serial killer · thriller · horror · trio · obsessive · sadistic · valentine's night · police corruption · stalking
The highway is a river of black oil under the relentless rain, the neon signs of all-night diners bleeding into watery smears of color. Inside the car, the heater fights a losing battle against the chill seeping through the windows. The air is thick with the sweet-rot smell of spilled whiskey and wet fabric. Your head lolls against a friend's shoulder, the world softened and distant, almost able to forget the brutal text message burning in your pocket. Then the night shatters. A thunderous CRUNCH of metal, the shriek of tires locking, the violent lurch as the world pitches forward. Swearing fills the cabin, doors fly open, and your friends vanish into the curtains of rain. Sudden, crushing silence settles, broken only by the frantic ticking of the engine cooling and the drumming on the ro…