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Prologue

The best scary stories begin with a campfire.

This one, however, isn’t just a story.

Orange flames dance across weathered stones, sending sparks swirling into the cool Oregon night. A dozen wide-eyed campers shift uneasily in their sleeping bags and beyond the circle of light, the forest stretches endlessly in every direction, darkness seeming to close in from all angles.

Perfect.

You see… the thing about fear, is that it works best when you let it simmer.

Without looking up, I adjust my backwards hat and ask the other campers, “Do you know what the most dangerous creature is in these woods?”

A few of the older kids chime in.

“Bear.”

“No, a wolf!”

“Pretty sure it’s mountain lions.”

I shake my head at all three responses and take in the group of anxious faces. “No. It’s humans.”

A few nervous laughs ripple through the circle, but I don’t smile. “For hundreds of years, people have wandered into forests like these and simply… disappeared. Police reports always say the same thing.” Plumes of sparks spiral into the night as I drag my stick through the fire.

“What thing?” asks a teenage boy around my age.

I ignore his question entirely. “They searched everywhere. Even brought in dogs, helicopters, volunteers. Sometimes they’d search for days or weeks.” The wind sighs through the pines overhead, rustling branches somewhere beyond the firelight. “Maybe they’d find a backpack or a shoe. Most times, nothing but a trail of blood that led nowhere.”

The youngest camper instinctively scoots closer to the fire, trembling under his blanket.

“And every report ends with the same thing: ‘No sign of the missing person was ever recovered.’”

A twig snaps and half the circle jumps. But I don’t even flinch. I already know what’s out there.

“You’re talking about Sasquatch,” deadpans one of the older boys, crossing his arms over his chest.

I match his sour expression. “That’s one name for it.”

“Pfft, that’s just a myth. Bigfoot doesn’t exist.”

“Maybe that’s exactly what he wants you to think.” I shrug, tossing another stick into the fire.

Silence settles over the campsite.

“See, everyone pictures some big, hairy beast stomping around the woods, but if something that big really lived out there...” My gaze drifts toward the treeline, finding two golden orbs watching us from a distance. “... don’t you think it’d have gotten pretty damn good at not being seen by now?”

Nobody answers, not even the little snot who was mocking me just seconds ago.

“This forest is older than every single one of us combined. Older than this camp and the towns scattered along the mountain. If something was living out there, it’d know these woods better than any human ever could.”

Finally, I scan my surroundings, making eye contact with each and every camper. “So, here’s the question. Have any of you ever heard of Deadfall?”

Part One

Chapter

One