{"id":2651,"date":"2015-10-23T00:00:10","date_gmt":"2015-10-23T04:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2651"},"modified":"2015-10-22T19:52:33","modified_gmt":"2015-10-22T23:52:33","slug":"eighteen-01-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2651","title":{"rendered":"Eighteen – 01"},"content":{"rendered":"

It hurt<\/em>, a gnawing, twisting pain in his back. Next to him, Cameron swayed in his saddle, looking pale, either from shock or blood loss.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re going to kill us,<\/em> Thom thought bleakly, gripping his saddle pommel with a white-knuckled grip. They\u2019re absolutely going to kill us.<\/em> He stared at Seamus\u2019s back, watched the former master of the Wild Hunt shift gingerly on his mount\u2019s back.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou still haven\u2019t told us what those were, Seamus,\u201d Thom rasped, gingerly probing his side. The makeshift bandages he and J.T. had wound around his chest were tight, pressing hard against where claws had raked across his back on the right hand side, scoring flesh, his ribs and reflexes the only things that saving him from being hurt much, much worse. \u201cNever mind how and why they tracked us down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had an answer to the latter, I\u2019d give it to you,\u201d Seamus said wearily, glancing back over his shoulder toward Thom and Cameron. J.T. was bringing up the rear, weary but largely unhurt after their close encounter with shadow-birthed monsters of some variety or another. \u201cAs for the former, I assume that shadowspawn<\/em> isn\u2019t explanation enough?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor now it is,\u201d Thom said. \u201cBut it won\u2019t be forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seamus made a soft sound, shifting again in his saddle. They were pretty sure his arm and a few ribs were broken, despite his insistence that his ribs, at least, were just fine. Thom knew a lie about that kind of thing when he heard it, considering how many times the same lie had passed his own lips.<\/p>\n

He was pretty sure that J.T. knew it was bullshit, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow much further is it?\u201d Cameron asked quietly.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot far,\u201d Thom assured him. \u201cNot too much farther.\u201d He glanced sidelong at his friend. \u201cAre you going to make it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to, don\u2019t I?\u201d<\/p>\n

The smile Cameron shot him was a death\u2019s head grin. Thom grimaced.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not much farther,\u201d he said again, and hoped against hope that they found a home still safe and secure when they got there.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t think that was too much to hope for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It hurt, a gnawing, twisting pain in his back. Next to him, Cameron swayed in his saddle, looking pale, either from shock or blood loss. They\u2019re going to kill us, Thom thought bleakly, gripping his saddle pommel with a white-knuckled … 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":[124,153,14],"tags":[150,161,160,149,148,159,147,158,146],"class_list":["post-2651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-18-book-5","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-cameron-mackenzie","tag-j-t-mackenzie","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-seamus-vaughan","tag-serial-fiction","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-GL","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651","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=2651"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2652,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651\/revisions\/2652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}