The front doors groaned open, releasing a gust of bitter, needle-sharp air. Snow swirled in restless spirals, coating the mountain in white silence. For the first time since arriving, the group stood outside the Hollowpine Hotel—not as guests, but as fugitives.
Ellis led, his wrists bound in makeshift rope, the shadows of the doorway stretching long behind them. He had promised to guide them down the mountain on one condition: no one would ever speak of Hollowpine, or what they had seen within. A deal made in desperation.
They trudged into the wilderness, boots crunching over snow crust, breath rising in pale clouds. The silence of the mountain was oppressive—no wind, no animals, just the slow drag of their feet.
Then—
crack.
A branch snapped somewhere deep in the woods.
The group froze. Leo whipped his head back. Mason's fists clenched. Vera's eyes darting between the trees. Nothing moved. No figure, no eyes. Just the snow-deep silence swallowing them again.
"Keep moving," Ellis murmured, too calm.
But as they pressed on, the feeling thickened—the prickling certainty that something paced them just out of sight. Another rustle. Another branch breaking under invisible weight. Their steps quickened, breath growing ragged until—
they broke into a run.
Snow sprayed behind them, boots slipping on hidden roots, lungs burning with the cold. Whatever followed was close—too close. They could feel it, hear it, taste it.
I want you to add the cave scene instead, and describe the first choice of setting him on fire with more details
The forest finally broke against the jagged wall of stone. A hollow yawned in the mountainside, its mouth half-hidden by a curtain of snow-laden pines. The group stumbled inside, their panting echoing against damp rock. The cave was shallow but offered a brief shield from the vast, white wilderness pressing in on them.
Leo doubled over, hands braced on his knees, breath ragged. Vera pressed her back to the wall, every muscle taut. Mason stood at the mouth, chest heaving, his eyes locked on the trees as if daring something to emerge.
Ellis leaned against the wall, rope binding his wrists, expression calm despite the sheen of sweat on his brow.
"Where are you leading us?" Ivy demanded, her voice cutting through the cave's stillness.
Ellis tilted his head, shadows sculpting his face. "There are paths… places carved through the mountain. I'll take you through them. But not the destination—not yet. If you knew, you'd try to leave me."
Leo straightened, throat tight. "So we're just supposed to trust the man who fed us people for dinner?"
Ellis smiled faintly. "You're alive, aren't you?"
Before another word could be spoken, a sound rippled through the trees—an unnatural chorus of rustling, snapping, cracking branches. This time it wasn't singular. It was many.
The group surged from the cave, snow crunching under frantic feet. The forest behind them seemed alive, the shadows between trees shifting, stretching. Then, in the blur of moonlight and snow, shapes materialized—gaunt, elongated figures tearing through the white. Their limbs bent at unnatural angles, jaws gaping too wide, teeth glistening. Wendigos. Dozens of them.
The chase was no longer silent. The creatures shrieked like tearing metal, each sound ricocheting through the mountain like a death knell.
"Faster!" Mason bellowed, hauling Vera by the arm when she stumbled.
"They won't stop!" Leo gasped, his chest splitting with cold.
"Fire," Ellis hissed between breaths, eyes flashing wild. "They can be killed with fire."
Ivy's hand darted to her pocket—her lighter. She glanced at Mason, then at Leo. In that frozen second, understanding passed between them.
The group skidded to a halt in the snow, lungs burning. Mason grabbed Ellis by the collar, yanking him close.
"What are you—?!" Ellis snarled, but his words were lost in the roar of the creatures closing in.
Ivy flicked the lighter, holding one hand to shield the flame from the whipping wind. The small flame sputtered, nearly snuffed out by the wind. She pressed it to Ellis's coat. The fabric hissed, caught, and fire bloomed hungrily up his sleeve. His scream split the night, a sound of betrayal and rage.
"Go!" Mason shoved him forward, the rope still binding his wrists. Ellis staggered, ablaze, into the oncoming tide of Wendigos. The creatures shrieked, their advance faltering as the firelight licked at them.
For a moment, the night became an inferno of thrashing limbs, smoke, and Ellis's agonized cries. The smell of burning flesh mingled with pine and frost, thick and choking. The Wendigos circled him, clawing, tearing, but recoiling from the fire as though it were acid.
