My head pounded, sharp and heavy, as I lifted my face from the deployed airbag acting as a pillow. Every breath that filled my lungs was followed by an intense ache that tore through every inch of my body. The smell of smoke and burning oil that wafted in my nostrils had my stomach churning and bile rising in my throat but I swallowed it down.

Oh, God! What happened? Where am I? Thoughts raced through my head and I wished they would slow down so I could take a moment to breathe, to figure out what happened and what to do next but the endless bombard of emotions wouldn't relent long enough for my mind to regain clarity.

I raised my hands up to massage my pounding temples and noticed the bruises, scrapes, and cuts covering my arms all the way down to my fingertips. Tiny shards of glass from the shattered windshield covered my lap and every other surface, some fragments even still embedded in my skin.

"Matt!" I shouted weakly, my voice hoarse from all the screaming.

He laid slumped over the steering wheel with his eyes shut and a consistent stream of blood pouring from a gash hidden in the hairline above his left temple; his head must've bashed against the window to get an injury like that and I knew right away just from how much blood was gushing that he was in need of stitches.

When he didn't respond, I unbuckled my seatbelt and winced at the burning sensation wrapping around my waist due to how tightly the lap belt had gripped my lower stomach. "Matt, you need to wake up!" I begged, shaking his shoulder rather harshly. "Please, open your eyes! C'mon!"

His shoulders were the first to move and he drew them inward and arched his back, his once limp fingers straightening out as he stretched. I released the breath I hadn't realized was caught in my lungs upon seeing the green of his irises peek out from behind his thick lashes. The pad of my thumb wiped away the oozing crimson liquid from his eyes while he muttered something incoherent.

"You're awake! Oh, Thank you, God!" I rejoiced, delicately kissing his forehead as to not aggravate any of his injuries.

"Ma- tilda" He choked on the words as blood from a split in his bottom lip seeped down his throat, staining his teeth and sending him into a coughing fit.

"I'm right here, honey," I assured, unbuckling his seatbelt to relieve some of the pain I knew he must've been experiencing.

He peeled himself off the steering wheel only to cry out in agony and clutch his arm to his chest. "Oh, God! My arm! I think it's broken!" He squirmed in his seat, tears welling in his eyes and streaming red as they mingled with the blood and cascaded down his cheeks.

"Lemme see," I said, examining his arm which was red, swollen, and totally broken. "Oh, crap! Yeah, I think you're right. We need to get you outta here and to a hospital, okay?"

"I don't think I can." he clenched teeth and inhaled deeply through his nose in an attempt to breathe through the pain instead of letting it consume him.

"Okay, just stay right there. I'll get out first and come around to get you"

I twisted around in my seat and grabbed the metal handle. With a few firm shoves, the door popped surprisingly easily open; my sore body was grateful for that. The fresh air that rushed to fill my lungs as I stepped out was a welcome treat. Though the burning odor was still present, it was less severe outside of the car and helped ease the nausea the smell had caused me.

Broken glass crunched beneath my boots as I stumbled towards the front of the car to inspect the damages all the while scanning the road for any sign of what could have caused the accident. Thick grey clouds of smoke billowed from beneath the hood only emphasizing the fact that the whole front of the car had been crushed as if it was nothing more than an aluminum coke can.

The car's headlights illuminated something large buck lying dead in a pool of blood on the other side of the road. My heart dropped to my stomach and I averted my gaze from the poor creature. I couldn't imagine what it went through before it died.

Making my way to the driver's side of the car, I pulled the door open. Matt grunted as he shifted in his seat before looping his good arm around my neck. Painful sobs slipped through his blood-stained lips as he slid out.

"I've got you" I muttered softly in his ear as he leaned on me for support.

His weight against my body sent waves of pain through my sore body; every muscle in my body from head to toe was tender from being jerked around during the crash, almost like I had recently completed the most intense workout of my life and tore each muscle in the process. I led him in front of the car and directed him to sit, silently thanking the Lord the headlights were still shooting their soft yellow beams; without them, we would've been completely blind in the dark.

"Are you ok, Tills?" He asked, staring up at me with those green eyes surrounded by yellowish-purple bruises.

'Well, the world's spinning and I feel like vomiting, but other than that I think I'm alright.' is what I wanted to say, but I could see how much pain he was in and I couldn't help but feel like it was all my fault. If I hadn't asked him to drive me all this way, if I had made sure we had the GPS charger when we left, if I hadn't distracted him when he was driving, he wouldn't have been in so much pain and we'd be at home right now, cuddling and watching cheesy horror movies.

Kneeling beside him, I kissed his forehead. "Don't worry about me, honey, I'll be alright, but we need to get you some help."

"How? Our phones have no signal and the town's still a few miles away. I highly doubt there's anyone around here."

"Maybe a car will drive by, Debbie Downer." I tried to reassure him, but I knew that was highly unlikely. We hadn't seen another car since we began to head for Poth.

The look in his eyes told me he knew it too.

I stood back up and scanned the vast fields surrounding us in hopes of any sign of civilization–a house, a barn, a car, anything at all– but my search yielded no results.

"Help!" I screamed even though I knew no one was going to answer me.

