Ambrosia

As they walked, the tunnels had gotten much colder. Allison was huddled next to Jamie for warmth as Claire, Tom, and Cove walked beside them. Jamie had a bit of a triumphant look across his face every time Cove had looked over at the two.

"...Cove?" Claire had looked at him after a moment.

"Yes?" He narrowed his eyes in her direction.

"What are your thoughts on killing Tantalus?" she asked.

"...They should be killed," he muttered as he began to walk faster.

Claire bit her lip, "Why?"

Cove had a more annoyed expression, "Why does it matter?"

"I just wanted to know--"

"You have no idea how I feel. My parents are dead because of Ambrosia. Leave it alone!" he snapped.

"...How dare you..." Claire glared.

"Dare I what...?" he stopped for a moment.

"How dare you act as though you have worse problems than anyone here! Allison's parents were killed by the other scientists!"

"And my parents were not killed as well?"

"By Tantalus, it's different--"

"Really? Is it?" he muttered coldly, "My parents were infected by Ambrosia. I had to grow up watching them suffer. When they sent me to London--they took me there because they assumed they were not infected, but thought everyone else was! Shame, they were infected, too! I had to watch them slowly suffer and grow sicker and sicker, until they snapped and tried to kill me! I was left with only one option..."

Claire stayed silent.

"...I had to kill them," he didn't look at her with his now gloomy expression. He then slowly began walking again.

He walked faster, ahead of them as he let his hands slip into his pockets, walking in a depressed-like state.

Allison looked over blankly at him, wondering what was wrong. Jamie didn't seem to notice. Neither did Tom.

As they walked, they had noticed the caves started to split off into other directions to head to other cities. they kept going straight, heading for New York. Allison, who was against Jamie as they walked had pulled away for a moment. She was really beginning to worry about Cove. She strode her way towards him quickly as she was then next to him.

"What is it," he muttered.

"I was beginning to wonder if you were okay," she spoke quietly.

Cove looked at her, crossing his arms, "I've only known you for about three hours, so how are you supposed to know how I am. Whether I'm okay or not, it isn't your concern," he spoke coldly, pursing his lips.

"...Cove, don't be like that," she sighed, "Whether I've known you three minutes or my whole life, I still want to know if you're okay."

"Well you want to know the truth?" he looked over at her with narrowed, skeptical eyes.

Allison nodded, "Yes, I do."

"I'm never okay and I never will be," Cove looked forward again, "I'm a great actor. I can make it look like I'm the happiest person in the world, but bliss can always be a lie. Nothing could ever change that."

"...Why would you say that? There's so much ahead for your life..." Allison shook her head.

"Doesn't seem like it. My parents are dead, Ambrosia, a deadly man-made disease made by the fault of society, a sickening testing on disabled patients... what kind of world do we live in? We live in the very shit that your parents and my parents brought on themselves. What is there for us? There's nothing. They've only left us with only three options. Find a cure, run away, or give up. I've already given up on myself, I'm tired of running away, and only god knows what kind of cure it would take to get rid of this disease," he shook his head, "Seventeen years--this disease has been around for almost two decades and still no one has found a cure!"

"...Cove, understand that the patients gave their lives to find cures--"

"For what!? To become monsters!?" he snapped at her.

Allison seemed to jump back slightly, startled by his tone as she flinched.

Cove immediately looked away, apologetically as he sighed, "Sorry, sorry. My temper gets the better of me."

Allison nodded slightly, "It's fine... but listen to me, please. They gave their lives to take these risks. Our parents tried to fight an epidemic that was taking over the country! AIDS was killing people, Cove!"

"And now Tantalus are, too," he grumbled.

"But they didn't know that at first! Symptoms of Ambrosia take months to show up! People wouldn't of known! It wasn't their fault, it was the own fault of the virus they had put within Ambrosia! It worked, but then went haywire!" she explained.

"It was the fault of human error and man trying to play god," he then looked at her with a grave expression.

Allison wasn't sure how to answer that. In her mind, she knew that he was right. If only they had let nature take its course--God created AIDS for a reason. If he didn't want it tampered with... was this his revenge? The fault of Ambrosia upon innocent people? She was still troubled by this question, trying to avoid thinking about it. She sighed, unsure what to say.

"You obviously understand that that's the truth then," he murmured to her as they walked, "Ambrosia is the curse of our own mistakes."

"That's why I 'm going to stop it," she whispered.

"And how, Allison, do you honestly believe you can do that? Do you have any idea what the cure could be? Scientists for two decades couldn't figure it out--why should you--a 15 year old girl who is clueless to science most likely--be able to find this?"

"...I don't know okay? I just... I have this feeling..."

