Nathan Peterson suddenly wakes up, finding himdelf in the middle of nowhere. "What's going on?" he asks himself. Beside him is his fiance, Jessica Roberts, still fast asleep. He nudges her and she suddenly wakes up. "Nathan?" she asks, "Where are we?"

"I don't know," he replies to her, "but whoever is responsible is going to pay."They awake to find themselves in the middle of a desert. No trees, no roads, no water, no nothing but an expanse of sand streching on every direction and the sun directly overhead. They both are wearing only a white robe-like covering, like they had been to a Toga-party. They both stood up and looked around.

"How did we get here?" asks Jessica.

"I have no idea," answers Nathan as he notices there are no tire tracks or footprints leading to ar from the spot they find themselves.

Nathan looks at his wrist. "I haven't got my watch. They took my watch, my wallet, my clothes!" He looks at Jessica and asks does she remember anything. She's just as confused as Nathan. Her watch is also gone.

"I can't believe this! It looks like we're going to have to start walking." he tells Jessica and they both head out in a direction they think may take them to the nearest highway. It was impossible to know which direction was north or south, because the sun was directly overhead. It wasn't hot. In fact it was quite comfortable.

After walking for what seemed like a few hours, they still don't see no signs of life. Nathan notices the sun is still directly overhead. He looks at Jessica and she doesn't seem like she showing any signs of exhaustion. In fact he doesn't seem tired himself, not even thirsty.

He turns to Jessica and asks, "Do you think that we're heading in the right direction?"

"I don't have any idea Nathan," she replies, adding, "I love you Nathan." after a short pause.

"I love you too sweetheart. Are you getting tired yet?" He asks.

"No. I'm fine." she tells him.

They both keep walking in the same direction which they started. Surely they'd have to run into a road or something giving them a sense of direction. He looks behind them to see how far they'd traveled. No footprints. "This is too weird," Nathan says with a puzzling voice. He looks down as he and Jessica is walking. They leave footprints, but the sand seems to cover up their tracks as soon as they're made. This was getting weirder by the minute. He reaches down and grabs a hand full of sand. It's sand alright. Where he'd reached down to take a hand full, he notices the spot seemed to smooth itself over.

"Come on Jessica, we've got to get out of this place. I'm starting to get freaked out."

Jessica looks up at Nathan and nods her head, saying, "I love you Nathan." and nothing else.

"I love you too Jess, we've got to get going."

After what seemed liked an hour or so, they spot what seems like fog on the horizon. "A mirage?" He thought. As they walked, the fog seemed to get closer and larger. Within a few moments, the fog engulfs both of them and it seemed to get darker as the fog thickened around them. They both come to a standstill, hoping the fog will pass.

Just as soon the fog surrounded them, they both heard a sound in the fog that seemed like it was coming from all directions. "Thuh-dump." It wasn't a very loud sound, but it was very audible. "Thuh-dump." There it was again. The sound was becoming more frequent and seemed like it was getting louder and closer. "Thuh-dump. Thuh-dump. Thuh-dump."

Jessica grab Nathan's arm and told him that she loved him again. About that moment, a tentacle came out of nowhere and grabbed Jessica. Jessica looked startled, though she didn't scream. Another one comes up and grabs her and then another one. Nathan is trying his best to break his lovely fiance from the grips of these powerful tentacles to no avail. The tentacles start pulling Jessica away from Nathan. He's finds himself running after her yelling her name. Just before Jessica disappears, she yells out the she loves him one more time before she finally disappears. Nathan is distraught at this time.

Suddenly, a tentacle comes out of nowhere and grabs him. He is terrified and wrestles with all his strength and breaks loose. Another one comes after him and he manages to get away from it. Nathan starts running, yelling at the top of his lungs, "JESSICA!"

After a few moments of calling for Jessica and running from the tentacles, the fog seems to lighten up. As soon as it had appeared, it seemed that it was now drifting from him. He is now chasing the fog yelling out Jessica's name over and over.

Within a few moments, the fog disappears over the horizon, leaving Nathan by himself. Falling to his knees, he cries out, "Jessica" one last time.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Paramedic, Scott Williams, closes the doors to an ambulance that's headed to County General. He turns around and sees Highway Patrol Officer, Richard Fulton, writing down some measurements in his notebook.

It's raining and there is a flash of lightning. A wrecker, carrying a mangled car, drives off as he makes his way to Richard.

"We were able to save the girl but we lost the boy," he tells him, "we did all we could."

"I know you did," replies Richard, "it's really going to be hard on their families. I know the boy's father really well. The two was supposed to get married next week."

Officer Fulton shakes his head and turns away to finish his work. Scott in turn goes to his ambulance, to make the trip to County General.



[edit on 17/10/04 by Intelearthling]

another great entry... i might end up chickening out of this competition

worldwatcher,

Do you think it's kind of eerie? I've read your story and the others and this one seems like it's...it's...it should be a Twilight Zone story.

I'm going to have to get into the "scary" frame of mind!

Thanks for the compliment though!

Hm....

Interesting.

At first I didn't quite catch what was going on, but now I see what's up.

Good job.

Good twist on this Intelearthling Didnt have a clue where this was going till the end. Kept me reading

nice job!! eveyone is putting nice twists on the end of their stories