"Run!" Vera screamed.
And they did—stumbling through the snow as behind them Ellis's final screams fractured into silence, swallowed by the frenzy of monsters.
_ _ _
Snow whipped at their faces as they sprinted blindly through the trees, their breaths jagged, the sound of pursuit growing nearer with every step. Then, through the haze of white, Vera spotted it—dark wood against the snow.
"A cabin!" she shouted, her voice breaking in the cold.
They stumbled toward it, half-falling, half-crawling until their hands slapped the frozen walls. Mason shoved the door—it resisted, swollen from years of storms—but he lowered his shoulder and rammed it open with a crack of splintering wood.
They spilled inside. The door slammed shut, snowflakes scattering off their coats. The place reeked of rot and damp, the remnants of old tools and broken chairs scattered across the floor.
A sharp thud rattled the walls. Ivy turned toward the small window, her breath catching. Pale shapes glided between the trees, spindly arms clutching bark, faces hollow and inhuman. One of the creatures crouched on a branch like some grotesque predator, its head tilting at an unnatural angle. Another slithered closer to the cabin, its long limbs brushing against the wood.
"Shut it! Shut it!" Leo hissed.
Vera darted to the window and slammed it down just as a claw scraped across the sill. Mason dragged a broken closet from the corner, shoving it against the frame until the glass disappeared behind its weight.
"Door—lock the door!" Ivy barked, already searching the cabin. She yanked free a thick beam of wood from what looked like a collapsed bedframe. Together, she and Mason wedged it hard against the handle, bracing it tight.
The cabin groaned under the weight of silence, the group frozen, panting, listening. Outside, the Wendigos prowled, their footsteps crunching over the snow, their guttural rattles vibrating against the wood.
Inside, the air grew suffocating. Every creak felt like a death knell.
_ _ _
The cabin was silent for a moment, save for the ragged breaths of the four huddled inside. Snow scraped the walls outside, the Wendigos lurking just beyond the thin barrier of wood.
Vera kicked at the floor, frustration radiating from her. "I still can't believe you did that! You threw him—him—to those things!"
Leo paced back and forth, fists clenched. "Yeah! We could've used him! He was our only lead to get out of this nightmare. How are we supposed to survive now, huh? Smartass! We're stranded in the middle of nowhere!"
Mason's jaw tightened, and Ivy's eyes burned with controlled fury. "Do you think we had a choice?" Mason shot back. "They were right on top of us! If we hadn't distracted them—if we hadn't done something—we'd all be dead!"
Ivy stepped forward, voice sharp but steady. "Exactly. It wasn't about vengeance or spite. It was survival. One moment of hesitation and we'd all be history."
Vera spun toward her, voice rising. "Survival? That was reckless! We had a chance—a chance to know more, to plan—"
Mason's jaw clenched. "And what would you have done instead, huh? Frozen on the spot while those things closed in on us? You think standing around whining would've saved anyone?"
Vera's voice cut sharper than the cold outside. "It wasn't whining! We could've learned something from him! Maybe even a way to fight back!"
Ivy's hands shot up, but her voice was still steady. "Fight back? Do you hear yourselves? You're acting like kids in a horror movie, blaming each other instead of surviving!"
Leo whipped toward Ivy, eyes wide. "Oh, so what, it's fine because you and Mason acted like heroes? We're all lucky to be alive, sure, but he was our key! Our only key!"
Mason stepped closer, teeth gritted. "We did what we had to do! You think hesitation saves lives? You think thinking it through keeps the Wendigos from ripping you apart?"
Vera slammed her palm against the wall, making a dull thud. "You don't get it! Without him, we're blind! Blind in the middle of a snowstorm with monsters hunting us!"
Ivy let out a sharp breath and clapped her hands together, cutting the tension like a blade. "Enough!"
The room fell silent. Even the wind seemed to pause outside.
Ivy's gaze swept over all of them. "Look at us. We were strangers before this—complete strangers. And now? We still don't know each other. But if we don't work together, if we let petty fights and blame consume us, none of us are getting out alive."
Mason nodded, letting the weight of her words sink in. Leo stopped pacing, catching his breath, and Vera reluctantly lowered her arms.
Ivy's voice softened, almost pleading. "We survive. Together. Or not at all."