You can outrun enemies, you can also outfight fear but thirst? thirst will break you from the inside.
Jasper had already known about it before anyone could say it. And in this world water is the one thing you don't get a second chance with. It showed up in silence, a stumble that shouldn't happen and a breath that sounded wrong.
"Jasper…" Stacy called out with her voice low.
He turned and saw one of the younger survivors barely standing. Her lips were cracked and her skin dry to the point of breaking.
"I'm okay…" the girl whispered
"No, she's not" Stacy said
She took one more step and collapsed
"Get her up!"
"No—don't move her too fast!"
"We need water—now!"
Voices crashed into each other again. Jasper moved fast, dropped beside her and checked her pulse.
"She's dehydrating fast."
Stacy knelt beside him already pulling out one of their last containers and there was barely anything left inside. Jasper hesitated for a while. If they give it to her, the rest of them would want to drag it as they already moved closer to the edge, if they don't she won't get back up. The group watched and no one spoke because they understood what happened. Stacy looked at him just waiting because she already knew that it was his call leadership meant choosing who gets a chance to live even when it cost everyone else.
"Give it to her." He said
Without hesitation or second guessing Stacy tilted the container carefully and slowly, a few drops but the girl's lips and then more. It wasn't enough but it was something, the girl coughed weakly and swallowed, at least she was still alive. The container was completely empty now. They had nothing left. Silence fell again among them now, quite heavier. They had nothing left, the heat didn't care, it only intensified as it pressed down harder and dried them out faster. Every breath felt like it stole from them, their movement became really sluggish as their body became really weak. They dragged their steps as their focus slipped.
A man dropped suddenly without warning
"Get him up!" Mike shouted
They tried to but his body didn't respond right, his limbs were heavy and his eyes barely opened.
"He's worse…" someone mutters
"We don't have anything left…"
Immediately, Jasper scanned the horizon again desperately this time and was looking for anything including shade and water. And then he saw a dip in the land which was far ahead, it was a darker patch against the dry terrain subtle and almost invisible but it was different.
"There." He said
His voice cutted through everything again as the group all turned squinting through the haze. Some saw it and others did not.
"That could be nothing," someone said weakly.
"Or everything," Jasper fired back
They all moved again, driven with purpose and determination to find water at all cost. The closer they got the more real it became with lower ground and rock formations, there was a break from the open heat as hope was built dangerously. They reached it, and collapsed into the shade as their body hitted the ground hard with heavy breathing and eyes scanning desperately but there was no water there only rocks, dry earth and silence
"No…" someone whispered
"No, no no…" another shouted.
As they began to panic, Jasper didn't stop moving despite him being totally exhausted from the scorching sun. He studied the rock and its patterns and felt that something was off. And just then he saw a crack between two rock formations that were damp and barely visible but it was real. He dropped to his knees and pressed his hand against it and then he realized that it was cold. His eyes sharpened that instant and he said
"Dig"
"DIG" this time it was louder as he commanded
They all moved with their weak hands clawing at the rock and dirt which broke their skin, they ignored the pain. Seconds felt like hours and then after that drop appeared with one drop of water hanging…and then fell. Everyone froze because that drop was life. More followed, which was slow at first and then slightly faster afterwards, enough at least. They scrambled to catch it with hands, containers…just anything within reach. They drank carefully and desperately. The girl recovered slightly and the man who fell earlier breathed with much ease. The group pulled back from the edge because something else just clicked but then Jasper didn't relax not even for a second, he thought that water like this doesn't exist alone which meant that they were not the first to find it.
A sound echoed from behind them and Jasper turned slowly and saw them, they were armed figures standing at the edge of the rocks watching. One of them stepped forward confidently and spoke one sentence:
"You're drinking our water."
As the group froze half a life and half broken…one brutal truth settled in; they didn't find salvation… They only walked into someone else's territory.