Breed and Burn: Faceless

Chapter 4 - Beauty Is Skin Deep

 A heavy nudge to Axel's ribs jerked him awake. Each eye flung open revealing each iris a rusty chocolate colour. He could feel the movement of the train vibrate the entire expanse of his body.

Slowly, he recollected the events that occurred previously. Groaning, he furrowed his eyebrows in a tight frown. He wanted to remember something, but it was just of arm's reach. The only word his mind seemed to highlight was white. Repeatedly.

White.

After a moment or two he turned his head, mouth slackened and said, "I'm not dead."

"Great observation, airhead. Nice to know your brain still works," said Thorne, who was crouched beside him.

"I think what he means to say is thanks for saving our skinny arses," said Sage. "Get yourself up. You're the last one to wake up."

"Even Weasel is up," said Trent.

"It's Haven," he said up in a squeaky voice.

"You sound like a flipping girl, airhead. Guess whoever threw us in here made a mistake with you," said Thorne with a laugh.

Haven pushed himself off the floor where several others had surrounded Axel. As he stood up, Axel noticed his legs shudder. Forcefully, he wrapped his arms around his stomach to add some imaginary weight. "Calm down, brother. Sit down. I was just kidding."

"It doesn't sound much like it," said Haven sounding hurt. No one responded. It was like he wasn't even there.

"He was saving his own arse as much as ours," said Trent but he was smiling.

Axel shrugged. The people about him were blurred and he saw them through a filter of tears. His throat burned. He didn't know what to say so he pushed himself off the floor. Suppressing a groan, he fought the urge to throw up. They didn't seem as affected as him. In fact, they looked fine.

"What's going on," he muttered, finding his throat dry like bracken.

"You were out for much longer than us. Guess it makes sense since you were closest to the window," said Sage, pushing his hair out of his face.

"Don't worry. We all passed out." Axel recognised the voice to belong to Noble.

"How much longer?" he asked, dreading the answer.

"It is hard to say." Trent was the one to reply. "We think about two days but for all, we know Thorne's perception of time is messed up."

"I woke up way before you guys. It's just how long is hard to say," said Thorne. "I think it was a few hours though it felt much longer."

"What was that stuff?" asked Axel, rubbing his temples as he tried to grasp onto his surroundings.

"You mean the stuff that almost killed us all in less than a minute? We haven't a single damn clue, Blondie," said Thorne. Something flashed in his eyes.

"For a second I agreed with Trent. Thought you had something going on upstairs. How we supposed to know?" said Sage, propping himself beside Axel who had sat on a bench.

Axel's stomach began snarling and growling, leaving him empty and drained. The hunger came in waves. It seemed like his stomach was slowly digesting itself. When was the last time he ate? He couldn't even remember that. His legs felt empty and his mind jerked chaotically. Hunger was a terrible pain. Constant. Grinding. Clutching his stomach to add some imaginary weight to the emptiness, Axel felt himself become limp and listless. How could they possibly die from something like hunger after that?

"Sorry about that," said Trent, gesturing to the rest of the carriage. "We looked everywhere but there is no food."

Now that Axel looked around, his insides congealed with sadness and distraught. Like all forms of the pain, the starvation had given a suffering look in everyone's eyes. It was locked inside of them like a furious body raging havoc, from the inside out. Few of them were able to hold conversations whilst the rest of them dragged their heavy bodies across the room with expressionless faces and eyes filled with desolation. No one really moved. There was nothing kind about withering away to the disease starvation was. It was a simple violence slow downed to the pace of a psychopath. The truth lay heavy and thick in the air, unable to rest in one place. The truth they all knew. If they didn't figure something out soon they would all die.