Night shifts. The last hurdle of any set that every cop both looks forward to and dreads. On the one hand, it meant that you nearly made it another week in the job and you could finally kick your feet up and relax before diving back into the deep end. On the other hand, it meant that you were more likely to deal with your serious crime. The time of day when your average law abiding citizen will have their heads buried in their pillow as the underbelly of society come out of the woodwork and use the streets as their personal playground.

And to top it all off... it's a full moon.

Now, that may not sound like a bad thing to most people but, to the emergency services, this was the time where things would drastically go south. If you weren't superstitious about a full moon, then you've never had to work during one. For some reason, this is when the train would derail and everything that could go wrong goes wrong.

As the large raindrops crash against the windscreen, I stare absentmindedly towards the radiant orb overhead as it hangs high in the jet black sky, forcing its way through the thick cloud cover to illuminate the world below. I sit in silence as I take the brief pause in the shift to finally catch my breath and relax, the only think snapping me out of my daydreams being the rapidly sweeping windscreen wipers as they fight tirelessly to clear the oversized droplets from the transparent barrier before me.

Before I can nod off, I snap to attention as a series of light knocks taps against the driver's side window. Turning my gaze, I let out a sigh of relief as I find my Sergeant standing outside in the pouring rain holding two cups of coffee. Now, most officer's wouldn't really want to be stuck with their Sergeant of Inspector on a night shift, but our shifts Sergeant was an exception.

Matthew wasn't some desk jockey who would micromanage you or scrutinize every piece of work you submitted, he was one of the rare few with stripes or pips on his shoulder who would love to get his hands dirty. Matthew was widely respected, having proved his worth by earning a trio of commendations. Anyone in the station would love to have him watching their backs when it came to a fight.

As I roll the window down and extend my arm to take the offered coffee cup, Matthew swiftly pulls it out of my grasp and raises an eyebrow. "Come on, Becky. Out you get."

I stare blankly at him as my exhausted brain fails to process what he wants and why he would be so cruel as to deny me without the vital lifeline that is caffeine. "Out?"

Matthew nods his head. "Yes. Out. You're close to nodding off to sleep and you've been driving all night. We're switching places."

Begrudgingly, I unfasten my seat belt and climb out of the car as the Sergeant opens the door. Quickly snapping up the coffee, Matthew takes my place in the driver's seat as I rush around the car to get into the passenger's seat to avoid getting drenched in the heavy onslaught of rain.

Closing the door as I return to the warmth of the car, I glance towards Matthew with an amused grin as he adjusts the driver's seat after smacking his knees against the underside of the steering wheel. Once he's comfortable, he sinks into his seat as he takes a long-drawn sip of his coffee.

We remain in silence, periodically sipping our hot coffees as we watch the various lightning strikes illuminate the night sky. It wasn't uncommon to be working in poor weather, but something about tonight seemed to sit wrong with me. It seemed that for every trio of lightning strikes, the last of the set would linger much longer than the rest, the shading appearing off as though something in the air was manipulating it.

"I've been meaning to ask you," Matthew pipes up, breaking the awkward silence. "What's the deal between you and George?"

I splutter on my coffee, caught off guard by the question as my cheeks heat up. "What? What do you mean? There is nothing going on."

He turns his head towards me with a smug expression. "You should know by now that nothing stays secret around here. Everyone can see it a mile off."

"There's nothing to see," I remark defensively as my cheeks turn a mild shade of scarlet red. "We're just friends."

"Right... friends..."

"We are," I repeat as I shake my head.

"Come on, Becky, everyone in the Police hooks up with one another."

"Well, I'm not a sheep that follows the herd," I remark as I place the heated cup in the holder. "Just because most cops get together with others, doesn't mean I will follow along with the rest." My eyes momentarily glance to the golden ring on Matthew's finger as he rests it on the gear stick. "Like you did."

His gaze meets mine, only to quickly follow my line of sight to lock onto his wedding ring. "When you meet the right one, you'd settle down with them."

