CHASING THE DEAD

Synopsis Sue Young has been haunted for nearly twenty years by a dark memory from her past. Her life changed the day she and her childhood friend, Phil, snuck out to a local park to steal a few moments together – even though the Harvester, a sadistic child killer, was prowling the streets of Gray Haven. Before long, the Harvester showed up and attacked them. But in the struggle, Phil was able to grab the killer’s knife and stab him to death. Horrified, the kids buried the body nearby and agreed never to speak of it again. Fifteen years later, problems still lie just below the surface of Sue's life. She married Phil, and they have a beautiful little girl, Lily. But he's left her, and Sue is struggling to move on. It's the longest night of the year, right before the Christmas holiday, and something lurks in the shadows. She arrives home late from work, greets her nanny, kisses her sleeping daughter, and runs upstairs to change. Minutes later she comes downstairs and finds both Lily and her nanny gone. And then her cell phone rings. The caller tells Sue that he has taken them, he knows what happened in the park all those years ago, and unless Sue follows his directions, Lily and the nanny will die. With no choice, Sue begins her dark journey, driving through a series of seven deserted, backwater towns in the middle of the night to do the kidnappers bidding. The route she takes must be followed precisely or Lily will pay with her life. At her first stop along the route, Sue fails her first test while unearthing the body of the Harvester and is punished - the corpse of her dead nanny left in her Expedition as a reminder of the price of failure. Forcing down her fear, Sue continues along the route where she is tested in each town. She receives help from a hitchhiking teenager, who seems to know what is going on. But his presence in the car is quickly revealed, and soon he too dies a horrible death. As she pushes onward, each town provides Sue with clues to her hidden tormenter’s purpose - to reawaken the dead - including the Harvester. Aided by an old detective with a personal interest in keeping the Harvester in the ground, Sue discovers the ancient identity of the kidnapper, the source of his powers, and the fact that he is unkillable. Racing through the night, getting closer and closer to saving her daughter, Sue cannot turn away. She slowly puts together a desperate plan – a last ditch effort to save Lily in the final confrontation that is coming. But how can she hope to stop a monster that can’t be killed?