Rough Waters

The small girl stayed with Sebastian and Elliott while Kurt and the others left with Adam. She looked like she was about to say something, so Sebastian watched her expectantly.

“If you two want, I could show you around,” she said at last, “or at least show you the cafeteria, the showers, and some beds. You guys look like you’ve been through hell.”

“Gee, thanks,” Sebastian replied dryly. Inside, his body was practically screaming at the notion of much needed food, hygiene, and rest.

“Hey, I call ‘em like I see ‘em,” the girl said with a small grin, “I’m Ashley by the way.”

“Sebastian,” he introduced himself, extending his hand.

“And I’m Elliott,” Elliott said warmly, and Sebastian couldn’t help but notice Ashley’s reaction. She was definitely charmed by Elliott and definitely checking him out. Not that it mattered. Sebastian wasn’t even sure why he was taking any sort of mental notes on the situation. He shook his head. Damn, he was tired.

Ashley turned and led them down a different corridor than the one they others had gone down. As she went, she told them more about the place, “When all hell broke loose, some of us decided it might be safer to stay here than to go home or leave town. Some of us got our families and brought them here. We’ve taken in the occasional traveller, although we haven’t been getting too many of them. You guys are the first visitors we’ve had in awhile.”

“But we all take care of each other here, and everyone that can work has a job to do,” Ashley continued, “A lot of us are medical staff with at least some training and experience; I was actually a med student before everything went to hell. The man who took your friend, he’s Dr. Odom; he’s worked here for years, and the nurse with him that was Sandra Blair, and she’s worked here forever, too. They’re both really, really good at their jobs; your friend is in good hands.”

“Good,” Elliott said, “that’s seriously such a relief.”

“Yeah,” Sebastian said, looking around as he continued to follow them. This place seemed too good to be true. There had to be a catch, right? They couldn’t have seriously caught this good a break.

Soon, the smell of food distracted him from his suspicions. It smelled like actual real food, not junk from a convenience store, not stale bread and canned beans from their increasingly meager rations, but an honest to God cooked meal. It was all he could do to maintain his composure and not freak out and embarrass himself.

There were quite a few people milling about the cafeteria when they entered. Ashley said a quick hello to a few of them as she ushered Sebastian and Elliott towards a bar where a few containers were being kept warm. Ashley also directed their attention to a large cooler containing drinks and a stand beside it containing snack foods and (more importantly) some fresh fruit.

“We crashed the car, didn’t we?” Elliott asked him.

“What?” Sebastian responded, startled and confused by this totally out of left field question.

“We’re dead, right?” Elliott continued, “This is totally heaven.”

Oh. Sebastian got it now. He rolled his eyes. What a dork. What a stupid, cute dork. “I don’t think so. I don’t think I’ve done enough good deeds to get into that place. This is real.” Elliott’s smile was contagious, and he found himself grinning broadly back at him and feeling intensely affectionate towards him in a way that should have been nauseating. Jesus, he really needed sleep.

After food and a shower maybe. He could stay upright long enough for that, he hoped.

--

They had eaten, showered, and changed into some clean clothes offered to them by the kind people of this place (apparently, they had a whole hoard of extra clothes for just such occasions.) Soon after all of that, Seb had crashed. Almost as soon as he had been shown a bed, he had fallen into it, and within no time he was completely out.

Resting in a bed was tempting, but Elliott had already had some sleep, and he wanted to see how Adam was doing, if he could. So, he watched Sebastian’s even breathing for a few seconds more, and then he left their room.

It took him a while to find Adam and Kurt again. This place was massive, and he kept getting lost in it.

When Elliott finally had found them, Kurt almost didn’t notice him enter the room. He was sitting beside Adam’s bed and watching Adam with tired eyes. Not for the first time, Elliott felt deeply concerned for Kurt. He looked rough, and there was no delicate way to put that.

Still, he did briefly turn and acknowledge Elliott. “Hey,” he said, “Where’s Seb?”

“He is asleep, very asleep,” Elliott said, “Seriously, we won’t be hearing from him for a while. How’s he doing?” He gestured towards a sleeping Adam.

“Better,” Kurt answered, “Not out of the woods, but much better. They got his fever down, and they cleaned and stitched his wound. They’re giving him antibiotics for the infection.”

