This story was created with Twee and is powered by TiddlyWiki.

You plunge into the dark forest, trying your best to keep your eyes on the wavering flashlight in front of you. It's not easy, though, as the trees do their best to impress on you that this is their domain and that you are not welcome here. Their branches whip against you, resisting your attempts at movement. Despite this, you persist and move step-by-faltering-step towards the figure with the flashlight.\n\nThe combination of darkness and foliage makes it difficult to make out any details of the figure, but the simple fact that there's someone else out here gives you hope.\n\nYou're not sure, but you think you're getting closer. The figure in the woods seems to have stopped for a moment and it feels like you're gaining grounds. You redouble your efforts, ignoring the whipping, snaring branches and the tangled roots on the forest floor.\n\nRushing towards the solitary light source, you realise that it's just a few feet in front of you. You're nearly there and maybe you'll be able to get some help.\n\n<<choice "Call out to the figure">>\n<<choice "Just keep moving">>

You check in the rear-view mirror, trying to see what could be making such a horrific noise.\n\nThese thoughts rapidly disappear when you see a pair of headlights coming up behind you.\n\n<<if $hazardsOn>>\nA car pulls up beside you and the driver winds down his window.\n\n"Having trouble?" he asks.\n\n"Yes. The car just stopped and I can't get a signal on my phone."\n\n"Want to lift?" he asks. "There's a petrol station about ten miles down the road. I'm going that way anyway."\n\n"Absolutely," you say. "Thanks."\n\nYou get out of your car and walk over to his. It's a stroke of luck that he came along, but you can't help but feel slightly disappointed. \n\nFor some reason, you think that this whole experience should have been a little more interesting.\n\n<<else>>\nThe is driving so fast that you think it's going to pass by without noticing you. \n\n<<choice "Get out to flag it down">>\n<<endif>>

You take the mobile phone out of your pocket and press the screen to wake it up. It seems really bright in the middle of all this darkness, but the illumination doesn't make it of any real use, because there's no signal.\n\nYou try holding it higher and waving it around, but it does no good. It's nothing more than an expensive flashlight and timepiece at this point.\n\nYou mutter a dark curse at your mobile phone carrier. As you're putting the phone back in your pocket, the blazing-light screen illuminates something on the surface of the road.\n\nCurious, you kneel down and take a look at the object - a heavy piece of metal that's dug into the road and protrudes up several inches from the surface. The uppermost spur is jagged and torn, as if it was once larger, but was pulled apart by something travelling at speed. Something like a car.\n\nThis thing - whatever it is - doesn't appear to be a natural piece of the roadway. It seems as if it has been placed here deliberately.\n\nA cold chill passes down your spine as you consider the implications of what this might mean. You glance around you, but can see no-one about.\n<<set $checkSignal = true>>\n\n<<choice "Go back to the car">>

Safe as houses, with company to stop you getting spooked. You fiddle with the radio (avoiding the station that's playing Celine Dion) and eventually manage to get a half-way decent reception on Radio 4. While the subject matter under discussion - the poetry of Barnabe Googe - is of no interest to you, the somnambulant tones are soothing your nerves and you find yourself becoming rather relaxed.\n\nThe reassuring tones of middle England allow you to forget your concerns and you feel your eyelids get heavier...\n\n...and heavier...\n\n...until you...\n\n<<choice "fall into darkness">>

You step out of the car and close the driver's side door behind you. There's a little chill in the air, but at least it's not raining and you tell yourself that it's better than just sitting there, waiting for something to happen.\n\nYou look up and down the road for any signs of life. There certainly weren't any the way you came, but you were heading up a slight incline and it's possible there's something over the crest of the small hill.\n\n<<choice "Go and look">>\n<<choice "Stay by the car">>

