The rain was pouring down so hard that the young female driver couldn't make out the road in front of her. She was regretting taking the back roads on her way home—there was less traffic this way, yes, but the lights of the other cars would have been a comforting sight this time. She glanced down at her speedometer and saw that it read thirty miles per hour—faster than she thought she was going. She pressed her foot on the brake pedal until she slowed to twenty.

The back roads were hard enough to navigate on a clear day. Now she was taking them in the dark, in the rain. There were sharp turns, narrow lanes, and wild animals could cross anywhere, anytime.

Her cell phone began ringing from her purse, which was sitting in the empty passenger seat beside her. The cheery pop-song ringtone made her smile, despite the gloomy conditions in which she was driving. She pressed the brake again, slowing down to a mere fifteen miles per hour. She kept her eyes on the road in front of her as she slowly reached over and fished her phone out of the bag. One glance at the screen made her smile widen. It was Eric, her fiancé.

She flipped the phone open and held it close to her ear. "Eric! Hi, love, are you at home?"

"Yeah, I just got in a few minutes ago. Where are you?"

"On my way. I'm caught in the storm. I decided to take the back roads…now I'm regretting that."

"The back roads? They might be flooded by now."

"Shit," she cursed loudly. "I didn't even think of that. I haven't seen any flooding yet—look, I'm almost back on the highway; I should be—"

Her sentence was cut short when she saw an outlined form directly in front of her car. Her foot instinctively slammed on the brake and a loud, screeching protest was heard from the road underneath her tires, even though it was so slick that she kept sliding. She dropped her phone, not even caring as it tumbled to the floor, and clutched the steering wheel with both hands to keep her car from sliding off the road. After a few seconds, her car came to a stop.

"Em? Em, what's going on? Are you okay?"

Emily's fingers were wrapped tightly around the steering wheel. Her chest moved up and down as she took frantic breaths, feeling her heart racing in her throat. She turned off the car's ignition and unbuckled her seat belt, leaning over to pick up her phone as she said, "Eric, yeah, I'm okay—I would've sworn that I saw something…"

She held the phone back up to her ear. "Really, I thought something ran out in front of my car…maybe I just imagined it." She began looking out of the passenger window, then the front windshield, then turned her head to her own driver's side window. "There doesn't seem to be—Jesus!"

A face was staring back at her. It was the face of a child—about ten years old, very skinny, pale, with sunken eyes and thin, straight lips that were pulled back into a huge Cheshire-cat-like grin. His hair was thin and dark, cut short. He lifted up one of his hands and waved at her, his hand twisting back and forth rapidly.

"Hello? Emily! What is it? Hello?"

"Hold…hold on," Emily said softly into the phone. She reached down and rolled her window down a few inches. "Are you okay, kid? Why did you run out in front of me?"

The child's voice was filled with excitement and eagerness when he spoke. "Hey, lady! Ya' wanna see a dead body?"

Emily clutched her phone tighter. Her eyebrows furrowed at the boy's question. Her eyes darted past him, looking for anyone else that might be nearby, but she saw nothing and heard nothing.

"What—what did you say?"

"A dead body!" the boy repeated. "I'done found one. Ya' wanna see it?"

Emily paused before answering. "Um…sure. Just let me grab my coat." Emily rolled her window up and slipped her keys into her pocket. "Something's wrong, Eric," she said into her phone, softly so that the boy couldn't hear her. "This kid…he appeared out of nowhere, and he's asking me if I want to see a dead body."

"A dead body? What the hell does he mean?"

"I don't know. I have to go with him—what if someone got into an accident on the road, just like I almost did? They might be hurt. I can't just leave them out here."

"Come home," Eric said in a firm tone. "I'll call the police and they can check it out. Stay in your car, Emily."

"No, Eric, I'll be fine. Look, he's just a kid. I'll stay on the phone with you though, okay?"

"I really don't think—"

"By the time the police get here, it may be too late! And what if this kid is just pulling my leg? Then they'd have come all the way out here for nothing. I'll be fine."

Emily slipped her jacket on and then opened her car door, stepping out onto the wet road. With the headlights now off, it was almost impossible to see anything, but then the child clicked on a flashlight.

"Where is this so-called 'dead body'?" she asked him. "Are you sure they're dead? Were they in a car accident?"

"Folla' me, lady. It's down the road here."

Emily followed the boy a couple of yards. He turned left, motioning for her to follow him into the wet brush. It seemed less and less likely to her that it was someone who had been in some kind of car accident. Maybe the kid was just pulling her leg. They walked a few more meters, until the shrubbery behind them was blocking the view of the road, and then the boy stopped. He pointed his flashlight beam at the ground. "Here they are!"

Emily gasped when she looked down. A corpse was lying on the wet grass, the remaining skin on it as white as snow. Bones were showing where the skin had been eaten away; others had flaps of wet flesh still hanging off them. It still had on a pair of blue jeans, although the fabric was torn in multiple places and covered in mud. The head of the corpse was nothing more than a skull. Some of the bones were missing—both hands, two ribs, the entire bottom row of teeth.

Emily's hands began trembling as she took a slow step backwards. "Where did you find this?" she asked softly. Her voice cracked as she forced the words out.

"Whadya' mean, where'd I find it? He's mine! My pappy gave him to me. And now, I'm gonna give you to him."

"Whadya' mean, where'd I find it? He's mine! My pappy gave him to me. And now, I'm gonna give you to him."

Eric Black's heart stopped as he heard the drawled words over the phone. He opened his mouth to tell his fiancée to get the hell back to her car, but he was cut short when he heard her horrified, desperate scream.

"Emily?! EMILY!"