My 4Runner, "Ted," and I drove until the diner was long out of view. I felt grateful for Shirley's map in the middle of this kingdom of trees. There was no way that any app would work out here—there had to be absolutely zero signal to work from. I eyed the pink line that Carl had drawn on the paper map. To my luck, which seemed to be running low these days, the map led me right to the road that fed off the main road—the one that would hopefully lead me directly to the cabin. Relief washed over me as I pulled onto the gravel path. A path of hope that quickly dwindled as the road led me to a fork.
"Shit," I hissed. I pulled over and looked at the map. There was no fork in the road on the map. "You have to be fucking kidding me."
I groaned, my mind trying to place where I was. I thought about what Shirley had said at the diner. I didn't think this was one of those situations where both options were good.
I shifted the car back into gear and looked at the map, then back at the fork. My mind churned and tried to piece together what made the most logical sense. Steering forward, and finding myself going left, down a windy road covered with trees and lush greenery, I couldn't shake off the eerie feeling from the diner. I checked the rearview mirror to find no one behind me, although it didn't settle the feeling brewing in my gut, just like this map felt like it wasn't getting me closer to Yulanda's brother's cabin. When I looked back at my map, it felt like I was reading a foreign language. There were no landmarks or mile markers to help me find my way. Just endless hills, trees, and unmarked roads that were all starting to look the same.
Hope started to slowly fade along with the sun as I drove and drove and found nothing. Exhaustion was eating at me again, my eyelids growing heavy. I had to at least try to squeeze in a few hours so I could keep going.
Of course this would happen. Of course I would get lost in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness right as the sun was setting. Of course I couldn't do something simple, like read a damn map.
"Nice work, Charlotte," I groaned to myself.
All I wanted was a nice bed, but all I found was more trees; and I didn't want to drive around on a crazy-ass goose chase in the dark. Finding this cabin would be easier when I wasn't sleep-deprived. I probably should have gone the other way at the fork, but at this point, I had no idea how to get myself back there.
I settled for a campsite with an overgrown dirt road leading into a wooded area where a meadow lapped at its borders. The temporary haven of grass and wildflowers swaying in the crisp breeze chased away the fear eating at the corners of my mind. For now, I had found a temporary oasis.
The sunlight was fading fast as dusk had comfortably settled in, but my feet followed the dirt road on their own. Curiosity flared in me as I examined deep tread marks in the dried mud that slowly disappeared into the grass. I bent down and eyed the grooves in the dirt. They were like small trenches that just vanished. In their place was fresh grass and wildflowers. Which meant someone had to have covered them up, but it didn't look like a great deal of dirt had been shifted around the area. If anything, the landscape looked almost untouched. Still wild.
"You're trespassing."
The deep voice was like a shot of espresso. I whipped around to find a man standing behind me. He was maybe in his midfifties with worn jeans and brown boots that were smashing out the last bits of a cigarette.
"You're on private property," he said, his hand flicking away a piece of scruffy silver-white hair that must have fallen out of his ponytail. I felt my head tilt as his silver eyes caught mine—eyes that, much like his hair, almost seemed to glow unnaturally.
"Private. Property," he repeated.
I shook my head with a blink, snapping myself out of his gaze, and looked back at my car. I was close to it, not more than fifteen feet. If I had to, I could be fast enough to make it back to the driver's seat.
"I didn't see a sign. I thought this was a campsite."
He cocked his head, bright-silver eyes looking at me as if this whole conversation was a thorn in his foot. "Well, this is my property and you can't be here."
"I could be gone before the morning—"
"No can do, miss." He dug out another cigarette from the pack in his back pocket. "You can't stay here."
I nodded slowly. His new cigarette flared to life, smoke starting to twist from the end. "I was looking for my friend's cabin. Got lost looking for it—the map was hard to—I just need a place to sleep for tonight."
Jesus Christ, get it together, Charlotte.
I felt his gaze shift to my black eye. I knew he could see it. It may have been getting dark, but he wasn't that far away. It was like I could feel his gaze tracing the outline of it. My feet nervously toyed with a few rocks on the ground. "You're a long ways from cabins, girl. How the hell did you get out this far?"
"Trying to follow a map." I was still half shocked that I'd made it this far. "I turned wrong at the fork . . . I think?"
He nodded as something flickered in his eyes, but it passed too quickly for me to recognize it.
"There's a campsite about a mile from here. It will be on your right. In the morning, just go back down this road. At the fork, you take a right, not a left, and that will spit you out on the main county road that leads up to the vacation cabins."