You feel like you're close enough to the light that you might as well just push on and get there. Redoubling your efforts, you romp through the undergrowth towards the figure standing in the woods ahead of you.\n\nYou push through the trees and enter a small clearing and you can see the figure in front of you. They appear to be carrying something large and heavy and you hear the figure groan as they drop it down onto the forest floor.\n\nYou hear some deep breathing and something about the scene in front of you gives you pause. Seconds ago you had been excited that you might finally be able to get out of this situation, but as things stand you're not sure that things are any better.\n\nThe figure in front of you directs the beam of the torch onto the load on the forest floor and you see quite clearly that it's a corpse. The light shines directly onto a human face that doesn't blink and you feel your heart clench into something small and tight.\n\nStill panting, the standing figure picks up a space and strikes into the forest floor. You know without any trace of a doubt what has happened, but you don't know what to do about it.\n\n<<choice "Run">>\n<<choice "Hide">>

The car starts sputtering and you have no choice but to pull over to the side of the road. It's late and this supposed shortcut may be a quicker way of getting home, but it isn't the sort of place that you want to end up stranded. You haven't seen a house for miles and there's thick forest either side of you.\n\nThe car rolls to a stop and you sit for a moment, wondering what to do next. You check your mobile phone and find that there's no signal, so calling for help isn't going to be an option. Reception's patchy out here at the best of times. It's difficult to know what to do.\n\n<<choice "Get out of the car">>\n<<choice "Sit in the car and wait">>

You move toward the forest and what you think is the place where the scream came from. You're not quite sure why you're doing it, but there's something that compels you onward.\n\nAgain, the terrible shrieking noise breaks through the trees, piercing your spirit and making you stop dead in your tracks.\n\nYou tell yourself that it's probably an animal of some sort, that it's just your mind playing tricks on you. All the same, you grab the wrench in your hand tighter as you listen for any trace of movement.\n\n<<if $checkSignal>>\nYou think you hear someone in front of you, so focus all your efforts into finding them. Sight, hearing and the unknowable intuition of darkness all attempt to zero in on the figure you imagine in front of you.\n\nSo concentrated are you on this possible wanderer in the dark, that you don't notice the figure approaching you from behind.\n\nIt's only when you feel their hand on your back that you even register their presence and by then your nerves are jangling like fire-alarm bells.\n\nYou pivot on the spot, lashing out with one arm in the general direction of the new shape on your radar. Your hand flails wildly in an attempt to push them away and with it goes the heavy metal wrench.\n\nYou hear steel compacting bone with a sickening crunch and watch in horror as you see a woman fall to the ground as a result of the blow struck by your hand.\n\nHer eyes roll back in their sockets and blood flows from her head as you kneel at her side.\n\n"Came... to... help..." she says, wheezily before a rattling breath escapes her lips and her lungs stop moving.\n\nYou call for help.\n\nNo-one comes.\n\n<<else>>\nIt may be your imagination, but you think you see a faint beam of light somewhere in the forest. Perhaps it's wishful thinking, but it appears to be someone holding a flashlight. You wonder what someone would be doing out here in the dead of night, before realising that this person might be able to help you.\n\n<<choice "Go into the woods">>\n<<endif>>

You decide that the best thing you can do is stand by the car and wait for someone else to come along the road. \n\nYou grow tired of just standing there, so start walking around the car in circles - first one way, then the other.\n\nWell. This is boring.\n\n<<choice "Start whistling">>\n<<choice "Look at the stars">>

