Painful as it was, I couldn’t afford to stop or slow down. The sun was coming up. I could feel it below the horizon. Dawn wasn’t far off.
An hour away. Maybe a few minutes more.
I pushed harder, forcing myself to move faster despite the wounds it opened on my feet. Despite how quickly I healed, sand still crept into the open lacerations, leaving behind a gritty, abrasive feeling that was worse than the cut itself.
As the end of the hour approached and the monoliths felt no closer than before, I resorted to vampire speed. I couldn’t maintain it for long periods. Basically a few minutes at most before I was forced to slow to a walk and let my stamina recover.
I kept my eyes trained on the rock formations. Were they closer or was it just my imagination?
“Let’s go, Aileen. Mind over matter.”
So my lungs were burning and my feet would need several layers of skin removed to get rid of the sand that had gotten in there. It could be worse.
I could be dead. Or trapped in the abyss.
Pep talk finished, I started running again.
“That’s it,” I urged myself.
I was in a race against the sun.
My body might complain. Each step forward might require a herculean amount of will. But I would emerge victorious in the end.
Somewhere in the endless cycle of sprint, walk, then sprint again, I sank into a fugue. The seconds slipping by as endorphinsblunted some of the aches and pains, allowing me to push harder and harder.
Above, the sky started to lighten. The stars disappeared one by one as the night took on the deep blue tint that heralded dawn.
The sun was still below the horizon, but it wouldn’t be long now.
I had minutes. At best.
Then it was lights out. I probably wouldn’t like the condition I was in when I woke.
If I woke.
A sharp pain in my calf brought me to a stumbling halt.
“What the—”
I reached down, twisting my calf so I could see what was causing the sensation of burning.
There, two marks similar to those left by my own fangs. Only on a significantly smaller scale.
I looked behind me. Sure enough, a snake was coiled up, preparing for another strike.
“Seriously? We’re practically cousins,” I snarled, hobbling out of its reach.
No respect. That’s what that was.
Luckily, I didn’t have to worry about the snake’s venom killing me. I might get a little sick until my body could process the toxins, but I’d live.
Cursing the snake and all its ancestors, I limped toward my destination.
The sun’s presence had grown into an ache in my chest. Constant. Never allowing me to forget its creeping progress.
To the east, the sky was coming alive. The first edge of the sun breaking the horizon. Its rays creating a brilliant painting of pinks, oranges and reds.
I broke into another run. This one slightly slower. My gait was awkward as the leg with the bite throbbed.
