Chapter One

The sedan gulped back the last fumes of fuel;  the engine starved.

“No, no, no… please don’t die on me!”  Victoria whimpered the plea with the machine to keep going.

The motor shuddered and the RPM gauge convulsed before the car gave one final strained rotation of pistons for power before giving out. For a moment it stunned her, her mouth agape, her long straight black hair framing her face. A grimace twisted along her full cherry painted lips, forced to accept what had happened, but none too happy over it. With reluctance she pulled the vehicle over onto the side of the logging road, the vehicle limping with its last vestiges of momentum.

On the spot she had flown into a rage, a deluge of colorful expletives. They came as fast as her mind could draw upon them from memory and it was a long string. She pounded her palms into the steering wheel, ignoring the sharp stings in her hands as she did. Once spent of her anger, she was panting, her throat ached from screaming at her car, her hands throbbing after the volatile outburst.

The tantrum served nothing and after rubbing the pain from her palms with her thumbs; she reached under the steering wheel and gave a twist of the keys. The dash lights dimmed, the fan blowing air into the car cabin died down; it left her in silence with the waning rays of the sun still offering warmth. She snorted with a shake of her head, finding a meager shred of amusement in how then she had a mind to not drain another part of her car.

Work had dragged late, she had been in a wild rush. The trio of hunky guys who invited her had already left. It had been pretty fucking rude of them, but she had a rough idea of where they were going. Half a tank seemed reasonable. It never occurred to her that wandering around a mountain in search of an unregistered campsite would make for good mileage. Gone was the goal of camping. Stuck the way she was meant no drinks by a fire, no men sharing her tent to get frisky with inside her tent. 

With a long deflated sigh she leaned back and sank into the seat of her car when anger and frustration gave way to morose. She tilted her head and gave a low sullen curse at the situation she had gotten herself into. Already her guts felt like they were bunching up into this tight knot over it when the gravity of the situation settled over her. She ran out of gas in the worst place, with only nothing but dense forest surrounding her.

She barked a sullen laugh as tears welled up in her eyes, but she bit back on the rising self pity. Taking a deep breath, she reached up to her head with both hands and pushed her fingers through her silky black hair. 

“No point in crying now, just going to make your makeup run.” She talked to herself with a tremble to her voice. “This is my fault.”

With a low groan in self-realization, she dropped her head against the steering wheel and triggered the horn with her forehead. The loud blaring honk made her scream right back at it in alarm and jumped out of her seat in wide-eyed surprise, her heart thumping against her chest.

She reached for her phone, the one thing that could save her from such a mess. With a press of a button the phone flashed her face with such a bright light it made her eyes wince at such a glare. Once they adjusted to its harsh brightness, it had felt like some cruel prank when she saw her phone had no service. She was way outside of the range of any cellular tower.

Her heart sank into the pit of her stomach and her lips pursed to stop her chin from quivering again. It had just gotten so much worse. Just calling for a tow truck was off the table. In stubborn desperation she had tried to send a handful of texts, but they all failed.

The hope she was clinging onto was such a cruel bitch because it only helped to torment her, watching as her texts and calls failed over and over. The plastic frame of her phone creaked when she tried to crush it in her hands when the grim understanding had sunk in. She was on her own.

With a whimper of utter defeat, she tossed the useless device aside with a flick of her wrist and it bounced off the passenger seat and onto the floor. She brushed her wavy raven black hair from her face with a quivering hand, tucking the loose strands behind her to compose herself.

“Come on Victoria… this is nothing you can’t handle, just don’t freak the fuck out.” She had tried to temper the torrent of miserable emotions by saying to herself in a soothing voice.

After some deep breaths but she reigned in her emotions enough for her to think with a level head about her situation. What she needed most in that moment was a comforting embrace of a hug and crossed her arms under her large bust to squeeze herself in self reassurance. 

It was while she stared at her steering wheel in this quiet contemplation for a moment. Some options about how she could escape this mess was taking shape. Yet those options were far fewer than she cared for, she chewed on the inside of her bottom lip because they both sucked.

She quite liked the first idea, just waiting and sitting it out in the car curled up in a blanket. Help will come to her. Only she pondered how far off she had wandered. Do they check this road often? It could be days, it could be tomorrow. When those thoughts raked at her plan, she was finding it less and less desirable. To hammer home the point, she leaned back and looked over her supplies. A cooler packed with beers, some frozen hot dogs and bags of chips to sustain her, the large box of condoms to sustain her other needs. She packed under the assumption the men would be there to fill all her needs.

To hammer home the point, she felt the cold already started creeping in around her. With no heater fending it off and she could feel it leeching the warmth from her body. She responded with a shudder, realizing and she had pulled a blanket from her bed to use up on this frosty ass mountain. Well, she had other ideas back then of how she was planning on keeping warm, not anymore!

Victoria was feeling the chill nip at her arms and legs, making them break out in gooseflesh under her shirt and leggings. She had a pressing desire to do something drastic, something quicker than waiting. Her eyes turned outward and the debate in her mind started over the prospect of venturing into the darkness in search for help. It will be a stinging walk of shame, but it had to be done.

She had to admit, both plans sucked for their own reasons. Freeze in her car when the sunset, or get more lost on foot trying to backtrack. Her head tilted backwards, and gave an annoyed groan at her limited options. There was a lingering prospect of flagging down a rescuer while she walked. That would be perfect.

“Oh, Please let someone find me, I swear if he is a dude I’ll blow him the entire way off this fucking mountain.” She sighed a personal prayer aloud at the wonderful thought of salvation by hitchhiking.

This naughty thought of rewarding the imagined rescuer in such a way got her to giggle, and she needed the moment of levity to help lift her spirits. With a plan of action formed in her mind, she was already peering out the window to gaze towards the road still lit. The sun had already sunk behind the mountain. It was still bright out, but she did not know how much longer it would last as she peered out over the rough carved out logging road. Some of the tallest pine trees she had ever seen flanked the path. It was also the first time she had gone camping, so it set the bar damned low.

Under broad canopies of pine trees, she could only make out the first few trunks before it was pitch darkness. She narrowed her blue eyes at the foreboding sight and she could not help but wonder what could lurk in there while she walked. Her imagination played with all the grim possibilities of what could pounce her from the shadows, but she realized it would make her reconsider walking.

The longer she sat idle, the harder the cold bit into her and made her jaw involuntarily quiver. It stiffened her nipples against the cups of her lacy red bra. Her breath came forth in steaming puffs. She rubbed at her thighs through her black cotton leggings, trying to massage some warmth into them. The tight material bunched up under her fingers as she stroked, squeezing the toned muscle of her legs. 

It was a walk or freeze then. With a heavy sigh, she braced for the adventure she was about to embark on and shoved open the car door.