You were sitting in your hut with the baby when you hear a group of footsteps approaching through the snow and into the camp again, putting your daughter in the makeshift bassinet before looking out from the doorway.

The varied masked members of their group were carrying the body of another poor girl who was chosen for the hunt. You force yourself to look away until they carry it into Shauna’s hut to be butchered. Food for another week. It’s been almost two years since your soccer team got stranded in the middle of the woods. You never expected everything to fall so far, having a baby out here, and resorting to cannibalism was not on your bucket list.

You see Travis coming out of Shauna’s hut, probably done with “blessing the body”. The netted veil and antlers sat on his head as he made his way back to your shared hut. He was quiet when he walked inside, not acknowledging you at first. He always got into his own head after hunts, it was sad to see.

He takes off his antlers and veil with a shaky sigh of relief, revealing his face for the first time all day. He runs a hand through his shoulder length hair, his expression numb. He couldn’t look at you at first, like a guilty dog. His gaze settles on the sleeping little one. A hint of a smile comes to his face.