Not one single car.

No lights.

No phone.

Jill mentally listed the facts of their current predicament and quietly pondered over what she could do to resolve them. So far, it seemed to be that her fruitless pondering was the only thing she could do and just like their ruined car, that wasn't getting them anywhere. She sighed miserably to herself and for what was probably the hundredth time, raised her left arm up to her face and, squinting in the moonlight, was just able to make out the time on her miraculously undamaged watch.

Nearly 11:45, she noted grimly before letting her arm drop wearily back to her knees.

That meant they had been stranded for over three hours and counting and from the way things looked now, they weren't getting home anytime soon.

Jill sighed again and began to restlessly drum her fingers against her knees. She'd already given up on talking to Kelly. Her friend was being eerily quiet, and her strange silence and frightened aura was worrisome. But again, there was nothing to do but sit and wait. Half an hour into their ordeal, she had attempted to pull the deer off of the hood, but the buck proved to be too heavy for her petite body to move. Kelly and her working together might have had a better chance but she wasn't going to risk Kelly's health. Beside, she doubted the car would even move without the beast on top of it.

Now frustrated and tired, they sat on the abandoned road, leaning against the part of the car that remained upright and let their moody silence contribute to the overall bleakness of the night.

Jill had just finished checking her watch again when Kelly made a noise in the back of her throat that caught her attention.

"I guess Bosley won't be so happy about this." Kelly muttered when Jill turned her head. "This will be my third car I've gone through."

Jill averted her eyes guiltily. "I'm sorry." she apologized again, and she would keep doing it if it made Kelly talk and fill this maddening silence. "Are you sure you don't want me to walk further ahead to -"

"No!"

Kelly snatched her arm so suddenly, Jill jumped. "Please, I don't want you to go alone."

Jill blinked away her surprise and patted her friend's hand. Kelly was gripping her arm so tightly, she didn't think she'd be able to get away if she tried and seeing the fear – actual fear – behind Kelly's eyes began to scare her. "Okay, okay. I'm not going anywhere." She said quickly. That had been the only solution she'd come up with so far and there was a reason she'd not voiced it sooner. "Sabrina should know something is wrong by now, anyways."

It appeared to ease Kelly enough to let go of Jill's arm. But just for comfort, Jill scooted closer to her. "Good thing it's not cold out." She piped up.

Kelly laughed bitterly. "The perks of living is Los Angeles."

"Yeah." Jill replied softly. "Are you sure you're okay? I mean..."

"Yes." Kelly said simply, not wanting to think otherwise. "My head stings but that's it."

"Okay. Then that's good." Jill exhaled deeply and decided she needed to change the subject. She could feel Kelly's anxiety and knowing her friend was this upset wasn't doing anything for her own nerves. Maybe they both needed a distraction.

"Can I ask how you know your way around up here?"

To Jill's surprise, Kelly suddenly looked even more uncomfortable. "Around Bridge Grove?" She answered nervously, starting to squirm. "Well... um," She cleared her throat and if it wasn't so dark, Jill would have been able to see that her cheeks held a tinge of pink. "I've been here before. With Max. He took me up here a few times with his buddies to do stunts on our motorcycles. "

Jill's eyes widened but Kelly didn't notice in the dark.

"Max!? I didn't know you were seeing Max! How long have you been dating?"

"No!" Kelly cried, her face flushing even more. "Just to ride the hills. It wasn't a date. His friends were there too."

Jill grinned triumphantly. It wasn't often she could see right through Kelly, but her rambling was making this too easy. "Kell! He's cute, this is good! Max is such a nice guy! You two would make a cute couple."

"We're not dating!" Kelly protested. She sighed and drew her knees up to her chest. "Besides, I don't need to be focusing on dating right now."

The excuse bounced right off of Jill. "You know, I don't think Max will mind if-"

"Jill!" Kelly cut her off with a weary groan. "C'mon."

"What?" Jill replied innocently. "I've known the guy since high school and I've never seen him act like a little puppy dog the way he does with you. He practically trips over his feet when he's around you. He's really into you! You should have seen him at my party."

