On day four, I followed my usual morning routine: started the fire, checked the traps, searched for sticks and pine cones, and began melting snow by the fire for water. When I checked the traps, I found a rabbit. I killed it with a single blow and also collected 23 pine cones. I butchered the rabbit, cooked as much as I could, and saved some of the food. I ate about half of the rabbit and eight pine cones.
I used the rabbit hide to wrap the cooked meat, hoping it would keep it warm. Then, I retrieved my spear from the cave and started walking south. To avoid getting lost, I marked my path by occasionally cutting a section of bark off trees and carving two arrows with my pocket knife—one pointing forward and one pointing back to the previous tree.
After walking for a while, I reached the top of a small hill and saw a frozen lake. A small house stood near the edge of the lake, smoke rising from it. The scenery was stark and beautiful. The ice glistened beneath the weak winter sun, reflecting a pale blue sky streaked with fading clouds. Snow-laden pines encircled the lake, their heavy branches forming a white border. The house was crude and rustic, made of rough-hewn wood, but part of it was engulfed in flames. Thick, dark smoke billowed upward, marring the otherwise peaceful scene. The contrast between the tranquil landscape and the burning house filled me with unease, and I ran toward it.
When I reached the house, I shouted, "IS ANYONE IN THERE?" but got no response. I ran around the perimeter, looking for another entrance, but there was only the front door. In my frantic search, I spotted a bucket nearby. I grabbed it, broke the ice on the lake, filled the bucket with water, and dashed back to throw it on the fire. I repeated this process thirteen times outside and fourteen times inside before finally extinguishing the flames. Exhausted and soaked, I stood in the cold, steam rising around me as the wind bit at my wet clothes. The house was scarred by the fire—its charred beams stood in stark contrast to the untouched snow.
Inside, nearly everything was burned—the walls, roof, furniture, and two support beams. Some meat and pelts from a large animal had also been scorched. Beneath the collapsed, blackened debris near the bed lay a body, burned beyond recognition. It looked like a male, though it was hard to tell. One of his eyes was a gemstone. The inside was far more damaged than the exterior. The space was cramped and split into two rooms—one a bedroom and storage area, the other a kitchen with a small furnace.
Despite the damage, the structure might still be salvageable. If I replaced the center pillar, patched the roof, and repaired the floor and walls, I could potentially move in.
I searched the house for anything useful, especially a metal pot—anything better than the bucket. I found five clay bowls, though two were cracked beyond use. Three were still good. I also discovered a bear trap, though I wasn't sure if it still worked. Lastly, I found a book—somehow untouched by the flames.
It had no title, just a golden flower symbol on the cover. Inside, it was signed by someone named Eloise. It seemed to be a journal. The first entries mirrored my own story: she woke up with hazy memories and a letter telling her she was here for 25 years. She wandered for a day and a half before finding this place. Later entries described her crafting tools and building the cabin. By the time I finished reading that much, it was starting to get dark.
I crossed the frozen lake again, following the marked trees to guide me home. As I made my way back, I heard a distant, inhuman cry—followed by the sickening crunch of bones and tearing flesh. The forest was pitch black, and I ran, not caring about direction, just heading toward the cave. The fire near the entrance was still burning, but I rushed inside and shut the makeshift door.
Through the cracks, I saw a tall, skeletal creature stalking my camp. It had a deer skull for a face, glowing eyes, decaying flesh, and long claws. It walked up to the cave and placed its hand on the door. I could hear it breathing and sniffing.
Then, a growl cut through the silence. A wolf lunged from the darkness and bit the creature's arm. The monster spun and smacked the wolf into a tree. I heard a crack, a whimper, then silence. More wolves attacked, tearing into the rotting flesh, but the creature fought back viciously. It gutted one with its claws, leaving its entrails spilling onto the snow. One by one, the wolves fell—each killed with a single blow. Eventually, the rest of the pack fled, and the creature disappeared into the woods.
I was too terrified to move for the rest of the night. I unwrapped the food from the rabbit hide and ate. The meat was cold and tough, but it filled me up.
Day Five
I woke the next morning, freezing and hungry. I crawled to the other end of the cave and opened the door. Snow had fallen during the night, perfectly preserving the wolves' bodies. All my firewood was damp and unusable. I chopped down a small tree, which took about an hour. I hauled it back to camp, stripped the branches, and split the trunk into logs.
Using a flat rock, I cleared ashes and snow from the fire pit and started a new fire. It took about 30 minutes of rubbing sticks together before it finally caught. Then I began skinning the wolves. I salvaged four pelts, along with teeth, claws, and meat. The pelts were still covered in flesh, so I began scraping it off with my pocket knife.
It took an hour and a half to clean just one. At that rate, it would take the whole day, so I bundled the rest and stored them in the cave. I packed the wolf meat in snow to keep it from spoiling.
Afterward, I filled the bucket from the burned house with snow and suspended it over the fire to melt. While it heated, I relieved myself, checked the traps, and gathered more pine cones. The traps were empty—probably because the creature scared off all the wildlife. I returned to the cave. The snow in the bucket still hadn't melted completely, so I picked up Eloise's journal and continued reading.
She had built a temporary shelter out of sticks and pine needles shaped like an upright cone. She lived in it for about a week while building the cabin. Around halfway through construction, she encountered a monster—not the same as mine, but similar. Hers had six legs, tails fanning out from its back, and a wolf-like head.
Later, an old man appeared at her door carrying a massive backpack nearly twice his size. He asked to stay in her cabin and offered her various tools like...