Eve leaves the house with Shylo because she needs distance from Thomas and his family and wants to borrow a neighbor's phone. Her immediate goal is to call Charlie and test Thomas's claim that Charlie left town for something urgent. Eve tells herself that if she can confirm Charlie is safe, she can calm down; if she cannot, she will focus on forcing the family out because her suspicion that something is badly wrong with them is growing.

At the top of the driveway, Eve notices muddy tire tracks and takes them as evidence that Charlie at least drove away. As Eve walks down to Heritage Lane past the family's parked moving truck, the mountain's remoteness becomes impossible to ignore. The empty road, the abandoned-looking buildings farther down the mountain, and the sense that there is only one way in and one way out intensify her fear that help is far away if the situation worsens.

The isolation triggers a memory of Dayton, the realtor who drove Eve and Charlie to see the property. In that memory, Dayton oddly warns them about the area's many stray dogs and says some people call the mountain Stray Dog Summit, though he insists the name does not make sense because the strays are found lower down by the creek. Back in the present, Eve keeps walking while Shylo happily sniffs through the snow, and the dog's ordinary, playful behavior briefly steadies Eve.

Eve reaches a neighboring property that seems slightly different from what she expected, but she decides it is close enough and approaches the olive-green bungalow. Shylo becomes fascinated by koi under the frozen pond before obeying Eve and following her to the door. After repeated rings and a long wait, Eve sees a light switch off inside and thinks she is being ignored, but then an older woman named Heather appears behind her. Shylo is unexpectedly comfortable with Heather, which unsettles Eve even as Heather kindly offers help. Heather says she used to foster strays, does not recognize Eve's mention of Stray Dog Summit, and finally invites Eve and Shylo inside so Eve can use the phone.