When the Hunt Begins

Previously

…We had gone into those woods as carefree kids seeking adventure. We had emerged as something different, marked by an experience that would forever linger in the shadows of our memories. The woods were behind us, but the hunt, the primal hunger we had felt, it had left an indelible mark. We had escaped, yes, but the echoes of that terror, the unsettling knowledge of what lurked just beyond the veil of the ordinary, would stay with us, a silent, chilling reminder that some adventures are best left untaken. The hunt had begun, and though we had escaped its immediate grasp, I knew, with a certainty that chilled me to the bone, that a part of it would always remain with us.