One year later
The boy's lungs burned as he tore through the trees, darting between gnarled roots and moss-covered trunks. His boots slipped on blood-slick leaves, the copper tang of fear thick in his throat.
Each step felt slower than the last, his legs ached, his breath was shallow, and his vision slowly started to tunnel.
Behind him, a myriad of sounds.
Click. Clack. Chitter.
He didn't look back.
The forest was too dense, the creatures too fast. He could hear their wings, paper-thin and serrated, beating in sync like war drums.
Something skittered to his right, just past the ferns.
Something big.
'Don't trip. Don't fall. Don't-'
He tripped.
His foot caught on a protruding root, and he tumbled forward, rolling through undergrowth and crashing down a short incline. His shoulder hit a rock, and pain bloomed. He scrambled back to his feet, adrenaline numbing the worst of it.
'Just a little further!' He panted to himself. 'They're ahead. They have to be.'
