Dark Mysteries #8

Railroad surveyor Hal Chase ventures into the treacherous Pine Mountains to locate a legendary pass that could save the Pacific State Railroad a hundred miles of track—a quest that's already claimed five lives. When he discovers shelter in a remote shack, he stumbles upon a preserved corpse and the shack's elderly inhabitant, a broken man guarding a horrifying secret tied to a tragic journey decades past. As Hal fights to escape with his map and his life, he uncovers the dark truth behind the phantom trail and the old man's desperate obsession.

A young man named Ted suffers a devastating chest injury in a skiing accident, leaving him deformed and desperate for a cure—so desperate that he steals the freshly executed body of a notorious killer to harvest the bone he needs. When the transplant goes horribly, grotesquely wrong, Ted discovers he's not alone in his own body anymore, and the murderer's influence grows stronger each time he sleeps. Now trapped between his own humanity and a dead killer's murderous impulses, Ted races against time as the line between the two of them blurs dangerously.

An antique dealer named Charles Amero spots opportunity in a decaying mansion and is offered a shocking sum by its mysterious owner—if he'll marry her reclusive daughter, Agnes. What begins as a peculiar business proposition unfolds into a night of escalating dread, as the true nature of his bride and the house's dark secret come horrifyingly to light.