I release an overexaggerated gag as I shake my head, "Sappy."

"I know it sounds like shit, but it's true. I'll just be happy for this night to come to an end so I get to escape for a couple of weeks with Steph and the kids."

"Barcelona? Wasn't it?"

"That's right," He nods with a slight chuckle. "You know, I've never left the country."

"Really?" I ask sceptically. Being thirty-two with two kids, It's hard to imagine he's never got to explore an entirely new country and culture.

As Matthew opens his mouth to speak, he's abruptly cut off as our earpieces transmit a message from the control room. "Y-K to all officers in the Bridgnorth area, stand by for vehicle observations. Be on the lookout for a grey Range Rover, registration ALPHA-UNIFORM-FIVE-NINE UNIFORM-KILO-ECHO. Call from a member of the public states that the male driver was seen drinking heavily in Bridgnorth before entering the vehicle and driving towards the A442. Vehicle comes back to a Chris Evans to an address in Dawley. Vehicle will be likely travelling along the A442. Repeating observations for a grey Range Rover-"

Realising that the vehicle should likely be heading in our direction, we both put on our seatbelts as Matthew swiftly pulls onto the main road, rapidly picking up speed as he compresses the PTT button on the vehicle's radio as the controller finally finishes transmitting. "Y-K from PAPA-ZULU-FIVE-ONE, show us travelling towards Bridgnorth. We'll see if we can cut it off."

As soon as Matthew finishes transmitting to the control room the airwave is quickly filled as George's voice cuts in. "Y-K from PAPA-XRAY-FIVE-ONE-FIVE show myself and PAPA-XRAY-FIVE-TWO-ZERO travelling."

Matthew lets out a single laugh as he glances to me, "Speak of the devil and he shall appear."

I roll my eyes as I lean back into my seat, another bolt of lightning cracking overhead and filling the night sky. "Yeah, and you just heard the reason why nothing will happen with him."

"What do you mean?" Matthew asks as he leans towards the central dashboard and presses the '999' button, activating the light bar overhead to irradiate the surrounding area in a series of flickering blue lights.

"He's travelling out with Meghan," I state bluntly as I keep my eyes on the road. "Everyone knows that they're both fucking one another."

"...No," Matthew exclaims with an immense level of sarcasm in his voice. "They're fucking? Now, that's a surprise."

"They can hardly keep their hands off one another when they're outside of work."

"Or in work." Matthew turns his gaze briefly towards me with a deadpan expression. "Why do you think I rarely pair them together on nights? They'd never work and would just be fucking in the office or something."

"PAPA-ZULU-FIVE-ONE from Y-K, Further," The control room operator cuts back in. "PNC is showing that Chris Evans is showing as a disqualified driver as of February, last year. He is also showing outstanding, WHISKEY-MIKE for a domestic assault from the Second of March. He has warning markers for violence and possesses weapons, assaulting Police upon arrest by biting and keeps a knife in the driver's side door."

Before the Sergeant can respond, I compress the PTT button on my own personal radio, "Received. Can you run it through top desk for Taser authority?"

"Stand by. Top desk is reviewing it now." As comms finish transmitting, I look down at my stab vest and adjust the Taser that's fitted to the front of my armour. Being one of the few Taser officers on the shift, I was routinely sought after when it came to arresting a violent offender. I may not be the greatest in the fight, but nothing stops a towering bulk of muscle like 50,000 volts running through their body.

When I finally flick my eyes back towards the road, It takes me a few moments to process where we are having travelled a large distance in such a short period of time. Matthew was renowned for many things, but perhaps his greatest boasting point was his driving ability. Matthew was one of the few officers outside Road Policing to be TPAC trained, meaning he could engage in high-speed pursuits and carry out various manoeuvres to bring a dangerous driver to a halt.

"PAPA-ZULU-FIVE-ONE, Taser has been authorized." That was the news we wanted to hear. There was no better deterrent for most violent criminals than a Taser, the only exception being an overly aggressive dog which would lunge towards anyone who stupidly got too close.

