit back down; calm on the outside but hysterical on the inside. She brushed her blonde hair over her eyes, as not to show the others the fear on her face, and was only coaxed out of herself when Chris shook her.

'Katie, look! The window!' he shouted enthusiastically.

She looked and sure enough, the ice was gone from that one window. They could now see the dark silhouettes of the trees in the distance.

'Move. I'm going to smash the bastard!'

Working on autopilot she stood up and moved to a seat opposite, observing Chris as he quickly took off his jumper and wrapped it around his arm. Then, leaning back, he sprung forward and walloped the window with his elbow, close to the centre. It made a loud bang, but didn't break. He winced with pain, but hit it again, harder this time. He felt something crack, but didn't know if it was the window or his arm. With one last effort, he stood back and kicked it with the flat of his heavy boot. There was an ear-splitting smash, and the glass was blasted out into the woods.

The moment he broke the window, a hideously cold wind swept into the bus, chilling every child to their core. Chris hastily put his jacket on, and deftly vaulted the sill. Katie followed suit, remaining silent.

They both dropped onto the forest floor and looked around.

'Shit it's cold!' Chris trembled, shivering despite the jacket.

Katie ignored him. She was too focused on the small scrap of red paper she saw lying on the ground next to her foot, directly when the monster had been standing only minutes before. It was held down by a small rock, so she brushed this aside before picking it up. She gasped as she read:

"Think not why I imprisoned you, but why I let you out. Roger xxx'