Quinn crouched under the window, her fingers twitching nervously. After what felt like forever, she peeked outside.

She figured all that racket meant Landon either got into a brawl or got chased off. But nope, there he was, heading straight for her. Her face went pale. Crap, he knew where she was and was coming for her. Without a second thought, she bolted out the door. The second she stepped out, Landon spotted her. Their eyes locked, and Quinn's face turned ghostly white.

She froze for a split second. Seeing Landon charging at her, she darted to the right.

She didn't dare look back, running with everything she had. The wind howled in her ears, and her heart pounded like crazy.

She could hear footsteps getting closer. Thinking about her nightmare with Alistair, she gritted her teeth and found a burst of energy she didn't know she had. She managed to put some distance between them.

She had no clue how long she'd been running, but she was out of breath and dizzy.

She was running on pure instinct.

The footsteps behind her meant Landon was still on her tail. She shut her eyes, feeling a wave of despair.

She tripped on something and went down hard, crying out as her palms and knees hit the ground with a jolt of pain.

She couldn't move. She looked back, fighting the pain, and saw Landon was less than 30 feet away.

She gave up struggling.

Suddenly, someone grabbed her arm. "Come with me," Casey said.This is from .

Quinn was stunned. She let Casey pull her up, and they ran into the nearby woods.

She couldn't talk, her vision was blurry, and she had no idea where they were going.

Casey stopped and pushed her to the side. "Stay here and don't move," Casey said before running off.

Quinn sat on the ground, clutching her chest and gasping for air. After Casey ran out, a gunshot rang out. Quinn looked up sharply and saw Casey running in the opposite direction, firing a shot at Landon. The shot missed, but it made Landon chase after Casey.

Quinn was still in a daze. Her mind was blank, not letting her think too much.

Landon chased for a few minutes, then suddenly stopped. He frowned, watching Casey's agile figure, and then turned back. Quinn had just caught her breath, her limbs still weak. But when she looked up, she saw a figure coming towards her. The sky was getting brighter, and she could see but not clearly make out faces. Everything was just black silhouettes. The tall figure wasn't Casey; it was a man. It was definitely Landon coming back.

Quinn bit her lip as she slowly got up from the ground, transitioning from sitting to squatting to make it easier to run.

The grass here wasn't very dense, but the clump she was hiding in was relatively tall. There were similar clumps around, making it not so easy to find her unless searched one by one. Landon's gaze swept over the grass, like a wolf hunting its prey.

Quinn clenched her palms, not daring to breathe loudly.