Rushing through the outskirts of town, we soon found ourselves entering the narrow and winding roads over the various ravines which overhang the river below. The poor road conditions would usually make this journey dangerous at the speeds we're driving, but Matthew is one of the few I trust entirely when it comes to driving in these conditions.

Where most officers would be struggling to keep control and stick to the road, Matthew seems to glide effortlessly around the corners with ease while maintaining a constant speed. He may be behind the wheel of a fairly mediocre Vauxhall Astra, but when Matthew is at the helm and in control, it's as if he is driving the most luxurious and high-end sports car that money could buy.

Despite feeling at ease, the peculiar thunderstorm overhead seems to keep pushing any confidence I have to the side and forces itself to the front of my mind. We were told that there would be a storm through the night, but it seems almost crazy that one of this magnitude would be classified as a 'mild storm'. The intensity of the gale force winds and the uncharacteristic frequency of the lightning bolts sends shivers down my spine.

Without warning, a bolt lashes through the sky directly in front of us, impacting with the road before us and sparking off in every direction. Matthew and I seem to stare wide-eyed at the anomaly before us, the alien looking event throwing us entirely off guard as the unthinkable happens. The electrics to the car suddenly shut off.

All of the lights being emitted from the vehicle abruptly cut off, cascading our surroundings in pure darkness as any resemblance of the road fades in an instance. With a sense of urgency, Matthew begins flicking the headlights back and forth from automatic to manual in an attempt to get them switched back on as he attempts to apply the brakes to bring the car to a halt.

Flicking his head back and forth, Matthew's bodily fully tenses as a look of pure horror plasters itself on his face. "Shit!"

Following his gaze, I immediately slap my hands against the dashboard and brace as the headlights of the Range Rover we've been looking for fill our view as we find ourselves in the oncoming lane. Acting on instinct, Matthew swerves the vehicle to the left, away from the edge of the ravine, as he anchors on the brakes.

The cars avoid one another by a fraction of a hair as our car loses its grip on the road and heads into the dirt verge. Fear rushes through my body as the car begins to roll to the right as we find ourselves driving along the incline of the dirt mounds which lines the road boundary, my body sliding from the seat and hanging over the gear stick and handbrake as Matthew attempts to regain control and level the car.

Sliding down the incline, the mixture of wet mud clinging to the tyres and the heavy rain canvasing the road causes any resemblance of grip to be lost as Matthew loses control of the vehicle. Powerless to do anything, we find ourselves at the mercy of gravity as we find ourselves nose-diving over the edge of the ravine, heading directly towards the overhanging trees which cling to the rapid descent and the overflowing river below.

Closing my eyes, I braced for what was next to come. Free falling down to a depth deep below, I had no expectation that I will come out of this unscathed, with the possibility that I may die being a strong possibility. I had gone through life always trying to be in control, not wanting to step out of my comfort zone and fall victim to the world as it inevitably tries to fuck me over. Expecting the world to fade into a pit of darkness, I find that there is nothing to do but accept my fate as the heavens overhead roar chaotically as piercing white flashes fill my head.

Consciousness slowly comes back to me as the tell-tale sound of thunder slowly rolls away from me. I begrudgingly open my eyes to find myself slumped forward in my seat, the only thing having kept me in place is the seatbelt still securely locked and fixed into the locking device.

A sudden wave of hysterical laughter comes over me as the realisation finally sets in. I am alive! Somehow, we survived a nose dive over a steep ravine into a twenty-metre drop down below. As my sense of relief slowly washes away, I finally process that I have still been injured in the crash as a large patch of fresh blood rests on my right thigh, soaking into the fabric of my trousers as droplets of blood trickle over my eyes.

Lifting my head, I turn my gaze towards Matthew as he remains motionless in the driver's seat, blood seeping over his body from the front of his head. With the electrics on the car playing up, it seems that it failed to activate the airbags in the crash, causing Matthew to hit his head on the steering wheel.

