He ran and ran. Back on Prince Robert Road, down Oakwood Avenue, and Gavin ran and ran and ran, his chest burning. Milburnie Road and Oakwood. He stopped and pressed his back against a tree, and then leaned down to catch his ankles, his breathing hard and fast. He felt the energy from the tree, from the earth, pressing into his spine. He slid down and pressed his hands into the wet grass and leaves, into the wet ground. He felt the chthonic energy seeping into the palms of his hand. The slight chill he felt from the wind on his sweat-soaked clothes faded. He inhaled again. He pushed himself up and ran.
Gavin was almost there. Just a thousand feet from the old ghetto, home of the damned, the godless, a reminder to all normals, lest any forgot, as the preacher of NC District 17 Church Distr
