Death In The Hills: A Revelation

Chapter 5: The Ominous Warning

The shining sun's rays hit Laia on her face as she tried to block out the harsh beams with her hands. But the sun was at its peak, and no matter which way she angled her palms, streaks of sunlight broke through and disturbed her sleep. 

Yawning, she woke up and sat upright on the seat. Her hair was ruffled and out of its tight ponytail, and her jacket was in disarray. Laia felt thirsty and hungry. 

Maybe she should have eaten something before starting the journey. She stretched lightly and straightened her clothes before reaching into the small side pocket of the seat to fish out a bottle of water. 

Taking a long sip of the cold water refreshed her parched insides. It was the perfect antidote to the heat inside the car. As she put the cap back on the bottle, Laia surveyed her surroundings. They were on a nondescript highway. 

The large, smooth, black road seemed endless, and either side of it was marked with small, dried shrubs. She watched the roads and scenery hurry by and noticed—there were no shops or buildings there. 

Laia looked curiously at Jai and asked, "Where are we?" Without looking at her, he replied, "On route to a small resting stop called Jalaipaghar. We should be there soon."

Laia looked quizzically at Jai. He hadn't seemed like a man of few words a day ago when they were discussing travel plans. In fact, he had seemed like the opposite- jovial, fun, and outgoing. So what happened to make him so reserved all of a sudden?

She didn't push the issue. After all, they had begun their journey way too early, and maybe Jai was just feeling cranky. He had been driving for the entire time, too. She looked at the time on her wristwatch—it showed 1:15.

Her eyebrows shot up on her forehead. She remembered being awake until about 5 am before falling asleep. Laia had promised herself that she would wake up at about 8 am and take over the driving duties from him. 

They had agreed to alternate to prevent anyone from getting exhausted. Laia looked over at Jai and immediately apologized. "Why didn't you just wake me up? I could have taken over the driving." Now she knew why he was so curt with her. 

"There was no need," Jai said nonchalantly. "Also, you looked tired, so I just let you sleep. You can take over after we rest at the next stop. Ah... here it is." 

He said just as an eatery appeared on the near horizon. Laia could see a large red and black building getting nearer to them. It looked quite big, and multiple cars, trucks, and buses were parked in front of it. 

She looked around the area. Strangely, there didn't seem to be any other eatery nearby. Hell, there wasn't even any other building. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled. She had been to multiple assignments all over the country and yet had never seen something like this. 

If there was an eatery with the kind of accumulation of vehicles seen here, there were bound to be other small eateries beside it, trying to take advantage of the big clientele. So why not here? 

Was it because it was in the middle of nowhere? That hadn't stopped people before. Laia pondered the question as multiple theories swirled in her mind. 

But she wasn't going to tell Jai to stop. He was tired and deserved to freshen up and eat some food. As he parked the car on the small strip of dried mud a bit away from the lonesome building, a gust of dust rose up. 

She looked at Jai's face and was surprised to see him look stoic. His jaw was locked in, and his eyes roamed all over the place, moving from one side to the other as if to assess the area. Then he gulped, and Laia understood. 

How did he even know that there was a place like this here? Laia had searched till late last night, looking for various rest stops along the way on Google Maps and whatnot, and this place hadn't popped up at all. So, had someone recommended this place to him? Who did?