They weren't going to stop until they found me.
I tore through the night, pushing my legs as far as they could go. The cold, sharp air cut against my face, making my skin sting, but I kept moving. Behind me, the blaring alarms of the facility faded into the distance. I couldn't hear them anymore, and yet I couldn't stop now.
The thick forest felt like a cage. The trees were gnarled and twisted, their branches clawing at the dark sky. The grass under my bare feet was wilted and dying, and my feet squelched through the cold, damp earth. I glanced over my shoulder one last time, and there it was — the building I had escaped from.
Ten floors of cold, sterile walls and lights flickering behind broken windows. It stood tall in the distance like a monstrous animal. I knew this place, but only from pictures and descriptions from my parents.
This was the Sanatorium.
Some kind of flying drones zipped above it, moving in erratic patterns, like predators searching for prey. They weren't human; they were too sleek, too fast. UFO-like machines scanning the forest for me.
I had escaped, but I was still in danger. And I had a long way to go.
I ducked behind a thick, dead tree trunk, barely breathing. I watched one of them hover closer, its searchlights sweeping the area. I pressed myself against the tree, hoping the shadows would swallow me whole.
The flying machine seemed to glance around, searching for me with a blinding red light. My lungs screamed for air, but I kept on holding my breath. Then the machine gave two beeps before moving on.
I waited until the buzzing sound faded, then bolted deeper into the wilderness.
The weather had worsened by the minute. Rain began to pour down, drenching me in freezing water, and the wind howled, pushing me back with every step. My hospital gown clung to my skin, doing nothing to protect me from the biting cold. My muscles felt like they would give in at any moment, but I had to keep going. The further I was from that place, the better.
My body was failing me, though. The drugs they'd pumped into me still flowed in my veins, making every movement feel sluggish and heavy. My vision blurred at the edges, and my head swam with dizziness. The world tilted with every step, every movement. I had to survive.
Soon the rain turned into a full-on storm, sheets of water pounding the ground and turning the earth beneath me into slick mud. I stumbled, nearly falling as the wind whipped through the trees, but I caught myself. My body was failing, my legs trembling, my breath slowing.
Night had fallen. I couldn't tell where I was going anymore, just that I had to keep moving forward, deeper into the forest. My bare feet were numb from the cold. Each step felt like walking on shards of ice. My mind screamed at me to stop, to rest, but I knew what would happen if I did.
They'd find me and drag me back.
I refused to go back.
I wiped at my eyes, my hand coming away wet with more than rain. Blood, maybe. My body wasn't healing the way it should. The drugs had messed with my system, and I could feel it failing, bit by bit.
Through the haze, I spotted something—a dark opening in the side of a rocky hill. A cave.
Relief washed over me as I stumbled toward it. I could rest there. At least for a little while. Shelter from the storm, safety from the flying machines.
I staggered inside, collapsing against the cold stone wall. The wind howled outside, but inside the cave, it was eerily quiet. The storm was muffled by the stone. The cold still seeped into my bones, though. I had nothing but this thin gown, and my body shook uncontrollably from the freezing air.
I was safe, for now. But for how long?
My teeth chattered, and I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to stop the shaking. But it wasn't just the cold that had my body trembling. I was afraid. Afraid of what was out there, afraid of what would happen if they caught me again.
I hadn't even processed what my father had said back in that lab about Jesse, about the Conclave, about them wanting to kill me. Why? Why would he do this?
The questions crashed against each other in my head as I sat there, shivering against the stone. The cave offered no warmth, but at least it was dry. I curled up, trying to conserve whatever little body heat I had left. My stomach growled, and I realized I hadn't eaten anything in hours. Days, maybe. Time blurred in that place. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been allowed to eat.
And now, out here, there was nothing. No food, no water, no shelter but this cold, damp cave.
I couldn't last like this.
A soft whimper escaped my throat, and I buried my face in my hands. I was alone, with no one to help me, no one to guide me. Not Jesse. Not anyone. Not my father.
Did he even care for me? Or was I just another Conclave business he wanted to take care of?
The tears came suddenly, hot and fast, burning down my cheeks despite the cold. I hated myself for it. I was supposed to be strong, supposed to survive. But right now, all I could do was cry in the dark, wondering if this was the final end for me.
Eventually, the exhaustion took over, and I drifted into a fitful sleep, curled up on the cold stone floor of the cave. My body shook with the cold, and in my dreams, I was running again — always running. Away from the lab, away from the guards, away from the memories that haunted me.