Frustrated, you move to the middle of the car and set yourself down so that you're reaching inward from the wing to the place where the metal spur is embedded. Now that you're not reaching so far, you're able to get a better grip and you tug at it as hard as you can.\n\nUsing both hands to try and prise the metal shard out from the underside of the car is quite an ordeal. You pull with all your might, but nothing seems to budge it. You give it one last heave, thinking that no force on earth will be able to move it and you feel as if there's a small amount of give. Perhaps it's not so impossible, after all.\n\nRedoubling your efforts, you start shouting curses at the immovable object, proclaiming yourself to be the irresistible force and commanding the obstinate piece of metal to obey your commands. Despite this, the object remains firmly wedged in, but you remain determined to match its obstinacy.\n\nSo absorbed are you in the tussle that you don't notice the light on the tarmac or the sound of a car approaching. \n\nThe car tears down the road at high speed. As you turn your head to see it, you realise that it's on a collision course with your car. \n\n<<if $checkSignal>>\nAs soon as this information enters your brain, you feel something grabbing hold of your ankles and pulling hard.\n\nYou are dragged swiftly out from under your car by someone (or something) that you cannot see. Your face and hands get scuffed and bloody by the road surface, but it all happens so quickly that you do not have the chance to complain.\n\nThe car slams into yours, pushing it forward by a couple of feet. You note with a sick feeling in your stomach that the tyres roll over exactly where you were lying seconds ago and that it could have killed you.\n\nWhatever has hold of your legs releases them and you turn around and look to see who has saved your life. A short, squat woman stands here, her eyes wide in shock.\n\n"Are you OK?" she pants.\n\nYou nod, still reeling from the events of the past few seconds.\n\n"I was walking and I saw a light," she says, before pointing back to the crest of the hill. "Up there. I came over and saw... well, you."\n\nYou remember your phone and realise that even though you couldn't get a signal, a rescue signal still got through.\n\n"You saved my life," you say.\n\nShe looks confused, but doesn't deny the truth of your statement.\n\nThen, the pair of you look at the crash site and, as one, realise that there must be someone else's life to consider.\n\nYou both scramble over to the cars and check the driver's side of the car that came over the hill. A young man sits in the driver's seat, his head cracked against the bloody mess of the steering wheel.\n\n"Help me get him out of there," the woman says. "I know first aid."\n\nYou comply dumbly with the woman and do what she tells you, lifting the young man out of the car and helping her put him in the recovery position.\n\nYou watch as she administers first aid. When she tires of giving chest compressions, you take over, doing the best you can to try and massage life into the young man's heart.\n\nWhen it's clear that it's a losing battle, she tells you to stop and you're forced to acknowledge that it's over.\n\nYou feel the weight of death around you, but when you look to the woman for solace, she is already walking away.\n\nYou ask what she's doing, but she just says that she can't be here, leaving you with the body at your feet.\n\nEventually, another car comes and you tell them what happened. They take you to a phone and call the police.\n\nYou don't know who the woman was, but you know that she saved your life. In the nights that follow, you wonder why she wouldn't stay and resign yourself to the fact that you'll probably never know.\n<<else>>\nThe speeding car slams into yours, pushing it forward several feet and letting the back wheel roll over your torso.\n\nIn your last few moments of consciousness, you wonder exactly how heavy your car is and the exact breaking point of your spinal column.\n\nLuckily, you don't have time to think of this for long, as the blackness under your car becomes total, subsuming every thought you will ever have. \n<<endif>>

<<set doorLocked=true>>\nThe central locking activates with a satisfying clunk and even though your conscious mind knows there's nothing to fear from an empty road, you still feel more secure knowing that nobody can get in.\n\nYou sit in silence, wondering what you're supposed to be doing.\n\n"I spy..." you say out loud, "...with my little eye..."\n\nThen you realise that 'I spy' isn't really a game you can play on your own.\n\n<<choice "Turn on the radio">>

After an indeterminate amount of time, the darkness abates and your eyes open. When they do, the world is at a 90 degree angle and you can feel the ground against your cheek. It seems lighter than before and you wonder how long you've been out for.\n\nSlowly, your vision clears and you see a young man looking directly at you. He doesn't blink. He doesn't breathe. He doesn't move at all. Only when you try to talk do you realise that he's dead and only when you try to move do you realise that your arms and legs are tied behind you.\n\nAs you struggle against your restraints, you move your head around to try and get your bearings and it's then that you realise that you're in the bottom of a shallow pit, several feet deep.\n\nYou cry out for help and the words hurt your throat, Still, you repeat them again and again until you notice the figure standing above you.\n\nThey look like a giant from where you lie, but what worries you most is the shovel they hold in their hand. \n\n"You're awake," the figure says. "I'm glad. I thought I was going to have to start without you."\n\n"Please," you say. "Don't do this. I beg you. Show some humanity."\n\nThe figure cocks its head to one side, as if considering your request. \n\n"Nah," it says and throws the first patch of dirt onto your grave.\n\nThe first of many.

