Death In The Hills: A Revelation

Chapter 6: Glowing Red Eyes

Laia kicked the car's flat front tire before leaning against the unopened passenger side door. Her shoulders and back slumped as she stared at Jai, who looked just as defeated, standing on the vast, empty black road under just one glowing orange street lamp.

She looked at her watch-it read 10:15. They had been stuck out here since about 6 PM when their car had broken down and gotten a flat. They were out in the middle of an empty stretch of road with seemingly no one in sight.

Not even a truck or, hell, any vehicle had passed them by for a long time. With not even a single bar of network showing up on their cellphones, they hadn't been able to contact anyone.

Jai had tried walking back to see if a garage could be found before remembering that they hadn't seen any garage or repair shop for miles. But that hadn't made him stop.

He was sure that he could get the mobile network a bit further back. So he had walked for about an hour only to find that his phone refused to pick up even the faintest signs of a cellphone signal.

But Jai hadn't given up. He had climbed on top of the car in the spare hope of getting at least one network bar but to no avail.

As the hours went by, the cold began to intensify its strength. The fact that both sides of the road were surrounded by thick forests made the cold worse. Even Laia's thick jacket was failing to keep her warm. She rubbed her palms together in a feeble attempt to generate heat.

But the cold was the least of their worries right now. They didn't know the area at all and whether there was a prevalence of robbers or worse here. Laia looked into the jungle, but her eyes failed to penetrate the deep darkness and see beyond the bunched-up tall trees.

She huffed, and both she and Jai stretched out their arms simultaneously in a what-can-we-do-even movement. This action made both of them laugh like two madmen.

Perhaps they were going mad because they didn't have anyone else to talk to or rely on, and the worst part was that they couldn't even contact anyone else.

"So what are we gonna do now?" Jai asked, defeat seeping in his voice. "Should we even stay here or go somewhere else?" He trailed off.

"Like where?" Laia asked nonchalantly. "Inside the forest?" She joked.

"I mean yeah."

For a moment, Laia thought that she had misheard him. But one look at his serious face let her know that he was dead serious.

Before she could say anything, an explanation tumbled out of his mouth: "Look, Laia, it's going to be midnight soon, and I am not sure if staying by a broken-down car all night is the right thing to do. I fear for us, Laia, but mostly for you."

Laia knew what he meant, but she wasn't do sure if going into the forest was a good idea. "What if there are wild animals in there? Insects? Snakes? Also where will we stay? At least here, we can stay somewhat warm inside the car."

She could see the two options warring inside Jai. So she said, "You know what, lets think on it a bit and in the meantime lets eat some food. It's already getting late."

Laia opened the car door and reached into her bag to take out the parotta and pickles her mother had packed in the morning. These will have to do for the night.

As both of them entered the car and sat in their seats to eat, Laia switched on her phone's torch. The light from the street lamp wasn't enough to penetrate the windows of the car. 

The parottas were barely warm, but they were not going to complain. That was better than going to sleep on an empty stomach.

Just as they were halfway through the meal, Laia looked up at Jai and saw two red glowing lights looking straight at her from deep in the jungle for a moment before they vanished. She shrieked and then put both of her hands on her mouth.

Laia tamped down her primal fear and forced herself to calm down. In the meantime, Jai had looked up and then turned his head back to see what had caused her reaction. But he saw nothing.

"What is it?" Jai asked with slight panic in his voice as well.

"I saw two glowing red lights, like... eyes." Laia realized how frightened she sounded, so she rationalized it by saying, "It was probably just an animal. This is why we can't spend the night in the forest. We don't know what lives there."

Jai looked at her as if he didn't quite believe what she was saying but didn't object to her words. "Okay, okay, we will adjust in here. You go to sleep, and I will keep guard," Jai offered.

"Absolutely not," Laia's firm voice rang out. "You have been driving the entire day and then some more. I slept already. Let me keep a lookout and you sleep. If there's anything out of the ordinary, I will wake you up."

Jai tried to argue, but Laia shut him down completely. So after they finished their meal, Jai made space in the backseat among the light luggage and went to sleep while Laia kept a watch from the front seat.

Before sleeping, he reminded her again to wake him up at the slightest noise and also after two hours so that he could keep guard as she slept. Laia promised, but she knew she wasn't going to wake him up until he had slept for many more hours.

She checked her watch—11:15. This was going to be a long night, she thought, as she made herself comfortable. For the first hour, she kept herself busy by playing games on her phone or reading an ebook.

But Laia knew she had to reserve her phone's charge. She had brought a battery backup charger but she wanted to preserve as much charge as possible. After all, there was no way to know when they would find their way out tomorrow, if at all.

Laia again checked her watch—12:15. She tried to keep herself busy thinking about what they could do tomorrow morning to get out of this predicament. They also didn't have any food or water left.

She tried to keep herself awake but soon began drifting into sleep. The cold was slithering up her legs, and she felt paralyzed by it. Laia felt safe enough in the car and with the one lonely street lamp's light streaming down on the road. At least it wasn't completely dark.

Slowly, she felt her eyelids slowly become heavy. 1:15. She checked her wristwatch before leaning back on the seat.

There was no sound in the entire area except her and Jai's slowed breathing when suddenly she heard the crunching sound of boots on the ground. Laia suddenly woke up and found a man standing in front of the car.