Freezing Wings

Chapter 11

The rest set off, following me, including Lucas. As we half-ran forward I got progressively slower, my body refusing to keep a constant speed. Despite us only jogging about fifty feet, I felt like I had just ran a marathon, my lungs puffing out wheezing breathes and my muscles burning.

Lucas made his way up to the front until he was back next to me, his grey eyes filled with worry. I could understand why. I was practically skin and bones, and I had gotten exponentially weaker over the past three months. 

My joints were poking out, high and proud in my skin. My scales had dulled and lightened to the point of turning an almost silvery gray, dim streaks of black barely visible. Any fat on me was gone, a stubbornly thick layer of muscle draped over my bones. Whenever I moved you could see them moving underneath as my scales moved with them. My eyes were consistently bloodshot and my cheeks were sunken in. I looked starved, which I was.  

Even at a trot -barely more than a brisk walk- I was barely keeping up, and I kept slowing down, my body giving out on me. I had never, in my new body, left my cage and walked around after that first incident, and this was my real first encounter with extended exercise. I was wheezing before and it just got worse, the fog condensing around my snout from the still freezing interior getting bigger and bigger as I huffed. I could have sworn that a person two miles away could hear my lungs rattle, which apparently, he did.

I fell to the back of the pack and followed behind as we trotted at a good clip, making our way through the passageways I had identified. As we neared the first right turn I had pointed out, Lucas leaned down, looking at me in the eyes. I could only look back at him, panting with all the energy in my body. Jogging a few feet was already causing me to be tired, and I could barely pull in all the air I needed into my lungs. 

My eyes were completely red, and my pupils were dilated to a ridiculous degree. My head was swimming in the fog, and I swayed, my head and body weaving as I tried to keep a set course. 

He nudged the top of my head, almost making me stumble, the wing that had unknowingly covered my back catching me. He slowed down even more, subconsciously making me slow down as well, until we came to a stop. The pack kept moving, most not noticing our departure.

Sarah was the only one that looked back, her eyes darkening with worry when she saw my ragged figure, before brightening when she saw Lucas walk over. She turned back, a mysterious smile at the edge of her lips.

Before I could say a word of protest Lucas reached down to my level and picked me up by the scruff of the neck, similar to how a mother would carry her young. Without a word of explanation or warning, he placed me on his back and giving me a nudge that had a distinct 'Be quiet and just roll with it' vibe to it before turning back and taking off, me hanging on to his back like a possum.

If I was still a human, my face would be redder than a tomato and hotter than a ghost pepper. I hadn't had physical contact with another living thing in almost eight months, and it was a very abnormal feeling, scales on scales. A weird sensation rose in my gut, but I pushed it down. The fog lifted off my mind enough for me to feel embarrassed. I was able to squeak out a small, "Put me down" and a weak wriggle before almost falling off as he shot forward.

He looked back at me, his face looking as if I was speaking in tongues. His deep voice had a slight tinge of exasperation to it and he rearranged his wings so I wasn't jostled by his gait. "You've been nearly hit with a boulder five times already and the only reason you haven't gotten crushed is because you aren't paying attention and lurch out of the way on pure luck. You're practically half dead and you're trying to walk in front like everything's fine. You've been swaying like you've had too many shots and you're wheezing like a broken air conditioner.The fact that you haven't died is a miracle and you expect me to just have you keel over because you want to walk too fast?" 

He scoffed, his face annoyed but his eyes softening, "If you keep of going like you are, you'll run yourself so far into the ground that you'll die before you can get back up. I would much rather have to carry you on my back than for you to collapse and die of exhaustion or from a stray boulder when you aren't paying attention. I don't want you to kick the bucket in front of me when I could have done something to stop it, so just go along for the ride, okay?"

I ducked my head, slightly sheepish, my voice didn't seem to want to work but I was able to push out a small "okay".

I really hadn't noticed any sort of falling projectile while I was running - I was only focusing on the ground in front of me, so I wouldn't trip, and breathing. I hadn't really paid attention to the security of the concrete above me. 

It was the most I had spoken to him in a long while. We used to have conversations like that all the time before I hid myself, but ever since then we barely spoke. It was the most he had said to me in three months that I actually listened to. 

He had tried to coax me into speaking but I never really replied, nor paid attention to what he was saying. After a while he had gone from full on conversations to occasional questions here and there until he finally gave up and left me alone. However, everyday he had at least said something, whether it was a question or a statement, probably just to make sure that I was still alive.

Lucas nodded and turned back around, facing back where we were originally going. He sped up until he was full on running, soon catching up with the others.