{"id":1062,"date":"2012-02-13T00:00:28","date_gmt":"2012-02-13T05:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=1062"},"modified":"2012-02-16T22:05:14","modified_gmt":"2012-02-17T03:05:14","slug":"autumn-chapter-3-marin-07","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=1062","title":{"rendered":"Autumn – Chapter 3 – Marin – 07"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Almost from the moment we got back to camp that night, Thom became near-on obsessed with getting walls up around our settlement.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>I suppose that none of us that had been out there that night could blame him, and seeing us bring Phelan back, battered and bloody, on a stretcher hadn\u2019t done anything good for anyone else\u2019s nerves, either.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>So people worked with little complaint, breaking up concrete, mixing mortar, laying brick and stone and fill along the lines Thom\u00a0and Rory had marked out so many weeks before.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Thom paced restlessly along the lines.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>There was just too much wall.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>We couldn\u2019t build it fast enough.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Most of us fell onto our mattresses were asleep a few minutes later every night after dinner by the campfire, then were up in the waning minutes before dawn to eat and get back to work.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>As for me, I checked the wards with Kellin twice a day and helped Jacqueline and J.T. keep an eye on Phelan, who twisted and burned with a fever that they and Leah couldn\u2019t explain.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The wounds didn\u2019t look infected\u2014they were meticulously cleaned three times a day and rebandaged.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>After the first day, Leah started mixing poultices, just in case there was something deep in the wounds that they couldn\u2019t see with the naked eye or feel by gently probing the wounds.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>She used every trick from the little notebook she kept, a legacy from her hedge-witch auntie who she rarely spoke about.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Nothing seemed to work.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Phelan\u2019s fever raged and he slept, on and on, and they fretted about keeping him hydrated and talking about what they could do if this went on for much longer.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>To hear them talk, things were turning bleaker than bleak with each passing moment of each passing day.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Thom fretted about the walls, about defense and our collective safety.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Every day, Matt looked torn between screaming and crying, every day simply throwing himself into his work as if it was salve for some secret pain I was wholly unaware of.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>And me?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I just soldiered on, day after day, hoping and praying for some kind of insane miracle\u2014or, at the very least, for some kind of understanding of what had happened that night by the burial mound.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Evening on the fifth day, just as the sliver of a crescent moon began to rise, I was sitting next to Phelan, sewing a fleece patch over a hole in someone\u2019s sweatshirt.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>His eyes came open<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>slowly and he stared at nothing for a few long seconds before he coughed.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cThat bitch,\u201d he mumbled, echoing his words of five days before, then closed his eyes again.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He started to take a deep breath but brought himself up short with a wince as he seemed to notice he was in pain.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cHow many days this time, Brigid?\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cIt\u2019s Marin, Phelan.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I smoothed his hair back from his face.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>His flesh was still hot, though it seemed a little cooler than it had been earlier.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cDon\u2019t play\u2014not funny,\u201d he mumbled, then opened his eyes again.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He had to stare at me for a moment before his eyes came into focus and he exhaled with a slight shudder.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cMarin.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>I nodded a little.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cYou\u2019ve been out for days,\u201d I said softly, groping around with my free hand for the canteen we\u2019d been using to get water into him for the past few days.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He looked older and frailer, I realized as my hand closed around the bottle, his eyes all sunken and his color bad.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Part of that, of course, was thanks to the lamp flickering on a shelf above us, but part of that was the pallor brought on by fever, by illness.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>He tried to push away the bottle as I brought it to his lips to drink.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I wouldn\u2019t let up until he\u2019d had a few gulps and he seemed to realize that after a moment and gave up.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Once he\u2019d had something to drink, he coughed again and repeated, \u201cHow many days?\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cAlmost five,\u201d I said quietly.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Phelan closed his eyes and sighed, shifting a little on the mattress as if he was about to try to push himself up on his elbow.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I touched his shoulder gently.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cPlease don\u2019t,\u201d I whispered.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cFive days is too long,\u201d he protested, but lay still.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cYou sound like Thom.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I took his hand and put the canteen in it.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cDrink some more.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m going to get Jac or J.T.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>His other hand snapped out from beneath the blankets and caught hold of my wrist as I started to get up.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cNot yet.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Stay a minute.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>You have questions.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>I stared at him.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cOf course I have questions!<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But they can wait until one of them gets a look at you.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cThere really isn\u2019t much of anything they can do that they probably haven\u2019t already done.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>So just sit a minute and let me talk.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>His eyes slid shut again for a moment.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cBesides, if you bring Jameson to me now, I\u2019m going to have an even harder time telling now from then.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Sitting back down slowly, I watched as he weakly popped the canteen open again and took a long swallow, wincing a little.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cWhat\u2019s in this?\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cI think they dissolved some pills in it.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>For the fever.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>He shook his head slightly, a wry smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cOkay, so they did something I hadn\u2019t thought of after all.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He folded his hands on his belly and watched me for a moment in the flickering lamplight.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cI\u2019m sorry you had to see that,\u201d he said softly after a few long moments of silence.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cI never meant to bring any of that down on you.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But since I did, since she followed me, I suppose you deserve to know the truth.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cThey\u2019re hunting us, Marin.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Every single last one of us.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Almost from the moment we got back to camp that night, Thom became near-on obsessed with getting walls up around our settlement. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I suppose that none of us that had been out there that night could blame him, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,35,41,14,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autumn","category-book-2","category-chapter-3","category-story","category-year-one"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-h8","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1062"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1087,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062\/revisions\/1087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}