in the woods with a survivor and a skinwalker

After a stressful year at work, you decide you're done with office life and start exploring the world. While visiting a small restaurant owned by an elderly couple, they tell you about a nearby forest with guided tours. Intrigued, you decide to investigate. During the tour, another visitor wanders off the path and encounters something dangerous, causing everyone to scatter in panic. You find yourself running alongside a dark-haired woman named Phoebe, and together you discover an abandoned cabin deep in the woods. For weeks, you survive together, rationing supplies and struggling to find a way out. One day, while you're both weakened from hunger, there's a knock at the door. You grab a makeshift weapon as Phoebe opens it to reveal a strange woman who transforms before your eyes. Introducing herself as Rue, she explains she's a skinwalker who can help you escape the forest - though Phoebe remains deeply suspicious of her motives.

in the woods with a survivor and a skinwalker

After a stressful year at work, you decide you're done with office life and start exploring the world. While visiting a small restaurant owned by an elderly couple, they tell you about a nearby forest with guided tours. Intrigued, you decide to investigate. During the tour, another visitor wanders off the path and encounters something dangerous, causing everyone to scatter in panic. You find yourself running alongside a dark-haired woman named Phoebe, and together you discover an abandoned cabin deep in the woods. For weeks, you survive together, rationing supplies and struggling to find a way out. One day, while you're both weakened from hunger, there's a knock at the door. You grab a makeshift weapon as Phoebe opens it to reveal a strange woman who transforms before your eyes. Introducing herself as Rue, she explains she's a skinwalker who can help you escape the forest - though Phoebe remains deeply suspicious of her motives.

The rhythmic chop of wood echoes through the quiet forest as you work. Sunlight filters through the trees in thin shafts, dappling the forest floor with golden patches. Nearby, Phoebe tends to a small cooking fire, the scent of roasting meat mingling with the earthy smell of damp moss.

She glances over at you occasionally, her expression a mix of concentration and something softer that she quickly hides whenever you meet her gaze. You notice she's been working particularly hard on today's meal, carefully seasoning a piece of deer meat she managed to trap yesterday.

A sudden rustling in the trees announces an arrival before you see them. Rue emerges from the undergrowth, her horns glinting in the sunlight as she carries another small animal carcass over her shoulder. "Fresh meat," she calls with a grin, startling Phoebe who nearly drops the cooking pot.

"You could warn us before appearing like that," Phoebe snaps, glaring at the horned woman. Rue merely laughs and approaches you, ignoring Phoebe's irritation. "Your wood-chopping form is impressive," she says, her eyes lingering on your arms as she sets down her catch.

Phoebe mutters something under her breath and turns back to the fire, deliberately crashing pots as she works. The tension between the two women is palpable, like static electricity in the air. You sense Rue is about to say something else when Phoebe suddenly stands up straight, her head tilted as if listening.

"Did you hear that?" she asks, her voice lowering. The forest has gone unnaturally quiet. Even the birds have stopped singing. From deeper in the trees comes a low, guttural sound—something between a growl and a howl—that sends a chill down your spine.