HOLY shit guess who woke up at like 3 am this morning because the earth was shaking. If you’re reading this from the west coast, probably you!!!
I woke up in a total haze, some primal thing in my brain already prepared to fucking run for it. Like I thought that the earth quake we had last week was crazy? No. Last week was nothing.
Luckily no one depends on me to be the even minded one around here. Julian had already grabbed me by the shoulder and was dragging me towards the door before I even understood what was happening. We were a floor off the ground, and one look at the swaying staircase was enough to prevent any dumb ideas about running for the parking lot. We stood there in the doorframe, shivering in the cold night air, watching the cars shift over the rippling pavement.
It lasted an entire two minutes. We were still standing in the doorway, dazed, waiting to be certain that it was over when all three of our phones started blowing up.
The Hawthornes exchanged a look over my head, and we all collectively realized Something had Happened.
Neal reached his phone first. “I’ve got Lana,” he said.
“I have the Walthers,” Julian said.
“Rook,” I said, picking up. “Hey.”
“Shiloh?” His reception was a little scratchy. “Did you guys feel it?”
“Yeah,” I said. The boys were on the phone too, and I had to stick my finger in my ear to hear him.
“Are you all okay?” Rook asked.
“We’re fine,” I assured him. “You guys?”
“Yeah,” Rook said. “It wasn’t so bad where we are.”
And the thing is that I thought we had it pretty bad, but I was wrong. Julian turned on the TV and already there was footage of the fucking DESTRUCTION in Northern California.
“Oh my god,” I said, and when Rook asked what was wrong, I switched to FaceTime to show him the news.
“Shiloh is that Rook?” Neal asked. He’d already hung up with Lana, and was gesturing for my phone. I passed it to him, and started throwing our shit in bags to get us out the door and when I got my phone back Rook said, “It sounds like we’ll see you in a couple days.”
“What happened?” I asked, and Neal answered.
“Remember Infirmament’s great snake?”
I nodded.
“It woke up.”
We’ve been in the car for an hour. The phones are ringing off the hook. Early information says that this thing moved, which created a small, local earthquake, which triggered a much bigger earthquake, which was what we felt last week. And then that must have triggered an even bigger quake?
Like, I’m glad San Francisco and the most populace areas of the Bay Area were spared, so we’re not seeing any sky scrapers falling or anything. But there have already been fires and landslides. According to Lana, Infirmament is fucking LEVELED.
None of us knows what the snake is up to. None of us knows where it is, just that it’s deep underground.
Neal finally just talked to Celeste. It was very stiff and awkward, I could tell from Neal’s tone, but she’s coming, and she’s bringing backup.