BLOOD FOGGED MY LEFT eye, where it had trailed from a gash caused by a low hung branch, yet it left me no more blind than I’d been on first take-off. The canine-induced muteness of colours had long vanished beneath the haze of red in my mind, as frustration and anger became fuel to surge my legs faster.
The pummel of my front paws against dirt sent jolts to my aching shoulders. Each land of my hind-quarters and upward thrust of muscles sparked a blazing infliction, which reverberated through my flank and travelled the length of my spine.
I welcomed them all: every wave of pain, each course of agony—using them to distract from that which hurt the most.
A chilled breeze swirled through the trees like a heat-seeking missile—my already weary body its only goal. On it carried the aroma of ro
