Peter Parker, otherwise known as Spider-Man, had been looking forward to a quiet night. It was rare for him to have downtime with friends, and the idea of a ghost hunt had sounded like a fun, relaxing way to unwind. After all, what could be scarier than the New York supervillains he fought daily? This was just a remote Georgia legend. His friend Ned, a horror film aficionado, had convinced him to come along. MJ joined, too, with a half-skeptical, half-curious attitude, and Gwen tagged along, more interested in a midnight road trip than ghost stories.

"Jasper Hill?" Peter repeated, glancing at Ned as he drove them down the deserted stretch of Georgia highway. "What, is it supposed to be haunted or something?"

"Oh, it's way better than haunted," Ned grinned, his eyes glinting with excitement. "This isn't just any ghost story. Jasper Hill has this whole legend around it. People say it's a place you can only find by this one road, and there's this guy who—"

"Stalks you in an old Blazer, catches you, and hangs you upside down," MJ interjected, rolling her eyes. "It's a basic horror story setup. Honestly, I doubt the place even exists."

"Well, if it's not real, we're just in for a scenic drive." Gwen shrugged, popping a piece of gum. "I'm game either way."

Peter grinned, more amused than concerned. He hadn't mentioned his spidey-sense, but it hadn't so much as tingled since they left. Still, he kept his guard up. They continued on Georgia Highway 166, eyes peeled for a turnoff. The night was thick, almost oppressively dark, with only their headlights piercing through the void.

"There!" Ned shouted suddenly, pointing at an unmarked dirt road off the highway. A weathered, crooked sign read, "Jasper's Hill" in faint, barely readable letters. MJ smirked as if to say,See? Told you it was real.

As they drove down the road, a silence fell over the group. The air grew warmer, a humid, sticky 22.5 Celsius that felt unnatural for a nighttime in October. A thick mist clung to the edges of the road as they wound deeper into the woods. The headlights illuminated clusters of twisted trees and scraggly brush, but beyond that was only inky blackness.

The road stretched on and on, almost impossibly long. Peter glanced at his phone—no signal.

"Hey, Ned, how far did the map say it was?" Peter asked, trying to mask his creeping unease.

Ned squinted at his phone. "Uh… it's gone. My map's frozen."

"So is mine," Gwen said, frowning.

MJ, staring out the window, muttered, "We're in too deep now. And look at that fog. How cliché is this?"

Finally, they reached the end of the dirt road, where it opened up to a small clearing bordered by towering pines. A dim glow outlined a series of hills in the distance, a strange yellowish light, as if the place itself was faintly luminescent. Crude wooden signs were scattered around, all with "Jasper's Hill" scratched into them, each pointing north.

The group of friends parked and exited the car trying to see if they could get a signal.

The silence was palpable, an oppressive blanket that made even MJ visibly uncomfortable. "I don't like this," she muttered. "Feels… off."

Peter was about to reassure her when a low rumble reached their ears, like distant thunder. At first, it was barely noticeable, but it grew louder, closer—a rattling, clanking sound mixed with the low growl of a car engine.

Ned's face paled. "That… that sounds like an old Blazer."

Peter squinted down the road, seeing nothing but darkness. "It's probably just an off-roader messing around."

They waited in tense silence, but the sound drew nearer, more insistent. And then, out of the thick mist, headlights pierced through, aiming directly at them.

"Everyone back to the car, now," Peter commanded, his voice firm. They scrambled back, piling into the vehicle just as the Blazer's headlights bore down on them. Peter's spidey-sense prickled faintly, a warning, and he hesitated.

"What are you doing, Peter? Get in!" MJ hissed, pulling his arm.

But Peter stayed put, standing just outside the car as the Blazer skidded to a halt several yards away. It looked ancient, caked in mud and rusted through in places, yet somehow it still ran smoothly. Inside, the silhouette of the driver sat eerily motionless, its face obscured by shadow.

Then, without warning, the engine revved, and the Blazer surged forward.

"Peter!" Gwen screamed.

Peter leaped out of the way just as the car barreled past, kicking up gravel. It circled back, headlights fixed on him, and something in those lights feltalive,like a predator's gaze locked onto its prey.

As the Blazer circled, Peter noticed that the terrain itself seemed to shift and twist, as though the ground was pushing them closer to the haunted vehicle. His friends' faces were pale, horrified.

"We need to get out of here," MJ said, voice shaky.

"We can't!" Ned's voice was frantic as he tried to start the engine. "The car's dead!"

Peter glanced back at the Blazer and, thinking quickly, pulled out a small metallic device. "Guys, if we're stuck here, we're going to have to be smart. Spread out. Maybe it can only chase one of us at a time."

Reluctantly, they split, each darting in different directions along the dirt paths. The Blazer chose its target—MJ—and took off after her, its headlights cutting through the darkness like sinister eyes.

Peter took a breath and sprinted, vaulting over shrubs and ducking behind trees, throwing stones and creating distractions to divert it. The Blazer jerked and changed course, briefly going after him before he slipped away. It seemed to hesitate, like it was analyzing their movements.

Then it revved louder, seeming to grow more intense, as though the game was frustrating it. Peter felt a pang of dread as the Blazer's headlights suddenly blazed brighter. The sound of a familiar twisted children's song echoed from it, the lyrics warped and broken:

"There were three little kids, who came to play… now they run and run, they can't get away…"

The words seemed to trigger something primal in Peter's mind, and his spidey-sense exploded, warning him friends darted out of hiding, regrouping near him. They glanced at one another, breathless and terrified.

"What is this thing?" Gwen whispered.

"I don't know, but we need to find that road back," Peter said.

The Blazer circled them slowly now, the driver's outline barely visible behind the wheel. Its windows were dark, impossibly black, and as Peter looked closer, he realized that the shadows weren't inside the car—the shadows were the driver.

Then, without any warning, the Blazer's engine died, and the headlights dimmed. The woods fell silent once more, save for the distant whisper of that eerie lullaby. They held their breaths, waiting, until finally, the sound of creaking and grinding faded into the distance.

A sudden breeze swept through the woods, and when they looked back, the Blazer had vanished. The path they'd come from now appeared clear, as though nothing had ever been there at all.

"Let's go," Peter whispered, not daring to question the opportunity.

They stumbled back down the path, none of them daring to look back until they reached the highway. Only then did Peter glance back, finding the dirt road gone, swallowed by the night. A chilling silence lingered, pressing against them.

MJ shivered, hugging herself. "Next time, we're sticking to ghost storieswithoutactual ghosts."