With a sharp gasp, Eva stumbled, her knee buckling on a root.
She expected to hit the damp earth, but strong arms caught her.
“I’ve got you,” Kevin panted, his voice rough with exertion.
Without wasting a second, he hauled her onto his back, breaking into a staggering run.
But the hour of flight had taken its toll on him, too.
Within minutes, his breathing became a jagged rattle, and his footsteps slowed to a stumbling shuffle.
He wasn’t going to be able to carry her, not with their pursuers closing in.
Eva felt the heavy weight of the situation crashing down on her.
She knew the stakes: if she was caught, they would hold her, perhaps even cage her, of course, Alphab wouldn’t kill her, atleast not yet, and she would live.
But Kevin?
The moment they catch him, it would be over.
“Kevin, stop,” she whispered, her voice barely audible over the rush of the wind.
She pounded on his shoulder.
“Leave me. Just… just run for your life.”
He didn’t slow down.
He only grunted, trying to ran faster
“Kevin, please!” she screamed into his ear, tears stinging her eyes.
“They won’t kill me. Not yet. But they will kill you!”
Kevin halted suddenly, stumbling forward before finding his balance against a tree.
He lowered her gently to her feet, but kept his hands firmly on her shoulders, forcing her to look at him.
His face was soaked with sweat and grim with determination.
“I can’t, my love!” he replied, his voice breaking.
“I can’t leave you behind and go. We either leave together or die together.”
Eva stared at him, stunned.
Throughout her life, she had walked alone, handled things alone, and expected to fail alone.
She had never known someone who was willing to lay down their life for her—not truly.
It was a terrifying, beautiful, and absolutely reckless promise.
For the first time in her life, she realized, she wasn’t running alone.
She believed him.
“Together,” she whispered, her fear giving way to a fierce, desperate strength.
She took his hand.
“But I can’t afford to lose you , my love.”
“Let’s go now.”
Kevin didn’t wait for Eva to argue.
The damp night air of the forest seemed to hold its breath for a split second before the silence was shattered.
“Over there! They’re trying to bolt!”
The voice belonged to one of Michael’s men.
Immediately, the forest erupted with the sound of snapping branches and heavy boots pounding the ground .
The perimeter had collapsed, and Michael’s men were closing in like a tightening noose.
“It’s okay, babes. Just hide,” Kevin murmured, his voice surprisingly calm despite the adrenaline surging through him.
He yanked at the some of the short branches of some trees that were packed together, revealing a dark, tight cavity.
“Get in. Do not come out. Not until I come back for you.” He said.
Eva looked terrified, her eyes wide, but she nodded, squeezing into the cramped space.
As she disappeared from sight, Kevin slammed a thick branch over the opening, obscuring it.
The hunt was on.
Kevin stepped out, taking a deep breath.
He heard them—thrashing through the brush, thirty yards away and closing fast.
He needed to be loud.
He needed to be the only target they saw.
“Over here!” Kevin roared, his voice echoing off the trees.
“Michael! Come and get me!”
He didn’t wait for a reply.
As soon as the beam of a flashlight cut through the dark behind him, Kevin sprinted.
The forest at night was a chaotic obstacle course—gnarled roots clawed at his feet, and low-hanging branches struck his face like whips.
But Kevin ran with a desperate speed that defied the darkness.
He moved over the terrain with an agility that felt cold and unnatural, navigating the dark as if he could see perfectly in the pitch black.
Behind him, the pursuit was relentless but disorganized.
“He’s fast! Too fast!” one of the men yelled, their voices straining with effort.
Michael’s voice boomed over the noise, frustrated and sharp.
“Don’t let him slip away!”
But Kevin was already disappearing into a thicket of pine.
As he dodged between the towering trunks, the sounds of Michael’s men started to drift further away.
They lost him.
Michael began to doubt Kevin’s nature; no normal human could maintain such a pace in this terrain without faltering.
Kevin soon retraced his steps to where Eva was.
He carefully pulled away the concealing branches.
“Eva.”
She emerged, trembling from the cold and the fear.
Kevin grabbed her hand, his own breath finally slowing.”Hurry,” he whispered, scanning the dark one last time.
“Let’s go
They ran as fast as they could, she wanted to wolf out so as to ran faster but she couldn’t, not with Kevin around.
But Eva was determined to stay one step ahead, to fight for her freedom and protect her child at all costs.
But will she?
Anyways,
The following day, Eva and Kevins found themselves on the outskirts of the city, far away from Alphab’s reach.
They both knew that their journey was far from over, that they would have to stay vigilant and keep moving to stay safe.
But as they looked out at the new day dawning before them, Eva couldn’t help but feel a sense of hope stirring deep within her.
Despite the sorrow and fear that still lingered in her heart, she knew that she had the strength to face whatever challenges lay ahead.
But just then, she got a shock of her entir life.
She glanced at Kevin, with him, the world felt survivable.Then, kevin stopped mid-stride.
He didn’t turn back toward the path, but stood unnervingly still.
“You know what? Let’s end the game right here,” he said.
His voice was flat, stripped of the warmth that had been her only comfort.
Eva blinked, a nervous smile tugging at her lips.
“What… what game? Kevin, we’re almost there. We’re safe.”
He turned slowly.
The mask he always wore—a tactical piece of black polymer—obscured everything but his eyes.
And those eyes, once soft, were now twin chips of flint.
“Who am I, Eva?” he asked, his voice a low crawl.
“What is hidden behind this mask? Did you ever stop to wonder why a stranger became your shadow? Why I was so kind?”
The silence that followed was deafening.
Eva felt a cold prickle of sweat move down her spine
She tried to laugh, but the sound was brittle, echoing hollowly against the quiet sky.
“Kevin, stop. It’s too early for this,” she whispered, her confidence wavering like a candle in a gale.
“It’s not funny.
You’re scaring me.”
“Does this look like a joke?”
The indifference in his tone was the sharpest blade of all.
He reached up, his gloved fingers catching the edge of the mask.
With a slow, deliberate motion, he pulled it away.
And boom!
The dawn light hit his face, and Eva’s world tilted.
The features revealed were etched into her darkest memories—the high cheekbones, the thin scar through the eyebrow, the predatory curve of a mouth.
Her knees buckled.
She stumbled back, her boots skidding on the loose gravel as she nearly pitched into the dirt.
Her lungs seized, unable to pull in enough air to fuel the terror.
“This can’t be!” she shrieked, the sound tearing from her throat.
“It can’t be you!”