Forest

An Errand goes wrong.

Thirty minutes till zero hour. Thankfully Miller was running ahead of time and had taken pride in his inability to be late. It was more of a fear on his side of not running on time. The endless dreams where he'd been late for an important meeting had driven him mad. Today had been a culmination of that dream. So he made every effort to be ahead of time today. 

He listened to the rumbling engine drone the sAme way it droned for the past 10 hours. He'd ignored all warnings to rest as he felt the adrenaline pumping through his veins. He wanted to move as quickly as possible whistle drawing the least amount of attention as possible. But now he had had reached his nightmare point.  The gauge had been red for the past 5 kilometers and that was. A bad sign. He swore he had put in enough petrol to last the journey. He should've been able to get there in one trip at least and he had planned to stop to fill up again on the way back. 

Miller looked down the straight long road. The forest surrounding him suggesting that he should leave. The endless sounds of the forest echoed around him. The drone of the engine that had been his comfort, a companion no longer. Now he was stuck in the forest the only place he hated more than anything else. It's ever shifting shadows and inconsistent pattern of howls and rustling leaves always made him feel uncomfortable. 

He jumped out of the truck with hesitation as he turned to look at the gas tank. Of course. A small hole sat there leaking his precious fuel onto the Tarmac. There it was in a pool of itself on the group. His lead blown away by some kind of damaged vehicle. 

Lucas. That b*****d. This was his doing wasn't it? He cursed the name and mentally catalogued where he would punch Lucas on the face and how hard. Above all else the punch was catalogued under 'complete immediately'. He nodded to himself and tried to think what he needed to do now. He looked at the stretch canvas of his truck and gave in. He wanted to see what he was hauling at least before he died in the forest. His mind had already started playing tricks on him as he yri d to focus on the task at hand. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he could see movement as he tried to move the thought to the back of his mind. 

There in the back of his truck stood a lone wooden box that had been strapped carefully into place so that his driving, as reckless as it could ever be, wouldn't dislodge it from its place. He shrugged at the locks and decided he'd take a look inside. There was never any harm in that. 

He grabbed the bar that had been placed in the back and pried the box open as best he could and knew instantly that he had made a mistake. A terrible mistake of curiosity. There inside the box amidst the foam packaging were two black suitcases. The needlessly large box had housed them facing down as if ready to carry. He didn't know what to do with them but there sitting between the two suitcases was a note. 

"We knew you'd look Miller. That was always the plan. Wait here. In 5 minutes someone will come retrieve the suitcases and you the driver. Sit tight. The forest can get restless."