Darren's pulse pounded in his ears. The campfire flickered faintly in the distance, a thin glow through the trees.
"We need to tell the others," he whispered.
Without wasting another second, he and Charlie ran back toward camp, their flashlights slicing through the darkness. The fire came into view, crackling weakly — and everyone was already standing, tense and alert.
"Did you guys hear that?" Jenna's voice shook slightly as she looked at them.
Darren nodded, breathing hard. "Yeah… we heard it."
"Mia," Jenna whispered, eyes darting toward the dark woods. "She still hasn't come back."
Before anyone could respond, the sound came again — that same high-pitched, broken scream. It tore through the trees, twisting into something almost animal before cutting off abruptly.
"Oh my God… what is that?" Sofia breathed.
"A bear?" David said, though even he didn't sound convinced.
Darren shook his head slowly. "No… that didn't sound like any bear I've ever heard."
A heavy silence settled over the group. The fire popped, sending tiny sparks spiraling into the cold air.
Finally, Jenna swallowed hard. "We have to look for her."
Everyone turned toward her — pale faces flickering in the firelight — but no one disagreed.
"I agree," Darren said quietly, his gaze fixed on the endless darkness beyond the trees.
"Then let's go. We have to move fast," Sofia murmured, letting out a shaky sigh.
"Wait… hold up," David cut in.
He knelt beside his backpack, unzipped it, and pulled out a knife. The blade caught a glint of orange from the dying fire.
"This should be enough for whatever the hell that sound was," he said flatly.
Jenna nodded. "We might need it."
The forest outside was pitch-black. The moon was barely visible behind thick clouds, and the lights from the campground disappeared the moment they stepped beyond the fire's edge.
It was cold — colder than it should've been — and the silence pressed down like a weight.
The moment they left the campfire behind, the air felt heavier, sharper against their skin. Their flashlights sliced through the dark, catching brief flashes of mist and swaying branches.
"Mia?" Jenna called softly. Her voice trembled as it carried into the trees. She hesitated, then tried again, louder. "Mia?"
"Mia!" Sofia echoed beside her, her voice breaking the quiet even more.
"Hey, hey," Charlie hissed. "You sure that's a good idea — yelling her name like that?"
"Relax," David said, his voice low but steady. "We've got a knife. And besides—animals like bears or tigers, they're not that aggressive toward humans. They don't pick fights unless they have to. It's fine."
Charlie frowned. "Who said it was a bear or a tiger? For all we know… it could be something else."
"Something else? Like what?" David snapped. "I don't believe in ghosts or monsters. Maybe it's just a really big bird."
"Well, you don't actually believe that, do you?" Darren replied softly, a cold knot forming in his stomach. Between the hat they'd found earlier and the strange silence, the situation felt wrong in a way words couldn't fix.
He trailed off. Then, without warning, Darren's flashlight beam struck something on the ground ahead — a pale shape, still.
"Mia." His voice was barely a whisper.
For a second nobody moved. Then everyone saw her.
They crashed forward. "Oh my God…" Someone gasped.
Mia lay face-down among the leaves, limp. Her skin had lost its color, drained to a shocking, unnatural white.
"No — what do we do?" Panic rippled through the group.
Jenna dropped beside her and placed trembling fingers on Mia's throat, searching for a pulse. "Wait… it's so cold," she said, voice breaking. Her hands felt like ice. There was no beat; no breath rising from Mia's chest.
"No… no." David stood rigid, eyes wide. The campsite atmosphere turned chaotic — shouting, the thud of hurried footsteps, flashlights illuminating frantic faces.
"Someone call for help," Charlie said, voice cracking. Jenna switched to check Mia's breathing again, but there was nothing. "She's not breathing. Her heart—" Her words broke off into a sob.
"Does anyone—do CPR?" Jenna panted.
"I do," David said, dropping to his knees without hesitation. He began to do what he could, frantic and clumsy with adrenaline and fear.
