Akeldama | lrh

two - blood and water

"A ship is always safe at shore, but that is not what it is built for."

-Albert Einstein

•••

"I need water." Zay says, after nearly half an hour in silence.

"Join the club." Ashton replies, staring off into the distance.

We've been sitting on a massive shard of concrete for the past two hours, waiting for any kind of help to arrive. The fountain stopped spraying water a few minutes after we left the basement, so all that's left for us to salvage through is murky and sour. It does nothing to soothe the sandpaper in my throat.

I can't stop thinking about my family. Hell, they've probably heard this on the news by now, and are worried sick about me. I can't call them, I can't contact them in any way. The phone lines have been destroyed. It's so frustrating it hurts. 

"You should probably go check on the girl again." Zay mutters, playing with his fingers.

As if on que, footsteps sound from around the broken corner, and the black girl from earlier walks out. She takes a seat next to Ashton, putting her face in her hands. She's covered in blood, probably not her own, with a massive gash on the side of her right arm. She doesn't look like she could give less of a shit.

"Hey, you ok?" Ashton asks, reaching to put a hand on her shoulder. She slaps it away.

"I just watched my brother die, you cunt, of course I'm not ok."

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry." Ashton says quickly, putting his hands up. His eyes are sad. "Really, I am. I wish I could have saved him. It's not your fault, you know that, right?"

"I really don't want to have this conversation right now." The girl replies, sounding close to tears again.

"Ok." He says. "Then we won't, can you at least tell me your name?"

The girl is silent, and for a moment I don't think she's going to answer. Then, in a quiet, barely there voice, she says "Jess."

Ashton nods, but doesn't attempt to continue the conversation.

Twenty more minutes pass. I'm obsessively tapping my foot on the ground, sending up a flurry of ash and making my breathing situation even worse. I'm so thirsty I can feel it in my bones.

"That's it." Xavier says, standing up with such force that the concrete slab shifts to the right. He runs his hands over his face. "I can't take this anymore. It's been nearly three hours, there's no help coming."

"You don't know tha-"

"I do know that." Zay snaps, cutting Ashton off mid sentence. "You know the government. You know Warner. There would have been planes here five minutes after the blast of this was a normal attack, but it's obviously not. We're still here."

"And what exactly do you think that means?" I ask, my voice barely recognizable. My throat hurts every time I make a sound.

Zay closes his eyes. "You think that it's possible that we're not the only ones who got bombed?"

Ashton looks at me. I look at Zay. Jess stares down at her blood soaked shoes.

"What if this was some sort of mass attack?" He continues, chewing on his nails now. "Like, a bomb in every state or something? Maybe they took Superior Warner. There's got to be a reason why we haven't seen or heard any help."