I backtracked to my car. "Thanks," I answered. I would go find Shirley in the morning. She could probably help me find the cabin during the daylight.
"Don't mention it," he replied while a cloud of smoke left his lips. "Keep an eye out!" he called after me. I looked over my shoulder. "It's getting dark. Wouldn't want any wild animals to get ya."
I didn't have to call Nate. I could hear him laughing in my head as Ted and I hauled ass out of there. His laughter was stifling until I pressed a finger to the button of the sunroof to open it. Fresh air poured in and quieted my racing mind, for now at least.
The campsite that the creepy old man had told me about was, in fact, exactly a mile away. It wasn't ideal. I wasn't a fan of being out on my own in the middle of the wilderness. But here, in the four walls of my car, I was far from Nate and in a place where I could easily escape if he showed up. Maybe it was the exhaustion or maybe it was the little bit of sanity I had left slipping, but right now this was my safe haven. He couldn't corner me here. He couldn't trap me in a room with only one door. I had four doors and my feet could easily reach the gas pedal.
Shirley's to-go package was tucked away safe in the passenger seat, and I was quick to lock all the doors before I pulled out my sleeping bag. It wasn't the sleek silver Mercedes that I had traded in for Ted, or the high-priced condo with a view overlooking the ocean that Nate loved, but it was a cozy den of my own.
My eyes started to drift as I watched the stars through the open sunroof. The air was cool, too cool for comfort, so I slid the sunroof cover shut before I snuggled down in my seat. The land of sleep called me away to the bliss of my mother humming to me while she stroked my hair. A bliss that was barely enjoyed before it was broken by a distant howl.
My eyes cracked open. Darkness clouded the car, seeping into it. I pulled the sleeping bag tighter around me while my sleepy eyes tried to blink awake.
Another howl sounded. Closer. Close enough that my eyes snapped wide-awake. Only the dark forest stared back at me, like open water. I could see the faint outline of branches swaying in the wind, but only silence was layered onto the blanket of darkness around me.
My heart picked up. Maybe I was being irrational? Dramatic?
Thud.
Something had hit the rear of the car. The car wobbled while I clutched the covers over my head. My hand slapped over my mouth as I peeked over the edge of my sleeping bag.
Blackness stared back at me like an animal licking its lips, daring me to step into its embrace.
"It's nothing," I murmured to myself.
Thud.
The car rocked hard, like a ship in an angry sea.
My teeth dug into my lip. A coppery taste filled my mouth while I sucked in a deep breath, bracing myself to move. My head whipped around in search of something, although I hoped that whatever that something was wouldn't show itself.
My eyes were clenched shut and wanted to stay that way, but my gut told me to move. Like a thief, I carefully slipped out of my cozy sleeping bag and reached for the keys. As I turned the ignition, there was another thud, this one closer to the driver's door, rocking the car again in another angry tide.
My breath caught in my throat as the engine wavered on me. The darkness around me seemed to grow thicker as my heart steadily picked up tempo in my chest. A cool sweat danced along the back of my neck while I continued to listen to the engine stutter.
"Come on, Ted!"
The engine turned over and I slammed my foot on the gas right as something slammed into the passenger's side door, rocking me right out of my seat. A scream ripped out of my mouth as I fought to find the gas pedal. Gravel flew around me.
Clenching the steering wheel, I slammed my foot on the gas, racing about ten feet into freedom. But in the darkness, I didn't see it coming. Something crashed into the front of the truck.
Metal groaned as glass shattered around me as the car started to topple over. I tried to claw my way back to the driver's seat, but a loud boom sent me ricocheting backward. My head hit the roof. Another scream tore from my lips as the truck started to slowly topple over onto its side.
There was a bang, crunching, what sounded like growling—growling?—and the faint sound of a painful murmur. I think it was from me?
When I finally opened my eyes, I was met with silence. Pure, horrifying silence.
This kind of silence meant that I had to get out of here before it was too late. The creepy old man lived nearby—he had to have been close to have walked to where I was in the meadow. I made it over a thousand miles from one monster; I could make it another mile from whatever this was.
The silence was interrupted by glass cracking across the driver's side windows above me, and tiny shards trickled down around me like raindrops falling in a soft spring storm. I could see the moon peering through the spiderweb-shattered windshield, glowing bright and full in the clear night. Cold seeped into the car, sliding over my shoulders while glass continued to patter down beside me.
