{"id":330,"date":"2011-06-22T00:00:08","date_gmt":"2011-06-22T04:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=330"},"modified":"2011-06-22T00:00:08","modified_gmt":"2011-06-22T04:00:08","slug":"day-3-chapter-7-04","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=330","title":{"rendered":"Day 3 – Chapter 7 – 04"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Morning had worn away into early afternoon by the time J.T. came back to camp, his sweatshirt wrapped into some kind of bundle, cradled in his big arms.\u00a0 Jacqueline blinked, pausing in her supply-sorting to watch him.\u00a0 Did he find a baby or something?\u00a0 God, I don\u2019t know how we\u2019d take care of a baby.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to take care of the injured already, but a baby?\u00a0 That\u2019d be a disaster.<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 J.T. spotted her and made a beeline toward her.\u00a0 \u201cJac!\u00a0 Do we have any baskets?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cBaskets?\u201d\u00a0 She stood up, tried to peer into the squirming bundle in his arms, to see what he was carrying.\u00a0 She half expected a tiny fist to pop out from within the folds of the black hoodie.\u00a0 She wasn\u2019t far from right.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The bundle mewed<\/em>.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Her eyes widened.\u00a0 \u201cA cat?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAnd three kittens,\u201d J.T. said.\u00a0 \u201cTheir eyes are all open, but they\u2019re still little.\u00a0 Do you have a basket or not?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYeah, of course.\u00a0 One minute.\u201d\u00a0 She darted over toward the small cube of furniture and the mattress she\u2019d claimed and dug around in her rescued possessions, coming up with a wide basket.\u00a0 She balled up a soft towel and shoved it into the bottom of the basket before heading back to J.T. and setting the basket down.\u00a0 \u201cHere, put them in there.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 J.T. crouched and settled the sleek, dark-furred feline and her three kittens into the basket.\u00a0 The kittens mewled softly as their mother turned wide, bright green eyes toward J.T. and Jacqueline before she settled to grooming her litter, which settled down at the application of their mother\u2019s tongue.\u00a0 Jacqueline shook her head.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cHow did you find them?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 J.T. pointed to the cat.\u00a0 \u201cShe found me.\u201d\u00a0 He swung the backpack he was wearing off his shoulders and settled it on the ground.\u00a0 It clinked softly as he did and Jacqueline looked at him funny.\u00a0 \u201cGlass,\u201d he explained.\u00a0 \u201cWas cleaning some bottles we found when the cat just\u2026showed up.\u00a0 Just started rubbing up against me and purring and then she started meowing at me and wouldn\u2019t stop.\u00a0 Ended up following her to her kittens.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t want to just leave them out there, so I brought them back.\u201d\u00a0 He reached down and scratched the cat\u2019s ear.\u00a0 She purred, green eyes sliding shut for a moment as she rubbed against his big finger, then she resumed grooming her kittens.\u00a0 \u201cShe might have been someone\u2019s pet,\u201d J.T. said.\u00a0 \u201cOf course, she could have been one of the ferals that runs around out there, but she seemed too friendly for that.\u00a0 Clean, too.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jacqueline frowned a little, staring at the cat and her kittens.\u00a0 She experimentally reached to pet the cat, who startled, looking at her for a moment, then returned to what she had been doing.\u00a0 She stroked the cat\u2019s back for a moment, then looked at J.T.\u00a0 \u201cI think you\u2019re right.\u00a0 How are we supposed to take care of them, too, though?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 J.T. shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sure at some point they\u2019ll take care of themselves.\u00a0 They\u2019re animals with instincts.\u00a0 In the meantime, I\u2019ll go hike up to the store.\u00a0 They had a pet aisle.\u00a0 There\u2019s food.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now we have pets.\u00a0 Three days after what might have been the end of the world, and we have pets.\u00a0 <\/em>Jacqueline choked on a laugh and shook her head.\u00a0 \u201cI guess you\u2019re right.\u00a0 Who knows, if we\u2019re lucky they\u2019ll start bringing us squirrels to eat.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He cracked a smile.\u00a0 \u201cI hear it tastes pretty good.\u201d\u00a0 He rubbed his belly.\u00a0 \u201cMm.\u00a0 Squirrel gumbo.\u201d\u00a0 He glanced over toward the fire.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026what the hell do you have Thom doing over there?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s making blankets out of the fleece that Tala and Leah brought back from looting the fabric store.\u00a0 They said there\u2019s a lot of stuff still in there that we\u2019ll be able to use.\u00a0 They just couldn\u2019t carry it all and really didn\u2019t want to try.\u00a0 Tomorrow we\u2019ll send a larger group with some of those dollies we got from the hardware store.\u201d\u00a0 Jacqueline grinned.\u00a0 \u201cTheir way of making sure he stayed useful if he couldn\u2019t get up and walk around.\u00a0 All he\u2019s really got to use are his hands.\u201d\u00a0 She glanced toward the medical supplies she was sorting into bins.\u00a0 \u201cYou want to give me a hand with this?\u00a0 Two sets of hands\u2019ll make short work of it.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 J.T. nodded and picked up one of the bags full of drugs and ace bandages they\u2019d looted from the grocery store up the road.\u00a0 \u201cHeard they found some horses after I left.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYeah, southwest of campus.\u00a0 They brought them back here.\u00a0 Stasia just left to go check out the dairy that\u2019s further south.\u00a0 If the folks there are still alive, she said she\u2019d try to bring them back, but I think she was just saying that.\u00a0 Anyone who\u2019d have been there probably died at church, being good Calvinists and all.