Chapter 3: Into the Wilderness (A Terrible Idea)

Erica stared blankly at the road ahead, gripping the wheel like it was a lifeline. The GPS claimed they were only twenty minutes away from the hiking trail Sydney had bullied her into visiting, but Erica felt like she had already been driving for an eternity. She shot a quick glance in the rearview mirror at Sydney, who was practically vibrating with excitement in the back seat. Sid, sitting in the passenger seat, looked like he had accepted his fate and was making peace with whatever gods oversaw poorly planned adventures.

"This is gonna be amazing," Sydney chirped. "Fresh air, exercise, nature—everything we need!"

"You lost me at 'exercise,'" Erica muttered, turning onto a winding mountain road. "And I guarantee 'everything we need' is currently sitting in my apartment, which is where we should be."

"Oh, come on!" Sydney groaned. "It's one hike. One tiny little hike. You'll survive."

Erica snorted. "Debatable."

Once they arrived, Erica parked the car, already dreading whatever was about to happen. The trio stepped out, adjusting their backpacks with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Sydney had practically skipped ahead, checking the map by the entrance, while Sid stood beside Erica, radiating second-hand exhaustion just from looking at the trail.

"Alright, troops," Erica said, clapping her hands together. "We walk in, take some pictures so we can pretend we enjoyed ourselves, and leave before anything remotely annoying happens. Sound good?"

"You're such an inspiration," Sid deadpanned.

"I try."

The first hour went… surprisingly well. The trail was scenic, the weather was decent, and Erica was beginning to think she had actually gotten away with a successful, minimally painful outdoor experience.

Then they got lost.

It happened fast. One wrong turn, one too many "shortcuts," and suddenly they were standing in the middle of nowhere with no clear path back. To top it off, cell service had been non-existent since the start.

"Okay," Erica said, exhaling slowly. "Not to alarm anyone, but we are absolutely, one hundred percent screwed."

Sydney spun to face her, eyes wide. "What? No, we're not! We just need to retrace our steps."

"Steps? What steps? There's nothing but trees! Do you have any idea how many trees exist? Too many. That's how many."

Sid, ever the optimist, rubbed the back of his neck. "Maybe if we just keep moving, we'll find our way back to the trail."

Erica hummed in faux contemplation before dramatically flopping onto a shaded patch of grass. "This is where we live now. This is our life. The forest is our home, and we survive on whatever berries Sydney claims are edible before she poisons us all."

Sydney grabbed Erica by the sleeves and hauled her up. "No! We are not dying out here! Get up and help me figure out where we are."

"We're just wasting our energy." Erica grumbled but followed anyway.

As they wandered deeper into the unknown, Erica started to regret every single decision that led to this moment. Her legs ached, she was hungry, and she was growing increasingly convinced that Sydney's "tracking skills" were just her walking in circles with misplaced confidence.

Then, just as Erica was about to sit down again and resign herself to the elements, they saw it—a village nestled in the trees, looking like it had been plucked straight out of a history book.

They stared at it in disbelief.

"...Why does it look like we just traveled back a century?" Erica finally asked.

Sid squinted. "Maybe it's some kind of historical reenactment thing?"

"Or," Sydney said, "we accidentally wandered into a horror movie."

Erica let out a slow breath. "Great. Lost in the woods, and now we've walked into a potential cult village. Yeah, I'm thrilled with how this day is going."

Sydney, on the other hand, looked excited. "Only one way to find out!" And before Erica could stop her, she marched toward the village with all the fearlessness of someone who had never seen a single horror film.

Sid sighed. "We should probably follow her."

Erica groaned but nodded. "If she gets sacrificed, I'm taking the car and pretending none of this ever happened."

And with that, they followed Sydney into whatever fresh disaster awaited them.