"Matthew?" I lean towards him as I lift his head, resting my fingers against his neck to try and feel for a pulse. "Matt? Come on! Wake up!"

Moving my fingers around, I finally let out a sigh of relief as I find a steady pulse. Safe in the knowledge that he is still breathing and doesn't appear to be in any risk of choking, I turn my attention back to myself as I adjust the mirror on the heavily cracked windscreen and turn it to myself.

A five-centimetre wide gash rests above my right eye, allowing blood to run down over my blue eyes and trickling down the side of my face, painting my tanned skin. Thankfully, it seems that the bleeding has managed to slow itself down over time, only releasing a slow and steady stream of blood. Lifting my free hand, I brush aside a matted mass of black hair which has clumped to my face after being coated in blood.

Looking out the cracked windows to see where we are, I immediately recoil to find that our car has managed to become wedged in the top of a tree, partially destroying our impromptu safety net as surrounding branches cling to the feature.

I turn my focus to my personal radio, hoping to get a message out to control to request for help. "Y-K from PAPA-ZULU-FIVE-ONE. Are you receiving?"

Silence. I fail to get any reply or to hear any sort of transmissions. Uncertain as to whether my earpiece has been damaged, I unclasp the radio from my stab vest and examine the screen. No signal. My heart sinks at the realisation that without any signal, I will be unable to call for any help and the control room will be unable to use the built-in GPS to track my location. Glancing at the car's radio proves futile as it seems to have cut off entirely alongside the electrics of the car.

Out of desperation, I press the small orange button that sits on the top of the radio, the emergency call button. Even without a signal, this will alert every single officer on the comms channel that I have activated my distress button. This means that every officer would be sent to our last area, and hopefully will find us.

I'm snapped out of my trance of self-loathing as Matthew releases a shallow groan. Lifting his head, he blinks slowly as he turns towards me. "B-Becky, are you okay?"

I shakily nod my head, the sudden movement causing my brain to pulsate as a wave of discomfort rushes through me. "Yeah... I'm fine. I tried radioing for help, but we've got no signal."

Coughing violently, he tries to push open the driver's door of the car, only for it to become caught against the various branches holding the car in place. "I don't know about you... but I'd say this was good parking on my part," Matthew jokes in an attempt to lighten the mood before entering another coughing fit.

"We can't exactly sit in this tree all night. Who knows when it will fall."

"Did you use the emergency button?" Matthew asks as he reaches into his first aid pouch on his utility belt, grabbing a bandage and securing it around his head. I nod in response as I lean over and help him secure the dressing. "Good. Then we should get out of here and try to get back up to the road so the others can find us."

Unfastening my seat belt, I'm able to force my door open wide enough to provide a gap for myself to squeeze through. Using all of my strength, I pull myself through the narrow passage so that I'm leaning against the frame of the car as I timidly rest my foot on the largest branch underneath me, the movement causing the tree and the metal frame of the car to creak eerily.

As I look back to Matthew, he seems less capable of moving as he struggles to climb out of his own seat. "Maybe you should stay here," I suggest as I watch him with concern. "I can bring help."

He pauses, once again coughing violently before closing his eyes. "I'm not sitting in the tree to be rescued by the water fairies like some cat stuck in a tree. We'll never hear the end of it."

I scoff as I try to find the best route to descend from the tree. "Even now, you can't help but jab at the fire service."

"They're all tucked up in bed," He mocks as he finally climbs towards the opening. "I can get out. Just...find us the best route."

Once I gain a secure footing, I finally examine the car and the tree overhead before realising just how lucky we were. The car had managed to crash through various weaker branches which acted as a buffer between us and the main trunk, slowing us down just enough as to not severely damage the car or ourselves. The windscreen has been entirely shattered with both wing mirrors being ripped off and lying on the ground before us. Amazingly, the main vehicle appears to be intact, apart from the Police Battenburg markings livery being torn to hell and various dents and scratches marking the various panels.

