Unbecoming Humans: Part 2

Chapter 3

Nima had been running for almost half an hour. Even encumbered by my weight in her arms, she was faster than whomever had caught up with us. If they had noticed our presence and started running after us, they still would not have been able to catch up. Nima didn't waste her breath on words, and I kept my mouth shut, so that she could focus on our getaway.

I wished desperately to myself that she would stop running. I was becoming terribly uncomfortable bouncing in her arms. Not to mention my limbs were beginning to cramp from being bound in the blanket. Unfortunately, my body was still not producing much of its own heat, and I was still too weak to remove the blanket, even if I had wanted to. I turned my head to look back behind us. I saw no trace of our pursuers, but that meant little, since I had never seen them in the last half hour that we'd been running from them.

"I think you can stop running now," I told Nima after another fifteen minutes had passed. She looked down at me. Then, she stopped and turned around to look behind us. We were both silent as we listened intently for any sound that might indicate we were still being followed. We stayed like that for several minutes, but we heard nothing. So, Nima carried on in the direction we had been traveling at a comfortable walking pace.

It was an hour or so before dawn, and it was still dark out. I looked up at Nima's face, made eery by the scant light. She looked exhausted in every sense of the word. We had be traveling for at least four hours without so much as a break. At least I had had the good fortune to be dead, or unconscious, or whatever state I had been in for most of that time. I did not feel entirely rested, but neither did I feel as tired as Nima looked.

"You should get some rest," I said to her softly. I suddenly wished, more than anything, that I could reach out and touch her soft skin. But, my weakened arms would not obey, and were still bound by that accursed blanket.

"I'm fine," Nima said curtly, avoiding my gaze.

"You are clearly not," I retorted, calling her bluff as she stumbled over a tree root. "Please, just sleep until sunrise. I'll keep watch, and then you can carry on torturing yourself to your heart's content." Nima sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Fine," she huffed. She turned left and walked away from the direction we had been heading, so that no one would stumble upon us lying in the 'path' that we had left on our journey through the thick woods. She set me down at the base of a particularly large tree, and I reclined against the natural curve of its trunk. Nima mercifully unbound me from the blanket and curled up in my lap, before covering us both with it. The industrial, grey medical scrubs that we were clad in did nothing to camouflage us amongst the browns and greens of the forest. Fortunately, the blanket was of a utilitarian, brownish-grey wool that would make us difficult to spot in the dark of the night.

I could tell that Nima was on edge, but it wasn't long before her breathing evened out and she was asleep. To pass the time and keep myself awake, I returned to my exercises. With any luck, I might not be quite so useless when Nima woke up. Since I had had little success with my fingers and arms, I decided to start with my toes this time. I worked my toes, feet, and legs much as I had my arms earlier. The task came with added difficulty, because I didn't want to wake Nima, who was still sleeping in my lap.

Although I had to remain alert while Nima slept, I found myself beginning to relax and calm down from my panicked state. The experience of dying and waking up in what I believed was Hell had rocked me to my core. I could never again be quite the same person I had been before. I was still disturbed by everything I had been through, and it would take time for me to process it all.

However, looking down at Nima resting peacefully in my lap, willing to trust me, despite how I had treated her in the last few hours, and months, I began to feel something I hadn't felt in recent memory: hope. I had spent most of my life being cynical and depressed, feeling trapped, alone, and powerless. Recently, I had known nothing but fear, pain, and emptiness. But now, lying in the unknown with a kind, compassionate, caring, and beautiful woman, I began to feel the faintest glimmer of hope and the promise of possibility.