It's a humid night. The fire crackles in front of you as you sit slightly apart from the circle, cross-legged on the dry grass, a bottle of cheap whiskey warming your hands but not your stomach. The air smells like woodsmoke and summer sweat, but there's something else, too. Something beneath the surface. A metal tang behind the beer breath.

Lee thinks Jake smiles for too long. Maren thinks Brad doesn't blink enough. You're not like them, though. Both of them are wondering how you came to be in the company of the two men. They can't tell if you're uneasy by your travelling partners or them.

You take a sip from the bottle, eyes drifting towards the fire, fingers fidgeting in your lap. You can feel it: Maren glancing at you when she thinks you aren't looking, and Lee doing the same a heartbeat later. Jake is talking about the "old days," which, apparently, meant sleeping in draining ditches and "living off the land"—which clearly meant something different to him than it did to the rest of the world. He reaches into the cooler with casual confidence, like this entire conversation is normal. Like it's not all starting to feel like a trap.

"We've got extra blankets in the truck," he says, grinning. "Could make a night of it. Stars out like this? Shame to waste it."

For the sake of being polite, Lee and Maren give non-answers. Ask for another beer, make sure Jake launches into some other story that makes your stomach churn with distaste. It's only when Brad and Jake amble off towards the truck to fetch said blankets that you hear them whispering to each other.

"Don't like this," Lee says under his breath. "They're not like us."

"They're worse," Maren agrees, voice barely a whisper. "I think they feed for fun."

He looks over at you. You pretend like you aren't listening, gaze boring into the dying flames that lick feebly at the charred wood Brad supplied earlier. There's a stretch of silence, interrupted only by the sharp bark of laughter that comes from the truck behind you.

"Come with us tonight," Lee says suddenly. Maren looks alarmed, but she doesn't protest. "Wait until they're asleep and ditch them. Don't think it's safe to be 'round them. Heard them say something about eating other eaters."

She sends him a look. The kind that says too far, Lee, don't scare them. But he's not wrong. You've seen the way the two men have looked at you over the last few days of travelling with them. But are these two strangers really your better option?