Chapter 12: Panic

*William*

William ran. All his senses screamed, begging him to stop and savor the forest, but he wouldn’t. He couldn’t. The muscles in his legs stretched and ached beautifully in a painful sort of bliss. He veered smoothly between trees and leaped around natural obstacles like they were formed around his trajectory rather than the other way around. This was his forest. HIS.

‘Faster,’ he commanded himself, and his body obeyed. He tore through the air so quickly that it whistled in his ears. ‘Faster.’

He knew this area so well that he didn’t have to think about the course he was taking. His body would see him through safely and swiftly, leaving him free to focus on his goal. He would make it. He would be there.

There was no time for anger. No time for vengeance. There was only William and the quickly shrinking space between him and his destination.