It's a long two minutes, but eventually the facially equine Canadian stops warbling and is replaced by the sound of the disk jockey. He speaks with a honeyed burr that is only ever heard on late-night local radio and runs through some local news headlines.\n\nHe talks about some sort of grisly accident at the local country fair and urges listeners to be on the look out for a woman who has escaped from a mental hospital. He then goes on to tell people about the brouhaha developing over a local counsellor's love-life.\n\nWhen the news is over, he queues up Sade's "Smooth Operator" and you switch the radio off in disgust. Perhaps silence is better after all.\n\nThe radio has put you in a bad mood. You sigh and look at your useless mobile phone once more, jabbing at the buttons to see if it does anything, but to no avail.\n\nJust when you're settling into the silent tedium of waiting, a loud metallic screeching sound comes from the back of the car.\n\n<<choice "Get out to investigate">>\n<<choice "Check in the rear-view mirror">>

You turn around and flee. Any attempt to be stealthy is lost as the adrenaline kicks in and commands your body to run away as quickly as possible. You crash through branches and bracken as you make your way back through the forest. It's difficult to tell in the dark, but you think that you're heading in the direction of your parked car, but there's no way to be sure.\n\nOne thing is certain, however, and that is that you need to get away from the horror behind you. Terror grips you and compels you forward with strength you never knew you possessed. You don't dare look behind you, but concentrate on keeping your momentum going. The one time you risk looking over your shoulder, you run into a tree and almost scream in terror, thinking that the killer has somehow got in front of you. When the truth become clear, you pick yourself up and continue running.\n\nWhen you finally reach the road, you don't even bother to try starting the car again. Instead you run past it and keep going for as long as your legs will allow. Eventually, they give out beneath you and you roll into a ditch beside the road, panting and gasping for breath as you recall the dreadful sight of those lifeless eyes illuminated by torchlight.\n\nEventually, you get your breath back and start jogging down the road again. As it gets light, cars start to travel down the road, but you don't dare flag any of them down, in case it's the torch-wielding murderer you saw in the woods.\n\nOnly when you reach a village and see a phone box do you start to relax. You never thought it would be a relief to report a murder, but calling 999 feels like the best thing you've ever done in your life.\n\nIt feels like hours until the police car comes, but it's probably only a few minutes. You tell the officers what you've seen, but your teeth are chattering and it's difficult for them to make out what you're saying. Only after they've taken you to the station and you've been seen by a doctor are you able to make a proper statement.\n\nHours pass. Eventually, an officer tells you that they've found your car, but having searched the surrounding area they can find no trace of the gravesite. They ask you for a physical description of the person you saw, but you're not able to provide one.\n\nIt becomes clear that they think you imagined the whole thing. They promise to keep you notified of any developments, but you never hear back from them. In the months that follow, you start to wonder if perhaps it was your imagination and there are days when you can believe that, but then there are nights when you're jolted awake by the memory of that body on the forest floor. There are times when you wish that someone would believe you and then there are times you wish that it was just a fantasy. If only it were that simple. If only you had that choice.

"Hello?" you shout. "Can you hear me?"\n\nThe beam of the torch shines in your general direction and you wave your arms above your head and call twice as loud.\n\n"Yes, yes, over here!" you yell. "Can you give me a hand?"\n\nThey don't say anything, but you think they hear you. There's the sound of something heavy falling on the ground and then the person holding the torch moved towards you at a much quicker pace than they had previously been moving.\n\n"Hi!" you say, still waving your arms and continuing to talk so they can find you, "thanks for coming over. My car broke down and I'm a bit lost."\n\nYou watch as the figure emerges from the woods. It's a tall man with a grey beard. He looks both ways down the road before walking over to where you're standing.\n\n"Car trouble, is it?" he grunts.\n\n"Yes," you say. "I don't know what happened. I was driving along and the thing just died."\n\nHe looks at you and blinks a couple of times without saying anything, as if in some kind of trance. Then, just as swiftly as it came, his reverie is broken.\n\n"Well, let's have a look then," he says.\n\n"Thanks," you say, "it's just over here."\n\nYou turn to show him to the car, but don't get more than a few steps before you feel something heavy hit you on the back of the head. \n\n<<choice "And then, everything is darkness">>

