Jake turned the key. The starter whined—a tired, metallic groan—and then nothing. No click. No hum. Just the slow, wet sound of the forest breathing around them.
The trees closed in. Not gradually, the way they do in autumn when the branches grow heavy. They lunged. One moment there was a sliver of darkening sky above the canopy; the next, the limbs wove together like knuckles, blocking out the last of the sunset. Their headlights carved a weak tunnel through the gloom, illuminating nothing but dust motes and the occasional set of eyes—deer, probably—that glowed and vanished.
“Trust me.”
“See? The map says we’re fine,” Jake said, tapping his phone screen. The blue dot blinked stubbornly in a white void, as if floating in a sea of nothing. “We just stay on this road for another eight miles, and we hit 219.”
Maya grabbed Jake’s arm. “We go back to the car.”
Jake turned the key. The starter whined—a tired, metallic groan—and then nothing. No click. No hum. Just the slow, wet sound of the forest breathing around them.
The trees closed in. Not gradually, the way they do in autumn when the branches grow heavy. They lunged. One moment there was a sliver of darkening sky above the canopy; the next, the limbs wove together like knuckles, blocking out the last of the sunset. Their headlights carved a weak tunnel through the gloom, illuminating nothing but dust motes and the occasional set of eyes—deer, probably—that glowed and vanished. wrong turn msv
“Trust me.”
“See? The map says we’re fine,” Jake said, tapping his phone screen. The blue dot blinked stubbornly in a white void, as if floating in a sea of nothing. “We just stay on this road for another eight miles, and we hit 219.” Jake turned the key
Maya grabbed Jake’s arm. “We go back to the car.” No hum