John sets his duffle bag in the back of Pete's car. Pete hands him the cooler before going to the drivers side and setting up the GPS.
"Is this your first hunting trip?" Pete asks as John opens the passenger door and gets in.
"My dad took me on a few when I was younger." John buckles up and looks up to see his friend smiling at him.
"Well hopefully this one will top those," John returns the smile and Pete starts the car, "oh it's a long drive, so you might just want to sleep it through." Pete says pulling out of the driveway. John just relaxes in the seat and messes around on his phone. Pete turns on the radio, country music playing. John decides to not complain and just put up with it. Since he'll most likely end up falling asleep anyway.
"So do you remember your first hunting trip?" John asks watching the houses on his street pass.
"Briefly. I was about 8 or something. Dad thought it'd be smart to let me handle my own gun. I tried shooting a deer and ended up shooting my dad's old Chevy truck he loved more than me. He was pissed." Pete laughs and John chuckles and shakes his head.
"So you've been an idiot from the start?" John jokes and Pete scoffs.
"Just because I got super drunk and ended up running around naked at a party does not make me an idiot. It makes me a really great friend to party with." John snorts at his friend's remark earning a slight glare.
"Just be happy I covered for your ass. Literally." Pete rolls his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."
After about an hour of just trees and more trees John decides on sleeping. He plugs his phone into the car charger he brought and tries finding a comfortable position in the car seat. He closes his eyes and tries to not focus on the Blake Shelton song playing as he tries sleeping. It takes a while for sleep to come, considering he's not exactly tired. But once he's asleep Pete turns the radio off and the GPS down so the computer voice doesn't startle his friend awake. There's only a few hours left of driving that Pete figures he can do by himself and won't need to stop for gas.
John wakes up to it being dark out with the moon and stars acting as a light source. He stretches and yawns. "What time is it?" He asks turning to see Pete not there. He furrows his eyebrows and looks around the car. Not in the backseat. Although everything they brought is gone, except the cooler. He turns back in his seat, noticing the flashlight and note on the dash. He expects a 'Went to set up' note but the note is nothing of the sort.
'It's a game. Find all 8 notes and you survive'
John's heart skips a beat as he rereads the note to make sure it's even real. He grabs the flashlight and clicks it on, surprised to see that it actually works. He clicks it back off and checks his phone. Fully charged, but of course no service. He mumbles a few curses before stuffing his phone in his pocket, it might not work here but maybe it will somewhere else. He shoves the flashlight into his pocket too, noting it for later use in case he absolutely needs it. He searches in the backseat, for a gun or something but finds nothing. He turns back around in the seat and takes a deep breath, his heart already pounding. He wearily steps out of the car, not ready at all to play this stupid game.
