~Hazel's POV~
"Come here..."
A voice rasped after me, low and twisted like something crawling up from beneath the earth.
I ran.
Faster than I ever had before, legs screaming, lungs burning, heart thudding loud in my ears. The air was thick and heavy I couldn't tell if it was night or if darkness itself had swallowed me whole. I just knew I had to keep running.
I didn't know where I was.
All I knew was that the voice guttural, broken, inhuman was behind me. Chasing.
My bare feet slapped against cold, damp earth. Tree branches scratched at my arms like fingers trying to pull me back. The scent of decay curled in my nose—wet leaves, moss, something else. Something rotting.
Then my ear caught a noise.
A cry.
A baby's cry.
High-pitched, fragile... coming from the woods up ahead.
I faltered, breath hitching. My mind screamed at me to run the other way, but my feet turned toward the sound.
