Summary: You're one of the councelors heading to Hackett's Quarry. You, Laura and Max find yourself lost in the woods and you share a couple of creepy stories. Soon the three of you will find yourself in a nightmare with an officer who isn't willing to let you go.

(Based on the videogame: The Quarry from 2022)

I boredly stared outside the window watching about the hundred tree pass by, not so listening to the low radio and more to Laura and Max discussing and looking at the map in their hands.

"Ugh why do they makes these so hard?!" Laura groaned which made her boyfriend take a peek at the scribbles on the map she held.

"How do you think the first colonizers did it? I mean, I'm sure they would walk around in circle for hours." Max mindedly said while staring up at the dark road now.

I sat up and reached out to grab the map from Laura's hand. "I'm sure it mustn't be that hard. Aren't councelors supposed to know these sort of things?"

"Nope." Both of them said making me sigh in defeat when I could've understand the red and blue lines.

"Where even are we?!" I asked. I was beginning to grow tired or being stuck in a car for hours.

"We are definitely lost." Laura blunty replied making us look at Max.

He looked back to check on us quick and shook his head. "We're not entirely lost..see? We haven't passed that tree yet."

I frowned and rolled my eyes reaching to shake his shoulder, "Every tree is the same Max!"

Max let out a loud sigh and turned to glance at me. "(Y/N), you worked here once right? Shouldn't you remember the directions."

I leaned forward to be between him and Laura, watching the dark road up ahead with nothing but woods and slight water hitting the car's front window.

"That was over three years ago when I was still living with my parents. They forced me too, that's not the point here! Thing is I don't remember much." I sarcastically told him which made Laura laugh when Max made a face.

"Give them some slack, Max."

"Oh, so the sarcastic twins are in it together." Max began to make fun of us.

"We're just a bunch of sarcastic young adults. It shouldn't surprise you." I muttered and saw a small smirk on Laura's lips.

Laura had always been like a sister to me. We met each other around elementary school and claimed to be twins since we dressed the same a couple of times and would always team up with each other. We became more than friends, she is the sister I never got to have.

"Anyways, don't you think we should've turned left before? I think we're far from camp and tomorrow Hackett is going to be searching for us if we're not on time."

Max turned to look at us again and shrugged his shoulders before Laura reached out to take one last look at the map. "Okay, maybe we are around this area...Max eyes on the road!"

We all looked forward and braced ourselves when we saw something in the middle the road. Max swerved it until we crashed further into the woods. He slammed onto the brakes and we all looked at each other recovering from what happened.

"Is everyone okay?!" Max asked checking us both.

I winced when I felt a sharp cut by my eyebrow, i must've hit against something as soon as he stopped the car.

"We're fine." I replied ignoring it and taking off my seat belt before getting out of the car, Laura stopped me. "Did you see that? Was it a person? I-I mean we were really close."

I smiled at her worriedly and patted her shoulder. "We'll have a look."

I followed Max outside to check the car's engine. Laura shortly followed us and grabbed the toolbox from the back, both of us took our phones out to use the flashlight.

We heard something back in the woods. We exchanged looks and focused the light out, "Stay right there. I don't want you wandering off." Max immediately said knowing how Laura is.

"You're not the boss of me. Besides, (Y/N) is here with me, and I think there's someone down there." She tilted her head and I began to follow her.

Both of us glanced back every now and then to see Max working on the car. "Shouldn't we stay back with him?"

"Nah. You know what he said, he needs total concentration."

"Doesn't this remind you of something?" Laura stays silent and looks at me so I can continue. "The Evil Dead?"

"What's that?"

"The deadites?? T-They are like zombies..how about Jason?" I ask making her chuckle at my pop culture references.

"You're such a horror freak."

"I usually know how things end..either there's only one survivor or everyone dies. Everyone had a choices, right? What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

"Ew don't say that." Laura chuckled at my words.

We continued to walk forward trying to search for anything, "but seriously, being stuck in the woods is so damn creepy." I told Laura after a few seconds of silence.

"Are you still afraid of the dark?"

"No." I quickly replied and quickly pointed the light towards the woods when I heard something nearby.

Laura sighed, "There's nothing to be ashamed about." Thinking I wanted to avoid her question.

"That not it, Laura. Haven't you seen horror movies? Just like I mentioned earlier. Usually in a movie, a group of horny teenagers or young adults are suddenly surprised by something in the woods."

"Not this again." I heard Laura mutter to herself.

"Laura.."

"What?!" She whispered shouted at me pointing her flashlight at me.

I felt my heart betting faster when I remembered the thing in the woods. It clearly wasn't human, it was shaped like a human but it looked so weird. Millions of thoughts began to run through my head, Laura could see my nervous expression.

