Zara

chapter 25

"Oh, hush. You'll be fine." He waved her concerns away and set up some setting on the deadly running machine before taking a step back, "Come on. Step up."

"If I die today," She dramatically stated and reluctantly stepped on the machine, "just know that I would prefer to be cremated after my organs have been donated. And burn me with my glasses- I might need them in my afterlife."

They all only laughed before Raph pressed 'start'.

~

"Even a fucking turtle runs faster than that," Ben commented as he stared at his sister leisurely jogging- more like walking- on the treadmill.

For the past hour, she had consistently decreased the speed while they all were busy with their own activities. While the three brothers were dripping from sweat because they had been working so hard, she was sweating because of having to walk for the past hour.

"Oh, shut up." She muttered and glanced at the wall clock, "Are we done? We have already been here for like one hour, twelve minutes and thirty nine seconds."

"That was oddly specific," Tino commented as he kept his water bottle down.

She shut the machine down completely and plopped down on the marble floors, "I had to do something to distract myself."

Her eyes fell on them and her nose crinkled in distaste, "Can you like put some shirt on? You must own a thousand shirts yet you still can't afford to wear one?"

Tino smirked and patted his abs, "We were exercising to build these muscles. We can't be bothered with shirts, Z."

"Of course. I was the dumb one for asking." Zara muttered under her breath.

"When did you last do any physical exercise?" Raph asked, changing the subject, noticing her worn out state. They had just started...

She lightly scratched her brow in thought, "Does climbing stairs count?"

"No."

"Um then running from stray dogs out for my blood?"

"..that doesn't count either."

She shrugged, "Then it was probably last year that day when the p.e teacher caught me and I couldn't skip class. God that was an awful one hour." She admitted.

"Amazing. Just amazing." Raph muttered and leaned back against some random equipment, looking at her in disbelief. Was she serious? "You really need to get your stamina up."

"When will we finish?" She whined and look towards the door, ready to bolt out. She had been here for way longer than expected. Now it was time to dash.

"Uh-huh." Ben interjected, "We have just started. And you are staying here with us until we are done."

"For fuck's sake." She mumbled.

Tino laughed, "You'll not be able to escape, Z. So might as well pray to God and start again."

She gave him a blank look before shaking her head and sighing, "I am atheist."

He blinked, "Really?"

She nodded and leaned back with the support of her hands, "Are you religious?"