“Is he still—?” Elliott wasn’t sure how to ask.

Kurt seemed to get it. “He was still kinda disoriented the last time I was able to really talk with him, but he didn’t seem as confused or delirious as he has been at times.” Kurt paused. “I’m hoping when he wakes up he’ll be his old self again.”

“Yeah, hopefully,” Elliott said. Changing the subject, he added, “Hey, if you wanna grab some food or a shower or something I can stay with him.” Kurt desperately need to do both of those things as well as get some sleep, but Elliott suspected he already knew what Kurt’s response would be.

“Thanks, but I’d rather stay in here with him,” Kurt said, “At least until he wakes up again.” Elliott wasn’t sure for whose benefit it was that Kurt was staying. Adam had freaked earlier when they had almost been separated, but Elliott had a feeling there was more to it than that. He could see it in the way Kurt watched Adam even now. They had nearly lost Adam and that had obviously terrified Kurt.

Elliott couldn’t blame him. Hell, almost losing Adam had scared him, too. Losing people was all too common and all too easy, but it never got any easier to deal with. If anything, it seemed to get harder. Elliott still had nightmares about what they had discovered in Paramus; he felt particularly ill-equipped to deal with losing a friend so soon after that.

Kurt probably needed some company that was actually conscious, even if he didn’t seem to realize it. “Is it cool if I hang out in here with you guys for a while?” Elliott asked, pulling up a chair beside Kurt.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Kurt replied quickly.

Elliott sat down. “I can’t believe we found this place...and we found it right when we needed it most.”

“Mhm.” Kurt nodded, eyes never leaving Adam. “I’m just waiting to wake up and this to all be a dream.”

“Yeah, me, too,” Elliott responded, “Seems pretty real though.” They were quiet again, then Elliott added, “It’s like everything we needed though...like an answered prayer.”

Kurt finally looked at him again, his expression skeptical. “I didn’t know you bought into that stuff.”

Elliott shrugged. “I don’t know, man. I think there’s gotta be some kinda higher power, even if I don’t know what it is. Maybe God. Maybe multiple gods. Maybe just a capital ‘S’ Something I’ve never heard of.”

Kurt scoffed. “If that’s the case, why create the world just to destroy it? What’s the fucking point of that?” He returned his gaze to Adam, staring at the gentle rise and fall of his chest.

“I don’t think it’s for us to understand,” Elliott replied, “But the way I see it, we’re still alive and kicking, places like this still exist, Adam didn’t die… Yeah, there’s a lot of destruction and a lot of loss, and it fucking sucks so bad sometimes, but the world’s not totally destroyed.”

Kurt seemed to consider it. Still, he commented, “And you think, what? Prayer, prayer to God or to gods or to a-a ‘Capital ‘S’ Something’ has anything to do with that?”

“I don’t know,” Elliott answered, “It might.”

“Prayer is a waste of time,” Kurt said bitterly, “it doesn’t help.”

“Maybe it doesn’t, but it doesn’t hurt either,” Elliott retorted, “And honestly? I do pray sometimes. Usually when things are really bad.” He’d done it a lot recently actually. Things had been as “really bad” as they’d ever been in recent times. Sometimes so bad Elliott wasn’t sure how he was going to get through it all. He continued, “I don’t know if it is really gonna change anything or not when I do it, but it helps me feel like… I don’t know, like-like there’s something I can do even if it’s just that, like maybe there’s hope or something. That’s not a waste of time to me.” He paused. “Although, for what it’s worth, when things were getting really bad with Adam, I prayed for him, for all of us, and here we are. I don’t know. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”

“Hm.” Kurt made no other response, and once again, he seemed to consider Elliott’s words. After several long seconds of silence, he said, “Adam didn’t die.” A small smile formed on his face.

Elliott stayed with Kurt and Adam for probably close to thirty minutes, mostly spent in silence but occasionally punctuated with small conversation. Finally, Kurt couldn’t fight off his exhaustion anymore and nodded off. Elliott studied him with concern before getting up to leave. He placed a gentle hand on Kurt’s shoulder and quietly said, “It’s gonna be okay, Kurt. Adam didn’t die.” And with that, he left.