Everyone didn't waste another second.
The thud.
The scream.
Stacy's body on the ground.
Everything that happened.
Whatever this was, it wasn't something they could face.
They ran.
Branches whipped at their arms as they tore through the forest, breath burning in their chests, flashlights bouncing wildly until—one by one—they flickered out or slipped from shaking hands.
Darren glanced back once.
There was nothing behind them.
No shape.
No movement.
Just darkness. And the cold.
But there was no reason to stop running unless they were really sure.
They kept running until their legs gave out.
After what felt like forever — maybe fifteen minutes, maybe more — Charlie stumbled to a stop.
"Guys…" he panted. "We can't keep running like this."
No one argued.
They collapsed where they stood, hands on knees, gasping for air. The forest pressed in around them, silent again, like it hadn't done anything at all.
For a moment, all that existed was breath.
Inhale.
Exhale.
They sank to the ground, backs against trees or knees pulled to their chests, still trying to catch up with their own bodies. Sweat chilled quickly in the night air, sending shivers down their arms.
"What the hell was that?" James muttered, dragging a hand down his face.
Charlie pulled out his phone, tapping the screen frantically. "There's no internet. No signal at all." He laughed weakly. "Great. Just great."
Ava checked hers and shook her head. "Same."
Lost.
Cold.
No signal.
They sat there for a long moment, the forest breathing around them.
No insects.
No wind.
Just the sound of their own breathing slowly settling into shaky silence.
Darren leaned forward, hands on his knees, trying to steady himself. His legs burned. His chest ached. Every inhale felt sharp, like the cold air was cutting into him.
He looked around.
Nothing looked familiar.
The trees were packed tighter here, their trunks rising like walls. The ground angled upward beneath their feet, uneven and rocky, forcing them to climb without really noticing it at first — like the forest itself was guiding them higher, step by step.
"Does anyone… know which way we came from?" Ava asked quietly.
No one answered.
Charlie turned in a slow circle, phone raised, flashlight beam weak and flickering. "Everything looks the same," he said. "I don't even know where the trail is anymore."
Jenna hugged her arms to herself. "We just kept running."
Darren swallowed hard.
He could still see Stacy's face when he closed his eyes — the colorless skin, the stillness, the impossible cold. The memory pressed against his thoughts like it didn't want to let go.
Jenna broke the silence.
"Okay," she said, her voice unsteady but firm enough to hold. "We can't panic." She glanced around at their faces, then at the trees. "We just need to figure out where we are… and wait until morning. Right?"
Morning.
The word felt distant. Unreal.
Darren tilted his head back, trying to see the sky through the canopy. All he saw was darkness — a thin, broken stretch of black between branches. No stars. No moon. Just nothing.
"I don't think waiting out here is a good idea," Darren said quietly.
They all turned to him.
"The thing that was chasing us," he continued, scanning the trees. "I don't know… staying out in the open doesn't feel safe."
Charlie hugged his jacket tighter, eyes darting around the forest. The cold. The dark. The silence that felt like it was listening.
"Yeah," he said softly. "I agree."
Ava nodded. So did James.
None of them wanted to stay where they were.
Jenna stood up slowly, lifting her flashlight and sweeping it across the ground, the trees, the uneven slope around them. The beam barely cut through the darkness, but it was enough.
"Guys…" she said.
They looked at her.
She pointed ahead. "Is that… a cave?"
The ground sloped upward toward the base of a rocky hill, shadows folding in on themselves where the light couldn't reach. A dark opening yawned between stone and earth, barely visible unless you were looking for it.
It didn't look inviting.
But it looked solid.
And right now, solid was better than open.
"Something tells me we shouldn't go in there," Charlie said.
He didn't raise his voice. He didn't need to.
"I don't know," he added, eyes fixed on the opening. "It just… looks wrong. Like it doesn't want us."
Jenna swallowed and tightened her grip on the flashlight. "Believe it or not," she said quietly, "this might be the only option we have."
They stood there for a moment, staring at the cave.
Up close, it was bigger than it had looked from a distance. The entrance sat slightly above the forest floor, jagged stone framing a darkness that swallowed the light after only a few feet. Beyond it, the ground dropped sharply away, smooth rock worn uneven by time and water.
It wasn't a cave you could just walk into.
It was a cave you had to descend into.
Just inside the entrance, the passage widened into a shallow hollow where the ceiling lifted and the ground leveled out. It wasn't deep — barely a few steps in — but it felt separate from the forest behind them.
The darkness outside pressed at the opening, while the deeper passage ahead sank into black.
"Oh—finally…" Charlie muttered in relief as he lowered himself onto the rocky edge near the entrance, his back against the stone.
Darren let out a slow breath and sat beside him. It felt safer here. Safer than the trees.
But it still didn't feel right.
What had just happened replayed in his mind — the scream, the ground shaking, Stacy—
The others joined them, settling against the cave walls in uneasy silence. No one moved toward the slope leading deeper inside. Whatever was down there could wait.
Charlie rubbed his face with both hands. "Can we just… take a second?" he said, his voice shaky despite his attempt to sound calm. "To talk about what the hell just happened?"