"Oh, quit!" Kelly blurted out, her cheeks a shade of red Jill had never seen before. "C'mon, you know I – I… I don't have time for that."

Jill laughed, thoroughly enjoying how flustered the mention of her handsome friend was making Kelly. It was a rare occasion something made Kelly lose her normally collected composure like this and possible concussion or not, it was her duty as a best friend to take advantage of it.

And as long as Kelly was a captive audience…

"You had time for Alan." Jill argued, sneering out the name of Kelly's ex as if it were a disease. "You can't let him ruin your dating life for the rest of your life even though he's a-"

Kelly whirled on her. "Jill!" She cried desperately. "It was a mutual decision! I just don't.. I don't need for…" She stammered for a few seconds before burying her face in her hands and slumping back against the car in defeat. "Ugh. Just shut up about it."

To her credit, Kelly's plea did stop Jill. But, not one to waste a perfectly good opportunity to rib her friend, Jill couldn't leave it for more than a few seconds. Kelly had just began to untangle her tongue before the excited blonde was at it again.

"I'm just saying," Jill started, snatching both of her friend's hands to keep from being slapped. "Give him a chance! I can talk to him for you and explain everything - no shut up and listen!" She clapped one hand over Kelly's mouth to postpone her protests. "And he's such a good guy and he likes you so much I bet he won't even care!"

Kelly managed to shove her away. "Well, I care." She grumbled. "Now, cut it out."

Jill heaved a dramatic sigh before flopping herself back against the frame of their car. "You're impossible, you know that?"

"I do."

Rolling her eyes, Jill crossed her arms in front of her and stared sullenly ahead. Her defeat wouldn't last long though. Beside her, she could see that she'd rattled Kelly and the sight of her red cheeks and her twitching hands brought a smile to her face once more. She cast a sideways glance toward her friend and gave her a gentle nudge with her elbow.

"Kelly and Max, sitting in a tree..." She sang softly.

Kelly groaned. "Knock it off, Jill."

"What's that in your eyes? Is that puppy love?" Jill continued, her grin widening at Kelly's expense. "It sure looks like it."

"I swear, Jill…"

But Jill was on a roll. She'd succeeded in making her friend's face turn a different shade of red and was about to continue the onslaught when a sudden flash of light caught her eye behind Kelly's shoulder. Her playful smile dropped immediately.

"Hey, what's that?" She said excitedly.

Kelly grumbled under her breath. "Jill." She warned, fully expecting further embarrassment.

She was surprised when her blonde friend launched herself to her feet. "No! Over there, look! I think I saw headlights!"

Kelly's head whirled around and saw the bright lights belonging to a truck coming down their way. She had a rule about not hitchhiking but now was definitely a time to put that aside. Jill bolted up and helped Kelly stand up. Her arm flung outward, waving it down.

"He'll stop, right?" Jill began to rush her words together, a streak of pure terror running through her. "I mean we're two injured girls on the side of the road, only a monster wouldn't stop to help!"

Less in fear and more in pain, the brunette groaned in reply. "Just do what you do at the beach. Lift your shirt."

Without thinking otherwise, Jill ran both hands to the bottom of her shirt with every intention of following through. Before a thought stopped her, seemingly more petrifying than the thought of not being picked up by a stranger. "What if it's a girl?"

Grunting in irritation, Kelly grabbed Jill's hands away from her shirt. "I wasn't being serious!" She gave her a small shove forward and then raised her hand, frantically waving it as the truck came closer. When it slowed down and came to a stop, both women felt relief flow over them. They looked up and saw the driver inside. He couldn't have been over forty, maybe even younger. His scruffy face as well as the dark made it hard for them to see who they were dealing with.

He rolled down his window and scouted the area, his eyes landing on the car. "You girls all right?"

"Kinda," Jill spoke up first. "We hit a deer and-"

"You hit a deer." Kelly snapped.

"-and her head is bleeding and we really need some help." Jill put her hands together in a prayer position, looking up at the ruggedly handsome man with her pleading blue eyes.

