On an alternate Earth, or on perhaps a planet quite similar to ours with people very like us except for one major deviation, the people catch their deaths. They pursue them in the woods, ensnare them in their nets. And what they catch determines their future.
When Ash spies Jacob's death--not yet imprinted--and compares it to the wild death she accidentally snared, she wonders might happen if they swapped.
Comment with some spoilery bits:
This story seems like it could have fit into the Kristine Kathryn Rusch era of Fantasy & Science Fiction or Dean Wesley Smith's Pulphouse (which was recently rebooted but submissions by invitation, with a similar flavor), playing as it does with that popular saying, "You'll catch your death."
J. L. George's bibliography can be found here, including the long-lived Electric Spec and Constellary Tales.