They worked in a blur — hands, breaths, whispered prayers. Darren stood back a step, shining his flashlight over Mia's body. The light magnified the oddness: her skin so pale it seemed almost translucent, her lips ghost-white like frost despite the warm breath of the night.
"Oh my God… I can't believe this," Charlie whispered beside him.
Minutes stretched. They tried everything they could think of. But Mia's chest never rose on its own. The attempts failed. The idea that they could pull her back from whatever had taken her dimmed and then vanished.
David hit the ground with a cry of disbelief. "No—no, no, no!" he shouted, the knife forgotten at his side.
Darren's voice was small when he spoke. "Guys…?"
"Can I—can I check?" he asked, stepping forward.
David looked at him, the defeat in his eyes raw. "It's too late," he said, voice a broken whisper. "She's gone."
Darren sank to his knees. The others stepped back, giving him space as he moved closer to Mia's still body. The beam of his flashlight trembled slightly in his hand.
He reached out and touched her arm.
Cold.
Not the kind of cold that comes from wind or fear — the kind that seeps deep, like touching metal left out in snow.
Darren frowned. "Why is she so cold?" he murmured, almost to himself. He turned her arm gently, examining it. The skin was pale, almost translucent.
"She's dead," Darren said quietly. Then, after a pause, he looked up. "Give me the knife."
David blinked. "What? Why?"
Darren didn't answer. He just stared, eyes steady, a strange determination behind them.
David hesitated, then sighed and handed it over. "Fine. But what the hell are you—"
"Darren! What are you doing?" Jenna shouted, panic in her voice.
"Hey, it's okay," Darren said softly, as if trying to reassure her instead of himself. "I just need to check something… I'm sorry."
He pressed the blade lightly against Mia's arm. No one dared to move.
The small sound — a soft scrape of metal on skin — cut through the silence.
Charlie turned away, squeezing his eyes shut. Jenna covered her mouth. David froze, wide-eyed, as Darren made a shallow cut along Mia's forearm.
"Oh my God…" Charlie whispered.
There was no blood.
Or rather — there was, but it wasn't blood anymore. It looked solid, frozen like crimson glass beneath the skin.
Darren pulled back, disbelief washing over him.
"What… what the hell?" Sofia stammered, voice shaking.
Darren's breathing quickened. "It's all frozen. Every drop."
"You think the cold did this?" Jenna asked, her voice cracking.
Darren shook his head. "No… not this fast. Not like this. This level of freezing— it's like she's been in Antarctica for days." He swallowed hard, eyes still on Mia's arm. "Something's not right."
"Then what is it?" Charlie asked.
"I… I don't know," Darren said, his voice trembling.
Even though he was one of the smartest guys in class, there was no explanation — nothing logical — that could make sense of what they'd just seen.
"We've only been here for… not even a day," Jenna whispered. "How could she—"
RGHHHH—!
The sound ripped through the night — high-pitched, broken, and close.
The first time they'd heard it, it was distant. This time, it was deafening. It echoed between the trees like something out of a nightmare, sharp enough to make their skin crawl.
Everyone froze. Their hearts pounded so loud it felt like the whole forest could hear it.
"What is that?" Sofia gasped.
"Well, that's definitely not a bear, right?" Charlie said, his voice shaking.
Rghhhh—
The sound came again, louder this time — a mix between a scream and a growl, something no one could recognize.
"Oh God," Charlie said, backing up. "We need to go."
"Wait—what about Mia?" Jenna asked, voice breaking.
"We—" Darren started, but the sound came again — closer.
RGHHHH—!
"We can come back for her later!" Charlie shouted. "Just run!"
And they did.
The group bolted, flashlights jerking wildly as they sprinted through the trees. Branches whipped across their faces, the ground uneven beneath their feet.
The sound chased them — not words, not steps — just that horrible, piercing shriek that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
No one dared to look back.