Burn Down, Rise Up: Parts Six–Seven

by Vincent Tirado
When people mysteriously disappear and her mother is attacked by an infectious patient, sixteen-year-old Raquel Celestin and her friends start an investigation that leads them to a dangerous game in the tunnels of the Bronx.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue–Part One, Parts Two–Three, Parts Four–Five, Parts Six–Seven
40 words 9 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. engrossed
    giving or marked by complete attention to
    They were facing each other, seemingly engrossed in conversation.
  2. errant
    moving in an uncontrolled, irregular, or unpredictable way
    Empty buses would drive by sparingly, and there would be a few errant taxis carrying a passenger here and there, but other than that, Hunts Point Avenue was a ghost town.
  3. cauterize
    burn, sear, or freeze using a hot iron or electric current
    The wound was cauterized as if whatever shot through him was literally on fire.
  4. ambiguity
    unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning
    Despite the consistent tunnel lighting, the darkness just about obscured the figure from the waist up.
    But there was no ambiguity about that corduroy jacket.
  5. insidious
    beguiling but harmful
    The train car light was warm and inviting, but I could still feel the insidiousness of it behind the automatic voice.
  6. discreet
    not easily noticeable
    I thought about how I was going to discreetly get the smell of gasoline out of my clothes before I got home, assuming I got home at all.
  7. traipse
    walk or tramp about
    You think you can just traipse in here, find your little girlfriend, your friends, and walk out of here scot-free?
  8. reverberate
    be reflected as heat, sound, or light or shock waves
    The motion reverberated back up my arms, almost cartoonish.
  9. petulant
    easily irritated or annoyed
    “I want her fingers,” the other girl said, petulant.
  10. labored
    requiring or showing effort
    The sound of my labored breathing drowned out the dull roar of Passengers.
  11. haphazardly
    in a random manner
    The rat, still squealing, plopped down on the ground and skittered around haphazardly as if it had no idea where it was going.
  12. imminent
    close in time; about to occur
    I felt the crushing hopelessness of imminent eviction along with the uncertainty of survival.
  13. guttural
    relating to or articulated in the throat
    He unhinged his jaw and let out the same guttural scream I heard in my dream, then stomped toward me.
  14. erratic
    liable to sudden unpredictable change
    If he knew how nervous his erratic movements made me, he didn’t show it.
  15. indifferent
    showing no care or concern in attitude or action
    The back of his head was indifferent to my questioning stare.
  16. emulate
    strive to equal or match, especially by imitating
    History could call them vandals all they liked, but the people were artists so brilliant, even Cisco tried to emulate them in his sketchbooks.
  17. appendage
    an external body part that projects from the body
    One of the creatures stuck a long appendage into the window behind me and pulled the entire door off.
  18. vertigo
    a reeling sensation; a feeling that you are about to fall
    My head connected with metal and glass several times. The last time was hard enough for me to feel vertigo.
  19. profound
    showing intellectual penetration or emotional depth
    I had heard about other people’s near-death experiences. They always said something about their life flashing before their eyes. They talked about it like it was a profound experience, like they learned something from it.
  20. humble
    cause to be unpretentious
    They learned they needed to treat the people in their lives better or that they were insignificant and humbled by the thought of death on their doorstep.
  21. gangly
    tall, thin, and awkward
    He was thin and gangly to the point where his eyes were sunken and his cheeks were gaunt.
  22. charisma
    personal attractiveness that enables you to influence others
    If this were a movie, this would’ve been the Moment.
    The moment where I summoned every bit of charisma in my body and tried to sweet-talk my way out of this.
  23. substantial
    real; having a material or factual existence
    The Passengers reached out to him, but he swatted them off before they could grab anything substantial.
  24. gaunt
    very thin, especially from disease or hunger or cold
    The last thing I saw of them was the horrified look on Westley’s gaunt face.
  25. stanch
    stop the flow of a liquid
    “This should help staunch the blood flow.”
  26. loll
    hang loosely or laxly
    My head lolled forward even as I tried to keep it upright.
  27. garbled
    lacking orderly continuity
    Aaron said something to my right, but my mind couldn’t even begin to string apart the garbled words, much less process them.
  28. endeavor
    a purposeful or industrious undertaking
    He offered to help carry me down, as it was a very time-consuming endeavor, but I refused.
  29. serrated
    notched like a saw with teeth pointing toward the apex
    The blade was bent and had rusted blood over the serrated edge, but it was still here, which meant my theory was still right.
  30. demeanor
    the way a person behaves toward other people
    And then all at once, his tough demeanor fell.
  31. reminiscent
    serving to bring to mind
    The lines in his face were reminiscent of broken glass, and every move he made came with a crunching sound, as if his own jagged edges were scraping against each other.
  32. squelch
    walk through mud or swampy land
    The slam of the metal door came next, and then the sound of boots squelching in the snow.
  33. whim
    an odd or fanciful or capricious idea
    But it was just my imagination. PTSD or whatever. I read somewhere that traumatic experiences can cause that, and what was more traumatic than jumping into a hellish dimension on a whim?
  34. objectively
    in a manner not influenced by emotion
    The ride from Montefiore to Lincoln Hospital was objectively short. A twenty-minute commute was always short in the Bronx. Except, in this case, every minute stretched on to eternity.
  35. atrophy
    undergo weakening or degeneration as through lack of use
    “My muscles atrophied,” she explained. “Two weeks of being comatose will do that to you, apparently. Now are you going to tell me what happened to your leg?”
  36. fervently
    with strong emotion or zeal
    Even in her extremely weakened state, Mami wouldn’t pull her punches, and she argued fervently with Papi.
  37. viscera
    internal organs collectively
    I aimed it for the spots in the sidewalk where the snow was most melted and ignored the memory of blood and viscera that tried to overshadow it.
  38. asinine
    devoid of intelligence
    “Died, unfortunately,” he said with a shrug. “Had to have been what, twenty years now? It was the most asinine thing, too. There were tons of gangs where he lived, and he’d survived so many shootings, and you know what did him in? Asthma.”
  39. concede
    acknowledge defeat
    Once he rearranged his locker with what he needed for the day, he bowed to me in a mock Victorian fashion.
    “But I am nothing if not a man of my word, so I concede. Good day.”
  40. idly
    in a lazy, casual, or aimless way
    She reached up and idly touched the base of her head. Her eyes were still a little dim, but there was a spark in there when they met mine.
Created on Fri Apr 07 12:45:49 EDT 2023 (updated Sat Apr 08 12:47:45 EDT 2023)

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