You crouch down and look under the car, using the screen of the mobile phone as a light source.\n\nStraight away, you can tell that there's something wrong under there and that, as you suspected, part of the metal spur in the road is now embedded in the undercarriage of your automobile.\n\nYou get further down onto the ground and reach under the car, hoping that maybe if you can remove that jagged piece of metal, you might be able to get out of here. Reaching out, your fingers continually brush against the torn edge, but you're unable to get firm purchase on it.\n\n<<choice "Move to a better position">>\n<<choice "Look for some sort of tool">>

You purse your lips and run through a medley of off-key tunes. "Happy Birthday", "Eastenders", "The Final Countdown" and that one from "Fantasia".\n\nYou're still really bored.\n\nMaybe you would be better off inside the car. You can whistle in there and it's not so cold.\n\n<<choice "Sit in the car and wait">>

You slide out from under the car and open up the boot to try and find something that might help you remove the obstinate piece of metal from the underside of your car.\n\nThe rear compartment is kind of a mess, but you're sure that there's a small toolkit in here somewhere.\n\nEventually, you consider your options. There isn't a set of pliers or anything like that, but there is a wheel wrench. Maybe you could use it to knock the piece of metal out? \n\nIt seems like a shoddy approach. Maybe you would be better off leaving it alone.\n\n<<choice "Grab the wheel wrench">>\n<<choice "Stay by the car" "Leave it alone">>

A cold breeze brushes past you, making you shiver in your shoes. You suddenly have a really bad feeling about standing out here by yourself, vulnerable and exposed.\n\nYou can't help but wonder about that piece of metal sticking out from the road surface and if that was the reason the car stopped. The way the metal was torn off... well, there may be a piece of it stuck under the chassis.\n\n<<choice "Go to switch on the hazard lights">>\n<<choice "Check under the car">>

You pull on the door handle to get out and get the driver's attention.\n\n<<if $doorLocked>>\nBut pulling on the lever makes no difference and the door remains closed.\n\nYou glance in the wing mirror and see that the car behind you is getting closer and closer and isn't slowing down.\n\nNor does it look like it's going to pass you.\n\nYou're still tugging uselessly on the door, forgetting entirely about the central locking, as the speeding car smashes directly into the back of your vehicle.\n\nYour head smacks against the steering wheel and there's a moment of perfect clarity in which you see your entire life flash before your eyes. Everything you ever did, everyone you ever met, all laid out before you in one moment, in which you see what the true purpose of life is. \n\nAnd then nothing.\n<<else>>\nYou get out of the car, just in time to see that the oncoming driver is heading straight towards the back of your car. You scream and wave, but the car is travelling too fast and you have to dive aside in order to avoid the collision. \n\nThere is a sickening crunch of metal and glass and when the sound of the impact has stopped ringing in your ears, all you can hear is the persistent jeer of a car horn. The sound, usually quick and irritated, blares on and on.\n\nPicking yourself up, you move to investigate the accident. In the driver's seat, a young man sits motionless, his head resting against the steering wheel in a sticky mess of blood.\n\nYou see he's not wearing a seatbelt and isn't moving, but still you ask if he's OK.\n\nThere's no answer, but you ask again and again.\n\nYou don't know how long it is until another car comes, but when it does you're still asking the young man if he's OK, because you can't let go of that tiny hope.\n<<endif>>

