Ella didn't make it far before her body betrayed her. Her legs gave out beneath her, and she collapsed against the rough bark of a towering tree, the impact barely registering through the storm raging inside her. Her arms wrapped tightly around herself as if she could physically hold herself together.
Her heart was pounding wildly, erratic and unforgiving, like it was trying to claw its way out of her chest.
The scent, gods, the scent. Even out here, even with distance between her and the camp, she could still smell it. The faint trace of blood lingered in the air, curling into her senses like smoke, teasing and calling her.
She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed a trembling hand to her stomach which felt hollow. Not empty in the way hunger usually felt, no, this was something else entirly, something more violent. It was as if a void had opened inside her, vast and endless, swallowing everything she tried to fill it with.
