Chapter 136 - Terror (1/2)

The Tiger Bulls pulled the carriage with everything they had and sped along the dark road in the heavy rain. The pitter patter of the rain hitting against the carriage roof sounded like panicked knocking which made everyone very uncomfortable.

They had been on the road for about two hours now. Jacob was still the one driving while the boys kept an eye out on each side for anything strange.

After about another 30 minutes the carriage came to a sudden stop.

”Honey, What's wrong?” Sophia's voice came from the carriage, waking up the dazed Jacob.

”N-Nothing, just some debris,” he shouted back and turned the carriage towards a dirt road on the left side. Because in front of him was a raging river that seemed to be alive. It's waters splashed against the riverbank, causing small pieces of earth to break off and get carried away with it.

”Boys, keep your eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. Tell me as soon as you see anything at all,” he said once again and passed a sword to Reece who happily accepted it.

”Dad! Why him? This idiot has a better chance of cutting his own hand off,” Miles protested seeing his father hand the responsibility of standing guard to his idiotic brother.

”Quiet! You boys have to work together because no else in this life will ever look out for you other than family. Blood is thicker than water. Why are you guys so immature? When will you understand? I have....” Sophia's lecture completely dispelled the previously eerie atmosphere and all the boys sat in their seats with heads down.

Sophia was extremely strict with her sons but somehow that only made them act out more. She disciplined them every way she knew but they would still pull off stupid stunts and then be punished for them later while shouting about unfairness.

The carriage hastily proceeded up a rough mountain path while leaving very obvious tracks behind it. The rainwater was also flowing down the mountain, making many muddy areas soft.

But contrary to the unnatural silence outside, the carriage hadn't been quiet for even a second. If it wasn't Sophia's lecturing, it would be one of the boys making a stupid remark and then getting chastised or mocked by others, making the atmosphere very relaxed.

But Jacob's expression kept getting worse as time passed. This mountain should have been full of small animals and beasts but he had seen nothing ever since they got on it. Although Jacob wasn't an experienced cultivator himself, he had been on enough hunts to know when something was off, and this place shouted danger.

Still, what could he do? The entire village had abandoned them and there was an evacuation order out so holding up in their homes wasn't an option either. The only path forward was through the unknown mountains. This wasn't a place for mere mortals like him but for his family he had to go against every voice of reason in his head telling him to turn around.

”How could those people be so heartless? Kids make mistakes. Just because of a few simple pranks they ostracized us?” he muttered angrily while whipping the bulls once again. The Tiger bulls had extremely tough hide so normal whips could only tickle them at best.

After another hour and a half, they finally reached the top of the mountain and started descending from the other side. The journey down was much faster and in less than thirty minutes they had already passed the halfway mark.

Jacob was ecstatic seeing the white stones on the side of the road and wanted to let the family know but as he was about to turn around, he saw something from the corner of his eye.

Up ahead on the side of the road was an old lady walking along casually in the heavy rain. Upon hearing the carriage approach she slowly turned and waved at Jacob with an expression of relief.

Jacobs' heart started pounding like a hammer and instead of slowing down he whipped the bulls as hard as he could and increased the speed even more, passing by the old woman like a storm.

”Jacob, what happened?” Sophia inquired after feeling the speed increase for no reason. They were on a slippery road and heading down so this was very dangerous.

”There was an old woman looking for a lift,” he somberly replied.

”WHAT?!” Sophia's head popped out from the front but they had already passed the old lady.

”I-It's fine, we are alr-” Jacob tried to calm her down and but stopped mid-sentence seeing the same old woman looking at them from the front with a smile.

”Get back inside, quick!” he shouted and looked away from the old woman, focusing on the road.

Sophia sat down and hugged Damien protectively.

A few more minutes passed and Reece who was looking out the back of carriage spoke up, ”Mom there's someone following us,” he pointed behind them.

Sophia's eyes constricted as she leaned over and saw the same old woman smiling at them from ear to ear.