u/DragonFrootLoopy

The scariest thing to me is when a character makes a single decision which dooms them, and they cannot do anything to change that fate after.

For example, choosing not to get a dog bite checked out, except turns out that dog had rabies, and they're effectively doomed because they don't realise until the symptoms kick in and it's too late. Or eating a poison mushroom, but since mushrooms take days sometimes to show symptoms, not realising that they are slowly dying internally from kidney faliure.

The horror there is the delay between the action and the consequences. They are doomed from the choice, but they don't realise that they are doomed until later. So something like opening the door to let a killer in and then immediately getting stabbed doesn't class as what I'm looking for.

An example would probably be The Enigma of Amigara Fault, since they can't turn back once they enter their hole. Or the alien franchise, where once the facehugger latches on they're doomed.

I would like stories where this is the focus, rather than a side plot if possible