The Bite (Book 1)

CHAPTER TWO

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.