I run until I can't hear the estate anymore.
Until the trees are thick enough that I can't see the house even if I look back.
Until my lungs are burning and my legs are shaking and I have to stop or collapse.
Then I lean against a tree trunk, bark rough under my palms, and try to catch my breath.
Try to figure out what the hell I'm going to do next.
Because I'm free.
For the first time in my entire life—not under the Sanctuary's control, not promised to Elder Jacob, not locked in Vaughn's gilded cage—I'm actually free.
No one is telling me what to think. What to believe. What my body should or shouldn't want.
Just me.
Alone in a forest with no money, no phone, no plan, no idea where I am or how to get anywhere.
But free.
The thought makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time.
I hear sounds in the distance.
Voices, definitely.
Maybe vehicles.
They're organizing.
Coming after me.
Of course they are.
Vaughn paid two million dollars for me.
He's not going to let me just walk away.
And the Consortium gathering is in three weeks.
He needs me trained and ready.
He'll come for me.
He'll hunt me down.
He'll find me.
But not yet.
Not right now.
Right now, I have the advantage.
I push off the tree.
Start running again, deeper into the forest, no destination in mind exceptaway.