He let out a short, almost hysterical laugh. "Because that was insane. This is insane."
Ava swallowed. "You know the Appalachian stories, right?"
Everyone went quiet.
"I mean… growing up here, I'm sure we've all heard something at least once," she continued. "I just never thought any of it was real. Never thought I'd actually—" She stopped, shaking her head.
"My uncle used to tell me," Ava said softly, "if you live near the mountains, you lock your doors at night. Close the curtains. Don't answer if you hear knocking. If you hear something outside…" Her voice dropped. "No, you didn't."
She hugged her arms to herself. "Screams. Whispers. Voices calling your name. I always thought it was just to scare kids."
James scoffed weakly. "Yeah, same. I heard that stuff too." He shook his head. "Always thought it was bullshit. Nothing ever happened to me before tonight."
Charlie hesitated. "I mean… I've seen videos online. TikTok stuff. People talking about weird things in the woods." He snorted. "But I figured it was all fake. AI. Scripted. Clickbait."
His eyes drifted toward the cave opening.
"…not anymore."
"Hey… guys," Jenna said quietly.
She was standing near the edge of the slope, where the ground began to drop away. Her flashlight pointed downward, its beam trembling slightly.
"Can you smell that?"
Ava stood up almost immediately and took a few steps closer.
"Ugh—" she gagged, turning her head away. "That's… that's worse than shit."
The others rose more slowly, drawn by the same sour stench now creeping into the air. Darren stepped closer and felt his stomach tighten.
The smell was thick.
Not just decay — but layers of it.
Something old.
Something metallic.
Something that clung to the back of his throat and refused to leave.
It smelled like rot.
Like dried blood soaked into stone.
Like something had been left down there for a very long time.
Darren swallowed hard. His flashlight swept downward, but the beam faded quickly, swallowed by the dark. The smell seemed stronger the farther the light reached — as if whatever caused it was waiting just beyond where they could see.
"Are we really going down there?" Charlie asked, his voice low.
Jenna hesitated. She didn't look back at them. "I don't know," she admitted. "But if we're staying here for the night…" She paused. "We should know what's down there."
No one argued.
Not because they wanted to go.
But because none of them liked the idea of sleeping above something they didn't understand.
Darren tightened his grip on his flashlight.
They started down together.
The slope was steeper than it had looked from above, forcing them to move slowly, boots scraping against stone. Their flashlights cut thin, shaking beams through the darkness — and with every step, the smell grew worse.
Stronger. Thicker.
"Yeah," Charlie muttered, covering his nose with his sleeve. "At this point, I'm convinced something died down here."
No one laughed.
The air felt heavy, damp, and wrong — like it had been trapped for too long.
"Wait…" Jenna stopped suddenly.
Her flashlight beam had caught something ahead — a dull glint against the stone.
She moved faster than the others, almost slipping as she rushed forward. When she reached it, she dropped to her knees and picked it up.
Gold.
A thin chain.
Jenna's stomach dropped.
Her hands trembled as she brushed the dirt from it, and the moment she recognized it, her face crumpled. Tears slipped free before she could stop them.
"Jenna?" Darren said softly. "What is it?"
She swallowed hard, her voice breaking. "It's… it's Emma's necklace."
The words landed heavy.
"She's my sister."
Darren's chest tightened. "Wait—Emma?" He paused. "The girl who went missing last week?"
Jenna nodded, unable to look up.
Charlie's expression changed instantly. "That's why you invited us," he said quietly. "You never wanted to go camping."
He let out a slow breath. "You were looking for your sister. That's why you didn't want us to come with you earlier."
"I'm sorry," Jenna whispered. "I didn't know what else to do."
Before anyone could respond, Ava froze.
"H-Hey…" she said, her flashlight drifting farther down the cave. "What are those?"
They followed the beam.
At the bottom of the descent, where the cave widened again, something pale reflected the light.
Then another.
Then several.
They moved closer.
And the truth revealed itself.
Human skulls.
Five of them.
Mixed among deer skulls — cracked, stripped clean, scattered across the stone like offerings.
"Oh my god…" Charlie breathed.
James swore under his breath.
Darren felt his heart sank.
"What the fuck is this?" James shouted.
"Guys… I think I'm gonna puke," Ava said, turning away, one hand pressed to her mouth.
Before anyone could answer—
Thud.
The cave shuddered.
Loose pebbles jumped against the rock floor. Dust sifted down near the entrance.
Ava screamed. "Wait.. Guys? Did you feel that?"
Another thud, heavier this time.
"It found us?" Charlie said.
"No," Darren said quietly.
They all looked at him.
"This isn't it coming after us," he said, his voice steady in a way that surprised even him. "We didn't run into it."
Another tremor rolled through the ground.
Darren swallowed. "We ran into its place."
Jenna's breath hitched. "What… what do you mean?"
Darren gestured around them — the skulls, the bones, the stone walls. "The forest. The screams. The bodies." His voice dropped. "This cave isn't shelter."
The thudding came again, right at the entrance.
"This is its lair."