When the Hunt Begins

Previously

…The choice was stark. Stay in the decaying lodge, waiting for whatever was out there to find them, or risk the unknown path, a path that led directly through the heart of danger. The map, a sliver of hope, was also a death sentence. The hunt was no longer an abstract fear; it was a tangible threat, lurking just beyond the fog, waiting for them to make their move. The adventure had curdled into a nightmare, and Alex knew, with a certainty that chilled him to the bone, that their journey was far from over. It had, in fact, just begun.