"Stacy," Jenna whispered.
The scream came from somewhere deep in the forest.
"What the hell was that?" James said, his voice tight.
Whatever the first sound had been, it wasn't an animal. None of them had ever heard anything like it before — not on TV, not in videos, not anywhere. It had been too sharp.
Too wrong.
For a moment, no one spoke.
The forest seemed to hold its breath with them.
Branches stood still. Leaves didn't move. Even the stream's distant murmur felt muted, like it had pulled away.
"Come on," Darren said finally, the words coming out before he could stop them. "We have to get to her. Right?"
No one answered right away.
Jenna's flashlight shook in her hand as she turned toward the trees, her face pale. "That second scream…" she said quietly. "That was Stacy."
James swallowed. "Yeah…" He let out a breath. "It was her."
Charlie exhaled slowly. "Then we don't really have a choice, right?" His jaw tightened. "But what the hell was that other scream?"
"Could it be a bear?" Ava said quickly. "Or… or something like that. A tiger?" She didn't sound convinced, even to herself.
James sighed and shrugged off his backpack. He unzipped it, rummaged inside, then pulled out a small knife. "Whatever that scream was," he said, gripping it tighter than necessary, "we'll be fine."
No one said anything, but no one argued either.
Jenna nodded once. Her eyes were fixed on the darkness ahead, not the knife, not the others. "We have to find her."
They stepped off the faint path and into the trees, flashlights cutting jagged tunnels through the dark. The beams bounced wildly with every hurried step, shadows snapping and stretching across the ground, twisting into shapes that vanished the moment they tried to focus on them.
Darren felt it again.
That pressure in his chest.
That crawling awareness along his spine.
The deeper they went, the colder it seemed to get — not enough to fog their breath, but enough to feel wrong. Like the forest itself was pulling the warmth out of them, inch by inch.
"Stacy?" Jenna called out, louder now.
Her voice vanished between the trees.
No echo.
No answer.
Just the sound of their footsteps and the soft, uneven rustle of leaves beneath them.
Then—
"Jenna."
She froze.
The voice came from somewhere ahead. Soft. Familiar.
"It's me," the voice said. "Stacy. Come on… this way."
Jenna turned sharply toward the sound, heart pounding. "Guys," she said, breathless. "It's Stacy. Did you hear that?"
The others stopped.
"What?" Ava asked.
"She just called me," Jenna said, pointing into the darkness. "She's over there."
Ava hesitated, scanning the trees. "Jenna… we didn't hear anything."
James frowned. "Yeah. Nothing."
Jenna's hands tightened around her flashlight. She was sure of it. The voice had been clear — close enough that at least one of them should've heard it.
"I swear," she whispered. "She sounded scared."
Darren felt it then.
A sudden chill crawled up his spine, sharp and unmistakable. Goosebumps spread across his arms as that familiar pressure tightened in his chest.
Whatever that was—
They shouldn't go there.
"Jenna," Darren said quickly, stepping in front of her. He shook his head. "No."
She hesitated.
If Stacy was really there… why wasn't she coming to them?
Why call out instead of running toward the light?
Jenna swallowed hard, doubt finally creeping in. "I… I don't know," she said quietly.
The forest stayed silent.
They moved on, flashlights cutting through the darkness once more.
No one spoke.
Jenna stayed close to the others now, her light drifting nervously between the trees as if she expected the voice to return. Darren felt the pressure in his chest refuse to fade.
The forest didn't feel empty anymore.
"Wait—guys?" Ava said suddenly.
Her flashlight froze on something in the dirt a few steps ahead.
"Is that… a footprint?"
They moved closer.
The ground there was darker, damp — soft enough that their own shoes began to leave impressions as they stepped around it.
But the footprint in front of them didn't match theirs.
It was wrong.
Too large. Too deep. The shape stretched longer than a human foot should, the edges uneven, almost dragged into the earth rather than pressed.
"What is that?" Ava whispered.
Charlie swallowed hard. "Oh my god… the Appalachian myths are real?"
"No," James said quickly. "That's not—"
Darren barely heard him.
The feeling in his chest surged, sharp and sudden, like something had just taken a step closer.
That footprint—
That's not human.
Fear flooded him, cold and heavy. Darren shook his head and lifted his flashlight, sweeping it wildly across the trees, the ground, the shadows between trunks.
His breath caught.
Something lay ahead.
A shape on the forest floor, half-hidden by leaves and darkness.
Motionless.
Darren's heart slammed against his ribs.
"Guys…" he said, his voice barely there.
The beam of his flashlight steadied.
A body lay on the ground.
Still.
Unmoving.
"Is that…" Charlie started.
Darren couldn't finish the thought in his head.
Could that be Stacy?
They moved slowly, carefully, toward the body.
As the flashlight beams steadied, the shape on the ground became unmistakable.
It was Stacy.