"Laura. That thing we swerved..I think it wasn't a person." I seriously told her.

"I think you and Max have been sharing too many ghost stories.." Laura said looking away. I can tell by her face that she's concerned as well. "How about you take right and I take left?" Laura nodded quick and began to walk away.

"We're not the Scooby gang!" I groaned loudly and turned my heels to head to the other side. "Why am I never taken seriously." I angrily told myself and dug for my earplugs.

I looked around and noticed that this place kinda feels and looks like the story I once read. Supposedly from true life, where witches were hanged and one of them wasn't a real witch, a child I believe it was.

I placed the cable in and hit play on my library to listen to some music. My eyes continued to look up ahead, everything was dark. I felt a breeze close to me so I quickly turned around and saw something ran past me from behind.

I furrowed my eyebrows together beginning to slowly walk towards where the thing ran off. Slowly I got closer and closer to a bush that was rustling, until...

"(Y/N)!!" Laura's sudden scream made me jump, quickly I took my earplugs out and panicked looking at her panting and running towards me. "Let's get out!" She reached for my wrist and began dragging me away.

Both of us ran until we reached Max again, the two of us climbing into the car again. The three of us began to argue about the thing in the woods, Laura saying she saw some type of woman out.

"Please just get us out of here." Laura begged. I had my hands on the back of their seats, leaning forward towards them.

Max turned on the car but it didn't move, we were trapped in a puddle of mud. "Mother fucking tires!!"

The three of us turned around and screamed when we saw a person by Max's window. "Fuck!!" We all shouted. I felt my heart still going at a rapid pace.

We looked back and noticed it was a police officer. "Fucking great, it's a cop." I whispered since I hate most cops, or any type of authority.

"Oh my God. I think my heart just exploded." Poor Max said still recovering from the jumpscare.

"Are any of you injured?" The cop asked. Poking his nose where it doesn't belong. I rolled my eyes and tried to not show my disgust.

"She bumped her head." Max said.

"Barely! I barely bumped my head! I can't even feel it, my bum I mean... I'm fine."

"Nothing out of the ordinary! Just three adults hanging out." I said rolling my eyes and earning a small snack from Laura so I would shut up.

The cop looked at us suspiciously like most do. The three of us remained silent, nothing but the sound of crickets and the officers footsteps while he examined the car from outside.

"You folks wanna tell me what happened here?" He said reappearing.

Laura and I exchanged looks. Should we tell him the truth or lie? Only one choice will determine the future.

I shook my head slightly for Laura to not tell him. The cop won't believe it in, he'll say we're either high on drugs or hiding a body.

"Something jumped in front of the car and we didn't want to hit it. We served so..here we are."

"Don't tell him." I whispered lowly.

The cop isn't buying it. "Something?"

Time to be dishonest. "It was an animal!" I quickly said before Laura could. "We couldn't make out of it since it was fast." I said trying to sound uninterested.

"Well, it looks like it. Keep the car running." The man said turning to look ahead. We furrowed our eyebrow together confused when he noticed a stain of blood on his neck.

The cop said nothing more and walked away. "Isn't that like the scariest cop?" Max suspiciously said.

"There's nothing more terrifying than getting stopped by a cop." This made Laura tell me to drop since she was growing nervous.

Surprisingly the cop helped us out of the woods but it wasn't long before he returned. A cold hard glare on his face while he looked at us all, "Now will you folks tell me what the hell you are doing this late at night."

Is there a curfew for people to not hang out at night?!

"We're headed for Hackett's Quarry summer camp. We're the new counselors." Laura quickly said.

"You're one night early."

"So? It's better than being late." I replied growing annoyed at the dumb questions.

"To be honest I got lost cuz of them." Max quickly said glancing back to give me a shut up look.

The three of us remained frozen when the cop slowly spoke again. "You're not gonna make it to Hackett's Quarry, not tonight. Harbinger motel, it's the nearest place you can bunk for the night, okay?"

"Mr. Hackett knows we're arriving. He could prefer us to be punctual than to let him down-"

"No Ma'am you're gonna head to Harbinger motel. Do you understand?"

He is testing my patience. There's no way we're going all the way around and miss this chance as counselor's.

Should I be insistent or compliant?

"I don't think that's the right choice for us. I don't understand why-"

"Ma'am, please step out of the vehicle." The cop sternly said stepping back from the car.

"What the fuck?" I was taken by surprise at his words.

"Whoa, she didn't do anything." Max said defending me.

"Yeah, she didn't mean it!"

Now my heart was clearly pounding faster than before. The cop wasn't having it, and neither was I anymore. My patience is growing thin and I won't hesitate to say how I feel.

We are not going to lose our job because of s police.

The officer repeated his words. "I would just like to show you a route on your map there."

