It took Sophie a minute to recognize where she was. She was exhausted, if not for the crunch of snow below her or the smell of smoke she would have just gone back to sleep.

When she opened her eyes it all came rushing back. Mark had pushed her off a cliff. She had almost frozen to death. And that thing… that was out there. Scratch the third one, despite the unease that lingered in her memory it was probably just her panicked mind playing tricks on her. Or it was a bear or a moose that had wandered by, wondering what a human was doing all the way out here. She had yet to encounter anything actually strange. At least that's what she told herself.

It was a crisp and sunny day, which meant it was cold. Sophie sat up groggily and hissed at the pain in her leg. She wouldn't be walking any time soon, the ambient throbbing was incredibly unpleasant. Her fire was smouldering, down to a few coals.

She ineffectively pulled another branch free and after snapping it in half added it to the fire. The tree was running out of branches within reach. That and she had no food or water.

All advice told her to stay calm and stay put. She was… more or less calm and in no condition to go anywhere. Yet help wasn't coming. At least not yet. The plan had been for her and Mark to stay the night at a hotel and catch a flight tomorrow morning, arriving in Seattle that afternoon. At best, someone would notice she was missing tomorrow night.

While she wasn't in the middle of nowhere she wasn't particularly close to civilization. Rescue would not come quickly, especially not if Mark interfered. She felt ill. She needed to somehow survive days out here while she couldn't even walk.

Sophie felt utterly lost as the day began to tick by and her hunger grew. She ate some snow to stay hydrated but she had no food. Going to the bathroom was a very painful experience with her leg as it was. The entire situation was absolute shit. But she had fire and warmth. She couldn't bring herself to leave it. She only had a vague idea of where she was, her only option was to stay put.

By the time the sun was high in the sky, it was snowing. Sophie had forced herself to move, to find what suitable branches she could so she would have a supply of firewood. It was not an effective process, most branches were too sturdy for her to tear away. Often her mittens couldn't find purchase and she ended up just tearing all the needles from the branch. Still, she kept the fire going.

As the day passed the snowfall became harder. Sophie’s visibility was reduced as the world was quickly blanketed in white. Her saving grace was the cold, had it been wet it would have extinguished her fire. Instead, the tree above her protected her from the wind and snow.

The light began to fade far too quickly for Sophie’s comfort. The short Alaskan days were so much more demoralizing than ever before. Sophie was famished, her stomach growling and cramping unpleasantly. She was in a foul mood.

It was one thing to miss breakfast but by now she had missed three meals and with the cold and exhaustion it was adding up very quickly. She couldn’t even scavenge, not only physically unable to but the snow smothered any plants that could even be edible. The worst part was how calm it was, even with the worsening snowfall it was quiet beyond the wind. No city, no cars or planes, no people shouting or arguing, no animals she could even try to catch to eat. For once the calm of the forest was a nightmare.

It was just her and the cold. She was so tired.

Despite the fire, it was hard to stay warm. Her body had no energy. The wind had picked up, there was no denying the snowstorm that raged around her. The fire was dancing, struggling to breathe against the icy winds. The world became dark too quickly but the wind did not die down.

Sophie added one of her dwindling branches to the fire and took a tired breath. The eyes were back, she was sure of it. They were watching waiting. For what she didn't know.

Her leg didn't hurt anymore and the cold wasn't as biting. She added another branch but didn't curl up beside it. She was almost out now, and the fire still hadn't recovered. The night had only begun.

She wasn’t blind. Her leg should have hurt. She should have been freezing. But she was just tired. Too tired to panic. The cold was almost pleasant in a way. A soft blanket of nothing. She wasn't even hungry anymore.

She blinked her eyes open trying to stay awake. She did need to keep the fire going after all. But the branches were so far away and her body was so heavy. She was just tired. A tear slid down Sophie’s cheek. She didn’t want to go to sleep. As easy as it would be this would be a different sleep.

The storm howled around her, everything was black but the fire. The only source of dim light in this void of darkness. She pulled her legs closer and hugged herself. If she stayed awake she would cry and staying away was already hard enough.

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If she had the energy to keep her eyes open she would have seen it approach. The light snuffing out was enough to catch her attention. A lump of snow had fallen through the trees and smothered what had been left of her fire.

Sophie let out a shaky breath. She had failed.

Eyes watched her from the other side of the smothered campfire. It simply sat there, it made no noise. It wasn't until it took a windy breath that Sophie could even be sure she wasn't alone.

“W-who are you?” Sophie croaked, struggling to part her lips due to the ice that had formed on them.

It said nothing but it did move. It was big, the only clue was the movement in the darkness. The shadows bent as they came to her side. She could barely make out a form. The long limbs and the large horns.

Sophie started to cry. She didn't have the energy to sob, but a pitiful noise escaped her nonetheless. She had no more energy to fight.

It simply sat there, keeping her company. Sophie briefly met its gaze. Her eyes were so heavy, she couldn't even make them focus. She couldn't make out any details but a shape and those eyes. What did it matter anyway?

