The girl ran, feeling the air burn her lungs and the dirt hurt her bare feet. She had lost count of how much time she had spent like that, but more than once she found herself thinking, with relief, of her past as an athlete: without the resistance she had acquired, her escape would probably have come to an end well before that moment.
"How did I get to this point?"
she wondered in the throes of mad fear. She had no way to answer, as an arrow sliced through the air, going to stick against the trunk of an old tree. It was dark, she wasn't sure where she was going, but surely that wood would end sooner or later. And she would get help.
She would have screamed if it would have deterred her pursuers, but she was sure it would only hasten her fatigue. By now she'd lost feeling in her toes, she was very sure she had some splinter lodged in her flesh, but she wasn't going to stop. Not yet.
Just as her stomach twisted with effort and terror, two strong arms grabbed her hips, knocking her off balance. She felt herself being dragged to the ground, and only realized she was falling when her face hit the cold ground. She felt a sharp rock hurt her cheek, and she forced herself to hold back the tears.
Above her towered a man, broad-chested and sorry-eyed. He looked almost on the verge of tears as he anchored her to the ground.
Bullshit, she said to herself, this man can't feel pity or sorry.
She wanted to spit in his face, but her throat was too dry. Even keeping her eyes open now seemed too tiring. When was the last time she felt so worn out? She certainly didn't remember it.
She didn't hear what the man said, but she clearly saw his lips move. The annoying ringing in her ears gave her no respite, creating a sense of malaise and dizziness from which it would be difficult to recover.
"Assuming I manage to escape..." She thought regretfully.
Just then, she felt a hand press her lips and a blade graze her neck. She closed her eyes, with a strength she didn't think she possessed, squirming in vain. The more she moved, the more she felt his grip getting tighter and the blade too close. She would have died there, in that miserable place. She absolutely didn't want that to happen. Not like this, not by that man's hand.
And once again she found herself thinking about the reason that had led her to experience that nightmare.