He stumbled amid the shifting obscurity of twisted shadowy boles. His breath was ragged with exhuastion; deep, violent intakes of air bathed his lungs in the suffocating fear of the feverish night. He felt his heart clawing to be released; the rising palpitations unleashing a pounding beast that could no longer be confined by the prison made bone and flesh. They were here, they were coming… How long would he be able to hide within a darkness that was theirs?

Body slamming against a nearby trunk, he felt his laboured breathing blazing a burning path through his chest. His eyes darted up to a hidden night sky, where a faint spectral moonlight emboldened the talons of the infinite forest. Eyes stung at the touch of the terror brew of sweat, blood, tears and grime. Blinking away the unfathomable fear, he looked around to find any escape. Any break between…