Matt's face was looking paler and paler by the minute and I knew I had to get him to a hospital before his condition worsened.

"Looks like we're walking," I said, staring down the road. "You think you'll make it?"

"Yeah...yeah, I can do it." He answered half-heartedly, almost as if he was trying to convince himself he could.

He made a low growl as he climbed to his feet, straining to stand against his pain. "Wait!" He held a finger to his lips. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what? I whispered.

"Rustling. Over there." he pointed towards a spot in the field beside us. "Hello? Someone there?" he called out at whatever was possibly hiding among the stalks.

I strained my ears attempting to hear whatever he was hearing; nothing but chirping crickets and cicadas stood out to me. "I don't hear anything."

"Neither do I anymore...but I swear something was there."

"It was probably just another deer."

"Yeah, I guess so. " he relented. "Let's just get going."

He wrapped his arm around my back and leaned into me as we began our trek. The weight of him against my sore body sent waves of pain through me but I silently endured it for his sake. Once we reached the end of the headlights stretch, I braced myself to walk the rest of the way in the dark which is something I'd never been too fond of as my mind was quick to imagine what could be lurking in the inky blackness and the lonesome sound of the corn husks scratching and scraping against one another only added to the frightening atmosphere.

Heavy shuffling footsteps rang out across the pavement behind us. Whipping around, I was met by two distant figures silhouetted in the bright yellow glow of the headlights. Throwing my hand up, I shielded my eyes from the lights as I tried to make them out. Matt followed suit, a big grin spreading across his face at the sign of hope the figures conveyed

"Hey! Over here! " He shouted, waving his uninjured arm in the air to draw the people's attention.

The two figures stood motionless in front of us never uttering a word.

"Uh, my girlfriend and I need some help." He explained, "We were in an accident."

The shorter one of the two shuffled a few steps forward. "It jus' the two of ya'll?" the man's voice broke the silence, his thick southern drawl revealed itself.

Matt limped forwards still clutching his swollen arm to his chest. I stuck closely beside him, straining my eyes to make out their faces or any aspect of their appearance at all in the dark.

"Yeah, we're-"

The stranger cut him off before he could finish, a peculiar note of glee in the tone of his voice. "Y'all hurt?"

Chiming in before Matt could answer, I spoke up and answered "Yes sir, and my boyfriend needs to go to the hospital. Do you have a phone we could use to call an ambulance?"

An almost evil-sounding giggle drifted to my ears– the shorter, slender figure was laughing at us! What about our predicament could've been humorous to this guy?! Drawing closer to Matt, I clung to the fabric of his t-shirt...something about that dude gave me the creeps.

"We uh, we got a phone at tha house! I-um, me an' ma brother here can take ya there."

I tugged at his shoulder so he'd lean down enough for me to whisper in his ear. "I don't think that's such a good idea, something about them doesn't sit right with me. Let's just keep walking."

He must've been getting the same vibes as I was for he held his arm out across me in a protective manner and slowly backed away from the men. Our eyes never wavered from the sinister figures.

"H–Hey! Where're y'all headin'? Ah thought y'all needed some help, needed ta use our phone?" The short one sauntered towards us, motioning for the much larger one to join him.

"No, that's alright. We'll just walk to town, but thank you for your time." Matt answered.

"Ma brother– ma other brother, he's got a truck! He–He can drive yall where ya need'a go. It's just this way," he pointed to a trampled down path that cut through the field. "jus' down this way a lil'."

The way he seemed so eager to help, to take us to his house, made my skin crawl and an uneasy knot form in my stomach. It was almost like he had some sort of ulterior motive for us...or maybe I was simply reading too much into it and he genuinely did wish to help us. Regardless, we continued to back away, our pace quickened with each step.

"I wouldn't walk away if I were ya!" he yelled, the frustration in his voice was obvious. "Never know wh–what might happen ta yuns out there... all alone in tha dark"

"Just ignore them. Don't even look back." Matt muttered to me, turning his back on them and twisting me around to do the same.

At that moment, I sympathized with Lot's wife in the Bible. The urge to look back at the burning city of Sodom and Gomorrah –or in this case, two potentially crazy rednecks– ate away at me, the pull to glance over my shoulder was nearly unbearable.

The man hollered at us again, each time he spoke the agitation in his voice increased. "F-Fine then, have it your way! I ain't one ta beg."

Tension set up in my shoulders, stretching my muscles as tightly as a drum and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end– that couldn't be a good sign. If I've learned anything from horror movies, it's that you should never look behind you because you're probably going to see something you don't wanna see; but of course, I had to be like one of those scary movie idiots and peek.

An outstretched arm and single finger were pointed in our direction. The lanky guy craned his neck and turned towards his partner who had yet to utter a syllable the entire time.

"Git 'em, Leatherface!"

The tall guy yanked the cord of some object I had only just realized he was holding and a shrill whine like the sound of a car trying to crank erupted. Another tug of the cord and the blaring roar of an engine ripped through the once peaceful night. He raised the roaring object over his head and bounced up and down giddily.

The silhouette made my heart stall. "Oh my God, is that a–"

A squeal like that of a pig tore through his lips and deafened my ears as he bounded after us with a smoking chainsaw in tow.