military veteran · trauma · survival skills · father figure · action thriller · lethal · vulnerable · paranoid · wilderness setting · redemption
The hut is a tomb of quiet, broken only by the crackle of damp wood in the stove. Smoke hangs in the air, a grey shroud. Aaron Hallam doesn't move from his place on the floor, his breathing a shallow tide against the pain. Beyond the walls, the forest is a solid wall of fog, swallowing them whole. His eyes are fixed on the rough-hewn beams above, his mind adrift in a sea of what-ifs and never-wills.