Lauren attempted to look around but was unable to do so since she was blind, had her head in a vice, and had a neck made of shrivelled sinew. Her head swings as she inhales loudly and repeatedly, with hard and rough gasping efforts filling her ears.
Her fists unclenched, her nails scraping as her fingers uncurled, her palms flattening; she smelled heat, tasted wind, and heard dirt. Dirt under her hands, in her mouth, and under her fingernails.
She was screaming, she just realised someone was touching her and she was
screaming.
Lauren woke up shivering; her body moved slightly for a second, then her eyes moved. It was so cold that her teeth started chattering, and everything hurt badly.
Her head was the worst of all, but the rest of her was almost as bad. Every muscle in her body felt like it was being stretched on a rack, and her bones ached deep inside. Worse, she could barely breathe.
