Chapter Text
He's the first.
Tim is the first to wake up, and he's sitting there looking at the bodies scattered around him. A gravel road acts as a bed to the unconscious, a wooded area surrounding them. Not once in his life did Tim think that a feeling of calmness would be so unsettling. Is this the ark? What happened? The last thing he remembers is.... He swallows hard at the thought and rubs the side of his head as he continues to look at the bodies. One in particular makes his eyes freeze. Just laying to the left of him a few feet away, Jay's flat on his stomach, and his face is pointing away from Tim. Tim watches for any sign of breathing, his mind going blank. Although his vision is kind of dizzy, he finally sees Jay's body exhaling. Tim quickly moves to his side.
Before he can shake him, something catches his eye. He looks up and there at the edge of the wood is some kind of white figure. It doesn't make him tremble or cough. It isn't the familiar, suit-wearing, white, faceless creature he'd seen all his life. It's a little kid with a face, and everything about them is just white. Ghost-like, really. There even seems to be white wisps coming off of it. They aren't wearing clothes from any recent time. It's plain cloth with some patch work done on it. What is it? Is it an angel? Is it just what it looks like? A ghost?
Who knows how long Tim kept eye contact with the little kid but he never felt afraid, nor did he feel like running. He only feels warmth and....and hope? Memories of being busy at work and chatting with co-workers and leading as normal of a life as he could have flash in his mind. He finally snaps back to reality and makes a curious face at the child. The little one merely smiles sweetly and gives a little wave as it slowly disappears back into the woods just like smoke. There's some kind of ringing in his ears. No, wait. It's more like a screeching noise coming from far in the woods.
Blinking a few times, his attention is back to Jay, who has not moved in the least bit."......Jay?", he can only say softly and he shakes his shoulder a little bit. "Jay come on, buddy, wake up!" His voice is much louder and urgent now. Tim moves to the other side of Jay in order to flip him over and see that there is no bullet wound or any blood in sight, yet he's wearing the exact clothes from that day.
Tim pats Jay's cheek a few times,"Jay, please wake up!" And with that, Jay's face scrunches up a bit and a small groan can be heard. Green-blue eyes slowly open and blink away the fog. They're greeted by the smallest yet most genuine smile Tim has made in the longest time.
"Tim?", he croaks out, "What the hell?" Jay slowly sits up and rubs at his eyes. It takes him a few seconds to realize he's not in pain. He looks down at his side, no blood nor bullet. "What the....."
"Yeah, I know....... but I don't really know what's happening right now." Jay looks at him and merely glances at the scenery before freezing as he sees the other bodies.
"Tim....."
"Yeah, they're all there. First things first though, are you feeling okay? Is there anything feeling kind of off or anything?"
"Besides the actual clarity in my head? No, nothing seems hurt or anything." Jay holds his side as he glances at Jessica.
"Come on, we'll get her next." Tim helps Jay up off the ground and they quickly head to Jessica's side. Jay gets there more quickly than Tim. He shakes her shoulder and calls out her name. Jessica's much faster to react than Jay was. She takes a deep breath and pushes herself off the ground a little bit so she can move her head around. Jay smiles and helps her sit up and clear her head. Tim glances around making sure none of the other bodies have waken up by themselves.
".....Jay?" She says as she rubs at the spots on her face that were being jabbed by rocks. "What's going on?"
Wait.... She remembers him?..... What else does she remember?
"I'm not sure, I just woke up like mere minutes ago. Are you alright?" The two continue to do a small check between the other. Tim stands there in silence, catching the actual joy in Jay's voice. He finally found her, whether or not they're safe is another question, but this is still a big step for Jay. Will he ever find out about Tim keeping her from him? No. Tim will tell him. He's done with keeping all of this in. Tim gazes on, looking at each body for signs of life. Luckily, he can see they were all breathing.
"Tim?" They're now both at his side and he doesn't even jump at the interruption of his thoughts.
"Split up and get the others. Check if they're okay and tell them that it'll be alright and it'll all be explained later. No one touch Alex or Brian, though." The other two nod and Jessica goes for Amy and Jay goes for Seth. Tim stands there for a few seconds just looking at the sight. He steps towards Sarah and begins to gently wake her up.
He's answered with a groan, and Sarah swats at his hand on her arm. "Just tell them I'm sick" she mumbles out, and Tim can't help but think 'you have no idea'. Then again, it feels different, like Jay said. His head is more clear. So maybe Tim has no idea, either. This only added to the confusion as the image of the little ghost child popped back into his mind.
Tim sighs and shakes Sarah's shoulder once more, "Sarah, you need to get up, come on." Her eyebrows furrow as she opens her eyes.
"What the fuck?" She sits up and looks down at the gravel and as she examines the area her eyes widen and land on Tim last......"uh...."
"Yeah, its a weird situation but first, do you feel okay? No pain or anything?" This only causes her eyes to widen even more andto kind of lean away from Tim. It only occurs to him now that he doesn't actually know how she died. He wonders if she does.
"Not that I know of? Tim, where are we?" She peers around once again to see that Amy and Jessica are now hugging and Seth just now starts to open his eyes.
"It'll all be explained don't worry. Just uh.... just hold on for a moment and when everyone's up and awake then I'll try to explain everything, alright?" She relaxes slowly, but just barely. Her only answer is with a small nod. "Great."