{"id":569,"date":"2011-08-31T00:00:19","date_gmt":"2011-08-31T04:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=569"},"modified":"2011-08-31T00:00:19","modified_gmt":"2011-08-31T04:00:19","slug":"day-10-chapter-9-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=569","title":{"rendered":"Day 10 – Chapter 9 – 13"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 All he could think was that they weren\u2019t supposed to die here.\u00a0 This wasn\u2019t right, it wasn\u2019t their time.\u00a0 J.T. held Carolyn tight against his chest, teeth grating at the shrieking sound.\u00a0 The creature that leapt at them hit something solid, then rebounded, claws scraping against the sidewalk.\u00a0 It hissed, low and threatening, glaring at them with red and gold glinting in its marble-like eyes.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what it hit, but I\u2019m glad it did.<\/em>\u00a0 He glanced at Drew.\u00a0 Maybe it was something he\u2019d done?
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A gray mist started rising all around them, cold, cloying, carrying the scent of dirt, dying flowers, and freshly cut grass.\u00a0 J.T.\u2019s skin prickled and he held Carolyn tighter against him.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cNow what?\u201d\u00a0 He muttered.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The mist closed around them, feeling momentarily more like a shield and embrace than sudden weather.\u00a0 Carolyn stiffened and Drew\u2019s eyes popped open as the mist thickened around them to impenetrable gray-white.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhat is this?\u201d\u00a0 Carolyn gasped quietly, fingers digging into J.T.\u2019s arm.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A shrieking, keening sound echoed through the mist, lancing through them down to the very marrow of their bones.\u00a0 They all heard a wet, crunching sound to their left, followed by a roar that cut off abruptly, as if sliced by a knife.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The image of a bone-white face swam up out of the mist in front of J.T.\u00a0 Washed-out lips parted and a voice whispered, \u201cRun.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He didn\u2019t recognize the fact right away, but he knew the voice.\u00a0 Constance Baile.\u00a0 They\u2019d done the greenshows last year together, when he\u2019d played Othello and Titus Andronicus and Caesar.\u00a0 He sucked in a breath.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Constance was dead.\u00a0 They\u2019d found her body that first day and buried her with the rest, at one end of the trench nearest to the theatre.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cRun,\u201d the voice repeated, a little more urgently, then the face disappeared into the mist.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 J.T.\u2019s heart started again.\u00a0 He spun, bringing Carolyn around with him, shouting hoarsely to Drew.\u00a0 \u201cMove!\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Carolyn stumbled the first few steps, gasping in pain, and J.T. scooped her up and threw her across his shoulder.\u00a0 She started to protest, then went silent as their footsteps pounded over the pavement, the mist thickening behind them into mottled gray and black even as it thinned ahead.\u00a0 The shadow creatures howled in frustration and rage.\u00a0 The wind-shriek sound died away as they made it to the base of the clocktower, the mist clinging to them only in bare tendrils.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhat was that?\u201d\u00a0 Drew gasped, half hunching over with hands on his knees to catch his breath as J.T. let Carolyn down on the lawn beyond the clocktower.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d\u00a0 J.T. shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI really don\u2019t know and I\u2019m not really sure I want to find out.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 An angry sound echoed from the dip they\u2019d fled from.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Shit.<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI think we need to keep running,\u201d Carolyn said, grasping J.T.\u2019s arm again.\u00a0 Her gaze flicked toward Drew, who\u2019d straightened at the sound.\u00a0 \u201cWill we be safe if we make it to the others?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI think so.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 J.T. looked back at the mist behind them, which twisted and roiled, flashes of shadow and red sometimes visible at the edges.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s move.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They\u2019d run about four steps before something shot upward out of the mist, black and red and howling angrily.\u00a0 The mist seemed to shriek and J.T.\u2019s heart slammed against his ribs.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What the hell is all of this?\u00a0 The mist, the monsters?\u00a0 It\u2019s like we\u2019ve stumbled into a real-life LARP with killer special effects.<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The angry howl of the shadow creature came closer and he quit sparing the time to think, he just ran.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They might have gone too far around, looping up around the shattered buildings along the campus\u2019s main drag rather than trying to cut between ruins and the ravine to get back to the camp.\u00a0 The creature was gaining on them, launching on updrafts, ink-black wings spread against the sky.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The mist was chasing, too, spreading in wisps and tendrils, but the creature stayed well above its reach.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 J.T. could\u2019ve sworn that he saw faces in the mist, angry, screaming.