Suddenly, everything was too loud: the sound of glass hitting next to me, my breath as it came out of my mouth, my heart beating in thumps that I was sure could be heard for a mile, and my own screaming inside my head, which I knew would come out of my mouth if I opened it.
The metal easily dented as the thing on top of it strolled across it, drawing groans from the metal that preceded each new dent. The sound made me wince with every sickening assault on the strength of the haven I thought these four walls on wheels would provide me.
I had to escape.
I surveyed my options. Staying wasn't an option, but the windshield didn't look viable either. Kicking it out would be too loud. It was so black outside that I wasn't sure that even if I could run I would find my way to the road. The moon was out, yes, but the trees blocked it—almost as if they were determined to keep me in utter darkness.
But I had to move. In my mind, I could visualize the road. I could backtrack my steps to it. I just needed the cover of silence.
My brain chewed on the options. I needed a quiet escape—something that would not give away my location. Breaking a window open and running was a deadly trap. My eyes frantically searched the cab for options. The sunroof. I had closed the cover but left the sunroof glass open before I went to sleep. I could easily slide it open quietly and slip silently away. Well, I could only hope for such an outcome.
I clenched my eyes shut. I only had one chance at this. My toes wiggled in my shoes, legs ready to sprint the moment they hit the ground.
My fingers reached for the lid and paused. I looked around to make sure that I hadn't given myself away before reaching for the handle. Carefully, I slid the cover open. A cold breath from the great dark silence of the forest grazed my face. Cold yet inviting, like a siren calling me to my death. It felt like it would suck out my soul if I stared too long.
I didn't dare breathe. I pulled my shirt up to my mouth and bit down on it so I wouldn't be tempted to shriek. The darkness blew another soft breath into the interior. I quietly reached forward, pushing myself up as I started to crawl.
Soft dirt sank under my hands while I carefully slid out into the night. The minute my whole body was out of the car, I took off like I was running the Olympic one-hundred-yard dash. I dropped the shirt in my mouth and sucked in sweet breaths of air to keep my limbs moving.
But the darkness was a fog that was impossible to penetrate. The tiny fragments of light that made it through the thick trees only illuminated the forest around me, like shining a light into the deep of the ocean.
Limbs felt like angry nails trying to snare me as I pushed past them while I sucked in unsatisfying breaths of cool, thin night air. I was getting out of here. I was finding that old man. I had to keep telling myself that while my feet pounded against the forest floor.
My toe caught something. As I toppled down in darkness, my arms caught the impact with the ground, which knocked all the air out of my lungs. Something sharp pulsed through my shoulder and something warm and wet dripped down my knee. I tried to look but the moonlight barely lit what I had to assume was blood.
I took another breath; I could hear movement around me but didn't dare look behind me. I covered my mouth with my hand. A heavy crunch echoed through the forest, followed by another one.
Something was creeping closer.
There wasn't a road in sight. There was just darkness and what felt like a labyrinth of trees—until I spotted the moon's dim reflection on the main road.
Scrambling up, I darted for the road. Sweat beat down my neck while my fingers dug into my fists, which pumped into the scheming night.
I was only a few yards away, almost free, when something wrapped around my waist and yanked me to the ground. My hip took the brutal first hit before my arm was crushed underneath the weight on top of me. The taste of copper filled my mouth while stars blinked across my vision.
I reached forward to push myself up but brutal hands yanked me onto my back. Gold looked at me. Gold eyes with frizzy red veins around them. I blinked, hoping that when I opened my eyes the man on top of me would be gone, but instead I was greeted with a hideous gaze that I immediately recognized. It was the man from the diner. Except, now that he was closer, I realized his golden eyes were not sun-kissed; instead, they looked sick. Bloodshot. Like he had a bad case of pink eye.
I did the only thing I could think of as his mangy breath fanned my face. I kicked between his legs, nailing him right in the balls. The moment he doubled over was the moment I seized to run.
A low, guttural sound ripped out of the darkness to my right, and a large brown mass hurled itself at me again. I slammed down to the cold ground, knees scraping against gravel before I steadied myself on a patch of leaves.
Another growl pulsated through the shadows.
I looked up and found myself once again looking into golden eyes, but that was impossible. Completely impossible. Because the eyes were attached to a big-ass snarling wolf prowling toward me. An animal that licked its lips at its next meal. Me.
The snap of its teeth echoed through the forest. My own mouth snapped shut then opened in a scream. I had to pray that the old man, or someone, would hear me. But the wolf shook its head with a strange laugh, almost maniacal, as it stepped closer to me.
Holy fuck.