As quietly as you can, you duck back into the undergrowth and pray that the figure in the clearing hasn't seen you.\n\nYou wait behind a tree, trying your very best not to make a noise. Adrenaline and cold night air are your enemies, however, as nervous breaths rasp out of your mouth and you shake with such ferocity that your teeth occasionally chatter. Each time they do, you hold your hands over your mouth in an attempt to maintain silence and your heart pounds in your chest as you try to wait out the nightmare unfolding before you.\n\nYou know you shouldn't look. You know it's a risk that you can't afford to take, but you simply can't bear not to. Cautiously, you peer around the tree and watch as the dark figure in the clearing digs a hole in the ground.\n\nYour eyes meet those of the corpse for one fleeting second before it's dragged into the ground and the burial process begins. You hear muttering as the hole is filled, but can't make out any words and even though you know that this would probably be as good a time as any to try and make your escape, you can't bring yourself to move.\n\nIt takes a long time for the whole process to be done, but when the shallow grave is refilled, the figure picks up the spade and the torch and starts to move away. For one awful moment, you think that they're heading towards you, but thankfully they head off in the opposite direction. You stay where you are, however, just in case they double back.\n\nYou stay still for hours, only daring to move when the first rays of sunlight make their way through the trees. You're freezing cold and utterly terrified, but you try to make your way out of the forest.\n\nThe strange thing is that you can't quite remember which way you came from. You start to walk in a direction that you think is the right way, but you can't seem to find the road. After a while, you come back to the same clearing and discover that you've been walking in circles.\n\nA low sob comes out of your throat, but you can't allow yourself to be discouraged. You start off again, in what you feel certain is the right direction. \n\nHours pass and you still haven't found the road. You don't know if the forest is denser, the hour is late or if you're just feeling weak, but everything is starting to look darker. \n\nYou slump down on the ground. You know you need to get out of here, but somehow you can't seem to raise the energy. \n\nPerhaps what you need to do is have a rest. Maybe just close your eyes for a few minutes. You've been up all night, after all, hiding in a dark, cold forest from a crazed murderer. \n\nYou close your eyes, telling yourself that it's just for a little while, just so you can get your strength back.\n\nYou don't believe it yourself, but you don't care anymore.\n\nIt's time to rest.

19 - Breakdown

You fiddle with the radio, flicking through stations to find something you like. Reception's pretty patchy and most of your favourite stations are too fuzzy to listen to. As you scan through the frequencies, you wonder whatever happened to CB radios. One of those would be pretty handy right now. You look at your useless mobile phone with disgust, before hitting on a radio station that comes through clear as a bell. It must be a local station, because it's the only one you've found so far that doesn't hiss and fizz with static. \n\nThe bad news is that they're playing Celine Dion.\n\n<<choice "Stick with it and hope that the next song will be better">>\n<<choice "Find something else">>

It occurs to you that this might not be the best idea you've ever had, but you open the door and step out all the same.\n\n"Hello?" you say. "Is there someone there?"\n\nThe metallic sound stops and even though you can't be sure, it seems like it's coming from the rear of the car. It's difficult to tell in the dark, but it looks like there's something back there. Maybe it's an animal. Maybe it's a person. You can't be sure. There's no light back there.\n\nYou take a half-step towards the source of the noise, then stop and consider your options. This has the feel of something bad, but you can't exactly say what it is. Perhaps there's something wrong, or perhaps your nerves have just been jangled by the radio.\n\nYou look back at the open car door and the keys dangling in he ignition. You wish you could just get back inside, turn the key and speed off.\n\nAnother shuffling noise comes from the rear of the car. You don't say anything this time. \n<<if $hazardsOn>>\nYou know it's probably your imagination, but you have a horrible feeling that something bad is about to happen. Still, that doesn't stop you from needing to find out what it is.\n<<else>>\nThere's no light back there. Maybe if you turned the hazard lights on, you would be able to see what it is that's moving around back there.\n\n<<choice "Switch on the hazard lights">><<endif>>\n<<choice "Move quietly to the back of the car">>

You decide that a little bit of light is probably a good idea and - besides - you really should have put the hazards on when the car first stopped. Still, better late than never.\n\nYou lean back into the car and adjust the controls to turn the lights on at the back of the car.\n\nTurning the control on the steering column should turn the lights on, but you can't say for sure whether they work, because something hard hits you on the back of the head. You fall where you stand and the last thing you remember before you black out is the fabric of the car seat rushing up to meet your face and the sharp pain in your knees as they buckle beneath you. \n\n<<choice "And then, everything is darkness">>

You pick up the heavy iron wrench and feel its weight in your hand. It's a solid item and you swing it a couple of times to feel its heft. You feel better, knowing that you're not out here totally defenceless.\n\nSuddenly, a blood curdling scream comes from somewhere deep in the forest by the side of the road. It sounds like the wail of the damned rising up from the depths of hell. You curl your hand around the heavy iron wrench.\n\n<<choice "Investigate the noise">>\n<<choice "Sit in the car and wait" "Sit in the car and pretend you can't hear it">>

