The Despondency Index

There is a twenty year old journalism student running through a redwoodforest north of San Francisco. The morning fog makes it difficult to follow his scrambling and frantic movements, but he is being tracked. It is unlikely he will live another twenty minutes.

The student stumbles into a clearing in the forest, and bends over, panting, his hands on his knees.

Clearly, stopping for any length of time is a bad bad idea. Which way should the student run?

(This was an entry to IntroComp, and is thus incomplete.)