Freezing Wings

Chapter 6

As I sprinted through the halls I realized just how big this facility was. I was marking down everywhere I went in my mind, along with all the landmarks around. From what I could tell, I had gone at least half a mile already, if not more.

I was sprinting for what seemed like forever, not much other than the passing of hallways and doors showing that I was actually moving. It never seemed to end, the concrete at the beginning looked the exact same as how it was when I finally stopped, catching my breath.

There didn't seem to be any sort of pursuit after me, most likely because of the breach. The machines that Sarah said would follow after me never showed up, and I couldn't even hear them in the distance.

A puff of fog coalesced around my snout as I huffed in the cold air, slowing down to a loping canter. My body wasn't exactly the fittest, and running for extended periods of time took a toll.

After a few seconds of heaving I took a deep breath, a whiff of scent tickling at my nose. I sped up, sniffing at the air.

That one whiff was infinitely familiar, a distant memory niggling at the edge of my mind. I ran forward, the smell getting stronger.

I turned a corner and skidded into another turn, the memory finally showing itself.

The smell I tracking was the smell of Oak Pine, the same scent that my mom would always have burning in a candle whenever it was the holidays.

I accelerated, my body subconsciously speeding up as a tiny spark of hope appeared in the back of my brain. Oak Pine either meant one of two things:

1) The scientists were burning candles, which was very unlikely, considering that they weren't even able to have personal bags, much less candles, plus we were underground. It would probably cause complications in terms of smoke ventilation.

or

2) Somewhere in front of me, down one of the hallways, there was a pine tree, more likely than not, outside.

'Outside...'

The thought of actually leaving this place and being outside in the open air, not locked in a cage or confined by concrete walls stirred up my emotions and I put on another burst of speed, pushing my body as hard as I could.

My lungs cried out for air and I obliged, inhaling as much of the scent and tracking it as well as I could. If I accidentally went down the wrong hallway I doubled back, always going down the hall where the scent was thickest.

As I went down one hall I could hear whirring in the rooms around me, evidence of the machines inside. My claws clinked on the floor and a human voice resounded out, surprised.

The doors behind me burst open as I passed through what seemed to be a heavily populated area, revealing furious scientists and steel machines. 'Welp, I guess I'm out of time, I better get to work then.'

I flapped my wings, putting a bit of boost on my speed, dodging around corners. One of the doors in front of me burst open, revealing four nasty-looking robots. They were right in front of me, obviously there to trap me in the hall and force me to double back. Instead of slowing down and changing course, I kept going, even trying to go faster. From the perspective of the humans around me, I had probably already become a black blur, speeding down the hall.

As I got closer I primed myself, adjusting my wings. when I was about to slam directly into the hunk of steel I jumped, launching myself up and using the roadblock as a springboard, crushing it into oblivion in the process.

The steel just crumpled, like an old tin can. 'I'm not that fat...am I?'

I shook my head and concentrated on what I was doing, skidding around corners and over startled scientists.

The scent got stronger and my heart thumped, the sound of blood rushing past my ears near deafening. The sound of mechanical whirring got louder as well as robots were sent out to track me down, catching onto my trail and pursuing.

I turned another corner, one of countless, and caught on to something that I hadn't seen in weeks.

Natural Light.

It was a door - a small window let it filter through. The door was high above my head, almost completely vertical. Leading up to it there was an impossibly long spiral staircase, with hundreds of flights leading up to it.

The space was too small to fly up with my wingspan so I took off, my claws digging into the stairs. I was barely able to fit inside of the cramped space, but I managed, though it did slow me down quite a bit.

The sound of gears whirring increased, machines seeming to show up out of nowhere. I sped up, not caring that a few scales got scuffed in the process.

I could see clear blue sky and, occasionally, glimpses of the Sun.

The Sun.

I hadn't seen the light of day for weeks, and I felt a fog of giddiness cloud my mind, my heart accelerated and I got excited. I could feel my body hauling itself up and the blood rushing in my veins, my heart bursting with hope. My scales itched
for the warmth of the sun, no matter how harsh and bitter it may be. I wanted to sink my claws into the earth and fly in the sky, to feel the wind in my wings.

Even though I still hadn't had the luxury of doing either since I had been turned into a dragon, I could imagine it in explicit detail, as if I already know. The scent of pine, integrated with the smell of snow and rock assaulted my nose and I inhaled deeply, imprinting it into my mind.

I was only about three levels away from the door now, and in a matter of seconds, I would be in front of it and out.

Just as I was close enough to lunge for the door I heard a mechanical hiss behind me, a white mist covering my snout. It got into my nose and eyes, causing me to blink them shut and sneeze, unknowingly inhaling it into my lungs.

My eyes rolled up in my head and my body went limp, my claws leaving a mark on the door. My world sunk into black as I fell back, back into the dark and away from the Sun.