Persisting with the scan through the radio frequencies, you eventually manage to find a station that's playing a song you once danced to at a wedding. It's a tenuous thing to latch on to, but it's better than nothing. You start humming along to the music and having quite a good time when a large burst of static breaks through the music and fills the space inside the car, causing you to leap out of your seat. \n\nThe noise disappears as soon as it appeared and you laugh at yourself for being so jumpy.\n\nAgain, the radio barks and you can feel your heart beating in your chest. It's ridiculous, but it seems to be getting you every time. Maybe this isn't the best station to be listening to.\n\nYou lean forward and try to find an alternative to HeartAttack FM. As you're fiddling with the controls, another strange noise fills the car, making you jump and bang your head on the steering wheel. It's a long, slow, scratching noise that makes the fillings in your teeth itch.\n\nYou swear loudly as you rub your bruised head and turn to look for the source of the noise.\n\nYou see no-one, but the long, metallic screeching noise continues.\n\n<<choice "Get out to investigate">>\n<<choice "Check in the rear-view mirror">>

You back warily away from the screeching forest and into the road.

You figure it's probably best to sit in the car and wait. Someone's bound to come along before too long and the last thing you need is to be standing by the side of the road. It's kind of creepy, though, sitting here by yourself. Funny, you didn't mind it so much when you were moving, but now that the car's dead you feel sort of vulnerable. A small chill runs down your spine and in an effort to assuage your baseless fears, you...\n\n<<choice "Lock the door">>\n<<choice "Turn on the radio">>\n<<choice "Do both">>

You go back to the driver's seat and switch on the hazard lights, hopefully making you that bit more visible to any traffic that might come along.\n<<set $hazardsOn = true>>\nYou remember that there's one of those reflective triangle thingies in the boot and think that you should probably display that somewhere as well.\n\nYou walk around to the rear of the car and pop open the lid. After a little bit of rootling around in the back, you find the safety triangle. It's been rolling around back here with the road atlas, tyre jack and wheel wrench, as well as a thousand old pieces of paper which litter up the boot. \n\nYou set up the safety triangle and have a look around you. There doesn't appear to be anyone around, but you feel slightly reassured that even if there was an accident, you've done what you can to prevent it.\n\nYou feel a bit exposed standing out here on your own.\n\n<<choice "Sit in the car and wait">>\n<<choice "Grab the wheel wrench">>

The good thing about being in such extreme darkness is that you get a really good view of the stars.\n\nYou gape up at the majesty of the heavens, wishing that you knew more about the constellations and names of things.\n\nYou get so lost in the wonders of the solar system that you totally fail to realise that you are wandering out into the middle of the road.\n\nBy the time you hear the car coming down the road, it's too late.\n\nWith no warning, the car is unable to stop and crashes right into you.\n\nThe last thing you see is a young man framed by the stars.\n\n"I didn't see you," he says. "You were just standing in the middle of the road and I didn't see you."\n\nYou want to tell him that it's not his fault.\n\nBut you don't have the words.

Clear shards rain down on you like diamonds from the sky. The glass sprays from the window by your head and you pull back instinctively, scrabbling across the centre of the car to get as far away as possible from the sharp, shattering mess.\n\nWith another horrible crunch, another strong blow caves the window in further, sending more crystalline droplets across the car's interior. The radio is still playing and an insane combination of drums and radio static combines to create the soundtrack for the end of the world.\n\nA crowbar comes through the viciously-opened window and clears the remaining glass from the frame. A gloved hand reaches in and unlocks the door, before yanking it open and reaching out to grab your feet.\n\nYou scramble away and kick at the figure reaching for you, but to no avail. Strong hands grasp you and hold you firm, making it impossible for you to move. You look at the figure holding you and see that it doesn't have a face, just those clasping hands that hold you firm. They scrabble their way up your thrashing body and make their way to your throat, where they clasp and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze until you...\n\n<<choice "fall into darkness">>

