The City Lake

XIII

Caleb and running did not get along, at all. For other kids his age, he was always more clumsy and off balance, though nothing serious enough to warrant a medical investigation. Usually it didn't matter if he could walk across a narrow beam or run without tripping over his own two feet. Except, now it did.

The lake was returning, and that was great. All fine. This excluded the part where Caleb had to run what he normally walked over fifteen minutes, while water kept rushing up behind him. Anna had done a good job giving him some space to work with, but after he slid in the lakebed's thick goo, nearly falling and requiring a good several seconds to regain his balance, the timing was too close for comfort.

Caleb watched with worry as he slowed, trying not to give into the urge to stop and bend double as he gasped for breath. He was also very out of shape, and running uphill on slippery terrain was horrible for a short period of time, nevermind a long one.

As it turned out, looking over his shoulder was a bad idea, and his feet slid from under him, causing him to fall to the ground. He got up as fast as he could, knowing if he stopped then his body would take that as a rest break and demand he not give up until fully recovered, and that would take way too long.

The adrenaline coursing through his arteries—not veins, if veins coursed then that would be very bad, he knew from science; he would have laughed at the inaccuracy if he had breath to spare for his brief amusement—did not feel like enough. It kept him moving up the incline, the ground beneath his feet becoming drier since it had been exposed to the air for longer, but his lungs burned for oxygen, never getting what they wanted from his desperate gasps, and his legs felt weak as they filled with acid from lack of oxygen. All the science Caleb had picked up failed to be useful at the moment, though he supposed it was nice to have something to think about as he ran for his life.

He had no idea how long he had been running with the water at his heels, and then suddenly he saw the end of his journey, the treeline that was nearby the water's edge. There was a person standing on the shallow beach and Caleb thought he recognized Jeremy. He put on a burst of speed, getting a second wave of energy from seeing his friend, and his friend recognized him.

And then he tripped. Again. The water was getting horribly close. He almost didn't get up this time. Jeremy saw and ran towards him, meeting him more at five-sixths, with Caleb travelling one of those sixths, than in the middle.

"Caleb," Jeremy said, a little breathless from running so fast.

"Go," was all Caleb could get out with his lungs heaving so hard. He moved forward with the assistance of his friend, letting Jeremy do most of the work of getting them to safety.

They didn't quite make it before the water swept all the way in, but they were far enough up that they were only waist deep in decaying animal and plant matter. Jeremy guided Caleb out of the water and tried to get him to sit down.

"No," Caleb whispered, wanting to collapse anyway, and only speaking what was necessary because he needed to breathe. One of his knees almost gave out for a moment. "Heard somewhere. Gotta. Walk. Off."

"You're barely standing. I'm sure you totally don't have to this time," Jeremy said.

Caleb waved him off and stumbled over to the trees on shaky legs. That was as far as he got before he lowered himself to the ground, a hand on the nearest tree for balance, leaning over as his stomach went on protest. Nausea so strong he thought he would throw up overcame him and he alternated between swallowing down the feeling in the back of his throat he got when he was about to upchuck, and letting his breathing catchup so he no longer felt a little dizzy.

"Are you okay?" Jeremy asked. He was breathing a little heavily, although he was fit and had plenty of muscles, so was not impacted near as badly.

Caleb wanted to talk but his priority was feeling somewhere close to normal. Once the nauseous feeling went away, thankfully because he really did not want the taste of his digested food and stomach acid in his mouth, he flopped down to the ground and made himself go absolutely limp, focusing on his breathing and closing his eyes to the world. One of his arms was twisted above his head and he turned his hand to dig it into the cool earth.

Jeremy ran a hand through Caleb's sweaty hair, getting it off his forehead, and that felt nice. "You did it. Not sure why you were down there in the first place, but you totally beat it."

"Mhm," Caleb murmured, turning his focus on the feeling of a hand in his hair and the cool breeze that seemed to swoop in to sooth his warm forehead. "Not without you."

"No shame in asking for help," said Jeremy, sounding like a government instruction booklet, though Caleb had to agree with that sentiment. "You made it most of the way yourself, and I'm proud of you for that."

Caleb took the praise with a smile. He was still overheated and felt like lying on the ground forever, and was pleased to hear Jeremy settling down in a more comfortable position beside him. "I am awesome."

"You totally are," Jeremy said. "Though you could use a gym membership."

"Shut up," Caleb complained, doing his best pout possible when his lips preferred to stay open and pull in more oxygen.

"I speak the truth," said Jeremy, laughing.

"Yeah," Caleb said, mind going to what Anna had explained before she disappeared. Jeremy was speaking the truth, he didn't doubt that, but could he ever believe anything the government said? Probably not. They were a weird organization who would rather get someone in trouble for handing out water to someone who needed it than give the water in the first place.

It took a long time for Caleb's legs to register anything besides tiredness, though eventually they did. His pants were almost dry at that point but he still wanted to take a long shower to wash his legs of everything that was in that lake.

He sat up, and Jeremy followed. "How are you doing? I assume you've just barely been out of wherever you were."

"I'm doing totally fine," Jeremy replied. "Can we not talk about it?"

"Sure, whatever you want," said Caleb, concerned but not going to push it. His friend didn't seem physically hurt, so he probably just didn't want to explain a long lecture from the government on why it was bad to get mad. Sounded kind of boring, even to Caleb.

"Let's go home," he said, and Jeremy agreed.