TRIBULATIONS

5.

"I'm Bennett Thunderstorm."

Arthur explained everything that happened that morning, when they started to blindly support the Government with money. "..And that's it. I swear, we didn't know."

Bennett frowned, biting on his lower lip. "..Mmh. My father was an attorney general, I'm— I'm not sure if he knew of this.."

He sighed. "But now I will never know." Arthur felt his heart sting, he looked away, again guiltily.

Bennett noticed, and he bumped his shoulder against Arthur's to get his attention. "Hey.. Listen, thank you for sticking with me, even when I did all of those things."

He meant pushing him, yelling at him, slamming him against the wall? Arthur snorted. "I deserved it. If I were you, I would've done something far worse.."

He chuckled, but then a frown overshadowed his face. "We're not safe here. We need to go.. Else where."

Arthur silently agreed. A place plagued the back of his mind, but he pushed it aside, and stood up. Bennett's eyes followed him. Arthur walked towards the water, he said loudly enough for Bennett to hear him, "..I'll get some fish, you must be hungry."

And instead of watching him do all the work, because... Because he wanted someone to blame and Arthur was the one he could blame, he stood up, dusted himself off and started to jog towards Arthur. He slapped the back of Arthur's head and he started to run even faster towards the water as he yelled. "..You think I'll let you do all the work? What if you escape, huh?"

Arthur whined. "..Ow! Hey!! Wait for me!" He picked up his pace and started to chase Bennett down.

☠

It turned into a hefty battle, but at least they caught enough fishes with their hands that would last a few days.

It was now morning, Arthur's eyes flew open at the sound of ruffling. He bolted up, his mouth was dry and stale. He coughed, "..Ben?"

"Never call me that ever again." His decently deep voice could be heard behind Arthur, and he turned.

Bennett used his jacket to tie the roasted fishes together. He held his jacket as if it were a baby in his arms. With a helping hand, Arthur was up on his feet. "Let's explore some more, I need answers."

And Arthur agreed, so he walked side by side with Bennett. They walked towards the other side of the beach, their shoes were dirty but in somewhat good condition. Arthur tied his suit jacket around his hips, if he got colder then he would put it back on.

Arthur paused, what in the.. He thought. Before them were cars. Cars that piled up on each other. Luggages, small bags, purses and.. Bodies littered the ground. Were they throwing humanity away?!

Arthur grabbed Bennett and they started to run as fast as they could towards the situation. There was no way..

Arthur stared at a car he recognized, the car he was in. He looked inside and a hand went up to cover his mouth that was about to scream, he saw his Father's body along with his Mother's in the car. Bennett took him and they hid behind a bunch of cars when he heard a few steps in the distance. They could not get caught, that was for sure.

Arthur trembled, tears began to run down his face. He had a little hope, but that hope was shattered. What the fuck was going on here?

How did it come to this? How? They weren't safe here. But where would they go? A place plagued Arthur's mind,

But he pushed it aside.

☠

A few men were walking together, along with the President. Bennett felt furious, but he set his emotions aside and focused on listening.

Arnold Palmer walked with such confidence it was infuriating. He held his head up, sighing annoyingly at the men who bombarded him with questions, despite the fact that he had already answered them. "For the last time.. No. Just, burn them and continue on with your work. Or you could throw them in the Undercity."

They were talking about the items that piled up on the beach. One of the men looked down at his notepad, and crossed something out. "We'll stick to burning them." Arnold smiled dismissively at them.

He stood there, arms behind him. Another person walked towards him but Arthur recognized him. It was the vice president, Fano Heimswörth. It was easy to recognize him, he was bald, short and chubby and had brown eyes.

Fano cleared his throat, "Sir.. We have received some news from Mispair,"

Both Bennett and Arthur were listening with concentration now. Fano said, "..They do not want a meeting with you."

Arnold shot daggers at the sky with his icy blue eyes in contrast to his tan skin. "That's not surprising at all. They want nothing to do with us. Fine.. And it is particularly hard to infiltrate the Undercity, but.. Therefore the people living there are safe."

"Very well," He turned around. "Let us start the preparations for the final part of our plan."

And they started to retreat away from the scene.

Arthur bit his lip, the Undercity again... But something else caught him in a loop. Bennett called out to him, "..Hey, did you hear?"

Arthur nodded. "Apparently it's much safer in Undercity, but how do we get there?"

Bennett shrugged. "We should stick to observing how things will be from now on, afterwards, we'll find our way there, I'm sure." Arthur agreed.

For now, they need to survive here. If they can't do so, what are the chances that they'll survive in the Undercity?