Chapter One

The story begins with our heroic protagonist riding in the passenger seat of a 4x4 jeep, gazing out over the woods and mountains with an amused air. Her sidekick, a fiery redhead named Alanna who really put the 'beat' into the word 'beat cop', was blasting the music so loud you couldn't even hear the roar of the engines struggling to compensate for the steep incline of the road. She packed everything she could think of, but since whole towns had been vanishing without a trace it was hard to prepare for something completely unknown. Alanna forgot to pack her swords, but our heroine brought them anyway knowing it would earn her some extra fun that night.

Pulling up to the cabin revealed it to be a pretty decent affair, enough bedrooms to suit four people which meant one was getting used as a spare. The heroine hoped out of the jeep and drug her bags to the door, but peeked in a window just to be cautious. Someone else was already there, waving back to her, and another person was walking up the long road they had just drove along. Supporting characters.

So they get everything from the jeep brought in and made their introductions. The girl who was there first came off as clever and intelligent. Probably 'The Smart Girl' if you tried to put it into the context of the Five-Man Band. She immediately suspected spy cameras and went searching for them, but turned up nothing. The girl who showed up last was aloof and sarcastic, which probably makes her 'The Lancer' but we don't see a lot of leadership qualities, just a Deadpan Snarker. Might need to delve into her background further if the reader is really going to take an interest. Maybe something anguishing happened in her past.

Speaking of Deadpan Snarkers, Alanna has a real tongue on her and harasses our heroine something fierce but the reader can tell based on the casual way they address each other that they are longtime friends. The protagonist takes the remarks of her sidekick in stride, and feigns indignation which is the best kind of indignation to have. Everyone eats the sandwiches our heroine made, proving once again that it is always good to be Crazy Prepared.

After some friendly banter the bedrooms get picked and then everyone is off to the town below to ask around about rumors and leads regarding what's happening. Only, the town is gone when they get there. Definitely a twist that would make M Night Shyamalan pleased with himself. Absolutely nothing is left but holes in the ground and those are not very deep. Our heroine wanders around searching for clues, but the sidekick chimes in like she was Dr Watson and proves her value to the readers. There's a brief debate over leaving the jeep to follow the tracks, but that ends in irony when the jeep gets impaled by a massive spear.