Running From Time

Chapter 23

"Not if I can help it." I said and came out from behind the rocks. "Go down the hill over there and make your way to the beach at the front of the island. I'll be there in a few minutes." He nodded and ran down the hill without looking back. I turned to the guards and smirked, eyes glowing red as a wall of fire rose up before me.

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"How did you get away from the guards?" Joey asked as I came into view, jogging down to the beach. I shrugged.

"I have my ways." I said simply and he looked at me curiously. "Anyway, we can swim back to the mainland and find Serpius' 'lair' or whatever he calls it." He nodded and I walked towards the waves, shuddering as the cold water lapped at my feet. It was nighttime, after all. I took off my shirt and bandana but left my boxers on, shivering again. Looking back, I saw Joey eyeing my body and smirked as he turned away quickly, embarrassed. I had had the feeling that he was gay, but now my suspicions had been confirmed. Not that I had any problem with it. I walked in further, my entire body vibrating with shivers as I realised that this was probably not the greatest idea. It was a good thing that the island wasn't far from the mainland. Joey followed me and soon enough, we were swimming towards the land, side by side.

"Now, make sure you keep your head above the water when you swim so you don't get hypothermia and -" I was cut off when I looked at Joey's head, completely drenched in water.

"Oops." He said shakily, stuttering with the cold.

"Well, we'll just have to be quick." I said, rolling my eyes and speeding up. The full moon was huge in the sky, bigger than I'd ever seen it, and it shone on the water, causing it to glisten. I stared at it in awe and turned to Joey, who was doing the same. The moon lit up his features, causing him to look quite pale.

We finally reached the shore and walked along the beach, shuddering. I suddenly spotted something in the distance and started to run towards it hopefully. Grinning, I picked up a bag and two towels which had been left at the beach by some tourists. The stuff that Thalia and I had left here when we swam over to the island had been brought over by some of the guards at the Peacemaker facility.

"Chris! Wait up!" Joey shouted from further down the beach, running to catch up with me. I had always been extremely good at sport, and a very fast runner. My stamina was pretty good too. I started to fish through the bag and retrieved a wallet, clothes, a phone and some picnic food. Perfect.

"Hey, I found some stuff." I told Joey as he reached me, trying to catch his breath. He squinted in the low light at the stuff in the bag and started to look uncomfortable.

"Chris, I don't know about this...this is stealing." I smirked and gathered the stuff in my hands, giving him some as well.

"It's not stealing, it's just making the most of our resources." I said slyly and put the stuff down onto the ground, drying myself off with the towel and pulling on the clothes. Joey hesitantly did the same and looked horrified as he saw what he was wearing. I snorted and he glared at me. He was wearing a floral dress which showed off his legs a little too much. Luckily for me, I was wearing a polo shirt and shorts, but they were about four sizes too big for me.

"I'm not wearing this!" Joey exclaimed in indignation and I just laughed. He looked so ridiculous that I couldn't take him seriously. The dress was a few sizes too big for him, like the clothes.

"Well, it's all we have. That colour suits you, anyway." He positively glowered at me and stormed off, taking some of the stuff with him. I grinned and took the rest of the stuff, carrying it in the bag.

We reached a main road, and on the other side of it was a large patch of trees. I walked towards it and Joey followed me hesitantly. He looked scared as we walked through the woods but he didn't know that I was probably the scariest thing in there. I was still worried that he would find out about me.

"Um...why do we have to camp out in the woods?" He asked me nervously and I smiled wryly at him.

"No one will find us here. Not Serpius, not the guards, no one." I told him and he shuddered. It was fairly cold out at this time.

"You're the boss." He mumbled and I felt a little sorry for him. We reached a small clearing and I set the bag of stuff down, along with the towels. As we sat down on the soft earth, I felt a tingling sensation on my arm and shuddered, looking down. My eyes widened in shock and terror as I saw my arm.

Scales. And they were starting to spread.

I got up abruptly and thanked the Lord for the very dim light. Still, I needed to escape temporarily until I sorted this out.

"Uh, I'll get some wood to make a fire." I said quickly, heading into the woods almost at a jog. My skin was becoming more scaly by the second and fear racked my body. So this was my 'true form' that Lucas had spoken of. My senses became stronger as I ran further into the woods in terror, scared of what I had become. I was scared that I was going to lose myself. I ran further and further as I felt a tail whipping the back of my legs, knowing that I would eventually have to go back and face Joey.

So I may have taken the idea of the Kanima from Teen Wolf for the last bit of this chapter 😂 don't judge me! Do you think Chris will lose himself? Please vote if you liked it and leave comments :)