The forest
The escape pod landed hard, shaking Dash to his bones. The impact sent him tumbling forward, his body slamming into the rough metal walls. He barely had time to process the door hissing open before he stumbled out—
—into a forest.
The cool night air hit his skin like a slap. The scent of damp earth and pine filled his lungs. Above him, the stars stretched wide and endless.
He wasn't in the lab anymore.
But Violet was.
"Vi…" he whispered, forcing himself upright.
Barefoot and bruised, the collar around his neck, cold and unrelenting, made sure he couldn't go faster than a regular boy his age—but his mind was racing miles ahead.
He sprinted blindly through the forest, the thick canopy swallowing the stars above. Twigs snapped underfoot, thorns tore at his legs, and rocks cut into his soles—but he didn't stop.
Because every second he ran…
…was a second Violet might not have.
He didn't know if he was getting farther away or looping back. He didn't care. The only thing that mattered was gettingsomewhere. Finding someone. Getting help.
The sun began to rise.
Still, he ran.
His feet bled mixing with the dirt. His lungs burned with every inhale, his ribs—probably cracked—sending searing pain through his chest.. His body screamed for him to stop. But every time he slowed, he saw her—
Vi.
Screaming, shaking,bleeding.
He remembered how she looked at him when she closed the pod door. Her one remaining eye, full of fear and pain
The way she had smiled at him, even with blood running down her side.
Her whisper echoed in his ears: "I love you."
She was still in that place stillsuffering.
Still trapped.
If they punished her again—if they so much astouchedher while she was still like that—
A broken, strangled sound ripped from his throat.
He pushed himself harder.
"No." he gasped, stumbling over a root. "No, no, no—"
He got back up.
By sunset, his body was betraying him—bones trembling, vision double, lips cracked from dehydration. His feet barely lifted off the ground.
But he pushed forward, step by step.
Until the forest tilted sideways.
His knees gave out. The world spun. The last of his strength left him as his body hit the forest floor.
Get up, get up, he begged his body. You have to get up. Vi needs you.
He blinked up at the sky, gasping, his remaining eye full of sweat and tears.
Then—
Thud.
Boots.
Heavy. Drawing closer through the underbrush.
No time to run.
No strength to fight.
Dash's eyes widened as the sound grew louder, clearer. He tried to push himself up, to crawl—but his body gave out.
His vision blurred, the treetops above smearing into one another.
"Vi…" he mumbled weakly.
Then everything went black.