{"id":4152,"date":"2019-11-18T00:00:51","date_gmt":"2019-11-18T05:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4152"},"modified":"2019-11-17T18:42:37","modified_gmt":"2019-11-17T23:42:37","slug":"twenty-six-06-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4152","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-six – 06"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

The murmur of voices reached them before they reached the pool of light that surrounded the cookfire. Matt\u2019s heart grew a little heavier the closer he got, his stomach folding in on itself.<\/p>\n

I set us on this path. This was me.<\/em> It didn\u2019t matter that others had agreed with him, had decided this was a good idea to at least try<\/em>. It started with him, with his<\/em> idea, with his<\/em> assertion.<\/p>\n

Win or lose, succeed or fail, this is on me. No one else. Just me.<\/em><\/p>\n

He took a deep breath before they reached the edge of the firelight, exhaling it slowly and trying to center. It was at the same time easier and harder than he thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Eyes turned to them as he and Phelan came into the light. Everyone seemed tired, anxious. Matt couldn\u2019t blame them for that. He felt the same way.<\/p>\n

God, I hope we can get a little more rest before we march.<\/em><\/p>\n

He knew they wouldn\u2019t, though. There just wasn\u2019t going to be that kind of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d he said softly. \u201cLet\u2019s get down to it. Are the scouts here?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnselm\u2019s bringing them,\u201d Marin said quietly. \u201cIt won\u2019t be long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt nodded. \u201cOkay. Are we ready for this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNever,\u201d Cameron said, then smiled crookedly. \u201cBut that doesn\u2019t matter. It\u2019s a job and we have to do it. We don\u2019t have a choice. If we don\u2019t send a message then this shit doesn\u2019t end. I want to send a message.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMe too,\u201d Matt said, shoving his hands into his pockets. \u201cHard and fast. One you can\u2019t argue with. This needs to stop and it needs to stop now. It\u2019s been a year and I\u2019m tired of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all are,\u201d Jacqueline said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re all behind this. One way or another.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen let\u2019s get to work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] The murmur of voices reached them before they reached the pool of light that surrounded the cookfire. Matt\u2019s heart grew a little heavier the closer he got, his stomach folding in on … 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":[299,331,14],"tags":[150,161,171,170,174,152,181,149,173,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-4152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-7","category-chapter-26-book-7","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-cameron-mackenzie","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-jacqueline-bell","tag-marin-astoris","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-14Y","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4152","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=4152"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4153,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4152\/revisions\/4153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}