CHAPTER 9

 Please help me

“Where are you going in the middle of the night?”

The driver’s voice was low, gravelly, and thick with suspicion as Tessa sat frozen in the passenger seat of the dented pickup truck. Her lips trembled as she tried to form words, her chest still rising and falling from the desperate sprint she’d taken down the dark Pinewood road.

“I—I need to get to the city,” she whispered, her throat hoarse, her body trembling. “Please, sir, my babies…they’re waiting for me. I just need to get away from here.”

The man grunted, shifting the gear, his eyes fixed on the road ahead as though she hadn’t spoken at all. His silence pressed down on her, heavy, unsettling. Tessa swallowed hard, forcing herself to speak louder, desperate to be heard.

“You don’t understand. I’ve been trapped. My friend doesn’t know I’m gone. My children—they’re just infants. Four of them. I can’t…” Her voice cracked as tears slipped down her cheeks.

Still, no answer. The headlights cut through the woods like daggers, casting long shadows that made the night seem even darker. Tessa twisted in her seat, panic clawing at her insides. Her gaze fell on the back of the truck through the rearview mirror, and her breath caught in her throat.

There, in the dim light, she saw movement—figures shifting, struggling. She squinted, leaning forward, her heartbeat pounding in her ears. And then she saw them clearly.

Women.

Four, maybe five, their mouths gagged, hands bound, bodies crammed into the open back of the truck like livestock. Their eyes glistened with tears, wide with terror, silently screaming at her.

Tessa’s stomach turned. Her blood ran cold.

“Oh my God…” she gasped, pressing a trembling hand to her mouth. She whirled toward the driver, horror etched across her face. “What…what is this? What are you doing? Who are these women?!”

The driver said nothing, his jaw set, his grip on the steering wheel tightening.

“Stop the car! Stop this right now!” Tessa shrieked, fumbling for the door handle. “I won’t be part of this—I won’t!”

She yanked at the handle, her fingers slick with sweat, but it wouldn’t budge. The truck roared down the gravel road, faster, more relentless, as if feeding off her fear.

Her mind spun, flashing images of her babies in their nursery—tiny fists curling, soft cries echoing, their faces angelic and helpless. She couldn’t die here. She couldn’t disappear like this.

“Please,” she begged, her voice breaking. “You don’t have to do this. Let me out. I have children. Please…”

The driver’s head turned slightly, his eyes catching hers for the first time. They were dark, unreadable, void of mercy.

“You should’ve stayed in that cabin,” he muttered coldly.

Tessa’s heart nearly stopped.

She scrambled, kicking at the floorboard, clawing at the window. Her nails scratched the glass, leaving faint streaks, her breath fogging it as she tried to force it down. But the truck’s windows were jammed, sealed, trapping her.

“No, no, no,” she whimpered, thrashing, her pulse racing.

Suddenly, the truck lurched violently to the side, and Tessa’s body slammed against the door. Pain shot through her arm, but she ignored it, eyes wild as she realized they’d hit a rough patch of road. She saw her chance.

With one swift motion, she threw her weight against the handle again, this time pushing with everything she had. The latch clicked. The door cracked open against the roaring wind.

Her heart soared…freedom—

Until a heavy fist slammed into the side of her face.

The blow was blinding, stars exploding in her vision as her body crumpled back into the seat. She barely registered the driver leaning across, his breath hot and rancid against her ear.

“You think you’re smart, girl?” he hissed. “You think you can run? Not from me.”

Her head spun, dizziness clawing at her as she tried to push him away, but his strength was overwhelming. He ripped a coarse rope from the floorboard, looping it around her wrists with brutal efficiency. Tessa screamed, her cries muffled by his rough hand clamping down over her mouth.

The truck screeched to a halt. Gravel flew beneath the tires as the vehicle jerked to the side of the lonely road. The driver yanked open the door, dragging Tessa out like a rag doll. Her knees scraped against the dirt, skin tearing as she thrashed desperately.

“No! No, please! Help me! Somebody help me!”

Her cries echoed into the night, swallowed by the thick woods.

He didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.

He hauled her to the back of the truck, his grip iron-tight as she kicked and clawed. Her eyes darted to the women already there—their faces pale, streaked with dirt and tears. They shook their heads in sorrow, as if telling her there was no escape.

“No—please, not this—” Tessa sobbed, but her words ended in a sharp cry as the man threw her into the bed of the truck.

The impact knocked the air out of her lungs. She coughed, rolling against the cold metal floor, her bound wrists digging into her skin. The women shuffled, making space, their muffled cries mixing with hers.

The driver climbed back into the front, slamming the door. The engine roared to life again, the truck hurtling forward into the abyss of Pinewood’s midnight roads.

Tessa’s tears fell fast, soaking her face as the reality sank in. She was no longer running toward freedom. She was trapped, bound, and on her way to something far darker.

Her babies’ faces floated before her eyes again, their tiny mouths crying for her, their little bodies reaching for the mother who might never return.

“God, please…” she whispered through the gag, her voice broken, “don’t let them grow up without me.”

***

Back at the cabin, Chloe stirred. Her eyes fluttered open in the dim light, confusion clouding her features. She reached out instinctively toward the other side of the bed, expecting to find Tessa curled up there.

But the space was empty.

Her heart skipped. She sat up quickly, glancing around the dark cabin. “Tessa?” she whispered, her voice tight with unease.

Silence.

The wooden beams creaked with the wind outside. Shadows loomed across the walls, eerie and long. Chloe stood, her bare feet padding against the wooden floor as she moved through the tiny space.

“Tessa, this isn’t funny,” she muttered, her voice trembling. “Where are you?”

She pushed open the kitchen door, the faint scent of tears and despair lingering in the air. The memory of Tessa collapsing there earlier, sobbing for her children, flashed in Chloe’s mind. Panic gripped her chest.

She darted outside, her eyes scanning the darkness, calling again into the night. “Tessa! Please answer me!”

But the woods gave nothing back. Only silence.

Chloe’s stomach churned. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

***

Meanwhile, in the back of the truck, Tessa’s body trembled violently as she lay among the other captives. The rope bit into her skin, the gag muffling her sobs as the vehicle rattled down the uneven road. The women around her shifted, their eyes heavy with despair.

One woman leaned close, her breath shaky against Tessa’s ear. Through her gag, she managed a muffled whisper that sent chills down Tessa’s spine.

“Don’t fight… they’ll hurt you more if you fight.”

Tessa shook her head violently, tears streaming. She couldn’t accept that. She couldn’t surrender. Not when four innocent lives waited for her return.

Her heart throbbed with one thought, one desperate prayer.

She had to survive.

For them.

For her babies.

The truck thundered deeper into the night, carrying Tessa further from freedom and closer to a nightmare she could never have imagined.

And as the wheels crushed the gravel beneath, the stars above Pinewood stood witness to a mother’s cry swallowed by the darkness.