It took a while for sights and sounds to filter through. For Lexi to stop shaking, for the acrid stench of smoke to stop burning her throat. Eventually she realized Clara - yes, Clara, not anyone else, there isn't anyone else, not a fresh-faced boy so full of hope and determination it broke her heart, just Clara, no smoke or bodies or blood, just Clara - was still next to her.
"Yeah," she croaked, weakly pushing herself up, shaking her head. She grimaced and tried for a little laugh. It didn't come out well. "Yeah. Must be something I ate..."
Which wasn't true at all, but it was the only explanation, short of a brain aneurysm, she could come up with.