Rachel POV
I didn't know how long I had been running.
Hours, maybe.
My feet throbbed. My lungs burned. The sun had already slipped from afternoon gold into the soft grey of evening by the time I burst out of the forest and stumbled onto a cracked highway road.
When I looked up, I saw lights, cars, people—a city. My knees almost buckled, glad and relief.
I hugged myself and forced my tired body forward. My clothes were dirty from climbing the wall, my hair tangled, and my palms still stung from where the vines had cut me.
But I was free.
For the first time in weeks, I could choose where I went.
I wiped my cheeks and stepped into the noise of the street, where neon signs buzzed above me and cars honked while strangers brushed past without a second glance. It felt unreal, almost like
