That sick, inhumane voice that Amber had heard earlier at the food court came back. The very one that had wished her friend was the target of a creep instead of her. Now that voice said, run. Run far and run fast. Don't look back or you'll be somewhere in the woods screaming, too.

Amber whimpered beneath the influence of the thought. How could she? Jill would never leave her. How could she even think of doing such an unforgivable thing?

She kept looking in the car, but more frantically now. A restaurant bag from earlier. A lot of good that would do. She'd need years and lots of burgers and fries to clog an assailant's arteries. In the front floorboard, she found a screwdriver. That's better than nothing. She nearly dropped it when she heard Jill scream again.

This scream was louder, it seemed. More desperate. It ripped Amber's heart in two. She wanted to want nothing more than to go to her right then. To want to risk herself to help her friend. But the truth was that she was dead terrified of whatever was making Jill scream like that. She didn't want any part of it. She cried out loud and cowered in the front corner of the car, the screw driver tight in her hand. Jill screamed again and Amber sobbed, helplessly. What was happening to Jill?

Will it happen to me, too? she wondered.

"Shhh," Amber said to herself. "She just got lost that's all. She went to find help and she got lost."

It was mostly wishful thinking. She had gone numb. She had to tell herself something that would calm her enough to gain back her motor skills. It was silent again, except for the rain beating against the Earth. Drops splattered Amber's jean jacket. One drop hit her skin where her sleeve was torn. She looked up and saw it falling. Mother nature's shower. It felt like ice on her cheeks. The sensation woke her senses. She continued searching the car for something that could help. A cell phone, the taser, anything useful. She popped open the glove box and -bingo- the taser fell out. It was round and long, about the size of a normal flashlight. She stuck it in the waistband of her jeans.

A sharp sound came from far off. The sound of someone or something hitting a tree. Amber paused only a moment, and then kept looking for her phone. She didn't know what was going on, but she was sure that if she could just get help, if she could call brave people unlike herself, they could help Jill. They could get them both out of there. Frustrated, Amber glanced up and looked out the windshield, toward the area where she thought the sound was coming from. There, laying on the road in front of the car, was her phone.