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hunting, like the shadow-creature chasing them.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They rounded the corner of fallen Mackinac Hall, Drew scrambling over the edge of the rubble and almost falling.\u00a0 J.T. grabbed his arm and pulled him straight again as he ran past, Carolyn still gripping his other hand.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The creature behind bellowed wordlessly, almost in challenge, the sound echoing off trees and ruins.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAlmost there,\u201d Drew panted.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Just beyond the edge of camp, they passed through a wall of some kind, one that J.T. had never been aware of before.\u00a0 It felt like he\u2019d just run through a wall of water.\u00a0 Whatever that was, that\u2019s why Drew thinks we\u2019ll be safe.<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He moved a few meters further, then spun around, letting go of Carolyn\u2019s hand, turning back to look at the creature chasing them.\u00a0 It kept coming, diving toward them.\u00a0 J.T. tried to push Carolyn behind him.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If Drew\u2019s wrong, we\u2019re as good as dead.<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The creature shrieked in pain as it crossed the point where J.T. had felt the wall, but instead of stopping, it crashed into the ground, skidding a little ways beyond it toward J.T., Carolyn, and Drew.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cDammit,\u201d Drew cursed.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cCarolyn, run,\u201d J.T. whispered, not daring to look back.\u00a0 \u201cGet to the tent and get help, we\u2019ll hold it here.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She never had time to move.\u00a0 The thing was starting to pick itself up on the ground, hissing.\u00a0 It was bleeding, though, red-black dripping down its face, from one wing, but it disappeared before it ever hit the ground.\u00a0 It bared its teeth at the two men, growling.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Then the mist came.\u00a0 It swirled in, crossing the invisible line with little more than a shudder, then wrapped itself around the creature.\u00a0 J.T. swore he saw its eyes widen for a brief moment, then the mist closed fully around it.\u00a0 A howl started to rise, then cut off abruptly.\u00a0 The mist was sucked backwards, like a backdraft in reverse, and the creature was gone, only the marks in the turf from its landing suggesting that it had even been there.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re not strong enough to fight this yet,\u201d<\/em> a voice whispered to J.T.\u00a0 Constance\u2019s voice again.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A shudder ran through him.\u00a0 Carolyn\u2019s fingers slid into his.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIs it over?\u201d\u00a0 She whispered.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 J.T. shook his head a little.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe, for today, anyway.\u201d\u00a0 He swallowed hard, looking at her, then at Drew.\u00a0 \u201cWhat was it?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Drew looked back at him and shook his head slowly.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot to talk about.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Something tells me I was a lot happier when I was just believing in Marin and the others.<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Carolyn\u2019s fingers tightened around his and she gave him a brave smile.\u00a0 He smiled back.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cHey guys,\u201d Leah said from behind them.\u00a0 \u201cEverything okay?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Drew looked at her and started to laugh before he shook his head and headed back into the tents.\u00a0 Leah frowned, looking at Carolyn and J.T.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201c\u2026what\u2019s with him?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Carolyn smiled weakly.\u00a0 \u201cEverything\u2019s fine, Leah.\u201d\u00a0 She squeezed J.T.\u2019s hand.\u00a0 \u201cWe missed lunch.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to go get something, okay?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll come with you,\u201d J.T. said, then nodded to Leah.\u00a0 \u201cBe careful going for the water.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She grinned, nodding.\u00a0 \u201cAlways.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He watched her walk away with her bucket. \u00a0The sun was shining again, through the clouds.\u00a0 The mist was gone and all was quiet.\u00a0 He took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly.\u00a0 Carolyn tugged on his hand.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cComing,\u201d he murmured, turning back toward the tent.\u00a0 His fingers tightened around hers, and they headed back to the tent together.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 All he could think was that they weren\u2019t supposed to die here.\u00a0 This wasn\u2019t right, it wasn\u2019t their time.\u00a0 J.T. held Carolyn tight against his chest, teeth grating at the shrieking sound.\u00a0 The creature that leapt at them hit … 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":[25,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chapter-9","category-day-10"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-9b","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569","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=569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}