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couldn't help the scream that burst from her as she fell, slipping and sliding down the muddy slope, headed straight for the water. It was all she could do to hold onto her bag because she knew she was going in, and the last thing she wanted was to lose her belongings when she did. She was already winded and terrified, fear pulsing cold through her body as the water loomed closer. Please don't let me drown. Please. I just want to be free. Please! She didn't know who she was pleading with, since religion had never been her thing, but it seemed like the thing to do, and she kept it going in her head as the mud and leaves expedited her plunge into the river.
                  It was summer time, but the water still felt cold as she crashed into it, shock lacing through her system for a moment. Camilla was frozen as she sank a little, weighed down by her clothes and her bag, and it took her a good few seconds to get her head back on and start kicking for the surface. Her lungs were burning, and she sucked in greedy gasps of air when her head broke the surface, grateful that her hair was pulled back in a bun instead of plastered to her face and keeping her from being able to see. She was a little ways away from the other side of the river, and that side ran right along the road. All Camilla would have to do was swim over and haul herself out, avoiding getting hit by any cars in the process.
                  She was grateful for the streetlights that illuminated the way, otherwise she would have been splashing around in the pitch darkness. A bolt of lightning overhead made her get her butt in gear, and she started paddling her way towards the other side, keeping her head above water as best she could and trying to avoid getting splashed in the face when the wind and rain made the river more turbulent than it would have been ordinarily.
                  Her arms felt like lead weights, and her legs were so tired. She had no idea how long she had been on the move, but all she wanted was a break. “Just a little farther,” Camilla chanted to herself, teeth chattering in the wind and body trembling with exhaustion. “Just a little farther. C'mon. C'mon.”

Chapter 3: First Night
     
                  “Karic Jacobs, are you still here?”
                  Karic lifted his head from where he had been examining the chart of one of his patients. Allie, one of the nurses was standing in front of him with her hands on her hips, looking stern.
                  “Uh…yes?” he replied, smiling sheepishly at her.
                  “Do you have any idea what time it is, young man? You've been here for hours already. Go home before I drag you out to your car and take you there myself.”
                  He laughed at her threat, but the gleam in her eye told Karic that she might have been serious about that. “Okay, okay,” he said, putting down the chart and raising his hands in a gesture of peace. He checked his watch and grimaced when he saw it was closing in on midnight. He hadn't meant to stay this long. “I was on my way out anyway. Mrs. Kaplan's coming in tomorrow morning, so I just wanted to make sure that she—”
                  “Mrs. Kaplan will be fine,” Allie said, shooing him away from the desk and towards the back where his things were. “Dr. Dearborn has been treating her since before you knew which way to hold a stethoscope, and you're not working in the morning anyway.”
                  “I really don't think either of them are that old, Allie, but I take your point.”
                  “Good. Then get out of here.”
                  Karic didn't need to be told again.
                  “Alright, I'll see you guys tomorrow night,” he said as he made his way out of the office, waving over his shoulder. He stretched languidly, popping the bones in his back and