Prologue
The first siren rips through the forest, bouncing between the trees and closing the distance they bought with blood and panic. Wet snow sticks fast, heavy enough to slow them down, cold enough to burn.
Liam snaps his head toward the sound, eyes blown wide, breath tearing out of him in uneven bursts that fog the air. Sweat and melted snow plaster his hair to his forehead. His lungs burn. His legs shake inside thin sweats soaked through to the skin. They’ve been running far too long for hope to still feel real, and the siren confirms it. Whatever grace period they were given was finished.
“Move!” Chris shouts, his voice cracking under the strain. “Go, go, GO!”
Beth runs at his side, feet slapping against slick mud and half-frozen leaves, the hem of her dress heavy with water and clinging to her thighs. The cold bites at her exposed skin, numbing her fingers even as her heart hammers violently against her ribs. Behind them, Cindy and Liam struggle to keep pace, Cindy’s dress tangling around her legs, Liam’s feet skidding on roots and stone, branches tearing at fabric and skin as they push deeper into the dark Oregon woods.
They can barely see more than a few feet in front of them through the darkness. The snow makes the ground unpredictable, sometimes soft, sometimes slick, sometimes hiding something sharp.
The second siren wails. The hunt has begun.
“Oh my god, they’re coming,” Cindy whimpers behind her, hair whipping across her soaked face.
Liam doesn’t see the trap until it snaps shut.
Metal slams together with a violent crack that echoes through the trees. Liam screams at the same moment, a raw, tearing sound forced out of himwithout control. His body jerks sideways as the force rips his foot out from under him. His leg folds beneath him at an impossible angle, twisted past the point joints are meant to allow, and he hits the ground hard enough to knock the air from his lungs. Snow bursts up around him as his body strikes the frozen earth.
Beth stumbles to a stop, her balance slipping as her bare feet hit fresh blood that wasn’t there moments ago.
The bear trap snaps shut around Liam’s ankle and locks in place. Steel teeth tear through skin and muscle before biting down hard against bone. Blood spills out in heavy, steaming surges, seeping through the jagged teeth and soaking into the snow below. Splintered bone presses against the metal, some pieces snapped clean, others crushed inward, all visible through torn flesh that no longer resembles a leg.
“OH GOD,” Liam screams. His hands fly to his ankle, fingers smearing blood everywhere they touch. “GET IT OFF. GET IT OFF. AAHHHH. PLEASE. PLEASE!”
Chris drops beside him, slipping on blood-slick snow, hands shaking as he grabs Liam’s shoulders and tries to lift him. “Don’t move,” he shouts, his voice cracking, even though Liam can’t stop shaking or screaming. Cindy lunges for the trap with bare hands, fingers immediately burning from the cold metal and the heat of fresh blood. She strains with everything she has. The jaws stay locked, teeth driving deeper as Liam’s weight shifts, pressure crushing bone and tearing what little structure the leg still has.
Liam’s scream collapses into sobbing gasps. Foam gathers at the corners of his mouth. His eyes roll, unfocused, white showing. Blood keeps pumping, pulsing in time with his heartbeat, each thud spraying more red into the snow.
“Please,” he chokes, reaching for Cindy. His fingers tremble violently. “Please don’t let me die. Please.”
Another convulsion tears through him. The trap grates again, and something inside his ankle gives way. Liam screams once more, then his voice shatters into a hoarse, animal whine as shock begins to crawl in.
Slow footsteps crunch through the snow.
Beth freezes so hard it feels like her bones lock in place. The others follow her stare. A figure slides out from between the trees, their outline warped by drifting snow, almost indistinguishable from the trunks behind them.
The figure carries a harvesting blade that is long and curved, designed to cut down whatever stands in its path. Moonlight slides along the edge and catches on patches that are already wet and dark. The figure stops just far enough away to watch, head tilted slightly.
“No. No. No,” Liam sobs as panic tears through him.
He tries to drag himself backward, palms scraping at the snow while his heels dig uselessly into the ground. The bear trap yanks him short with brutal force, jerking his body back toward it. Steel teeth shriek as he moves, the sound high and grating, and his ankle grinds again inside the locked jaws. Fresh blood spills out immediately, pooling beneath him and soaking through his sweats until the fabric clings to torn flesh underneath. His breaths come in choking bursts as pain rips through him faster than he can process.
The figure kneels beside him with ease. They slide the curved blade beneath Liam’s chin and lift slowly, applying just enough pressure to force his face upward. His jaw shakes violently as his head tilts back, his throat exposed without resistance.
“Please don’t,” he whispers, his voice barely holding together. “Please.”
The blade moves.
It cuts his throat clean and wide in a single smooth sweep. Skin splits, muscle parts. Blood explodes outward in a violent arc, slapping across Cindy’s face and neck. Liam’s body jerks hard enough to rattle the trap. His hands fly to his neck, fingers plunging into the open wound, coming away coated and dripping.
He gurgles. Thick bubbles push through the ruin of his throat. His legs kick, reflexive, wild, heel hammering uselessly against the steel jaws that still hold him. His eyes roll back, then flutter violently. His body convulses again, then again, then stills.
Beth screams so hard it tears through her, her throat burning as her voice starts to give out.
The killer stands. They snap the blade once, sending a fan of blood into the snow, then turn and vanish into the storm as if the forest swallows them whole. The distant siren fades into nothing.
Beth stumbles, vision smeared red, skin slick with blood. Behind her, Cindy sobs as she runs, breath hitching hard enough to steal air from her lungs. Her hair is plastered to her face and neck, legs trembling as she tries to keep moving.
