Chapter 2 wrong territory
The morning light hit the dashboard when I finally noticed the gas tank blinking red. I hadn’t realized how long I’d been driving. My hands ached from gripping the steering wheel too hard.
I pulled into a small station off the highway. There wasn’t much around just a few scattered houses and a diner with a flickering sign.
The air here felt different, thinner, quieter. Even the sunlight seemed pale. I got out of the car and stretched my legs, feeling stiffness creep up my spine. The smell of gasoline mixed with dust and something faintly metallic, It was strange, but not enough to make me leave.
After filling the tank, I went inside to pay. The man behind the counter barely looked up.
“You’re not from around here,” he said.
“No,” I replied, forcing a small smile.
"Be careful, if I were you I would’ve gone back to where I have come from" His eyes lingered on me a second too long, fully warning me but I ignored him and stared at the map tacked to the wall behind him, Most of the surrounding area was blank. The edges of the map had been burned, deliberately. My chest tightened for a moment but I collected myself quickly. I wasn’t going back to Alex regardless.
“You shouldn’t continue with your journey. This city isn’t kind to strangers.” I frowned, when I heard him say that, he was probably joking or trying to scare me.
“I appreciate the warning,” I said finally, forcing a steady tone. “But I’ll be fine.”
"You will not be fine when you reach there", He warned more. “I’ll take my chances,” I said quietly, sliding the cash across the counter then walked back to my car.
Back in the car, I checked my phone ... no signal. I should’ve felt panic, but I didn’t. Just a low hum beneath my skin. That hum stayed with me as I drove deeper into nowhere. The roads narrowed, cracked, and the landscape turned gray but I didn’t stop, this is where Nathan stays.
When I saw the faded sign ... Welcome to Havenridge... I almost missed it. The letters were half peeled off, the rest covered in dust but I felt happy.
I parked outside what looked like an old motel then out of the blue my phone buzzed on the passenger seat.
Nathan.
I stared at the name glowing on the cracked screen. My cousin. My once lifeline. The only one who told me years ago that I didn’t have to stay.
With shaking fingers, I answered.
“I did it,” I whispered, the words cracking like glass. “I left him.”
Silence stretched for a beat. Then came his voice, warm but tight with emotion. “Where are you?”
“I... I don’t know. Some backroad outside Roswell.”
“Come to me,” Nathan said. “Now.”
“Okay”, I breathed out then continued. Nathan’s town wasn’t on any real map but I didn’t mind about it.
The cracked roads wound through empty fields and dead trees. Houses stood far apart, sagging with time, and hand-painted signs lined the roadside like warnings: Stay quiet after dark. No strangers past midnight.
It was eerie. Even the wind felt strange.
But when I pulled into Nathan’s driveway and saw him waiting on the porch, arms crossed, brows tight with worry, my lungs finally worked again.
“You look like you’ve been dragged through hell,” he said, stepping off the porch.
“I was,” I murmured, and slumped into his arms. He caught me, steady as ever.
“You hungry?”
“Starving.”
He gave a half-smile. “Good. There’s a restaurant in town. Let’s go and eat. You can sleep after.”
He grabbed my bag and slung it over his shoulder like it weighed nothing. I followed him as we made our way down the narrow road, streetlights flickering weakly overhead. The gravel crunched beneath our boots, and the silence around us felt heavier than it should have.
This town was strange. Too still, too empty. Like a place suspended just outside of time.
“Not a lot of people out,” I said, more to break the quiet than anything.
Nathan didn’t look at me. “They stay inside after dark.”
“Why?”
“Are you sure it’s safe?” I asked, eyeing a strange sigil carved into a nearby fence post as we passed it.
“No one will touch you,” he said, voice clipped. “Not while you’re with me.”
That... didn’t exactly answer the question.
After several more minutes, a neon sign buzzed into view through the trees: The Hollow Plate. The glow was weak, flickering like it might give out any second. Only half the sign lit up, so it looked like H LLOW PLATE from where we stood.
We crossed a cracked parking lot overrun with weeds, then pushed open the restaurant’s glass door. A silver bell jingled above us as we stepped inside.
It smelled like burnt coffee, grease, and old cigarette smoke but it was warm, and the silence inside wrapped around us like a blanket.
Only one waitress stood behind the counter, wiping down glasses. She gave us a fleeting glance, then turned away like she saw strangers every night and didn’t care to learn names.
Nathan led us to a booth near the back, one with a flickering light above it and a dusty jukebox a few feet away that hadn’t played a song in probably a decade.
“You did it.” Nathan spoke after
I nodded. “He had money. Hidden in a box in the closet. Thousands. He said we were broke. Made me do things I didn’t want to do, shameful things while he just... sat on it.”
“You took some?”
My eyes darted up. “Three bundles.”
Nathan didn’t flinch. “Good.”
My brows shot up. “Good?”
“He stole five years of your life. You didn’t take that money. You reclaimed it.”
I looked away, throat tight. “I keep thinking he’s going to find me.”
Nathan’s jaw clenched. “He won’t.”
I watched him for a beat but before I could respond, out of the blue creaked open and three figures stepped inside.
I froze immediately when my eyes fall on them.
They weren’t dressed like normal men, they were shirtless, inked skin rippling over muscle. Their eyes glowed faintly red, catching the light like wild animals. The way they moved wasn’t human at all too.
“Don’t panic.” Nathan spoke immediately.
I swallowed hard. “Who the hell are they?”
He gave a small shake of his head. “Don’t look at them too long. That’s what they want.”
I tore my gaze away, my entire body still tense.
“They’re going to come over here, they are called werewolves” he continued, his jaw tight. “That’s just what they do when they sense someone new in town. Especially someone… like you.”
“Someone like me?” I hissed under my breath. “What does that mean?”
Nathan didn’t answer. But I knew one thing.
He was afraid.