TRIBULATIONS

4.

The Man kept running, never looking back as he held Arthur's arm tightly and dragged him with him. Arthur's head was spinning, but at least the smell subsided.

They ran through thick branches, one sliced Arthur's cheek causing him to wince slightly. Soon, they were stepping on sand, and the Man flung Arthur forward with all of his strength. Arthur's face collided with the sand, he groaned.

The Man screamed with all of his might at Arthur. "..YOU FUCKING COWARD!!!" He stepped forward, menacingly staring down at Arthur who crawled back.

Arthur brought his hands up, "Listen to me.. Please! My family- They didn't know, I didn't know! I swear.. If they had known, would they be also dead? Splayed out on the floor for all to see?!"

The Man raised his fist but held it mid air at Arthur who visibly flinched, "..Who the- Who do you think you are?! This all happened because your family was funding them!!!"

Arthur shook his head. "..That's true.. But we didn't know, please, believe me." He stared at the Man's skeptical gaze. Arthur felt the tears well up in his eyes, "..Please.. I'm sorry, If I had- If we had known, we would have prevented it. I'm sorry... We aren't.. We aren't wicked, my family, they're not bad people..."

He struggled to keep the tears from running down his face. "My mother.. Medalia Bloomlock, she wouldn't have wanted this.. She protected me and she died doing so. Trust me, I didn't want this, we didn't want this."

The Man staggered slightly, realization hit him, his parents, family members were all dead. He dropped down on his knees and he bawled his eyes out, covering his face with his clenched fists that trembled like a leaf. Arthur hesitantly approached the Man, he first set a hand on his shoulder that was rapidly slapped away. But he did not stop there.

He grabbed the man, and embraced him. Whispering near his ear, "..I'm sorry.. I'm so sorry.. I'm sorry.. I'm sorry.. sorry.."

The Man's words broke as he started to explain why they were there and what they did together before the event. How he regretted not saying 'I love you' to his parents, to his niece. How he felt when his father jumped in front of him to save him from getting shot and getting his blood all smeared on his skin.

The two were traumatized. This was simply too much to handle and yet... Here they were, going through it.

☠

They sat there,on the sand. A few hours had passed, but the man had long since fallen asleep. Arthur was awake, rethinking everything.

They weren't going to last, he thought. First, they had no water and food, second, they weren't sure if there were more people alive, third, they had no clue about what the Government was planning. So, they weren't safe.

But where would they go?

Arthur sighed, he turned his head to look at the blond haired man. His eyes were puffy even when closed, it took him a while to get him to calm down and eventually fall asleep. Arthur's stomach grumbled and an hour ago, the Man's stomach grumbled as well. He got up, staring at the beach, he thought, were there fishes there?

He had never been at the beach, so he wouldn't know. Arthur thought very long and firstly, he decided to get some wood. Maybe all of the movies he had watched would help him start a fire. For now, he needed wood, lots of wood.

So he started to walk towards the Forest they ran through.

☠

He got the wood, a lot of them too. He carefully set them in the floor, as not to wake the Man up. Right, he still did not know his name, but that was the least of his worries. For now, he had to make sure that they were both warm, but first, make a fire.

This was the first time Arthur was doing this, because in the Upside city you would never be in such situations that would have you do this.

There was no fire ring, so Arthur had no choice but to do this. He picked up the stone he found in the forest, picked a branch and started to rub them together.

This would take a very long time, movies were very unrealistic. So he sighed, got comfortable and started hit and rub the two items together.

The Man moved in his sleep, but never got up.

Eventually, well, for more than thirty minutes later, the sparks intensified and Arthur started to grin proudly at himself. He blew some air towards the branches, and they caught on fire causing him to cheer out loud, only to cover his mouth shut when he realized that he wasn't alone.

The blond Man's nose scrunched up, and his eyes twitched. It was too late, he was already waking up. He grumbled, "..Yeah.. Yeah.. I'm coming, bailey."

Arthur's heart clenched, bailey? Definitely one of his family members, he thought guilty. Arthur shook the man gently, "..Hey.. Wake up."

The warmth from the fire caused the Man to curiously lift his head up, sleep still evident in his eyes as he blinked around confusingly. For a split second, Arthur saw the sadness and longing when he realized that Bailey wasn't here. Arthur could see the tears that started to swell up in his eyes, but he blinked them away and sat up.

The Man stared shockingly at the fire, "..You know how to start a fire?"

Arthur shook his head, he would've smiled but this wasn't really the most suitable situation for such things. "No. It took me over thirty minutes."

The Man faced Arthur, observing his body language.

Arthur was careful. Especially with what he says, clearly not wanting to agitate the Man even further. He was grateful for that. He sighed, "..Thank you for earlier."

Arthur widened his eyes, he gulped awkwardly. "..It's the least I can do. After all, we- I put you guys in this mess." He refrained himself from saying we, because he did not want to speak Ill of his family. Even though, it was true.

Arthur finally broke down, "..I'm so sorry.." The tears ran down his face, and he looked down to prevent the Man from watching the tears run down his face. But he had already heard the sniffles, "..I swear.. It was not our intention, I swear.. I'm so sorry.. God, why has it come to this? I didn't- we didn't mean for this to happen.."

Mh.. The man hummed deep in thoughts, he still felt angry and sad at the entire situation. But he chose to be reasonable, for now. He scooted closer and threw his arm around Arthur's shoulder, causing the latter to widen his eyes and gasp.

The Man murmured, as if it were hard for him to get the words out. "..Explain everything.. And for the record,"

"My name is Bennett Thunderstorm."