\u201d\u00a0 Jacqueline\u2019s nose wrinkled for a moment and she touched the cross around her neck.\u00a0 If it had happened later in the day, or on Saturday, I might have died at Mass.<\/em>\u00a0 \u201cSorry,\u201d she murmured.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 J.T. shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cWho the hell do you<\/em> think you\u2019re offending?\u00a0 You\u2019re the good Christian around here.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jacqueline took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly.\u00a0 It was true\u2014she was<\/em> the good Christian, and Catholic to boot.\u00a0 It was strange; most of her friends were irreverent Christians at best, most of them actually adherent to other faiths if they were adherent to anything at all, their personal religions indefinable.\u00a0 She tossed a box of pills into one of the totes.\u00a0 \u201cYou know one of the groups around here was screaming about Revelations about two weeks ago, when the news about this asteroid broke.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cReally?\u201d\u00a0 J.T. looked at her strangely.\u00a0 \u201cI didn\u2019t think you really believed any of that.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I didn\u2019t until I met Marin.\u00a0 Then I started to wonder a little.\u00a0 If she has the gift of prophecy, maybe John of Patmos did, too.\u00a0 <\/em>She shrugged a little.\u00a0 \u201cI was never sure what to think about Revelations.\u00a0 But you have to admit, the whole asteroid thing would fit.\u201d\u00a0 She wet her lips.\u00a0 \u201cAfter I heard them screaming about it, I looked up what they were talking about.\u00a0 It\u2019s the prophecy about the angels.\u00a0 The first angel blew its horn and fire and blood rained down from the sky.\u00a0 The second angel blew its horn and a mountain fell into the sea, blazing with fire.\u00a0 And then the third angel blew its horn and a star called Wormwood fell from the sky to the Earth.\u201d\u00a0 She took a deep, steadying breath.\u00a0 \u201cAll of those could describe the asteroid and its fragments, if Matt\u2019s right and that\u2019s what came down, what caused all of this.\u201d\u00a0 Her hand tightened, crushing the thin cardboard box around another vial of pills.\u00a0 \u201cBut if it is, then this is\u2026I don\u2019t know what.\u00a0 The last great suffering?\u00a0 Is that what it is?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 J.T. just stared at her for a few long moments before he reached out to gently touch her arm.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know, Jac,\u201d he said finally, voice quiet.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe it\u2019s another Flood.\u00a0 Cleaning the slate.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know\u2014couldn\u2019t hope to guess.\u00a0 Neither can you.\u00a0 I\u2019ll tell you what I do know, though.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve got each other and that\u2019s just about the only thing that matters right now.\u00a0 If there\u2019s a God out there somewhere, I\u2019m not sure he can help us now.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Her stomach twisted, more because she was afraid he was right than because of what he\u2019d said, his questioning of her faith.\u00a0 What if he\u2019s right?\u00a0 What if we\u2019re really on our own?\u00a0 What if there\u2019s no one out there, up there, watching over us?\u00a0 What then?<\/em>\u00a0 She looked down at the crushed box in her hand and chewed her lip.\u00a0 J.T. squeezed her arm.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s going to be okay,\u201d he said quietly.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve got each other, all of us.\u00a0 I\u2019m not much one for believing in higher powers\u2014you know that\u2014but if there\u2019s one out there, I think whoever or whatever it is made sure that we had a team that could make it through this.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 God help us.\u00a0 <\/em>She couldn\u2019t look at him.\u00a0 \u201cYou think so?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He squeezed again.\u00a0 \u201cI know it.\u00a0 Why the hell else would we have all gotten to be friends, huh?\u201d\u00a0 He smirked.\u00a0 \u201cYou guys aren\u2019t really my type of crowd, after all.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jacqueline started to laugh helplessly.\u00a0 Punk-rocking, troublemaking, drinking, swearing, once-upon-a-time pot-smoking J.T., coupled with too serious for his own good Thom as a best friend, coupled with her goody-goody backside, Marin\u2019s struggle to find her own brand of faith, and all the rest.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 No, if there hadn\u2019t been something guiding them all together, the whole of them, this never would have happened. \u00a0They never would have become friends, become close.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If she\u2019d ever needed proof that there was something out there, working behind the scenes, she\u2019d had it all along.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThanks, Jay,\u201d she murmured.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cNo problem.\u00a0 \u2018course, if you tell anyone I said any of that, I might have to kill you.\u201d\u00a0 He grinned and winked at her.\u00a0 She laughed and hugged him.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019ve got good friends.\u00a0 We\u2019ll make it through this, somehow, whether God\u2019s abandoned us or not.\u00a0 He <\/em>did give us this team.\u00a0 It\u2019s up to us to make the best of what He gave us to work with.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Morning had worn away into early afternoon by the time J.T. came back to camp, his sweatshirt wrapped into some kind of bundle, cradled in his big arms.\u00a0 Jacqueline blinked, pausing in her supply-sorting to watch him.\u00a0 Did he … 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":[9,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chapter-7","category-day-3"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-5k","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330","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=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}