I pushed myself back until I was standing shakily again. I turned to bolt but stopped before I could take another step. Another ragged wolf, sandy brown with mud caked on its paws, was slinking forward. I turned again, but now the man with the golden eyes was back, walking my way like I was the lottery ticket he was here to claim.
"I always love a good chase."
A sharp breath tumbled out of my mouth. I searched for an exit, my brain trying to work out all the possibilities of how this could end. "Just let me go—I won't tell anyone! I swear!"
I turned again and my stomach turned over. The wolf was gone but in his place was another man from the diner.
"What the hell—"
Crash.
I was slammed into the dirt by the man with madness in his eyes, who took my shock as an opportunity to strike. I tried to claw my way out, scratching his arms, kicking, screaming, and beating him with all I had.
It didn't faze him. He just shook his head with a hearty laugh. This was a cute game to him, letting me fight back just before he backhanded me across the face. My ears rang with the jumbled sounds of growls around me. Tears streamed down my cheeks.
There was a soft clack of a belt buckle. Pants unzipping.
And then the man was on me again, tearing at my leggings, yanking them down.
I couldn't let this happen. I couldn't. I didn't come all this way to be raped and murdered in the forest.
Anger raged inside me. I clawed at his face. Bit at the forearm crushing my chest. He shifted his weight and forced my hands over my head with a bearlike paw, pinning me down with the full weight of his hips. Helpless.
He chuckled with a rotten smile, then slapped me again.
"I like it a little rough too," he said, bloodshot eyes drinking me in like a prize he knew he'd eventually win.
He grabbed my jaw with a rough hand, then slid it over my mouth to muffle my scream. Tears dripped into my ears as he lined himself up.
And then suddenly, he was gone, yanked backward into the darkness, his nails leaving slashes across my face and arms.
It took me a second to register that he really wasn't there anymore. I lurched to the side and pulled my leggings up with shaky hands. A bolt of pain shot across my ribs; white spots danced in my vision.
I could hear growling and grunting moving closer to me, but I couldn't tell from which direction. It felt like it was coming from all sides. My head whipped around, trying to find it in the dark. Then I saw it—a tall, dark blur tearing the golden man limb from limb, while another blur, grayish and black, fought off the two other wolves on its own.
I didn't wait around to see what happened next.
I scrambled to my feet and took off running, completely blind with terror, until a sharp pain and a harsh jerk timbered me to the ground.
The sandy-brown wolf had my leg in its mouth.
White-hot agony, wet and sticky, ripped through me as he clamped down harder, sinking his jaw into the meaty flesh above my knee. He thrashed his head wildly, jerking my entire body with it. I could feel every inch of his teeth shredding through muscle and bone.
I was still screaming when the beast released my leg. It stepped toward me, over me, my own blood spilling down its hairy chin and onto my chest. He licked his lips. Nuzzled at the side of my throat with rancid breath—
And then everything went cold. I felt nothing. Maybe I was losing more blood than I realized. I wrenched open my eyes to nothing but darkness again.
The beast was gone. I didn't know how. Maybe I was dead already. Thinking was becoming too taxing.
I rolled to my side, my leg useless as pain snaked through my veins. It was an animal of its own, like claws slowly spreading to each part of me. The Reaper coming to collect me.
I blinked hard, just in time to see a large grayish-black wolf dance around the one that had just bitten me. He growled and barreled into the sandy-brown wolf with a ferocity that made me want to vomit. The sandy-brown wolf didn't stand a chance, his neck bleeding out on the forest floor.
I looked down at my own bleeding leg. I could see bone. A stream of blood pumped out beside it in time with my slowing pulse, snaking across mangled flesh and onto the ground.
I blinked again and my vision swirled. Sleep was calling out to me again, but the black spots flickering in my sight told me this wasn't sleep. I wanted to hold on, but with every breath, my body felt lighter and my mind heavier.
It was impossible to resist the darkness's temptation. It was the whisper of a lover calling me to bed. Like the early days with Nate, when he would murmur sweet things in my ear that I could never hold back from.
My eyes drifted shut and I fell a little deeper.
Something was speaking to me. A robot-like voice in the darkness saying things I was too tired to comprehend. It made the peacefulness of this seem like a trap.
The voice spoke again. Curiosity and fear flared in me. I needed to open my eyes. Needed to run. To keep going. Pull myself up from the heaviness before it took me under.
The black spots had taken over most of my vision but vibrant silver eyes cut through the darkness to me.
Then there was nothing but the cold embrace of silence.