Then she felt it.

It came slowly, but after a couple of days she could not deny the sense in the air. How it began to twist the people here. Spats over nothing, plain arguments nearing the heated peak. It was blood lust. It crept through the trees and down into the town, slipping into the houses and into their residents. They looked out, suspicious of strangers. Ready to bear arms.

War had come.

With a sigh, Shu-fang packed up her things and got out of town before War made herself known. Before War tore this peaceful town apart.

Shu-fang went by foot. She didn’t take the road, not yet, because she wasn’t risking travelling along with someone else when War showed up, because War would catch up. Shu-fang did not doubt War would catch up. She eventually heard the footsteps behind her, consistent and ever closer. Unlaboured.