The first thing I know is pain, threaded through every nerve like barbed wire. My skull feels cracked in half, the two pieces at war with one another. The world is a blur, even though I’m pretty sure my eyes are open. A groan rumbles from my chest, the sound dragging me toward total consciousness.
And with it comes a memory.
The cars outside the cabin. Their hoods gaping open like broken jaws. My fingers numb from fumbling with wires without gloves, cursing the dead battery, and the missing one. The silence of the surrounding forest and the way the trees pressed in closer, the longer my back was to them. I remember leaning in deeper, trying one more connection, then the crunch of icy snow behind me.
I turned.
Nothing.
Then pain.
A crushing blow to the back of my head. My knees buckled,and the ground spun as I pitched forward into an icy abyss.
I wasn’t left there.
Something dragged me from the clearing around the house.
I saw it in flashes, jagged as lightning strikes. Branches clawing at my arms, my back bumping against frozen roots, the sky swallowed by dark boughs overhead. The rhythm of footsteps moving fast, pulling me deeper into the forest.
My body fought against me, vision tearing at the edges, and then it all went black.
Until now.
I force my eyes to remain open, the room tilting. Ava’s voice cuts through first, high and broken, screaming my name. My head whips toward her, but it protests, fire shooting down my spine. I see her—not safely tucked behind the closed doors of the cabin—but trapped in a stranger’s grip, his arm wrapped around her like iron.
He holds her against his chest like she’s some treasure he’s claimed.
My chest convulses. Rage overtakes the weakness flooding me, and I push my hands against the floor, trying to rise.
“A… va.” Her name feels like crushed gravel across my vocal cords, but it’s enough to pull her eyes to mine.
She thrashes, fighting his hold, her screams ricochet against the low-sagging ceiling. Every terrified sound tears into me, spurs me forward. My body feels heavier than ever before, but I shove at the floor, my muscles shaking as I simply try to push myself upright.
He notices, whispering something against her ear.
The world sways, blackness clinging to the edges of my vision, threatening to pull me back under the murky waters.My lids close, resting for what feels like seconds, but must have been more.
When I come back to, they’re gone. Out the front door, a commotion fills the arctic air.
“Ava!” My hoarse scream crackles.
I need her to hear me. To realize I’m coming after her, no matter how long it takes me to pry my useless limbs from the ground.
I shove harder, hauling myself onto my knees, teeth clenched against the pain screaming through my ribs. My vision swims, but I keep going, because she needs me, because she’s still fighting, and I can’t let her do it alone.
Ava’s screams cut through my hazy focus.
I fight to get to my feet, but the first attempt ends with me sprawled against the mud-crusted floor. As I crawl inch by inch, the snow lights the horizon, and my fingertips meet the threshold.
Wrapping stiff fingers around the door jambs, I haul myself up, using strength I don’t have, to get my feet under me. My knees wobble, unsteady.
The silence breaks between my heaving breaths as my eyes scan the snowy embankment. Howling wind whistles through the trees, pushing dancing flakes across the icing snow. Night crept in while I was out, dragging shadows closer to the hut’s steps, engulfing the small clearing.
Something moves among the ridgeline, an obsidian blur before it disappears completely—Ava.
My achy limbs protest against every move I make. But I have to get moving. The longer I give myself to regain some semblance of control, the further she gets. It’ll be harder to find them in the dark. Harder to follow the path of his footsteps.
As if on cue, the snow picks up. Big white clumps fall faster by the second. It’s the motivation my brain needs. Shifting, I scan the hut for a weapon, but it’s empty of anything useful. There’s no axe in the corner for firewood, no shotgun on the wall for protection.
