He didn’t know what he expected to see when he turned around, but certainly not a girl who looked to be around his age, if not a year or two older. She was slightly taller than him, with olive skin and waist-length, wild brown hair. There was a backwards baseball cap on her head and filthy overalls on her body. Their faces were fairly close to each other, just a couple inches away, and from this distance Kevin could see all the pockmarks that dotted along the girl’s hairline like craters. He also noticed her eyes were brown with gold flecks in them, and that her eyelashes were sparse on each lid.

The girl said nothing for a long time, and just stared at Kevin with an unsettling look in her eyes that made him shiver. His heart was beating a mile a minute. He was trying to stay still like she had demanded, but he was conscious of the fact that his whole body was shaking violently.

He knew the thing pressing into the side of his neck was a gun. He squeezed his eyes shut, holding down a whimper. Why doesn’t she just kill me already? he thought. Just get it over with.

He heard a snap, and startled, opened his eyes. The girl was grinning at him now — a yellow toothy grin with a gap between her two front teeth — and this freaked him out even more. When the girl opened her mouth to speak again Kevin was shocked at the sound of her voice.

Still pressing the gun to his neck, she asked, “What’s yer name?” Her voice was completely different from the one that had ordered him before; it wasn’t as deep anymore and she had an accent now. Stunned by the girl’s sudden change of voice and random question, Kevin was silent for a few moments, trying to gather his thoughts and process what was happening when the girl jabbed the gun into his neck impatiently, almost making him fall over.

“What’s yer name?” she repeated, her eyes never leaving his face.

His heart racing, Kevin stuttered out a response. “K-Kevin.”

She grinned in satisfaction. She pulled the gun away from his neck and he felt himself relax a tiny bit, though he was still tense. He kept his hands up.

“The name’s Mary,” the girl said. “And yer not from ‘round here, am I right?”

Kevin shook his head nervously.

“Where’s ya from?”

Kevin swallowed the lump in his throat. “N-New Jersey. I just moved here, t-today. M-my mom and I were attacked at the gas station, d-do you—”

“Who attacked ya?” Mary interrupted.

“I-I’m not sure, they covered my eyes, d-do you know—”

“Ya can put yer arms down. Do I know what?”

Kevin could barely catch his breath he was so overwhelmed. He managed to sputter out only one word: “P-police?”

Mary stared at him for a beat. “What?”

Kevin breathed in deep and tried again. “Police? Do you know where the police station is?”

There was still no recognition in her eyes. “I dunno what that is,” Mary said. “There’s nothin’ like that here.”

Kevin could feel his heart sink. How could there be no police? What kind of place was this? Suddenly the idea of finding his parents and getting help seemed hopeless again. Disheartened, Kevin lowered his head and stared blankly at the ground. How was he going to get out of here?

“Hey.” At the sound of Mary’s voice, Kevin looked back up. She smiled again, revealing her gapped teeth. Then she motioned with a nod of her chin to the corpse a few feet away and Kevin jumped, suddenly reminded of it.