Transformers ( Bayverse ) - I Bleed Into Darkness

18 - Distance

        The pain was fading. They’d taken her off the painkillers for a day to see how she’d do. It was a manageable, ignorable ache more so than the shooting, crippling pain that it had been a couple weeks ago. To take her mind off it the best she could, Fay had decided to go running again. And she was taking her sweet time so that she could stay out later.

        She was being monitored, of course, but for once it wasn’t by Malakai. It was some nameless, forgettable nurse. Her only form of identity was on the engraved black name tag that read “Sarah”. Fay honestly didn’t care for the woman. She just kept running. She was on lap forty now.

        Lap forty. She was about to break ten miles.

        Honestly, her chest ached. Her lungs hurt with how long she’d been pushing them. But despite it all, Fay had it in her head to keep running for two hours straight. She’d gone for an hour and a half at her longest. She wanted to push it again. She had to. She would never get better if she didn’t keep going.

        Subconsciously, she picked up her pace. Her arms ached. She had sweat stains on her shirt, dark areas that indicated how hard she was really working. She was working on keeping a ten minute mile, if not below.

        Sarah was partly here to keep track of Fay’s laps, her time, and to make sure the patient didn’t make a break for it or get stuck outside after hours. It was an efficient system. And it was really the only way they’d conceded to let her do so much running so late in the day.

        “Can’t you do your exercises earlier in the day? It’s not wise to be out so late. Sundown is a little over an hour away.” The man behind the desk had white hair tinged with darker gray and it was beginning to thin. Fay could only imagine what kind of stresses this job brought him. Patients who went off the deep end, potentially dangerous patients in general, really, potential lawsuits if accidents happened . . .

        “Sir, if I were to do these midday I could overheat and pass out. The middle of a summer day is not the time to be running for two hours nonstop. Plus, with this time frame, I’ll be heated enough by the time the sun vanishes to benefit from the lack of it’s rays. If you send someone out with me, they can keep track of my log, and make sure nothing happens to my health. You are concerned about my health, aren’t you?” Her head gave the slightest tilt. “I certainly don’t want my health to be in decline because I couldn’t go running at the most beneficial time of day for what I’m going for.”

        He pondered it for a moment before waving his hand. “All right. Malakai, send a nurse out with her. Make sure everything still gets done correctly tonight. You have two hours and no more.”

        “Actually, I’ll need at least two and a half. I need to warm up and cool down as well. Closer to three, really.”

        “Three? Where do you get that estimate?”

        “Sir, I’ve spent years getting my rhythm down. I know exactly what I’m doing. I’m sure whatever nurse you send out with me can attest to that when he or she sees that I use every hour to the fullest, both for recovery, preparation and the main event itself. I know what I’m doing. You could even ask my coaches. They were always impressed with my ability to pace myself and maintain a rhythm.”

        “Fine. Three hours. And no dawdling.”

        Fay was two hours into her total time. Her feet ached with every step but in no way would she stop now. She knew it wasn’t the safest thing to be pushing herself this hard, but a part of her loved it. She missed getting stronger every day. She was tired of being depressed and blue and feeling like the world was going to end. She had more complications in her life now than she could’ve imagined a couple months ago.