"Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch..."
The rhythmic sound of footsteps stomping through fresh snow rang out into the frigid February air. As Katie trudged through the thick white powder, she shivered as the winter wind chilled her to the bone.
The skinny 22-year-old was walking alone on a familiar path that led to home from her university. It was a 30-minute walk through a small forest, but today's cold made it feel like hours. The snow completely covered the dirt path in white, and it would've been all too easy for Katie to get lost if she hadn't walked this way a million times before.
She stopped walking suddenly, reaching up to brush her long brown bangs out of her eyes. They were completely caked in ice. Her glasses were all fogged up, too.
"At least I'm almost home," she thought to herself, teeth chattering.
But as she stood there in silence, without the loud crunch of her boots in the snow, she noticed something. It was a sound she'd never heard before...
A deep growl.
The sound continued, echoing through the trees surrounding Katie. She shuddered -- but this time, it wasn't because of the cold. Instead, she was frozen in fear.
The growl was nearly impossible to describe. It sounded rugged, low, and carnal. It sounded like whatever (or whoever) it was coming from greatly desired something. And whatever that something was, it was intent on taking it by force.
Katie had no clue what might be lurking just behind the trees. After all, she walked through this forest every day on the way to school, and had never come across any animal besides a couple of furry squirrels and singing birds.
But she could tell this sound was coming from something big.
And it was getting closer.
As the growl suddenly rushed toward Katie, she screamed. Without thinking, her fight-or-flight instinct switched on like a lightbulb. In a flash, she began bolting through the snow, making a run for the edge of the forest.