"Hey!" you call. "Hey, I could really use your help!"\n\nThere's motion in front of you and the beam of the torch is trained in your direction.\n\n"Is there someone there?" a voice says. It's a man's voice, but it sounds oddly strained.\n\n"Yes! I'm sorry to bother you, but my car broke down by the road and I could use some help."\n\nThe beam of the torch is shining directly in your face which, after all that time spent in the dark, is blinding.\n\n"Is there anyone else with you?" the man asks.\n\n"No. Why do you ask?"\n\n"Doesn't matter," he says, drawing closer.\n\n"I don't suppose you know where there's a working phone nearby, do you? I could really use a mechanic."\n\n"I'm a mechanic," the man says, drawing closer but still keeping the beam of the torch trained on your face.\n\n"Oh!" you say, squinting into the light and struggling to make out his features. "Lucky me."\n\n"Yes," the man says, drawing closer. "Lucky you."\n\nIn one swift motion, he raises the torch and smashes it around your head, knocking you to the floor.\n\nThe last thing you remember are the flashes of light as he whips the electric flashlight on your skull, over and over again.\n\n<<choice "And then, everything is darkness">>

You tip-toe quietly towards the rear of the vehicle and peer around the edge of the boot, dreading what you might find there. The scuttling, scrabbling noises grow more intense as you approach, then stop dead. Whatever it is, it's aware of your presence. It's too late to turn back, though, and you take the final, fateful step to see...\n\nA badger, mooching around your rear tyre. It stays stock still for a moment, frozen by your looming presence. \n\nYou breathe a sigh of relief and chuckle a little to yourself. The sound startles the badger and it scurries away from the car.\n\nAs it does, a reflection flashes in its eye. You look around and see a beam of light moving about in the woods. It's difficult to tell through the trees, but it looks like someone's walking around in there, using an electric torch. You don't know why someone would do that at this time, but you feel relieved to know that you're not the only person out here. \n\n<<choice "Call out to the person">>\n<<choice "Go into the woods">>

You walk up the small hill, hoping that a small farmhouse with a blazing fire and working phone lies just on the other side. Unfortunately, it's not to be. There's nothing of interest on the other side of the small hill - just more trees and more poorly-lit road that twists away into the darkness.\n\nYou look back at your car and realise that it's hardly visible from here. You should probably go back and put the hazard lights on before this evening goes from bad to worse.\n\nYou wonder if it's worth trying your phone again. You're not more than twenty metres from your car, but you are slightly higher up. Would that make a difference?\n\n<<choice "Go to switch on the hazard lights">>\n<<choice "Check your phone for reception">>

You wake up with a start, jolting awake from a deep sleep that seemed to come from nowhere.\n\nDisconcerted, you look around you and then you remember - the car, the road, the darkness and more than anything the fact that you're stuck here.\n\nYou sigh and rub your eyes. How long were you asleep for? It's still pitch black outside and there's deathly silence all around. You try to look at the clock in the dashboard, but it's dead. That's never happened before. You try turning on the interior lights, but they don't respond. You realise that playing the radio must have drained the battery.\n\nStupid.\n\nSick of being in the car, you reach for the door handle, so you can get out and stretch your legs, but when you pull the handle, the door won't open. You pull it again, but still the door won't budge.\n\nThis is ridiculous, you think, and tug on the door handle some more. Still, it won't budge, no matter how hard you try. The electric windows don't work, either, so you can't even climb out that way.\n\nNone of the other doors will open, leading you to think that maybe the central locking is on the fritz. You scream with frustration. Locked in a broken down car that you can't move and can't get out of.\n\nYou bash your hands against the window, trying to get out of this metal cage which seems to be shrinking with every passing second. Again and again, you hammer on the glass, but it doesn't yield.\n\nYou strike harder and harder, bloodying your knuckles as you thrash against the window. A mania has overtaken you and you know that no matter what happens, you must get out of the car.\n\nYour breath catches in your throat, with that dry, stuffy quality that comes from being in the car too long. Is it possible that you're running out of oxygen in here? Logic tells you that it shouldn't be the case, but your lungs tell you otherwise, as your breathing becomes laboured and your system cries out for fresh air.\n\nWith frantic intensity, you bash against the window, struggling for breath as you try to desperately to cling on to life.\n\nJust when it seems that you have lost the fight, there is a cacophonous noise that feels like an explosion within the small confines of the car.\n\n<<choice "The sound of breaking glass">>