{"id":127,"date":"2011-04-25T00:00:04","date_gmt":"2011-04-25T04:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=127"},"modified":"2011-04-25T00:00:04","modified_gmt":"2011-04-25T04:00:04","slug":"day-zero-chapter-2-marin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=127","title":{"rendered":"Day Zero – Chapter 2 – Marin – 02"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cUngh.\u201d\u00a0 My limbs felt like jelly and my feet were on fire.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t sure how long I\u2019d been out; all I knew was that whatever I was on was mostly soft, there was a pillow, and I was still utterly exhausted.\u00a0 I sagged, groaning weakly again and scrubbing a hand over my face.\u00a0 Never before had I felt like utter crap, and in that moment I prayed I\u2019d never experience such a feeling ever again.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cMarin?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I groaned, rolling onto my side and making an attempt to force myself up into a sitting position.\u00a0 It took a minute and a lot of effort, but I managed to get myself upright.\u00a0 \u201cWhat happened?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYou passed out, that\u2019s what happened.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I feel like I should\u2019ve stayed unconscious.<\/em>\u00a0 \u201cThanks for stating the obvious, Carolyn.\u00a0 What\u2019s going on?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cPretty sure the world ended about six hours ago.\u201d\u00a0 She moved over, sat down with me on the mattress they\u2019d clearly salvaged from the dorms.\u00a0 \u201cDid you walk that whole way up here from the mall?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did I?\u00a0 God.\u00a0 I must have.<\/em>\u00a0 I rubbed at my eyes.\u00a0 \u201cI must have.\u00a0 My legs hurt.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ve got a knot on your head the size of a baseball,\u201d she told me, grimacing.\u00a0 \u201cAnd I totally can\u2019t blame you if your legs hurt.\u00a0 Mine would definitely hurt.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I smiled weakly at her, drawing one leg painfully up against my chest, stretching my thigh muscles gently.\u00a0 \u201cEveryone okay?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She frowned.\u00a0 \u201cDepends on what you mean by everyone.\u00a0 I was in the library with Jacqueline and Davon and Rory.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen some of the others.\u00a0 Don\u2019t know exactly how many are still alive out here.\u00a0 Hopefully more than I\u2019m afraid of.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cHopefully,\u201d I echoed.\u00a0 \u201cDo you guys have any ideas?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cForty, maybe?\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been sitting with you since Jacqueline and Leah decided you\u2019d live, waiting for you to wake up.\u00a0 They told me I was probably better off here than\u2026well\u2026elsewhere, doing something else.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Probably right.\u00a0 Carolyn doesn\u2019t need to see half of what she might be seeing in the near future here.<\/em>\u00a0 I suppressed a shudder, remembering the stench of the church.\u00a0 Definitely doesn\u2019t\u2026sooner or later, though, we won\u2019t be able to keep it from her anymore.<\/em>\u00a0 I leaned into her shoulder, closing my eyes again and sighing tiredly.\u00a0 \u201cHave they checked everywhere?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cNot sure, really.\u201d\u00a0 Carolyn reached down, picked up the blanket that had been spread over me and wrapped it around my shoulders.\u00a0 I gave her a questioning glance, but she just shook her head.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re shaking, Marin.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m tired.\u00a0 That\u2019s all.\u201d\u00a0 I tugged the blanket closer.\u00a0 It felt cooler than it should have been\u2014much cooler.\u00a0 I squinted toward the sky.\u00a0 Sullen red, streaked in dark gray.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like the look of that.<\/em>\u00a0 I took a deep breath, exhaling slowly.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Take a breath and wait to die.<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I squeezed my eyes shut.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cMarin?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m okay.\u201d\u00a0 I started to try to push to my feet, gasping at the pain in my calves and ankles.\u00a0 \u201cUngh.\u00a0 Ow.\u201d\u00a0 I sat back down abruptly, blinking stinging tears from my eyes.\u00a0 God, that <\/em>hurts.<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She looked at me quizzically.\u00a0 \u201cWho do you need?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cNot sure.\u00a0 Who took charge?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Carolyn blushed a bit.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not really sure, honestly.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wonderful.\u00a0 <\/em>I sank back down, waited a long moment for the pain to abate slightly before asking, \u201cWhere are we, exactly?\u201d\u00a0 That she\u2019ll know.<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cHills outside of Copeland and Robinson.\u201d\u00a0 Carolyn hugged her knee against her chest, flipping dark hair over her shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cThey looked like the most stable areas to set up shop.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I nodded tiredly.\u00a0 Makes sense.\u00a0 More solid ground than anywhere else on campus.\u00a0 Dorms would fall back down into the ravine before they fall forward onto the hills, if they survived the initial\u2026whatever that was.<\/em>\u00a0 A glance outside confirmed that they had<\/em> survived, but I could already see the nasty crack forming in the end wall of Copeland.\u00a0 They wouldn\u2019t last.\u00a0 \u201cMattress come from inside?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYeah.\u00a0 Some of the camps staff is hauling crap down and out.\u00a0 We\u2019re not sure how stable the buildings are.\u00a0 Davon\u2019s been checking, I guess.\u00a0 Outer shells on some of them are probably okay, it\u2019s everything else we\u2019re worried about, maybe.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure.\u00a0 Like I said, they told me to stay with you.\u201d\u00a0 Carolyn grimaced.\u00a0 \u201cGlad it\u2019s them in there and not me.\u00a0 Getting out of the library was bad enough.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Of course it\u2019s still standing.<\/em>\u00a0 \u201cWas it bad in there?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She shrugged, pushing to her feet and moving over to a bag that lay beneath the shade of our makeshift shelter\u2014shelter built, I realized, from stacked and pinned furniture from the dorms shoved up against one of the trees on this particular hill.\u00a0 From the bag, she produced a bottle of water and a package of crackers.\u00a0 I threw her a questioning glance and she smiled guiltily.\u00a0 \u201cWe sort of raided the C-store,\u201d she told me, pressing the crackers into my hand.\u00a0 \u201cRory said Jacqueline and I shouldn\u2019t freak out too much.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t help myself.\u00a0 \u201cAnd you listened?\u201d\u00a0 I unwrapped the crackers.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s not looting if everyone else is dead, right?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I stopped, almost choking on the cracker I\u2019d just shoved into my mouth.\u00a0 Carolyn scrambled to uncap the water bottle and thrust it toward me.\u00a0 I gulped some down, coughed a little, then downed some more before I regained the ability to speak\u2014or sputter, as it were.\u00a0 \u201cDid you just\u2026?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She shrugged again, not making eye contact with me.\u00a0 \u201cWe all realize that something\u2019s gone terribly, horribly wrong, Marin.\u00a0 It\u2019s the end, isn\u2019t it?\u201d\u00a0 She finally looked me in the eye.\u00a0 \u201cLike what you used to talk about sometimes with Kellin and Drew and Rory, the stuff you told me I could ignore.\u00a0 The stuff you used to see.\u00a0 That stuff.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My breath caught in my throat and I thought I would just fall over onto the mattress again right then and there.\u00a0 Was she actually saying this?\u00a0 Our Carolyn?\u00a0 Our<\/em> Carolyn?\u00a0 She was the only one we\u2019d tried to shelter more than anyone else.\u00a0 She was the one that we\u2019d agreed maybe couldn\u2019t handle the strain of knowing, of learning\u2014and yet, she\u2019d been the safe<\/em> one, even more than Jacqueline or Davon, because she wouldn\u2019t ask\u2014Davon just thought we were all crazy, I was fairly certain, and Jacqueline would have started asking questions that we weren\u2019t ready to answer.\u00a0 But Davon didn\u2019t understand\u2014not yet\u2014and we were going to have to sort out a way to tell Jacqueline without accidentally breaking her.\u00a0 It wouldn\u2019t be easy, but they would eventually accept it.\u00a0 They wouldn\u2019t deny it.\u00a0 Not like\u2026<\/em>\u00a0 I stopped the thought before it got rolling.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Carolyn grimaced and started to stand up.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m going to go find Kellin.\u00a0 She said I should when you woke up.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I held up a hand to forestall her departure.\u00a0 \u201cCarolyn, wait.\u201d\u00a0 I scrubbed my hand over my eyes, crackers half forgotten in my lap, bottle of water locked in the other hand.\u00a0 My head was slowly clearing\u2014too slow for my comfort.\u00a0 I took another gulp of water.\u00a0 \u201cHow\u2026how do you know?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She shrugged a little again, sinking down to kneel in front of me.\u00a0 \u201cJust a feeling, I guess.\u00a0 Everything feels like the end of the world, anyway.\u201d\u00a0 She frowned, fidgeting a little.\u00a0 \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t, someone would\u2019ve made it to us by now, anyway.\u00a0 We\u2019d have seen something.\u201d\u00a0 She bit her lip.\u00a0 \u201cI just\u2026I know, Marin.\u00a0 And you know, too.\u00a0 It\u2019s all over your face, and Rory\u2019s and Kel\u2019s and Drew\u2019s.\u00a0 You all know it.\u201d\u00a0 She rocked up to her feet.\u00a0 \u201cBetter walking into whatever comes next with open eyes rather than denying it until I stop breathing.\u201d\u00a0 She managed a smile.\u00a0 \u201cTrying to look at it like a big adventure.\u00a0 I can think of worse teams to get stuck on.\u00a0 Drink your water.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to get Kellin.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I nodded mutely, unable to contain my shock.\u00a0 Our Carolyn indeed.\u00a0 Never saw that coming.<\/em>\u00a0 I drank my water, trying to slow down\u2014gulping it wasn\u2019t going to do me any good.\u00a0 Is this how it\u2019s going to be?\u00a0 They\u2019ll just start\u2026waking up before we\u2019ve had the time to properly prepare them?\u00a0 <\/em>I grimaced.\u00a0 Maybe that was why Kellin had been so insistent on talking to me quickly after I woke up.\u00a0 I suspected it was otherwise, though.\u00a0 She\u2019d have other things to pick my brain about.\u00a0 I\u2019d be the one to bring up the others waking up to the abilities we knew that they must have.\u00a0 Another Thom isn\u2019t going to help anyone in this situation.<\/em>\u00a0 I winced, hugging my knee against my chest.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cOne was enough,\u201d I mumbled to myself.\u00a0 \u201cDavon will probably deny it, too, though.\u00a0 Maybe.\u201d\u00a0 I rested my forehead against my knee and sighed.\u00a0 He probably would, at that.\u00a0 At least at first.\u00a0 But maybe he wouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 We\u2019d have to see.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There were a lot of things we\u2019d have to see.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cUngh.\u201d\u00a0 My limbs felt like jelly and my feet were on fire.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t sure how long I\u2019d been out; all I knew was that whatever I was on was mostly soft, there was a pillow, and I was … 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":[4,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chapter-02","category-day-zero"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-23","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127","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=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}