Chapter 4 - The Cabin in the Woods
The drive to her late father’s cabin took four agonizing hours.
The winding mountain roads were treacherous, covered in a thin layer of black ice.
Evelyn’s mind raced with terrible images of what Lucas might be enduring.
She pulled up to the rusted iron gate of the remote property.
The cabin looked exactly as it had ten years ago, weathered and isolated from the world.
The massive oak tree in the backyard still held the wooden planks of Lucas’s childhood fort.
Evelyn grabbed a flashlight from her glove compartment and stepped into the freezing night.
The silence of the woods was heavy and oppressive, broken only by the crunch of her boots on the snow.
She approached the massive tree, shining her light on the rotting wooden ladder.
Climbing the fragile rungs in the dark was dangerous, but she did not hesitate.
She pulled herself onto the wooden platform, the cold wind biting through her coat.
She scanned the small, empty space, looking for a loose floorboard or a hidden compartment.
Underneath a pile of damp, decaying leaves, she saw a small metal tin box.
It was the same box Lucas used to keep his baseball cards in when he was seven.
Evelyn pried the rusted lid open with freezing, stiff fingers.
Inside lay a single, brass key with a string of numbers engraved on the side.
A wave of relief washed over her, completely overwhelming her senses.
But the moment of triumph was violently shattered by the sound of an engine roaring to life.
She looked down and saw two black SUVs pulling into the cabin’s driveway.
Men armed with tactical rifles began pouring out of the vehicles.
They had followed her from the city, waiting patiently for her to do their dirty work.
"Search the cabin!" a loud voice commanded from below.
Evelyn killed her flashlight, plunging the treehouse back into absolute darkness.
She was trapped twenty feet in the air with a dozen armed killers swarming below.
She had the key, but it was completely useless if she could not get out of the woods alive.
She pulled out her cell phone, praying she had a signal in the remote mountains.
There was only one bar of service, barely enough to send a text message.
May you like
She typed a quick, desperate message to Agent Miller and hit send.
Now, all she could do was hide in the dark and wait for a miracle.
