Shifters

Chapter 29

WILL

I woke up slowly, my ears ringing loud enough that it seemed my brain was audibly screaming. My eyes burned. I tried to open them, but it just hurt more. I was lying on my left side, my left hand trapped under my body. I didn't have the energy to pull it out, so I just tried moving my right hand.

My hand scraped along the ground as I pulled it along, too weak to lift it. Small rocks or other sharp objects stabbed into it periodically and occasionally I felt a warm, sticky spot I assumed to be blood.

I reached my face and cautiously rubbed my right eye. It burned even worse for a second, but, tears streaming out of it, it finally opened. I quickly did the same with my left eye and then looked around.

The grey blur of my surroundings slowly came into focus and revealed itself to be a whole lot of rubble, mostly stone. I was stuck in between several larger pieces, which appeared to have blocked most other big  pieces from hitting me, but I was covered in a coating of dust and small shards of structure. I had many small cuts that were bleeding slightly, but nothing appeared deadly.

I pulled my knees up to my chest, rolled over, and slowly sat up. Every joint in my body protested at every movement. I waited a minute before trying to stand. Using the rubble beside me, I yanked myself up onto my feet. My breath scratched my dry throat as a silent scream tore out of my lungs. My vision blurred and I almost fell right back down.

My eyesight returned, but not before I bruised my right hand when it shot out for balance and hit one of the big pieces of rubble. I leaned on another rock with my left hand and looked out. It was just about then that I realized that it was pretty hot wherever I was. That was explained a second later when, from behind a large piece of rubble in front of me, a wall of flames suddenly leapt up.

I stumbled backward as a wave of heat washed over me. I turned around, hoping there would be an easy way out. No luck. I was trapped.

I gathered my strength and steadied my breathing for a second, then backed up as far as I could, took a running start, and leapt up as far as I could. I barely grasped the top of the rubble, my hands, slick with blood and sore, barely kept from slipping.

I heaved myself over the top and then fell to the ground in the other side. I rolled over, shoved myself away from the ground, and stood again on unsteady feet. There was a patch of smoke to my left that seemed a little lighter than the rest, so I set off in that direction.

I went as fast as I could, but that wasn't very fast. With every step, I nearly twisted an ankle on a piece of rubble. Even my steadiest steps slid on the layers of dust that covered everything.

I moved hunched over, half from all the pain, half in an effort to avoid as much of the smoke as possible. The haze in front of me continued to get lighter as I got closer.

I started to get hopeful as I became more and more sure that the light was sunlight. Finally, I broke through the last dark cloud of smoke and emerged into air that was almost clean. My victory was short lived, though, as my watering eyes were still nearly blind and I tripped over a piece of debris, falling and knocking myself right back unconscious.

A/N: Happy (belated) Halloween! 🎃
Dedications: @dragonheart42 @themoonsmelody @mwangie31 @fantasyreads321