Zina's POV
I was running.
The forest stretched endlessly around me, trees warping and twisting like they were alive. Their branches reached out like skeletal fingers, scratching my skin as I stumbled through the undergrowth. My lungs burned, my legs screamed with every step, but I couldn't stop.
Something was behind me.
I could hear it — a distorted, wet sound, like bones grinding against each other. The heavy thud of footsteps, uneven and wrong, echoed through the trees. My pulse thundered in my ears, drowning out everything else.
"Asher!" I screamed, my voice echoing back at me like the forest was mocking me. "Jared!"
No response.
Just the relentless sound of something dragging itself closer.
The air smelled like rotting leaves and something metallic — blood. My heart jackhammered against my ribs, and the cold night air clawed at my throat as I gasped for breath. I didn't know where I was running to, only that I couldn't stop. If I stopped, I'd die.
Or worse.
