Four years had gone by since the night everything changed.
Since the first time they saw the Hollow Maw.
Since Caitlyn first whispered the word run.
And they had been running ever since.
Damien stood at the edge of a narrow ridge, his eyes scanning the horizon. A few scattered clouds drifted overhead, pale and thin like breath on glass. Down below, a thicket of trees wrapped around the hillside, hiding the safehouse they’d moved into just a week ago.
They never stayed long.
A month if they were lucky. Sometimes less.
Mandy stepped out onto the porch behind him, arms crossed, her eyes tired but focused. The wind tugged at her loose sweater. Her hair was longer now, streaked with faint silver strands she hadn’t bothered to dye anymore.
“Nothing out there?” she asked.
“Not yet,” Dami
