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Vlad ran.
The freezing cold hit him like broken glass, but he didn't care about that right now. Not after seeing that thing again on his PC screen.
What he saw wasn’t possible. He thought he was just imagining it. He thought it was just his mind acting up.
“Влад! Вернись! Пожалуйста, вернись! Остановись!”
Vlad could hear the voice of his mother from behind him, with his father’s becoming audible.
“Куда ты?!”
He can hear the sounds of his father’s boots stomping behind him.
He ran.
As fast as he could, through the ocean of snow, through the stabs of the branches hitting his face. He panted as trees flew by him.
His hands were clenched into fists as they sunk into his skin.
Vlad nearly tripped on his feet, before rebalancing himself and continuing.
He should’ve just kept the PC off.
He knew that something would’ve happened if he tried to boot it up again.
After the others began acting weird and they vanished.
He thought it wasn’t real.
He could hear his heartbeat in his legs.
“ВЛААААААД!”
Vlad’s father’s scream was almost muffled. Or like it was being played in low quality. He didn’t bother paying attention.
He was still running across the snow with the voice and lights behind him fading, replaced with the cool blue view of the forest and yellow clouds flooding the sky.
But that image in Vlad’s mind hadn’t done the same.
It was still there. That impossible geometry, the lack of logic, the static that felt as if it was weaving itself into his flesh and tearing it.
His calves burned and his heels were numb. His footsteps crunched against the snow with his panting accelerating.
He could see a trench up ahead, covered in ice. He still kept sprinting.
His foot landed on a rock, causing him to slip and crash into a snowbank.
Branches around him snapped from him as he fell, the impact caused him to lose both his footing and breath.
He laid there for a minute, before breathless, choked sound escaped his throat, building into a jagged laugh.
His head snapped back up. His eyes stretched wide, fixed on an empty space with a massive grin frozen onto his face.
He had to keep moving. He couldn't waste more time getting up to stand.
Беги. Вставай.
He only thought.
He started thrashing forward on all fours, before building balance. His nails tore from his fingers digging frantically into the ice to drag his weight upward.
His knees scraped raw against the hidden rocks beneath the snow as he crawled out the ravine. He didn't care. He just needed to build distance.
Быстреe.
Vlad’s hand gripped onto the icy lip of the trench. His fingers split against the frozen dirt, he couldn't feel them anymore.
He hauled his torso up and out of the pit, His feet slipped, kicking loose ice into the dark behind him, but he kept his grip. His muscles felt stiff.
His spine arched up.
Не смотри назад.
A sob mixed with another wild laugh escaped his lips.
A wave of blistering, suffocating heat suddenly slammed into him.
The blood in his veins suddenly felt like hot oil.
His sweater became a straightjacket that felt like molten lead, choking him, burning him alive.
A frantic, choked sob tore from his throat. He clawed ferally at his chest. He ripped the collar open, tearing the heavy fabric away from his torso and arms. He kicked it into the snow behind him, exposing his bare skin to the air.
It felt like relief. It felt like fire.
He let out a loud laugh.
His eyes locked onto a dense thicket of wild, thorny briars choking the space between two dead pine trees.
Скрывать.
He didn't hesitate. He drove himself forward, forcing his body directly into the tangled mass of thorns as it slashed his skin until he was completely enveloped in them.
He stopped moving.
Безопасный.
His chest heaved with shallow, rattling breaths. Breathless chuckles left his throat, with his grin still present. He let himself collapse.
Vlad closed his eyes.
