The sun climbed higher, its rays growing stronger, more merciless, with each passing moment.
Sara ran through the forest, her body screaming in protest, her skin beginning to steam as the first rays of dawn touched her pale flesh. She did not care. She could not care. Her mind was filled with a single image, a single desperate plea.
Anaya.
She was so far from the village. Hours of travel compressed into a desperate sprint, her legs burning, her lungs aching, her heart pounding so hard she could feel it in her teeth.
She knew how cruel humans could be. She had seen their cruelty, had watched them destroy everything they touched, had learned to despise them for their weakness and their violence. But she had never feared them, not until now.
What are they doing to her? she thought. What are they going to do?
The sun rose higher.