"Oh—" Ava's voice broke. "Stacy…? Stacy."
She didn't move.
"Check if she's breathing," James said sharply. His voice was tight, uneven. "Come on. Check."
Jenna dropped to her knees beside her, fingers trembling as she pressed them lightly against Stacy's neck. She leaned closer, watching her chest.
Nothing.
"No… no, no," Jenna said. She checked again, harder this time, like she could force a heartbeat into existence. "She's not breathing. Her heart—" Her voice cracked. "There's nothing."
Panic rippled through the group.
"Does anyone know CPR?" Jenna asked, her words tumbling over each other.
"I do," James said immediately. He dropped beside Stacy, hands shaking as he positioned them over her chest.
As they worked, Darren's light lingered on Stacy's face.
Something was wrong.
Her skin looked pale — not the pale of fear or shock, but white. Too white. Her lips had lost all color, drained to a dull gray.
That's not right, Darren thought, his chest tightening.
He'd studied enough science to know this wasn't normal. Not for someone who'd been alive less than an hour ago.
The dreams.
The cold feeling.
The police cars.
Something was deeply, terribly wrong.
Nearby, Charlie stared at the trees, his mind racing.
The mirror.
The shape he'd seen.
Was that real?
Or had it been watching them the whole time?
Minutes passed.
Nothing changed.
James's movements slowed, desperation creeping into every breath. "No," he muttered. "No… she has to come back."
"She has to," he repeated, like saying it enough times might make it true.
Jenna collapsed to her knees beside them, her hands covering her face. "This is my fault," she whispered. "How are we supposed to tell her parents?"
No one answered.
The forest didn't move.
The trees stood still around them.
And Stacy didn't breathe.
"Hey, guys…" Darren said quietly.
His voice cut through the chaos.
They'd been there long enough now. Long enough to know what they were trying to deny.
"Can I take a look?"
"No," James snapped immediately. "Are you crazy? We can't stop CPR. We have to keep going."
"James," Jenna said softly.
Her voice was tired. Hollow.
She wiped her face, eyes red. "We've been doing this for… I don't know. A while now." She swallowed hard. "As much as I hate to say it… she's not coming back."
Silence fell.
"This is my fault," Jenna whispered. "I should've gone with her."
"I should've," James said suddenly. His hands trembled as he pulled them back. "At least someone should've gone with her."
No one argued anymore.
The hope was gone.
"Guys," Darren said again. "Let me check."
James hesitated, then slowly nodded and moved aside.
Darren knelt beside Stacy.
The moment his fingers touched her arm, his breath caught.
Cold.
Not cool — cold, like stone left outside overnight.
Darren closed his eyes for a second.
He already knew what he was going to do.
"James," he said quietly. "The knife."
"What? Why?" James demanded.
Darren didn't answer.
After a long moment, James cursed under his breath and handed it over. "Just… hurry."
Darren gripped the handle, his hand shaking.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I just need to know."
He pressed the blade gently against Stacy's arm and made a small cut.
Charlie turned away.
But nothing happened.
No blood.
Not a single drop.
Darren stared at the pale line on her skin, his stomach twisting.
"I was right," he said, his voice barely steady. "Her blood… it's frozen."
"What?" Charlie spun back around. "That's not possible."
"You think the cold did this?" Ava asked, panic creeping into her voice.
Darren shook his head. "No. This isn't… normal." He swallowed. "It's like she's been dead for… for weeks."
"Weeks?" James said sharply. "That's impossible. She was with us less than an hour ago."
"I know," Darren said. "It doesn't make sense. Her body isn't decaying. It's like time just… skipped."
No one spoke.
"Darren," Charlie said quietly. "You're scaring me."
Darren looked around at their faces — pale, shaking, lost.
The screams.
The footprint.
The cold.
And that feeling in his chest — stronger now than ever.
Something was still here.
Watching.
And it wasn't done with them yet.
Thud.
The ground shifted beneath Darren's feet.
At first, he thought he imagined it — just a tremor, barely there. But then it came again. Stronger.
Thud.
The others felt it too.
"Guys?" Jenna said, her voice tight. "Did you feel that?"
"Yeah," Darren said immediately.
He stood up, heart racing, and turned toward the direction the vibration had come from.
There was nothing at first.
Just trees. Darkness. Stillness.
Then, somewhere deeper in the forest—
CRACK.
A tree snapped.
Another followed.
Branches splintered, trunks groaning under unseen force, the sound rolling toward them like something massive was moving through the woods.
Darren's chest tightened.
Something's out there.
Before anyone could speak, a scream ripped through the night.
The same scream they'd heard before.
Only this time—
It was closer.
Louder.
Wrong in a way that made Darren's blood feel like ice.
"Guys," he said, his voice shaking. He didn't look away from the darkness. "Run."
No one moved.
"Run," Darren said again, louder now.
The scream echoed once more, shaking the trees around them.