At age 17, Victor flees a life of absolute violence. With no money, no ties, no help from anyone, he runs through Paris to the point of suffering, to the point of obliteration. He’ll meet people, challenge himself, defy death time and again in order to reclaim his body and his past.

'Run with grueling determination, in a solid, resistant block. Force yourself, grit your teeth, squint your eyes, crush the asphalt. Run fast, feel alive, keep it urgent, never slow down, never give in. Breathe hard, mechanically, breathe in three times, breathe out three times, always, even when you’re going uphill. Feel the burn, feel that you’re ripping something out, something you’re holding onto with your sweaty fingers and shaky hands. That thing you’re gripping, wearing down, wearing out; that body you’re purging, what in the name of all that’s unholy can can be inside it for you to need to punish it so? Progress through the neighborhoods in the north of the city. My thighs are a wreck. My knees are no better. I don’t stop. I obliterate the pain. In the nascent dawn, the mist melts into the water of the canal. I don’t know how much longer I can go on like this.'?