He quirked his head to the side. "No gentleman would ever leave two women stranded." He reached over and unlocked his passenger side door. "There is a hospital not too far from here where I can take you two to be checked out."

Jill was eager to thank him for his kindness but Kelly, ever the pessimist, clutched to Jill's arm and pulled her in closer. "Should we really trust a man that is so offering?" She hissed quietly into her ear.

"What choice do we have?"

Kelly then relented. There wasn't much of one. At least they still had their guns.

Jill opened the door and entered first, then held out a hand for Kelly and helped her inside. There they were, scrunched together in the front seat. After Kelly shut the door, she instantly opened her mouth to start asking questions. "So, what's your name?"

"Gunther." He smiled, his eyes on the dark road as he started to drive. "What about yours?"

Kelly didn't reply but she didn't need to. "I'm Jill," Her friend quickly pointed out, "and this is Kelly."

The brunette slipped her head into her hands, mumbling a variety of colorful words about Jill and her big mouth.

"Under better circumstances I'd be glad to be in the company of such beautiful women." His voice was smooth and full of charm, the complete opposite of his unshaven appearance. Jill insides felt like melting away. "I'm sorry about your unfortunate accident, but this hospital will take good care of you."

Jill moved a little closer to him and Kelly rolled her eyes. Sickening. "I didn't know there was a hospital in Bridge Grove." Kelly stated.

"It's under construction still, but the emergency room is open."

Satisfied with that answer, Kelly eased up a little but Jill was too busy making sure she was as close to Gunther as she could get. She forgot about her gun being held in her holster, and it poked him in his thigh. He looked down for a brief moment and then looked over at Kelly, seeing she had one as well. "Oh, are you two cops?"

"Detectives." Now embarrassed, she pulled the holster out and slid it down her other side. "We were on our way home from an investigation and I sorta got us lost. Then the deer jumped out and... here we are."

Kelly groaned. It sounded so ridiculous out loud, which meant it could only happen to them.

"It's easy to get lost around this area if you're not familiar with it. I use this road to get back and forth from home to work."

"Oh?" Jill played up her interest. "Where do you live?"

Gunther shrugged. "A little farther up north."

Upon his vagueness, Jill decided she would press a little bit more. He was too cute not to know anything about. "Well, where do you work?"

"I'm a surveyor. A lot of people have been through here wanting to buy some land but nothing has come up yet."

Something registered quickly in Kelly's mind as odd. "If you're a surveyor, then why are you out so late?"

He chuckled. "Most of my work lately has been down in L.A, so I haven't been getting home til past midnight. Lucky for you two."

"No kidding!" Jill grabbed a hold of his gray t-shirt in excitement. "We're from there!"

"Really?" He looked relatively surprised and took his eyes off the road for a split second to look at Jill.

Kelly only sighed deeply and refrained herself from stringing Jill's neck and she continued to give out personal details to a perfect stranger.

When Jill went to ask more questions about his life, she noticed a strange symbol etched into his shirt. She rubbed her finger over it – definitely sewn in. But once Gunther realized what Jill was looking at, he jerked his arm away. "It's just the logo for my company I work at." He said before she could raise any questions.

"Oh." Jill replied silently, feeling a bit foolish. She sighed and looked over at Kelly, who was staring out the window with the blood stained t-shirt still pushed against her head. Jill rubbed Kelly's leg. "We'll be there soon, Kell. Right, Gunther?"

"Almost there."

Kelly glanced at the window to where absolutely nothing resembling civilization could be seen for miles and fought the urge to comment on it. Somehow Gunther's word wasn't as comforting to her as it was to Jill. But the man was helping them out, and trust him or not, it was better than staring at that dead deer all night. She managed a nod and felt Jill pat her leg once more.

"See?" Jill assured her. "We're almost there."

"Good." Kelly replied shortly. She looked out the window again and began to feel all the ill affects from her injury. Not caring if either person heard, she muttered something to the extent of Jill's idiocy and Gunther being a grave digger for all they knew. Jill gently covered her face, hoping that remark hadn't been overheard, but even if it had Gunther lit up with a smile.

