Awake

Chapter Thirty-Five - A Place Worth Guarding

Nigs woke Carmen up in the early hours of the morning, shaking her awake mercilessly.

"Go 'way," she batted at him vaguely. "Sleeping."

"Yeah? Well I've been on watch for hours and it's your turn. Get up and give me your sleeping bag."

With a groan, Carmen crawled out of the thin, slippery sack and slithered across the cold concrete till she rested against the wall. She tucked one arm under her head and let her eyes close again, yawning deeply.

"Don't you dare fall asleep!" Nigs punched her in the stomach so hard that she was forced to sit up with a cry of pain. "You're on watch, remember? Don't be feeble."

Carmen grumbled as she hauled herself upright, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. It wasn't exactly dark where they were, but there was something beyond human about the way the shadows looked once the lights had dimmed for the night. At least the uneasiness they caused helped her wake up properly.

"Anything happen?" she asked through another yawn.

"No," Nigs was already curling up inside the sleeping back. "Shut up now. You'll wake Kevin."

"He's deep asleep," Carmen stretched until her bones cracked. "I guess I'm up for the day, yes?"

Nigs ignored the question. "I told you to shut up. Some of us want to sleep."

"Yes," Carmen replied. "They do. And yet, somehow, they're not being given permission."

"I've done my shift," Nigs mumbled. "It's your turn to sit against a freezing cold wall in the dark until you get pins and needles. I'm getting some rest."

"And they say chivalry is dead," Carmen sighed, regretfully.

Nigs was silent and Carmen heard his breathing deepen. How did he do it? She hadn't thought people possessed the ability to fall asleep so fast, even in the most uncomfortable of circumstances. And yet Nigs seemed able to just close his eyes and be gone, no matter how hard the floor was or what girl was pushing him off a bunk.

  Carmen entertained herself for a while by idly imagining a series of experiments in which she tested this unnatural superpower. Could he fall asleep upside-down? Half-submerged in water? Lying on a bed of hot coals? But such poor amusements soon run thin when you're uncomfortably aware of how much that shadow over to your left looks like a wolf with outstretched claws.

"Ah, Dios mio," Carmen grumbled.

Her knowledge of languages was extensive but restricted. If you wanted someone to swear, scream for help or deliver threats, Carmen knew a few options in every dialect she could think of. If you wanted directions or to order a meal or make romantic advances, you were looking at the wrong girl.

 It was funny how much this place made her think of the island where she'd grown up. Maybe part of it was how everyone was calling her Carmen again. But there was more to it than that. The separation from her old life was making it more potent. Now that she was far away, now that everything was more or less unreal, her mind didn't seem to fear her deep past the way it once had.