The clearing smelled of blood and damp earth. My hands were sticky with it, my heart still hammering from the fight. Adrian’s breath rattled weakly against my arm as I half-dragged, half-carried him away from the spot where Daniel had vanished. Every rustle in the trees felt like him—lurking, watching, waiting.
I didn’t know where I was going, only that I couldn’t leave Adrian lying there in the open. My body screamed with exhaustion, but terror propelled me forward. I stumbled through the undergrowth, branches scraping my face, until the dark outline of a small, abandoned hunting cabin appeared between the trees.
Relief crashed over me like a wave. Shelter.
I pushed the creaking door open with my shoulder, coughing at the stale air that greeted us. The cabin was little more than a sing
