I obeyed most of the stop signs and stuck to the side streets, the pump of my legs trying to keep time with my heartbeat. Deep breaths filled my aching lungs, but it was a good kind of hurt inside them. Not like Death's scythe biting into my neck a little more with every drop of the sun, a constant reminder that time was just about out.

This would be my last stop of the day before Darby came home. When I turned onto Sarah's street, her lawn slowed my pace. Just days before, ...