Tetradic Number

[Dogs231]

One step at a time.

Progress.

S061: ALEXANDER HAWTHORNE — CONTINUED FROM "Process of Elimination"

Alexander made headway, but not as much as he would have liked. The previous night's events, and its ultimate failure, weighed heavy on his shoulders. Every step was progress, he told himself, but each one felt like a punishment. He blinked the rheum out of his pain-filled, hazy-sighted eyes. His very bones were tired, and he ached down to the marrow.

Eventually, though, the darkness turned to dawn, and the stones and sand of the beach became the worn concrete of paved roads. And he kept going. There was no time for repose, only action; no matter how hard it grew to keep pace, he had to do so. There was work to accomplish, and he would not rest until he had completed it. He had promises to keep.

He took another step, then another. Every time he planted his foot down, it grew harder to raise it again. His whole body pulsed with pain, from the sting of each breath in his lungs to the deep-seated ache in his back. But he ignored his screaming synapses and pressed on, on, onward. There was no retreat, only further resistance; no concession, only continuation.

One step at a time.

Progress.

S061: ALEXANDER HAWTHORNE — CONTINUED IN "Transgressing the Boundaries"