They had been running for over an hour and a half, their breaths ragged and their muscles burning with exertion.
With each pounding step, Alex felt as if his heart were being strangled, crushed under the weight of an unbearable agony.
It wasn't physical pain that tormented him, but an overwhelming wave of emotion threatening to consume him from within.
Unable to contain the tumultuous storm raging within him any longer, Alex's voice erupted from his chest in a primal scream that pierced the stillness of the forest.
"KAAANNNOOOSSS!" he bellowed, the sound echoing through the trees, carrying his anguish into the unknown depths of the wilderness.
Selina, trailing closely behind, was jolted from her thoughts by the sheer intensity of Alex's cry.
Her brow furrowed with concern as she struggled to comprehend the depths of his turmoil.
