{"id":4298,"date":"2020-05-06T11:42:56","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T15:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4298"},"modified":"2020-05-06T11:42:56","modified_gmt":"2020-05-06T15:42:56","slug":"four-06-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4298","title":{"rendered":"Four – 06"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Matt looked away, staring off into the trees for a few seconds. He took one breath, then another, exhaling slowly.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you going to tell me?\u201d Hecate asked softly. \u201cThe whole story? The truth?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe truth,\u201d Matt echoed, his voice as quiet as hers. \u201cYeah. Yeah, I\u2019ll tell you as much as I know about it, anyway. The first time she ever mentioned seeing something<\/em> out there was right after it happened and I brushed it off\u2014it was months before the end, I think. Can\u2019t remember exactly when. She\u2019d been out hiking with Thom and Drew and it was at night so I figured they\u2019d just imagined it all, you know? Those ravines made it easy, especially back then\u2014now we\u2019re always sure there could be things down there. Back then? Back then, the most we ever thought we had to worry about was heart attack deer and the occasional snapping turtle or angry squirrel, maybe a woodchuck. That was what we had to contend with. Then spooky stuff started to come out of the woodwork, starting with the camazotzi<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMonths before everything started,\u201d Hecate said. \u201cHow did it happen?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt chased them, I guess,\u201d Matt said, then sighed. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long time since she told me the story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDid Thom ever tell it, too?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly once,\u201d Matt said. \u201cThat was a long time ago, too. It wasn\u2019t something we talked much about. I guess it was just\u2014it was just traumatic. Then thinking about why they had been here before even Cariocecus showed up and pointed them at us\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen he wasn\u2019t the first one,\u201d Hecate interrupted. \u201cSomething else pulled their strings first.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd a lot of things have pulled their strings after,\u201d Matt said evenly. \u201cIt\u2019s nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat if it\u2019s not?\u201d She shook her head slightly. \u201cWhat does your gut say, Matt?\u201d<\/p>\n

He closed his eyes, swallowing hard. \u201cThat there\u2019s been a target painted on our backs for longer than we ever realized. That we were lucky that it\u2019s been so quiet for so long, treaty or no treaty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we\u2019re of a mind on that,\u201d she said, then stroked his cheek. \u201cWe\u2019ll get through it. We\u2019ve gotten through everything else somehow. We\u2019ll get through this, too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] Matt looked away, staring off into the trees for a few seconds. He took one breath, then another, exhaling slowly. \u201cAre you going to tell me?\u201d Hecate asked softly. \u201cThe whole story? … 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":[336,337,346,14],"tags":[340,150,171,170,194,181,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-4298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ambrose-cycle","category-book-8","category-chapter-04-book-8","category-story","tag-ambrose-cycle","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-17k","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4298","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=4298"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4299,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4298\/revisions\/4299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}