***
My feet barely touched the ground as I raced through the forest. I had to run. I had to get away. They couldn't be allowed to catch me, to bring me back. A harsh sob burst from my throat and the sound was alien, not me. Not me. Not me.
But it had come from me? Then there was another and another until my breath was coming in painful gasps. Claire. I'd left Claire behind. I needed to go back and save her. I didn't stop or even slow my pace but continued to tear through the uneven ground of the forest. I wanted to be brave, like Claire had been for me.
In my head, I was running back the way I'd come. I was crouching stealthily in the leafy vegetation that rimmed the eastern edge of the heavily guarded outpost. I was waiting until nightfall and I was breaking Claire out of that evil place. We were running through a moonwashed night, our freedom intact. In my heart, I was a hero.
But the logical part of my brain that was somehow still capable of sane, rational thought told me I'd be assaulted?again?and sold as planned, if I were caught creeping near the guard shacks. My muscles screamed a protest. I had no weapons. Everything?hurt. Another sob escaped and I dodged a fallen tree, kept running. I couldn't fight them. I'd be lucky to outrun them. In reality, Claire was gone, out of reach-for now, anyway. I'd seen one of them hit her, seen her crumple, out cold, before I'd done what she'd ordered, what she'd sacrificed herself for-I'd run. I couldn't help her. In reality, I was a coward.
But maybe I could make it back to the village, or to the dome. If I could just get home, I could get help, send help, for Claire. My numb brain wondered what was happening to her right now and I felt my heart stutter painfully. Earlier, I'd lied to them, convinced them she was worth more money if they didn't touch her, but what about now? After what she'd just done, would they care how much gold they got for her? Would they kill her now, because of what she'd done for me?
A fine, silvery mist made my vision hazy, disoriented. The river was coming up, just over the next rise. It wasn't deep but it would be cold. I had no shoes, nothing except a short, torn dress but there was no other choice. I would have to cross the river because I refused to stop, backtrack, and head west to skirt around the water. No, I couldn't stop. Then the decision was out of my hands as I leapt into the rushing tide.
Icy water swirled around my ankles, then my calves as I waded deeper, all without breaking stride. So cold. A rock, sharp and impossibly large, gouged into my bare foot and I went down, hard. My hands shot forward to brace the fall, but it was too late. My left wrist slicked over slimy, dark algae and black water rushed forward, over my face. I gasped and inhaled a mouthful of the cold torrent and struggled to find footing. I did look back, then. Behind me, the woods had fallen grimly silent.
Something was coming. Get up. Move. Lurching forward, I gripped handfuls of rich, muddy clay at the riverbank, and my heart pounded painfully in my chest as the wet soil began to slip through my fingers. Rushing water sluiced past me, trying desperately to suck me back into its ever-moving path. Muscles rigid, I dug in deep with one hand and with the other managed to grip a protruding tree root and propel myself up and out. Run.
Immediately, pain lanced through my ankle and up my leg. No, no, no! I made it ten or fifteen steps before the leg gave out and I went down, braced on my hands and knees in an awkward crouch. Behind me, the demons that chased me were closing in. I didn't have to turn around to know this; I felt it in the chill at the back of my neck. Something was coming for me. The guards? An animal? The more rational part of my brain recognized the possibility that it was beast which pursued me now, not man. Did it matter? I couldn't run anymore, couldn't even walk. My heart thumped and stuttered and shimmery black fragments danced at the edge of my vision. Failed? It was all for nothing. I would never see Mike again, never see Claire again. She'd given her life for this. The light was fading and the ground rushed up to greet me. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, so?sorry?