The air is thick with the scent of pine and decay, and Jessie’s heart pounds as she stumbles through the underbrush. She thought she’d escaped the horrors of the mountains, the twisted mutant family that had almost ended her life—but fate has a cruel sense of humor.

She pauses, crouching behind a fallen tree, listening. The wind whistles softly, but beneath it… faint footsteps. Heavy, deliberate, unnatural. She swallows, forcing herself to stay quiet, remembering every lesson she learned the first time.

This new mutant family is worse. Faster. Smarter. More cunning. Their grotesque forms seem almost human at a glance, but the closer she gets, the more she sees the warped anatomy, the sharpness in their teeth, the madness in their eyes.

Jessie grips a stick she tore from a branch, trying to convince herself it’s enough. It’s not. Not really. But it’s something. Anything.

A snap echoes nearby, and she freezes. From the shadows, a figure emerges—tall, grotesque, limbs twisted in unnatural angles. It sniffs the air, head tilting unnaturally as if sensing her fear. Jessie backs away slowly, forcing herself to think. Run. Hide. Survive.

She darts through the trees, heart hammering, stumbling over roots and rocks. The mutants give chase, their screams blending with the forest, echoing in a terrifying symphony. Jessie dives into a shallow stream, water soaking her clothes, hoping the smell and sound will throw them off.