There was still time, I told myself.
I wouldn’t go down until the sun was fully above the curve of the Earth and its rays touched the ground.
By now the formations were a mile away. Max. A distance I could do in less than five minutes when I wasn’t exhausted and hurting.
The sun’s light hit the top of the tallest rock formation, warning that my time was dwindling. It inched down the side of the rock face. Slow and fast at the same time.
Drowsiness tugged at me.
I shook my head. No. Stay awake.
The last quarter mile or so I was lost in a fog, covering the distance on auto pilot. The only thing keeping me upright, my own willpower.
The early morning sun touched my profile, expanding until I was bathed in it. A tingling started, the sensation quickly turning to pain. It grew with every step.
So close.
The rock formations were right there.
As daylight claimed the world, I threw myself toward the shade at their base.
Please let me wake up come nightfall, I prayed.
I was out before my body hit the sand.
“Get—up. Aileen—get—up.”
Liam?
Pain lit my nerve receptors, bringing me all the way to consciousness. Distantly, I realized there was no one nearby despite the voice I thought I’d heard, and once again, I was face down on the ground.
Not bothering to push myself fully upright, I contorted to gaze down the length of my body to find the lower half fully exposed to sunlight. The skin bright red and already blistering.
By some miracle my torso rested in the shade. But it wouldn’t stay that way for long. My slice of safety was getting smaller with every second that passed as the sun made its way across the sky.
With a moan, I rolled onto my back and used my hands to pull my legs into the shade. The process was painful, requiring me to stop several times as I nearly blacked out.
But eventually, I was successful.
Pushing myself upright, I maneuvered until my back rested against the rock face. The effort caused my head to swim and I had to pause again to let the dizziness pass before continuing.
By the time I was done, my oasis had shrunk considerably.
Curling my legs in to avoid sunlight from touching any part of me, I examined them. They looked worse up close. There were spots where the blisters had cracked and were now oozing liquid.
“I guess my ‘becoming’ also came with an increased sensitivity to the sun,” I mumbled.
I’d add it to the rest of my symptoms. We’d better get to the part where I gained something soon. So far, all this metamorphosis had given me were a bunch of additional weaknesses that I could do without.
I banged the back of my head lightly on the rock behind me. “Fuck.”
Given my predicament, it was hard not to feel despair. All that work to be able to walk under the sun and it looked like I was back to square one.
To make matters worse, the sun was almost directly overhead. In less than an hour, the formation’s shadow would cease to exist.
No more hiding place.
Given the state of my body, I doubted I’d survive until it sank low enough for a shadow to return. At least not without lapsing into another coma that would prevent me from crawling back into the shade.
