Chapter 2 - THE DOOROvidiu had never run that fast in his life.
He followed Lidia through the trees, branches tearing at his jacket, roots catching his boots.
Behind them came another metallic crash.
Then silence.
That silence was worse.
They reached the road.
Lidia collapsed against the van.
"Get in."
Ovidiu stared at her.
"Who's inside?"
"Get in!"
"How many?"
She looked back toward the forest.
"I don't know anymore."
Ovidiu felt a chill despite the heat.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
Lidia climbed into the driver's seat.
Ovidiu got in beside her.
She started the engine.
Only after they were halfway back to the village did she speak.
"They found me seven days ago."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"Then why are you feeding them?"
"I am not feeding them."
Ovidiu turned.
"You bought sixty kilos."
"The meat isn't for them."
His skin prickled.
"Then what is it for?"
Lidia gripped the steering wheel.
"For what's keeping them alive."
Ovidiu said nothing.
She continued driving.
"Eleven years ago, Stefan died."
"You told me motorcycle accident."
"That's what they wanted everyone to believe."
Ovidiu stared at her.
"What actually happened?"
"My son discovered something."
"What?"
"A room."
"Where?"
"Under the ship."
Ovidiu remembered the old vessel.
"There is no basement."
"There is."
"How would you know?"
Lidia's eyes filled with tears.
"Because I built the entrance."
She stopped the van in front of her house.
"Do not tell anyone what you saw."
Ovidiu stepped outside.
"You understand I'm going to the police."
Lidia didn't stop him.
Instead, she whispered:
"Tell them the name Adrian Voss."
Ovidiu froze.
"Who is Adrian Voss?"
Lidia stared straight ahead.
"The man who died eleven years ago."
That night, Ovidiu went to the police station.
But before he could speak to anyone, something happened that changed everything.
Inspector Pavel answered the door.
Ovidiu barely got three words out.
"Lidia is buying..."
Then a black car stopped outside.
Two men got out.
Neither wore a uniform.
They entered the station.
Pavel saw them.
His expression changed instantly.
"Go home."
"What?"
"Now."
"Inspector..."
"GO."
Ovidiu left.
He drove home shaking.
At 2:17 a.m., someone knocked on his door.
Three slow knocks.
He opened it.
Nobody stood outside.
Only a small brown paper bag.
Inside was a photograph.
Ovidiu lifted it.
It showed Lidia standing beside the abandoned ship.
But she wasn't alone.
There was a young man beside her.
A young man Ovidiu recognized immediately.
Stefan.
On the back of the photograph were six words.
HE DIDN'T DIE IN THE ACCIDENT.
Ovidiu's hands went cold.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
No one spoke.
Then a man's voice whispered:
"You followed the wrong woman."
The line went dead.
At that exact moment, somewhere deep in the forest, a siren began to scream.
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And it wasn't coming from a police car.
It was coming from the ship.
