Dog Days

Ch 4

"I do wish you would stop falling out on us like that." Teased Gandalf as your eyes fluttered open. You honestly felt as though you had been struck by lightning, your body hairs were still tingling like mad. "Is she going to die?" You heard Thorin ask quietly from beside you. The Dwarf King held a wet cloth to your head, something you didn't register until you shifted your weight. He didn't seem panicked, not even too concerned, just a bit disgruntled.

That good ol' Thorin.

"How do you feel (Name)?" Your hobbit friend held a worried expression on his pale face, and you groaned in response, rolling over onto your stomach, gently pushing Thorin's cloth away. "M'fuckin' everything hurts." You slurred, noting that even your tongue felt heavy. What a freaking zap! Who keeps something like that lying around?

With a laugh, Gandalf helped you to your feet. "She will be just fine, just a minor shock is all." Minor? I can see two of you right now dude! You wanted to laugh with them, but felt your throat clench. Water. You really wanted some water. You saw that it was now pitch black in the sky, and it would be around the time Bombur would be finished cooking.

Food and water sounded really good right now. Or maybe a root beer, or soda. Something better be ingested right fucking now though, that's all you knew. You guided yourself over to the fire, following an increasingly pleasant scent wafting through the air, Bilbo trailing behind you.

"You've 'died' twice already now!" Laughed Fili, moving aside for you to plop down beside him. "What will she do next?" Piped his darker haired brother. You smirked, noting their poking was only out of worry, covered by humor. "Relax boys, I'm a bad bitch, you can't kill me!" You leaned back, giving a hearty laugh as Bombur announced dinner ready.

You woke up sometime in the night, feeling a terrible sense of wrong. You immediately sat up, wondering if you had somehow gotten transported somewhere else. You seemed to still be in the forest you fell asleep in, and looking over your shoulder you saw- yes, the Company. Thank goodness they were wearing clothes. Bifur, who was supposed to be keeping watch, had dozed off sitting up. You smiled. There was no danger anyway.

So what was it? You didn't feel as though you were being watched, but you definitely knew something was off. Your stomach twisted and flopped around. Maybe you were about to start your period? In that case, you'd like to bathe before setting off again, and becoming soaked in your own menstrual blood...

You tore a piece of cloth off of a cloak that was given to you by Gandalf, and hauled ass over to a lake you all had passed on the way to your campsite. You made sure you were safely alone before throwing your clothes off and leaving then halfway folded on the shore.

You started out confident in what you were doing, heading straight for the water and imagining how good it would feel on your hot, sore limbs, but then you faltered. The moment your toe made contact with the shallowest part of the lake, all instinct rushed to pull you as far away from the mouth of the pool.

You felt as though you were choking, water rushing back into your chest and filling your lungs up, burning, tearing themselves apart. You scrambled away from the water, tears spilling over your eyes. You couldn't breathe. All breath was stolen from your body.

Don't go there! Your mind screamed at you. You turned a shaky, teary glance towards the lake. You could only see the dark insides of the chest filling up with icy, black water again, the rocks in your clothes back and digging into your skin. You will die now just like you died then. Do you want to die? No, you don't. Get away.