Teresa chased after him, battling the urge to reach for her gun. She saw him jump over a stockade and move forward at a swift pace. He wasn’t too far ahead, and again she had the feeling he was playing games with her; he could have easily shaken her off, but instead he seemed almost to be waiting for her. Teresa crawled beneath the fence and hurried after him.

They were following the old railway now. The tracks ran parallel to sleeper beams that had been cleaved by time and the inclement weather. Abandoned buildings dating back to the Habsburg era and immersed in a profusion of ivy lined either side of the railroad. Nature was taking back that human space, inching forward with its roots and shrubs. The forest wasn’t very far behind; it was only a matter of time before it reclaimed the ground that had been taken from it centuries before.

The stranger veered off the gravel path and leapt over a ditch back onto the path that led to town.

Teresa swore, feeling exhausted. She had to stop to catch her breath, bending over with her hands on her knees. She couldn’t give up or he would soon get away, and yet every joint in her body was begging her to stop.

You’re too old, her body was telling her.

“Fuck off!” she replied.

She straightened up and started running toward the ditch.

“Hey, I’m talking to you! Stop!” she shouted again. But right then the bed of ferns beneath her feet gave way, exposing a steep drop.

She didn’t even have time to scream. Her voice was silenced by the feeling of free fall, and though her arms flailed, trying to get hold of the shrubbery, everything seemed to be sliding down with her. She felt a pang of pain in her right hand, and pictured its flesh cut open.

But then the momentum of her fall was reversed by a sudden jerk that left her gasping for breath. Someone started yanking her up until she found herself back on the train tracks, lying on her back on the sharp-edged gravel.

When she opened her eyes, the stranger was there, towering over her, his face covered by a hood. His long beard tapered all the way down past his chest. It could have been white or blond, and there were pine needles entangled in it.