I suffer from “villain shows up out of nowhere syndrome”. My story involves a group of survivors trying to trek through a wasteland and reach a safe zone while my reoccurring main villain continuously attempts (and fails) to stop them due to their hatred of the protagonist. No matter how I write their appearances it always feels like they keep jumping out of bushes team rocket style and then fail to do the one thing they set out to do every time (which is kill the protagonist). That would be fine if I was writing an episodic comedy about a group of teenagers discovering the power of friendship through forcing their pets to fight each other but I’m going for survival horror so it doesn’t really fit right. My intention is to make a terrifying and competent villain but I’m just not sure how to incorporate that into a story where the main cast is journeying across the country short of just making them a giant, all-seeing, orange eye.