"You girls are lucky. I've been making this drive for months and I can count the times I've seen another car on one hand. Only damn thing out here." He gave Jill a sideways glance and grinned. "You know, I surveyed the land myself a few years back."

Jill turned around, expertly flipping her blonde mane towards her new friend and gave him a playful slap on the arm. "What? Really?" She cried, seemingly delighted by this. "Did you hear that, Kell?"

Kelly pursed her lips. "Yeah."

"Isn't that neat?" Jill gushed. Her attention went back to Gunther and this time it was Kelly who caught a face full of hair. "What other stuff have you done?"

"Hmm." Gunther answered slowly. He caught Jill peering curiously at his company logo again and repositioned his arm to conceal it. "Nothing that you'd know really. My company has only just branched out into the city."

Jill pretended not to notice. This was far too fun. "Oh, look Kelly." She giggled. "He's modest."

Kelly rolled her eyes as she listened to her companions chit chat. Dating life must be a little slow for Jill because despite have a bruised face and a bloodied shirt, she was laying it on thick on the poor man. Not that he seemed to mind. Men tended not to ever mind. She closed her eyes and hoped the dull ache spreading from her head down her neck and shoulders was due to the cramped, claustrophobic conditions of the truck cab and not a concussion. A high pitched giggle sounded in her ears and she began to hear a ringing noise that nobody else could hear.

A long ten minutes went by before the truck suddenly slowed.

"Here we are, girls." Gunther said quietly, craning his neck to see out of Kelly's window.

Kelly opened her eyes and after a quick circuit, spotted a lone light cutting through the empty darkness that surrounded them. She glanced towards Jill, not sure why she felt so surprised that the man had actually kept his word. But her blonde friend had no time for her skepticism. Apparently she had some of her own.

"Is that it over there?" She asked nervously, as the truck began bouncing off of the highway onto another, much smaller road.

"That's it." Gunther replied simply.

Kelly stared at the light a while longer, until it's glow finally revealed the front of a large building. Divinity's Reach Memorial Hospital was displayed just below the light in large white efficient looking block lettering. Its facade was like that of any other hospital she'd seen.

Gray or light brown brick, a concrete walkway with ten or so steps that lead to a gleaming set of glass double doors. Typical, modern. Beside that, another building, red brick, shorter and squatier than the first with a red cross above it's glass doors.

The emergency room? Probably.

But as they drew closer, the light revealed alarmingly little else. Despite a normal looking entrance, the rest of the building looked like construction had given up on it long ago, leaving it looking like an eerie skeleton in the darkness. Jill and Kelly shared a look, both sharing the same thought for the first time since Gunther picked them up.

There was no sign of construction being done anywhere. As if designed to fool passersby in the dark, the front of the buildings were the only ones that resembled a hospital. Beyond that it seemed to have given up trying. The twisted metal and concrete frames were all that was standing behind it.

The smooth concrete walkway that led to the double doors began out of nowhere. Just the same dried up and scrubby grassland that they'd been driving through all day.

"Are... are you sure it's open?" Jill asked, scooting closer to her friend now.

"I know it doesn't look like much, but the emergency room is open." Gunther's voice lacked his previous charm. The truck passed through a sagging chain link fence and then coasted to a stop in what might have been the parking lot had anyone bothered to build it. "Alright if I drop you girls off here?"

Red flags waved and alarm bells sounded off inside Kelly's head. This looked to be out of a twisted B-horror film, and the worst part was nobody knew where they were. They weren't even sure where they were. Kelly gave Jill a troubled look, but she wasn't going to stop herself from getting checked out. Jill needed it too, as the dim light revealed bruising along her nose and cheek.

"I guess," Kelly sighed, opening up the truck door. "There's a working phone inside, right?"

"Kelly it's a hospital for crying out loud." Jill shook her head. "They have to have working phones, right Gunther?"

"Of course." He politely smiled.

"I suppose you aren't going to stick around?" Jill asked hopefully.

