Burning Slow

Doomsday or not, y'all are staying in bed.

"Eat." Greyson ordered, removing the straps on his daughter just as Alex, Astraea and James removed the straps on Nathan, Nick and Jacob- respectively.

Yes, the four of them had been struggling so much, trying to escape their peers to go and save Grace, that they needed to be strapped to the beds. They only stopped momentarily when Nick told them to stop. After all they've been through, and all they've seen, they couldn't just stop. They had to save Grace. They needed her to save the world. Not only that, their family was not complete without her. No matter what she did, she was family and they needed her even if the others didn't think that they did.

All four of them were frowning, refusing to touch their food, refusing to eat. They even going went as far as to glare at the food.

"The food did nothing wrong, though." Alex muttered loud enough for everybody to hear. "It's only trying to provide you the nutrients you need."

"You guys haven't eaten for two weeks." James said, rolling his eyes at Alex as he sat beside his brother. "You need to eat."

"If we eat, can we finally go save Grace and then the world?" Nick grumbled, receiving a glare from his girlfriend.

"Eat and you'll find out." She replied, closing her eyes and sighing. "We just need you to eat."

"No."

"Tell us then," all heads turned to Kenneth, "why is it so important for you four to save Grace before you can even recover?"

"She needs us." Ember said. "Just as we need her."

"Then how can you save her if all of you aren't even strong enough to stand? What are you going to do? Crawl to her?" He scoffed.

The four looked at each other, contemplating. They didn't need to contemplate much, they really didn't have much of a choice and they all were hungry, they just didn't want to acknowledge it. Finally, sighing in defeat, they begrudgingly nodded to their friends and family. "Fine." They mumbled, picking up the utensils, hands shaking from hunger.

It took them a while to finish their food. Chewing the food slowly and having a slight difficulty in swallowing. Aside from that, the food tasted a bit off but they were so hungry, they weren't that bothered about the taste.

With empty plates, they downed their food with a glass of water.

"See? That wasn't so bad." Alex collected their plates when they finished eating, grinning at each of them.

"Now can we go?" Jacob asked, his eyes pleading at his brother, watching him get off his bed.

"Nope." Kenneth grinned as he slowly backed out of the room, the floor creaking under him.

Nick tilted his head to the side, brows furrowed as he also watched Astraea move closer to him, kissing him on the forehead. "But that wasn't the deal." He argued after his girlfriend pulled away, walking over to their other friends.

"Babe, there wasn't a deal in the first place." She replied, not looking back at him.

"What... did you guys do?" Nathan slurred, feeling his body shut down.

"Grace left the special pills that she used to give Ember so she would... behave." Greyson shrugged, his hand on the doorknob. "We managed to get that in your food. Goodnight, kids."

"Dad..." Ember fought the feeling of drowsiness that washed over her, fighting to keep her eyes open, her eyelids feeling extremely heavy.

"You all will stay in bed. End of discussion." Was the last thing they heard before drifting off into a deep sleep.

"How long are they going to be asleep?" James asked as they walked down the stairs.

"The longest Ember was out when Grace gave it to her was twelve hours, I think? They'll probably be out till tomorrow morning." Greyson answered, grabbing the plates from Alex and entering the kitchen. Kenneth following right behind him.

"I feel really bad for Nathan." Alex commented. He turned the TV back on, picking up on where they left off. "And we really need Grace."

"All of them were defending Grace so much. Do you guys think that they know something that we don't?"

James chuckled, his eyes trained on the TV. "I don't think that- I know they do, Astraea. When I blasted Faith with that lightning and we were close to falling off the cliff, I saw Nick and Jacob talking to Grace." The memory flashed through his mind, his eyes squinting. "She was sobbing and Faith was yelling in the background. Nick and Jacob definitely know something that could help us a lot. And don't even get me started on Nathan. He's a sly boy. Him and Grace definitely have something going on. Besides, I can smell romance even before it started. Like yours and Nick's s****l tension but that was painfully obvious right at the beginning. So let's go with Rocco's subtle glances at Ember when he first arrived and his fake act of hating girls and his whole speech of killing them shit."

"Subtle glances? Did he do that? How would you notice that? You were throwing a basketball into the air." Alex glanced at him.

"Alex," he started as if talking to a child, "I am in love. I know when somebody is in love. I could be facing the other direction and feel whatever is between you and Kenneth." He ended, smirking.

"Woah, dude. The f**k?" Alex nervously chuckled.

"You got so defensive. It's a joke, dude!" James laughed out loud, slapping Alex's arm as he almost fell off the couch. Alex breathed a sigh of relief at this.

"But you know... hehe." James teased to which Alex responded with an eye roll.

"Astraea, you've been quiet." Alex changed the subject.

"I don't know why but I'm worried about Grace." She whispered, fiddling with her fingers.

"Once the four upstairs are all better, we can create a plan, alright?" James reassured.

"Yeah, okay." She nodded, looking back at the TV but her mind was still on Grace.

The two boys warily looked at each other before averting their gaze back on the show in hopes to distract themselves. But like Astraea, their minds remained on Grace, wondering how she was.