The Trail Head

While hiking a remote section of the Appalachian Trail along the North Carolina–Tennessee border, a hiker named Heiden and his best friend, Jared, are stalked by a sinister, supply-less stranger who claims to never leave the woods.

After discovering a butchered deer and fleeing from the man at a second shelter, the pair escape into the forest, where Jared confesses that his previous claims of completing the trail were a lie.

Terrified and lost without their backpacks or phones, they are hunted down by the mysterious predator, who captures Heiden and drags him to a torch-lit cave containing a pit filled with human bones. Jared sneaks in and manages to pull Heiden out of the pit, but during their desperate escape, the cannibalistic killer catches Jared and slits his throat, ordering Heiden to run as he prepares his next meal.

Heiden flees to the main trail, where a pair of hikers rescues him and alerts authorities, but a six-day search by law enforcement yields no trace of the killer, the cave, or Jared's body. The story ends on an unsettling note as Deputy Keller begins to suspect Heiden's mental stability and questions whether he played a role in his friend's disappearance.