Sam decides to head over to the apartment

Sam decided some time hanging out with Jess would do her good. Sam and Jess had met in a boring English class the previous semester and become fast friends. Sam loved it when Jess invited her over and gave her a chance to have a home away from her annoying roommate.

Jess' apartment was on the other side of campus, on the fringe of the city. Normally Sam would have taken the direct route, but she followed the alternate way Jess had suggested. The route wasn't much longer, but went into some somewhat-shady-looking alleyways. Sam had gone this way a few times before, but only with Jess by her side, and Jess always seemed to take the alleyways very cautiously, like she was studying it or something. That was ridiculous, of course, what was there to study in a dirty old alley? Still, it was kinda creepy...

Sam suddenly got a cold chill, and pulled her backpack tight against her shoulder, as if it could protect her from whatever unseen danger was present.

"Don't be ridiculous, Sam..." she reassured herself quietly. "There's no one here. No one at all." But the realization that there was no one else in this stretch of alleyway only made Sam more concerned. She froze to get a look at her surroundings and reassure herself. She knew the turn she was supposed to take was coming up soon, but couldn't quite remember which one it was...

As she stopped, trying to get her bearings, a loud crash startled Sam and made her spin around in sudden panic. It seemed to have come from a nearby dumpster, and Sam stared at it, expecting someone or something to emerge. But nothing did. In fact, the sound had been a mere distraction, and the real threat to Sam was the man sneaking up behind her with the body bag and chloroform-soaked cloth.

Just as Sam got ready to turn and run, the man was upon her. His hand with the rag quickly covered Sam's mouth, and as she inhaled to scream, she filled her lungs with the intoxicating substance. It caught her off guard and quickly clouded her senses. Her final memory before collapsing to the ground was her head being covered with some kind of dark hood...