His expression changed, looking down on her with what seemed like pity. "Sorry, my dogs are waiting for me."

Jill's face drooped but she managed to appear grateful enough. "Okay, well, thank you for the ride. It was nice meeting you."

"The pleasure was mine. I hope everything works out for you."

With a nod of their heads, they slipped out of the truck and Gunther reached to pull the door shut. He backed out and headed off into the darkness, disappearing out of their sight.

Jill stared after him for a moment, reluctant to admit to herself that he was gone. Though there had been a brief moment of fear when she realized he was driving her and Kelly to what had initially looked like an abandoned building, it had passed and she found herself wishing he'd stayed with them.

And not just because he was cute, he most definitely was, but because if no one was inside they were now officially stranded.

A hand patted her arm and Jill snapped out of her trance. Kelly was standing behind her, doing an admirable job of trying to look like she wasn't deeply uncomfortable about this.

"Come on," She urged, giving her a tug. "You'll learn to love again. Let's just get this over with, I want to go home."

Jill forced an uneasy smile and quietly fell into stride with Kelly. Walking closer than usual to each other, the girls crossed the patchy field that separated them from the dimly lit hospital entrance.

"Maybe we should have asked him to stay until we made sure someone was actually here." Jill said nervously as she took her first step onto the concrete walkway.

Kelly only pursed her lips. "I don't miss him. Besides, there's lights. Someone has to be here." She said quickly. She stepped up on the walkway beside Jill and the girls shared an uneasy look.

The hospital had looked creepy enough from the truck, but standing directly in front of it brought the unsettling feeling of paranoia to alarming levels. The dim overhead light wasn't revealing too much, but what it did was still and wrong. No movement, not enough light, no buzz of activity from inside. Nothing. Like walking into a ghost town.

Jill swallowed hard, feeling the hair go up on her arms. Now that they were upon it, she found herself not wanting to go inside. She turned to seek some reassurance from Kelly and saw her fried absently readjusting the blood soaked t-shirt pressed against her head. No, there was no other option. Kelly needed a doctor and they needed a phone.

Resolved, she took Kelly's arm and gave her a gentle tug toward the steps.

"Hopefully we'll meet a couple of cute doctors and this whole mess will be worth it."

The two detectives trudged up the steps and cautiously approached the glass double doors.

"Only you would be thinking about men in a time like this." Kelly winced as she spoke, peering in through the thick glass to see what she could make out inside before they stepped in. "On second thought, maybe there isn't anybody here. I don't see..."

A bolt of courage ran through her body and Jill pushed the door open, capturing Kelly's arm before she could fall from leaning on the door. "Then we'll just have to find them." With hooked arms, Jill helped her stumbling friend inside where they stood in the middle of an isolated main entrance.

Their heads moved rapidly around, each taking in an undiscovered part of the uncompleted hospital. There was a single hallway to their right that was shadowed with darkness. Their only hope was the light above them and the sign on the wall that pointed arrows in which direction the emergency room could be found.

"I think we should find a phone first." Kelly pointed out quickly.

Taking slow steps forward, being careful to not make noise now that they were inside the building, the two kept going straight – following a sign on the wall that pointed with an arrow to the emergency ward. Their eyes dove in different directions for any sign of a phone connected to a wall but no such luck.

They halted at the end of entrance and looked at the arrow pointing right toward emergency. The other arrows were unmarked. Kelly gulped, her instincts scrambled due to her head trauma. Something told her not to walk any further but there was a lot on the line if she didn't. Jill stayed tightly connected to her, sensing the dread seeping from her body.

"What do you want to do?" Jill spoke quietly. And whatever Kelly said, she was going to support her.

"I have to go. I can't risk it. But if you want to stay behind-" She attempted to say but Jill's alarmed face made her stop.

"Don't you ever think that I'd leave you, especially in a situation like this."

Kelly smiled, thankful for the friendship she found in Jill, even if she could be relentlessly annoying.

With mustered up courage, they turned to the right and marched toward the emergency room doors – unaware of what waited for them.