Chapter 229 CHAPTER 229
The road had stretched longer than either of them had expected.
For three days, Anna and Hilda had done little more than drive, stop, and drive again, their journey reduced to a repetitive cycle that left no room for rest and even less for clarity. The car had become both their refuge and their burden, filled with the stale scent of fast food wrappers, bottled drinks, and exhaustion that clung to them no matter how many times they rolled down the windows to let in fresh air.
They had not taken a proper shower since they left Silverpine. Every stop they made was brief and purposeful—fuel, restroom, something quick to eat—and then they were back on the road again, chasing a destination that had never truly been defined.
At first, Anna had believed her mother knew where they were going.
Now, she wasn’t so sure.
The landscape had changed gradually over the past day, the towns growing fewer, the roads narrower, until eventually even the scattered signs of civilization had begun to disappear. What remained was a long stretch of road that cut through a dense forest, the trees pressing in on either side like silent witnesses to their passing.
Inside the car, the tension had been building for hours.
Anna shifted in her seat, her frustration no longer something she could keep contained. She leaned her head back briefly before turning toward her mother, her voice edged with irritation that had been simmering for far too long.
“How much longer?” she asked, her tone sharp. “You’ve been saying ‘just a few more miles’ for two days now.”
Hilda kept her eyes on the road, her grip on the steering wheel tightening slightly, though she did not immediately respond.
“We’re close,” she said after a moment, her voice carrying a firmness that felt rehearsed rather than certain. “Just a little further.”
Anna let out a short, disbelieving laugh.
“You said that yesterday,” she pointed out. “And the day before that. Are you even sure where we’re going?”
“I told you, I know where we’re going,” Hilda replied, her tone sharpening slightly.
“Then what’s the name of the place?” Anna asked quickly, her eyes narrowing. “What is it called?”
Hilda hesitated.
It was brief.
But it was enough.
“I… don’t remember the exact name,” she said, her voice losing some of its earlier certainty.
Anna turned fully in her seat now, her frustration giving way to something more pointed.
“You don’t remember?” she repeated. “How do you not remember the name of the place we’ve been driving toward for three days?”
Hilda exhaled slowly, her patience beginning to fray. “Names aren’t important right now,” she said. “We’ll know when we get there.”
Anna stared at her in disbelief.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” she said. “Who are we even going to see? What’s the name of this relative you keep talking about?”
Hilda’s silence this time lasted longer.
And when she finally spoke, her answer did not come as reassurance.
“Don’t worry about that,” she said. “We just need to get there.”
Something inside Anna snapped.
“Don’t worry about it?” she echoed, her voice rising. “We’ve been on the road for three days, we haven’t slept properly, we look like we’ve been dragged through dirt, and now you’re telling me not to worry about where we’re going or who we’re going to meet?”
Hilda’s grip on the steering wheel tightened further.
“Anna, enough,” she said, her voice firm now. “Stop questioning everything and just let me drive.”
But Anna wasn’t stopping.
Her eyes searched her mother’s face, something colder settling in her chest as a realization began to take shape.
“You lied to me, didn’t you?” she said, her voice quieter now, but far more dangerous. “There are no relatives, are there?”
Hilda did not answer.
She didn’t need to.
Anna let out a hollow laugh, shaking her head.
“So that’s it,” she said. “You made it all up. You just wanted me to come with you.”
“I needed you to come with me,” Hilda snapped, the words slipping out before she could restrain them. “If I had told you the truth, you would have refused.”
“The truth being what?” Anna demanded. “That you don’t have a plan? That you don’t even know where we’re going?”
Hilda’s silence confirmed everything.
Anna leaned back in her seat, running a hand over her face in frustration.
“This is insane,” she muttered. “We’re in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by trees, and you’re only now telling me that you’ve been driving without any idea where you’re taking us.”
“We just needed to get away from Silverpine,” Hilda said, her voice softening slightly, though it carried desperation beneath it. “We’ll figure the rest out when we find a place that feels right.”
Anna turned sharply toward her.
“A place that feels right?” she repeated. “That’s your plan? You’re just going to drive until something feels right?”
“Yes,” Hilda said, her voice firm again. “And when we find it, we’ll start over.”
Anna shook her head, disbelief turning into anger once more.
“I don’t want to start over like this,” she said. “Not with no plan, no direction, nothing. Stop the car.”
Hilda didn’t.
“Stop the car,” Anna repeated, louder this time.
“Sit down and stop causing problems,” Hilda snapped. “We’re not stopping.”
Anna reached forward, her hand shot out, grabbing at the steering wheel in a desperate attempt to force the car to stop.
Everything happened at once.
The car jerked violently to the side, the tires screeching against the road before losing grip entirely. The vehicle veered off the narrow path and into the trees, branches scraping harshly against the sides as the car pushed through the undergrowth before coming to a sudden, jarring stop.
Silence followed.
Heavy.
Stunned.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then Anna let out a sharp breath, her hands trembling slightly as she pulled them back.
“Great,” she muttered. “Just great.”
Hilda quickly unbuckled her seatbelt, her expression tight as she stepped out of the car to assess the damage. The front of the vehicle had lodged itself between low shrubs and uneven ground, the wheels partially stuck.
“We can still get it out,” Hilda said, though her voice carried less certainty than before. “Come help me push.”
Anna didn’t move.
Instead, she leaned back against her seat, staring ahead.
“I’m not pushing anything,” she said flatly. “This is your mess.”
Hilda turned toward her, frustration flashing across her face.
“Anna, this is not the time….”
The sound of an engine cut her off.
Both of them froze.
A pickup truck emerged slowly from the road, its presence sudden in the otherwise quiet forest. It rolled to a stop a short distance away, the low hum of its engine the only sound breaking the stillness.
Relief washed over Hilda’s face almost instantly.
“Thank the moon goddess,” she murmured under her breath before stepping forward.
The doors of the truck opened, and five men revealed themselves—two from the front, three climbing down from the back.
Hilda stepped closer, her voice filled with gratitude.
“You came at the right time,” she said quickly. “Our car veered off the road. We just need help getting it back.”
The man in the driver’s seat smiled.
It was a slow smile.
Measured.
“We can help,” he said.
For a moment, hope flickered.
Then….
Something in his tone shifted.
“Just not in the way you think.”
Hilda’s expression faltered slightly, confusion replacing relief.
“I don’t understand…”
“Our boss,” the man continued, his voice calm in a way that felt wrong now, “would be very interested in meeting two women wandering alone this deep in the woods.”
The air changed.
Anna felt it immediately.
The way the men looked at them—not with concern, not with kindness, but with something else entirely—something assessing, calculating.
One of the men at the back let out a low chuckle.
“They’ll fetch a good price,” he muttered under his breath.
“Mom…” Anna whispered, her voice tight with sudden fear.
Hilda stepped back instinctively, her earlier confidence dissolving into something much more fragile.
“We need to go,” she said quickly.
But it was already too late.
They turned to run….
And the men moved faster.
The forest that had seemed quiet moments before now felt suffocating, closing in as the five men surrounded them with practiced ease. There was no struggle that lasted long enough to matter, no chance to escape before hands closed around them, firm and unyielding.
Anna fought, but exhaustion slowed her.
Hilda tried to pull her away, but she was no match for them.
Within moments, they were overpowered.
Pushed.
Dragged.
Thrown into the back of the pickup truck.
The doors slammed shut.
And as the engine roared back to life, the forest swallowed the sound of their struggle as the vehicle disappeared down the road….
Carrying them deeper into something far more dangerous than being lost.