"Can't you just show it to us in here?" I asked sarcastically. I rolled my eyes when he said nothing.

"Fuck." I mumbled and started to exit the car. "Ever heard of freedom of speech?" I asked getting to the front of the car.

I slammed the map onto the front of the car and crossed my arms over my chest. The cop said nothing for a few seconds just staring at me disappointed probably, until he stepped closer and took out a pen.

He started to scribble on the map. "Okay, so we are about here. Harbinger motel is here."

"Right..okay! Where's the camp then?" I said looking away and looking back at the map.

"Well, I'm sure the kind folks at the motel can guide you there."

This cop surely is fucking weird. "Uh uh.."I replied unsure.

I grew weary when I noticed his eyes fixed on me. "Hold still." I was beyond confused now.

"What?" Is he detaining me?!

"I said hold still." He demanded.

He took something out of his pockets, a small cloth. He reached forward to my face but I took a step back staring at his weirdly.

"Don't touch me.."

"Ma'am." His expression grew stern and darker.

"I can take care of myself." I said raising my voice for him to get the hint.

Max peeled his head out from the window, "Are you alright, (Y/N)?"

My tired eyes rested back on Max's dark ones. "Yeah, I'm fine..thanks for asking."

The cop kept looking between us. "You can return to your vehicle, ma'am."

Before he could finish the sentence I reached out and grabbed the map. Quickly climbing back into the car, Laura reached her hand out to grab mine reassuring I was safe.

I handed her the map and looked away. "Harbinger motel. Stay on the road.."

"Do you need-"

"Have a good night." The cop finally said and left.

Laura pulled out the map so Max could look at it as well. "Let's just fucking go to Hackett's Quarry." I mumbled leaning back onto my seat and hugging my legs together.

"Yeah, it's the best decision. What do you say, Max?"

I assumed he nodded his head at Laura's question since he quickly turned the engine back on and started to drive down to the road. I remained silent during the ride until we reached the camp.

***************

"It's been forever since I've been at this dump." I told myself when we got out of the car as soon as Max parked the car outside the camp. It was around 1 am and if course no one was here to receive us.

Max stood next to me now turning to look at Laura. "You gotta be kidding me. There's nobody here and we drove all the fucking way-"

"Max, can we just look around before we jump to conclusions." Laura told him.

"Did you actually talk to Mr. Hackett or did you just leave a message."

"What's the difference?"

"This is the difference."

I walked ahead and knocked in the door again louder but nothing. "I'm gonna check if I can open a window or something."

Walking away I started looking for any entrance while Laura started to check the other place around, maybe there's an open window o I can use a bobby pin to open this door. I got on my knees and tried to open the door but failed.

"Laura! Max!" I shouted for either of them but didn't see them nearby. "Shit." I got up again and started to look for either of them to help me.

I started walking towards the back and I saw them up ahead with a few tools in hand. "Look! We found an entrance." Max waved.

"Should we head in?" I heard Laura ask.

Quickly I ran to their side and looked down, "I have a bad feeling about this."

Max and Laura began to take a couple of steps down. "Hello?!" She called out.

I shushed her and decided to remain close to her since being outside on my own will freak me out.

"Are you hurt?"

"Do you exist?"

I rolled my eyes at Max's response before I spoke up. "If you saw someone in here then that means we should remain outside."

Laura started to move ahead, "Be careful." Max reminded her and I noticed something in the corner of my eye.

Something's on the dirty ground, I reached out and saw a card upside down, I picked it up and examined if.

A tarot card. I noticed the picture on it. This is a skeleton riding a horse with a sickle. "Death?" I examined the other side but nothing.

I believe this card represents a physical death. It implies an end, possibly of a relationship or interest, and therefore implies an increased sense of self-awareness.

I looked around and slowly rose up to my feet to face Max who seemed worried, "Max, we should get Laura and leave. I think we should-" I let out a scream when I saw something fly towards him.

"Laura!" I shouted her name when I raced and saw Max in a puddle of blood, his wound wide open gushing red. Laura ran to his side and began to help him.

"Should we help or leave him?!" I shouted beginning to get scared that I was possibly right at something going on here.

"We can't leave him!" Laura shouted looking at my shocked expression.

"Y-You're right! But I should call for help, I'll be right back!!" I began to race up the stairs and heard Laura below.

"(Y/N)! Don't you dare leave!"

I continued to run up trying to not slip due to his wet the floor was. "Help!!" I shouted hoping someone was here nearby.

Continuing to run I noticed a car up ahead but before I could run any further I felt a pair of arms grabbing me from behind. I screamed and tried clawing at the person but before I could slip away I felt a sharp pain on my neck, slowly my eyes got blurry and I fell down the floor.

The lays thing I heard was Laura screaming Max's name.