His fingers tightened on the steering wheel as his mind drifted back to a month ago. That morning, he had come across a broken trail camera during his routine jog. The casing was cracked, the lens shattered. He frowned but shrugged it off, thinking an animal had knocked it down. He had been so naive.
But it hadn’t been a one-off thing. Over the next few days, he noticed unusual signs—trampled underbrush, makeshift campsites hidden beneath foliage, cigarette butts scattered across the ground. He assumed careless hikers had left them behind, but something didn’t sit right. The feeling of unease began to grow.