Chief Lutherford is at the end of her wits. She has been running from the spider haelion for what feels like forever, yet no matter how fast she runs, it always stays on her heels.
Her stamina is gone. Her legs no longer respond the way she wants them to. Each breath grows shorter, harsher, tearing at her lungs until even breathing feels like work.
She tries to push herself harder.
Then her foot catches on something.
She stumbles and topples forward, bracing for the impact, certain her face is about to smash into hard stone.
But it doesn't.
Her face lands on something soft.
Chief Lutherford freezes.
Slowly, she opens her tightly shut eyes and forces herself to focus on what stopped her fall.
Her eyes widen.
She almost screams.
It is another officer.
A body lying motionless on the dungeon floor, eyes tightly shut, skin pale and cold. One of her subordinates.
Her mind blanks.
She knows him. She knows she does.
But she cannot remember his name.
