Page 26 (2/2)

She could flit through the trees and underbrush, but thewood splintered where he ran,bull

Iris could not spare a moment to look back, but she knehat he looked like His appearance had been burned into her mind’s eye

He was a massive beast Almost like a man, but so much more than anyover his shoulders, back, and neck He was afroe it - and her

A hu behind her, this s, an unnatural amount of physical power, it did not bother to speak

He was going to hunt her down

He was going to absolutely destroy her, as he had destroyed everything she ever cared about

She could not keep this pace up er He had to know that And she knew that he could outpace her easily He was chasing her because he enjoyed it Because letting her run was the sa her run

The woods she had played in when she was very young had turned cold and dark with the setting of the sun, lit by the remnants of fire which still blazed behind the

Iris dipped into what ht be the last hope of escape, a so it had been used to carry water Noas dry She had to go down on hands and knees and scuttle along as fast as she could

There was some chance of escape this way The monster couldn’t fit in this tunnel She wondered, for a moment, if she should stop and simply hide in the tunnel, wait hi, how he had turned her entire life into ashes, and she knew she had to keep going This old tunnel would not serve as protection for long

He was able to see through trees He could command beasts of the sky He could sniff his prey at a thousand paces, and she had no doubt that he would be waiting at the end, a gaping ht left in the destruction he had left behind him

There was light at the end of the passage A sliht be escape She couldn’t risk hope and she didn’t have ti that every scuffled ht her closer to the end of the chase

Iris reached the end and burst out the other side Perhaps she should have hesitated, waited to see if he was there, if she could smell him or hear him or… it didn’t matter, because she didn’t stop She only kne to run, and so run she did - right into the grasp of the monster

His hand wrapped around her wrist and herdoll flailing a her fro off into any of the solid trunks which would not doubt crack her skull or break her bones if she were to hit them