The Chameleon didn't answer.
It lay there against the base of the tree, its mottled body still cycling through colors in slow, erratic pulses. Dark ichor oozed from its burned face and from the stump where I'd severed the edge of its tongue. One of its bulging eyes was swollen shut from where my fist had connected.
It looked pitiful. Broken, even, and it was still smiling.
"I asked you a question."
It answered with that knowing, human smile stretched across its face that had no business wearing one.
I took a step closer and my left knee buckled. I caught myself before I fell, but only barely, and the motion sent a bolt of pain up through my hip and into my spine that nearly whited out my vision.
'Alright. Standing is now a privilege… ah fuck'
