Beyond hope

Chapter two

Blake stands in the kitchen, quickly moving over to throw things into the pot. As he stoops to stir the pot, he thinks about what would happen if Axel and Telle came back with nothing. Everybody would obviously panic.

Suddenly, a loud crash is heard to the far corner of the kitchen. Lyle has knocked over a large pile of dirty pots and pans.

"Lyle! You alright?" Blake shouts across the room.

"Yeah," Lyle calls back.

Blake pulls the pot off the stove and sets it on the back burner. He stirs it a bit, setting the spoon down on the counter before he goes to check on Lyle.

"I'm fine, Blake. I can wash the dishes," Lyle waves Blake off as he starts to scrub down a medium sized pot.

Lyle sticks his tongue out in concentration as he scrubs, and soap drips off of his hands. Eventually, Lyle lets the water wash over the pot.

Blake reaches over, taking the pot and drying it off.

"You don't have to work yet, you know. You won't have to until you're at least twelve." Blake says calmly, helping the younger boy with the dishes.

Lyle starts to work on a small pan.

"It's fine. I want to help out. I know that we are low on food," he says, dunking yet anther pan under the water.

Blake sighs, knowing yet another reason that Lyle works and hardly ever plays. He's the only kid here and has had to grow up fast to match their pace, and that meant learning to do certain tasks. Although Lyle understands the problems they face, he does what he's told, hardly ever questioning his orders.

"Where's Cyra?" Lyle asks curiously.

"She's in her office, staring at the maps to try and find food and water to hold us up a while longer," Blake says, biting his lip as he keeps his face emotionless.

Lyle stops what he's doing and looks up at him.

"I understand more then you most likely think I do. I hear you and Cyra talking at night. You're both scared. I can see it in every bodies eyes," he says quietly.

The boys become silent and continue washing the pots and pans. Once all of the cooking utensils are clean and left out to dry, Blake checks on the stew, and Lyle heads out to look for Cyra or find work to do.

With the stew still warm, Blake fills up a bowl and sets it on top of the heaters.

Claude walks in. He leans over the counter to see what's in the pot.

"What is it?" Claude asks curiously.

"What do you mean what is it! Who cares what it is! It's food you eat it, or you starve until I cook again!" Blake snaps.

Claude looks at him and raises an eyebrow. Blake frowns at him.

"If you're gonna complain about it then don't eat it." Blake grumbles.

"I'll get the others." Claude says, walking out.

Blake grabs a towel and wraps it around the bowl so it won't burn his hands, as he carries it.

Silently, he walks down the hallway towards Cyra's office. He sees Lyle walking towards him.

"She's busy, Blake. She's always busy, but she never eats. Is she ok?" Lyle wonders out loud.

Blake smiles weakly.

"She's fine Lyle. Go get something to eat," he says, continuing towards Cyra's office.