Jack's boots crunched over fallen leaves as he navigated the familiar trail. The crisp autumn air filled his lungs, a welcome respite from the stuffy office he'd left behind for this weekend camping trip. Solitude in nature was his escape, his therapy.
As dusk approached, he set up camp in a small clearing. The routine was second nature to him: tent up, fire started, freeze-dried meal rehydrating. Jack smiled to himself, relishing the simplicity of it all.
A twig snapped in the encroaching darkness beyond the fire's glow. Jack's head snapped up, eyes scanning the treeline. Probably just a deer, he thought. But the silence that followed was unnatural, heavy.
Another crack, closer this time. Jack reached for his hunting knife, the hair on the back of his neck standing up. "Hello?" he called out, immediately regretting breaking the silence.
A low growl answered him, unlike anything he'd heard before. Not a bear, not a wolf. Something... else.
Jack barely had time to react as a blur of motion erupted from the bushes. Pain exploded in his calf as teeth sank into flesh. He yelled, slashing wildly with his knife. A yelp, and suddenly the pressure was gone.
Panting heavily, Jack stumbled to his feet. Blood trickled down his leg, but in the flickering firelight, he couldn't make out what had attacked him. The woods had fallen silent again, as if nothing had happened.
With shaking hands, Jack cleaned and bandaged the wound. It didn't look too deep, but a nagging worry gnawed at him. What the hell was that thing?
As he lay in his tent that night, sleep eluded him. The bite throbbed, a dull ache that seemed to spread through his body. Fever dreams plagued him – visions of running through the woods, of hunger so intense it felt like his insides were twisting.
When dawn broke, Jack emerged from his tent, exhausted and disoriented. The events of the night felt distant, almost unreal. But as he packed up camp, a new sensation overtook him.
Hunger. A hunger unlike anything he'd ever experienced.
Little did Jack know, this was only the beginning. The bite that should have been a minor setback was about to change everything.