She let her eyes close. Something pressed against her cheek. Long and sharp and ever so cold. She didn't have the energy to open her eyes. Sophie let herself drift off, it was the easiest decision she had ever made.

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Sophie smelled dust and mould. The air was thick but warm. The heat felt strange in her body. All the sensation had returned to her body. Like she had been thawed out. She was famished.

She blinked her eyes open and frowned. It was dark but she could make out… stone above her. She sat up, her muscles wincing in protest as her breath caught in her throat. She was underground. The tunnel stretched onward, supported by old wooden beams. Sophie was in a mine.

A fleshy snap and tearing sound made her spin, her leg protesting painfully. On the floor lay a deer… well the carcass of one. Its stomach was cut open to reveal its innards. What really drew her attention was the thing crouched over it, it's back to her. It was pale and tall, its limbs too long. It looked… starved, Sophie could see its ribs, and its shoulder blades seemed to stick out of its back as it picked at the carcass with large claws. It was crouched down on digitigrade legs that were just as human as… something else.

A messy braid ran down its back and two large horns protruded from its head, both adorned with what seemed to be charms.

Sophie absolutely didn't want this thing to turn around. Whatever comfort it had brought her in the dark did not exist when she could see such a thing. Her involuntary whimper at the sight caught its attention.

Its head turned in her direction. It had a skull for a face. Sophie couldn't hold back a scream. Her body screamed at her to run and she really tried. But with a useless leg, all she succeeded in doing was falling on her face. Still, she scrambled back, desperate to put distance between her and this thing.

She glanced back to see it reaching towards its head… then it took off the skull and Sophie met its gaze. The same dark eyes that had watched her in the dark. It took her a second to catch up with what she was seeing. It… she didn't have horns, it was an adorned helm. Other than a loincloth she was also very naked excluding several charms she had braided into her hair.

“Wha…” was all Sophie managed.

The… woman held out a chunk of flesh between two talons. It could have been interpreted as a friendly gesture, but Sophie wasn't so sure it was.

When Sophie didn't act the woman dropped the piece of meat in her mouth revealing sharp teeth and a long tongue. Sophie’s heart pounded in her ears, what was she supposed to do?

“Come, eat,” the woman hissed.

While food sounded great right now, everything else seemed like a bad idea. The fact that the food was freshly killed and raw deer wasn't particularly enticing.

“Who are you,” Sophie asked, still not moving any closer.

The woman chuckled, “I have lots of names.”

Sophie nodded slowly. That was entirely unhelpful. The woman didn't seem entirely human yet she spoke English clearly, even if it was with an accent. Sophie couldn't place it.

“My name is Sophie,” Sophie offered. “Um… thanks for saving me.”

The woman glanced up from her meal and smiled. “It is not often I play favourites, but who am I to take vengeance from you?”

“Vengeance?”

“The man who pushed you. Meat may be scarce but I am not against sharing, not when there is poetry involved.”

“Ok,” Sophie replied, not having any idea what the woman was talking about. But one thing was certain she knew about Mark.

Anger bubbled within her, cold and sharp. The fucking bastard. Now was not the time to be processing what had happened. But when she got home she was going to get his ass thrown in jail, hell maybe she should just push him off a cliff and see how he liked it.

The woman was practically grinning at her now. “There it is, the heart of ice. I knew I wasn't wrong.”

Sophia couldn't decipher that either. Her stomach growled. “What… what should I call you then?”

“You would not speak my tongue. Humans call me… the Howling One. it is… a bit… pompous,” she snickered.

Sophie didn't even recognize the laugh that bubbled up from her throat. She still didn't know what to make of this woman. A woman with the personality of what Sophie could only imagine as a hyena, who was perfectly comfortable totally naked in the Alaskan cold. The fact the Howling One wasn’t… human wasn't lost on Sophie but she didn't have the capacity to process that right now.

“Now eat,” the Howling One repeated, waving her over and slicing another chunk of flesh from the body.

After a moment of deliberation and Sophie’s grumbling stomach, she slowly crawled forward. “I don’t suppose you have a firepit?”

The Howling One cocked her head. “Why would I want to burn perfectly good meat?”

“I mean… it will make me sick if I eat it raw,” Sophie shrugged, feeling embarrassed under the woman’s stare.

“It is a fresh kill, it is safe to eat,” the Howling One huffed indignantly.

Sophie let out a breath. “But what if it has parasites or something?”

“I offer to share and you insult my skills as a hunter,” the Howling One smirked, a gesture far more threatening than maybe it was intended.

“No-no… I just… Did you by chance grab my bag?” Sophie asked, looking around. The small cavern they were in was mostly empty. The floor was stained red with blood in several places and there were plenty of bones scattered about of all different kinds. Sophie did a double take and dread curled through her when she noticed the human skull. Not one, but several.

“That bag I left for you?” the Howling One asked. “If you want to make a fire I have plenty of supplies in the next cavern. I am sure you can find what you need.”

“Oh…” Sophie replied. She had a horrifying feeling that the Howling One hadn't raided a lost and found.