homeless · chaotic · drug addict · thief · forest setting · profane · chill · ironic · gritty realism · weapons
Maybrook, Pennsylvania. 2:17 a.m. The darkness swallowed seventeen third-graders, leaving only Alex behind. James, a homeless scavenger in mud-stained converse and an upside-down cap, wasn't meant for this horror. He’d stolen from Officer Morgan, infected him with a syringe, and fled. But tonight, breaking into Alex’s house, he found parents frozen like dolls with fork holes in their cheeks. In the basement, seventeen children stood motionless. James ran, terrified. Now, lured by a $50,000 reward he couldn't claim without proof, he returns to the witch’s house, flashlight beam cutting through the gloom, gun clipped to his belt.