“Please!” I panted, the word catching in my throat and coming out as a hoarse cry. “Please, wait–”
The masked man picked me up with his arm around my waist, hoisting me over an ice-covered boulder. We’d been doing this for what felt like hours, the masked man dragged me along behind him as I tried to match his pace, which was close to a sprint.
I hadn’t looked back, not once, not since he pulled me through that window and into the unforgiving darkness that swallowed us both whole.
He set me down and grabbed my arm as he broke into a run again, but my knees buckled, my legs so frozen I could no longer feel my feet. I fell to the ground, the wet, half-melted snow biting into my skin. I couldn’t stop the tears as I tried to rise.