The scream cut through the forest like a blade, sharp enough to slice the cold morning in half. My whole body reacted before my brain even caught up. I ran. Instinct. Terror. Something deeper that yanked me forward harder than gravity ever could. Branches snapped under my boots as I tore through the underbrush. The mark on my palm pulsed in hot painful beats that felt like someone had wired my veins to a warning siren.
Behind me, Nathan shouted my name. Maybe it was an order. Maybe it was fear. Hard to tell with him lately.
I did not stop. If I stopped, the scream might stop too. And I knew that voice. I knew it in a way that made my stomach twist.
Leah was somewhere behind him, her voice breathless and panicked. The sound of her feet stumbling over roots followed me like a second heart