"A feeling... what kind of feeling would that be?"

"A feeling of hope," she spoke firmly.

"Hope..." Cove laughed slightly, "Feelings are a funny thing... I haven't felt a true emotion for years... it's been nine years since I had to kill my parents... when I woke from the trauma... it was as though I was different. I was cold, I couldn't play well with anyone... I couldn't love or laugh... laugh through happiness, that is."

"...But why? Why throw those emotions away? Those are what keep people going!"

"No, Allison. What keeps real people going is money, drugs, and barely surviving."

"...What do you mean by that?"

"Allison, where have you been? Look around you!" Cove pointed towards everyone in the crowds ahead, "Half of those people rely on how much money they have. Some of those people use drugs to keep themselves from going insane--though it does quite the opposite! And every single one of us in these tunnels are barely surviving. Why do we keep going? Because we're afraid of what might happen if we just give up!"

"...Cove..."

"It's the truth, Allison. Whether you like it or not, redhead over here, your sniper buddy, pretty boy--everyone! They're all relying on something to keep going--and it sure as hell is not hope," he narrowed his eyes.

Allison looked more distraught as she shook her head. She didn't want to believe him, but it all sounded like the exact corruption she lived in. Was he right? What if he was? What would it change? He couldn't possibly be right though, because she relied on her own hope. Was it hope? Or was it the hope to survive? The thoughts were processed in only seconds for her to realize--he was telling the truth. Her hope was only a fantasy into thinking she may survive, that she may find a cure, and that she would be a hero. A hero would then find money. The anti-depressants that kept her going. She fell under all three categories. She decided not to say anything, waiting for him to speak again as she walked beside him. She knew that whatever came out of her mouth would try to protest against his words of truth.

"Just listen to me, Allison," Cove began, "Just never let go of that hope that you say you feel. It may be just enough to urge you to keep going. If I had that feeling... I would of certainly not given up on myself so easily," he sighed, closing his eyes.

"Cove, you don't need to give up on yourself," she shook her head.

"But everyone else has. So why shouldn't I? I have no one else to rely on. So why should I even rely on myself?"

"...Because I believe in you. You sound brave and you sound wise. You obviously know what you're up against. Your smart, Cove. So I'm not going to give up on you," Allison faintly smiled.

Cove blinked for a moment, taking it in. He wasn't sure how to react to that, no one ever telling him that before. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, laughing a bit nervously, "Haha... thanks then. It... It means a lot," he didn't lie.

Allison nodded. She looked over to everyone else to see that Jamie was crossing his arms, looking worried. She wondered what his problem was. Ever since they left the train, he's been quiet and secretive.

"Well... I better get back to Jamie," Allison nodded.

"Is he your boyfriend or something?" Cove narrowed his eyes more.

"No, he's just a friend," she shrugged.

"Ah... that's good then. Go over to him then, he seems upset," Cove looked back to the path.

Allison then nodded, walking back over to him, "You okay there?"

"Brilliant. Perfect, in fact," he spoke quickly.

"...You look angry."

"Why would I be angry? I mean, nothing happened or anything," he crossed his arms tighter.

"...Is Cove bothering you?" she asked.

When Allison had spoken of Cove, Jamie immediately cringed, "No, I'm fine. He seems like a bright young person, doesn't he?" he spoke sarcastically.

"Okay, Jamie, what the hell is your problem?" she finally spoke up, annoyed.

"What do you mean? Why do you even care? You seem to be interested in speaking to Cove," he spoke coldly.

"And what's that supposed to mean? I only spoke to him once alone, so what's wrong with that!?" Allison spoke a bit more loudly.

"What's wrong with that? Alone? Seems like you like the guy, I don't know!"

"Like him? So whenever I talk to a guy alone, I automatically like him!? What about you, Jamie? I've been so close to you lately, so are you accusing me of liking you, too!?"

"Well I could, but the fact that you decided to play me on--"

"Play you on!? And what are you talking about, I never even told you I liked you--I was only being a friend--"

"Friends don't lie together to keep each other company!"

"Well I don't know where you get your definition of friends then!"

"Fine then! I'm done! Just leave me alone and I'll be sure to never talk to you!" Jamie's face was bright red as he glared at her.

"Fine by me!" Allison stalked away from him.

"Fine!"

"FINE!"

"Do you guys always argue like this!?" Cove turned to them, annoyed, "For god sakes, people are staring!"

Allison and Jamie both looked around, noticing the unfamiliar faces staring towards them. They then looked at each other, ashamed, but then quickly looked away, angry.

"No. This is the first time," Jamie grumbled.

"Yeah. It made me realize a lot about the guy," Allison spoke in disgust.