Escaping Death [Watty Awards]

Chapter 37-Gwen

All that I can think about is combat, combat, combat, combat! 

When I get out everyone is waiting in the kitchen for me and I see that Kimberly is dressed in loosely fitting black sweat pants and a dark blue long sleeve t-shirt.  Her hair is tied in a high ponytail.  She smiles and offers me a cup of tea and I accept the cup.

“You’re going running with us?”  I ask.  I’m curious to see if she will be joining us since it was just last night that she had been wounded.

“Running?”  She puts her cup of tea down and looks at Calder.  There’s a telepathic exchange between them.  I can’t help but smile at how connected they are.  Kimberly finally says, “No.  But I will be helping the guys with your combat training after your run.”

I look at Gabriel and he has a grin on his face.  “Really?”  I ask him.

“Really.  Now let’s get a mile done so we can get done early which will leave more time for combat training.”

I look over at Calder and see that he is also dressed ready to work out.  “I’ll be joining you two in a moment.”  He says.

I nod and I’m practically out the door without anyone else saying a word.  “I’ll race you!”  I call back and I hope that they all know that I was directing the challenge towards Gabe.

I begin to run down the street and towards the path that we took yesterday afternoon.  The sound of my footsteps on the pavement is the only thing I hear besides the sound of my breathing.  I look back and see that Gabriel has begun to make his way towards me.  I turn back forward and concentrate on the path in front of me.  I make a turn into the woods and hear the leaves crunching underneath my feet.  I take in a deep steady breath and breath out through my mouth.  That’s how I keep the steady rhythm of my running.

Gabriel catches up to me and runs beside me.  He runs a few feet in front of me and I watch his graceful, long strides.  I will myself to keep on running and to catch up to him and I do against the burning protest of my legs.  I’m sure that this is the longest I’ve ran without stopping and I start to slow down to a jog and before I know it I begin to walk.

Gabriel stops running and jogs back towards me.  “Not bad.  You have already improved from yesterday.”  He says.

“Thanks.  I think it had to do with the fact that I did two work outs instead of just one yesterday.”  I laugh but I start coughing.

“You think you can do that again today?”  He asks.

I try to take slow, even breaths in and out.  My heart is beating inside my chest and I can hear ever beat in my head.  Gabriel doesn’t seem to be breaking a sweat.  He isn’t even breathing hard!  He just looks calm and content.

“Maybe.  We’ll see.”  I say.

I start to run again and Gabriel soon follows after.  This is how the rest of the run goes.  We’ll run for a long period of time, five to ten minutes tops, and then we’d stop and have a small conversation before running again.  Calder catches up with us by the time that we are halfway done with the mile.  He races past us and I can’t help but feel a little jealous.  It doesn’t even look that he is breaking a sweat!  He caught up to us in half the time that it took us to get to that point of our run.  I glance at Gabriel and he just shrugs and holds his hands up in a “what can I say” kind of gesture. 

We finally reach the end of our run and I walk around, cooling down.  Calder sits on the bench tying his shoes and taking a drink of water.  He tosses the bottle towards me and I catch it.  “Thanks.”