Cautiously, I begin the descent from the tree, making sure I get a secure footing and grip out of fear of having another fall so shortly after the last. Despite my trepidation, myself and the Sergeant are able to reach the safety of the ground, finding the remnants of the wing mirrors with numerous shattered sections from the tree overhead.

Idly kicking the mirror to the side, Matthew begins to pivot as he gazes upwards in confusion. "Becky, we came over the edge and fell down the ravine, right?"

I watch Matthew in confusion, uncertain as to where he is going with this line of questioning. "Yeah?"

"Then where the fuck is the road?"

"What do you-" Following his gaze, I come to an abrupt stop as I look towards the route our car took over the ledge, only to find that there is no slope behind us. Any remnants of the road overhead or the tall passage has all but disappeared. Where a sharp incline should be, there is a large cluster of trees which seem to expand far beyond the eye can see. It's only then that I realise that we should have landed above the river, yet there are no signs of it anywhere around us.

"This is fucking weird," Matthew exclaims as he leans against the tree. "It makes no sense." Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out his mobile phone to release a deep groan, "I've got no phone signal. We've got no way of contacting anyone from here"

I slump down to the ground, sitting back as I stare at the sky overhead. The remnants of the storm finally seems to have passed as the sky overhead remains clear along with the claps of distant and more intermittent thunder claps. The moon beginning to gradually slink away for the night to soon be replaced with the early morning sun.

A quick glance at Matthew shows his lack of patience for the situation. He never was the one kind of person who would just sit back, he always had to be doing something. Wandering aimlessly around, he peers through any opening in the tree line he can. Without warning, he seems to take off as he walks through a small gap and disappears out of sight.

"Matthew?" I call out after him as I unsteadily rise to my feet. "Where are you going?" Not wanting to be left behind, I rush to catch up to him, rapidly diving into the same passage as him to find him stood on a makeshift dirt path which appears to break away in two directions at an end of a fork. Obscured from my vision is what appears to be a fairly basic wooden signpost which Matthew stares at intently. "Any idea where we are?"

"I-I've got no clue," Matthew chuckles in disbelief. "Have you ever heard of White Tail Woods? 'Cause I sure ain't."

"White Tail Woods?" I repeat as I join alongside him, matching his confused expression as my eyes lock on the various arrows pointing in both directions. Scoffing, I rub my tired eyes. "I've never heard of any of these places. Canterlot? Shouldn't that be Camelot?"

Matthew looks at me with a puzzled expression, "No. Even Camelot doesn't exist. Just like... Ponyville? What the fuck?"

"Well, this certainly doesn't help. in fact, it makes things about ten times worse!" Matthew exclaims in irritation. "I prefered thinking that we were lost on the road near Bridgnorth. Now, I have no fucking clue where we are supposed to be."

Agitated, I begin to pace back and forth Matthew remains motionless. "Maybe we should head towards one of these towns? It's not like sitting here will prove useful. besides, we should both get to a hospital as soon as we can. The car will be fine here, it's not like it's gonna go anywhere."

I watch Matthew expectantly as he stays glued to his spot, his eyes flicking back and forth over the sign before him. Slowly pacing up to him, I lightly rest my hand on his shoulder, acting as a way to break him out of his trance as he slowly turns his head to focus on me.

As he opens his mouth to speak, a gruff masculine voice can be heard further down the path and out of sight as the trail bends behind a small rock formation. "I'm telling you, I heard something. It came from over here."

Matthew and I keep our eyes fixated on the footpath as we wait for the owner of the voice to step into view. Neither of us moves or even so much as fidgets as we wait in trepidation, the sound of various people walking in a group echoing off the surrounding trees and rocks.

We wait. Uncertain as to who will come around the corner.

Author's Note

Police Glossary:

• PAPA-XRAY: Police Response callsign
• PAPA-ZULU: Sergeant callsign
• PTT: Push To Talk
• PNC: Police National Computer
• Top Desk: Control room supervisor / Operational commander
• TPAC: Tactical Pursuit And Containment
• WHISKEY-MIKE: Wanted Marker
• Y-K: Control Room callsign