On the legally stated sixty miles per hour highway, Oliver Blackwell hammered his flip flop covered foot down on the gas pedal. His dark blue convertible Camaro zoomed down the two-lane highway like a torpedo with his long black hair whipping through the choppy air.

"Spring Break is almost over!" Chris uttered stuffed in the back seat that wasn't accommodating his 6'4 frame.

"There's four more days to fuck with." Oliver glanced in the rearview mirror seeing Kylie's sorry state. "Don't be so dramatic. You sound like Leslee."

"We should've just gone back to campus." Freshman Kylie Wong proclaimed holding her jet-black hair out of her face.

They all glared at her quizzically.

Chris' head whipped towards her, "Are you crazy?" He waited for an answer but she just shrugged her bare shoulders. "We spend enough time there already. We're not adding extra."

"But Chris weren't you the one complaining that Spring Break was almost over," Emily yelled from the passenger seat.

"Yeah," Chris affirmed. "But not so we could go back to campus. I just want to get where the hell we are suppose to be so I can cut lose. Unwind. Relax."

"I don't want to be outdoors. Files, roaches, rats; I don't want to deal with that." Kylie chirped.

Oliver shifted his caramel eyes to Emily since she was the one to invite the eighteen-year-old on their trip. Emily just patted his hand that gripped the gearshift and mouthed chill.

"We're going to a cabin, not a tent." Oliver reiterated keeping his eyes on the road for any State Troopers playing hide and go seek.

"Yeah, get a grip!" Emily chimed in. She didn't feel like dealing with an irritated Oliver all weekend.

Oliver sped past the wooden Welcome to Tranquility sign and kicked up a hazy dust cloud as they rolled through the city.

"This is like one of those towns on Gunsmoke!" Chris stared at the drab General Store.

"The town is Gunsmoke." Oliver flicked on the windshield whippers to remove the layer of sand.

Emily shook her head with a laugh, "The town was Dodge City; the show is Gunsmoke."

"No one really cares." Kylie frowned at the bleakness of the town. "This all looks a little shifty to me."

"Everything's shifty to you," Oliver stated before sharply turning down the two-lane street he practically missed.

Chris and Kylie held firmly onto the warm door. While Emily gripped tightly onto her seatbelt digging into the crook of her neck as Oliver whipped the car into its lane. As the car coasted down the street a large pop polluted the atmosphere. The car spun out of control doing 360 revolutions like a spinning top. Oliver grasped the will and slammed on the brake. The force of motion was too strong for the padded metal that rested on the tires. The car spun out the doughnuts it was etched and slammed into a nearby tree.

The screeching of the car horn cut through the country silence. A moan emitted from Oliver's mouth. The horn stopped crying as he pulled his head off the steering wheel. His hands held his face firmly as if it was about to fall apart. Going through the motion, he unbuckled his seatbelt and climbed over the bent car door. He leaned on the door praying his head stop gliding around like a Ferris wheel.

"What happened?" Chris questioned pulling his body out the car. "A blowout."

Oliver backed up drawing in the full view of his car; smashed hood wrapped around the tree, buckled sides, and fractured windshield. "Oh. My. God! My baby!" He rubbed his hand over the uneven surface of the car. "My Dad's going to kill me!"

"At least we're alive!" Emily sarcastically uttered as she helped Kylie free her foot from under the front seat. "Thanks for asking!"

It took no less than thirty minutes for everyone to gather their bearing.

"How far is this place?" Kylie asked shifting her bag to her other shoulder.

"Ethan said it's the first cabin on the road," Oliver shouted several paces in front of them.

This was a breeze for Oliver. He hiked every hill in Austin training for his trip to the Appalachian. His hiking partner, Emily was right behind him and several feet back Chris and Kylie held firmly to the rear. Fifty-three minutes in the scorching sun proved fruitful as a gap opened between the pine trees.

Oliver dropped his bag and sprinted ahead.

"What!" Emily shouted running after him but unable to keep up with the bag weighing down her gait.

"We're in the wrong place, aren't we?" Kylie heaved bending over resting her hands on her knees.

"This—" Oliver swallowed hard. His wide eyes absorbed the crumbled cabin, a haze of white smoke and cars on flat. "This is the place." He muttered with certainty because the car blanketed in soot.

Chris and Emily reached him rendered speechless at the destruction before their eyes.

"I knew something was...." Kylie's voice went silent.

"Something what?" Oliver questioned turning around. "Fuck!" He shouted as he saw the blood drain from the hole in Kylie's forehead.

"Kylie!" Emily yelled running towards the girl's limp body then she stopped. Her heart raced like a hamster on a wheel at the sight of them. Clad in camo, five of them spanned across the road holding their line as their feet stroke the tepid pavement. Emily took tentative steps back, "Wrong place." She whispered to herself.

Oliver watched the men. He studied the stoic, coldness in their eyes as two of the loaded a clip in their berretta, the other two men cocked their shotgun, and the last man flicked an arrow out of his quiver. "There are five of them and three of us. That means..." He flexed his shoulders. "Three for me."

"We're not fighting them!" Emily shouted. "They have guns! Right, Chris!" She looked behind them. "Chris!" She shouted again but he was gone. "We should run." She pulled Oliver's arm trying to break the trance the men put him under. "Oliver!"

He looked at her, "What!" He read the fear swimming in her eyes. "If we run...they'll chase us...like deer....hunted. Do you want to be a deer or do you want to fight?" He glanced at the men as they ate away at the distance between them. He looked back at Emily, the tears rolling from her eyes, "You want to run." She faintly nodded. "Then let's go." He took her hand and they ran into the woods.