Morning came rushing with the applause of thunder and beating drums of hail, mercilessly breaking the brothers' slumber. The daily assault of the heavens came to be known by some orphans as "War", and served as a grim alarm clock for the whole city. The lightning would strike in colours of blue, red, and green on the works of the orphans with impunity, like an angry god rebuking the Tower of Babel.
Gabriel was always the first to wake, being more sensitive to the thundering skies than his brother. He rose cautiously to let Michael have a few more minutes out of this world, though this would often depend on what expression he'd see on his brother's face; at times Michael would have the worst nightmares. He manoeuvred around the relatively slim safe area they had beneath the battered concrete overhead to set up for breakfast. From his backpack, he took out a towel, a spoon, a scavenged tin of beans, and a well-worn but sturdy pot. He spread the towel out on the floor as a makeshift tablecloth, placing everything but the pot on it; instead, he would carefully nudge the pot out into the vicious hail, allowing it to collect as much of it as possible.
Gabriel sat down against the wall beside his still-sleeping brother and released a sigh. A few minutes later, one bolt of lightning struck one of the exposed steel pillars of the building. The following thunder shot through the air like a bullet, and Michael jolted upwards in exasperation, shattering his dreams in an instant. He instantly looked to where Gabriel had been sleeping before, and his eyes widened in a moment of existential panic. He looked to his other side, and there sat his brother. Thank God, he thought to himself, as the spiking of his heartbeat faded into the rhythmic hail of the morning storm.
Gabriel was sitting with his eyes scrunched and his ears covered in response to the thunder. He felt Michael's embrace and began to relax his body, removing his hands from his ears. They released a sigh in unison as Michael released his brother and sat down properly.
"I need your pot," said Gabriel, pointing towards his makeshift hail collector.
Michael nodded and wordlessly moved to his backpack, taking out his own spoon and pot.
"Gab, did we get more than one can?"
"No. I don't think so."
"Well... Let's see if I have anything."
"We can share."
Michael didn't respond as he fiercely rummaged through the reaches of his backpack in search of something to eat. Some ceramics and screws slipped out onto the floor, prompting Gabriel's attention.
"Shouldn't you be careful with those?" Gabriel inquired, a hint of concern in his tone.
"Why should I?" replied Michael, his voice quivering and hoarse.
Gabriel fell silent as he remembered. After Michael found the remnants of a mostly stale loaf of bread and scattered half of the contents of his backpack on the ground besides, he looked up at a despondent Gabriel and felt his heart begin to sink. He placed the loaf of bread over on the tablecloth and set his pot out beside Gabriel's in the hail, and then moved over to sit beside his brother. They both quietly sat there, attempting to drown their thoughts in the storm.
As the storm clouds began to thin, though, the brothers were both conscious to not expose themselves directly to any rays of the sun. The celestial body began to shine brightly down on the land, and then brighter, and then brighter. It was a blindingly brilliant light, the entire landscape seared, painted white. Their pots began to boil, and they winced in displeasure at the residual heat. For after the morning storm, came the morning flare. The singular minute spanned an eternity for anything caught in its grasp, frying all who were unfortunate enough to have no shadow in which to hide. This had come to be known by some orphans as "Peace". Though it was not as long as the daily storm, it was undoubtedly deadlier to the living.
The flare faded as quickly as it came, allowing life to continue once more. The water had boiled, and breakfast was ready to be eaten. The brothers moved across to the tablecloth. Gabriel opened his can of baked beans as Michael used one of the cloths lying around as a mitten to bring the boiling water into the shade to cool off. By the time he had done so, Gabriel had already sliced the bread with a pocket knife and placed a few teaspoons worth of beans on each slice, giving Michael no choice but to eat more food. They looked at each other and smiled.
They extended their humble meal for as long as possible while discussing the plan for the day.
"We should go to Avalon, Gab. Maybe they didn't find all of the supplies, and the water filter that Anna had set up should have been hidden well enough, we should be able to prepare ourselves from there," Michael began, staring intently at the slice of bread he was holding by the edges.
Gabriel reluctantly nodded in agreement, concerned as he was with how his big brother would take the sight of the abandoned community.
"Then, when we get some real food and water, and fill our backpacks with travel supplies, we can start heading eastwards..." Michael continued but trailed off towards the end of his thought.
"... That's where Elise's family should be," he finished with a whisper, reluctantly taking a bite of the food.
After eating one slice, Michael left the rest of the breakfast to Gabriel; instead, he went to gaze out of the window at what remained of Avalon on a hill in the distance. They only built a few buildings primarily out of wood, and all of those were now clearly gone, but the houses of scrap metal that were only covered with a bit of wood to protect against the worst of the flares were still intact. Michael formulated the rest of the plan in his head so that he wouldn't have to speak it out loud.
When Gabriel had finished the rest of the food, and the water had cooled enough to pour into their modest water bottles with a simple inbuilt filter, the brothers prepared to leave. They washed their hands and faces with the extra water, packed up their bags, and carefully descended from the building.
After half an hour of walking, they reached the base of the hill upon which Avalon had been built. As they made their familiar ascent, Gabriel found that his bottle of water had already emptied.
"I'm going to go get water, okay?" Gabriel said, looking up at his brother.
"Alright, the water should be fine. The filter was really impressive after all. Anna always talked about how proud she was. 'Best water in the entire city!' right?" Michael said, and gave a forced smile as he turned away and began ascending faster.
Michael needed to get to the top. He simply had to see it for himself; he had to see what happened. He knew how much he concerned his little brother, but despite that, he continued at speed.
Gabriel turned to the side path that led to a hidden door in the side of the hill that led downwards. The filtration system was the biggest project that Avalon had undertaken, carefully hollowing out a portion of the ground beneath the town to house a large tank of purified water. The town itself was equipped with drainage pipes that directed all hail into a central basin that would automatically expose itself directly to the flare to boil. The water would then be released through a complex filtration system, and finally, end up filling the tank of water. This water could be fetched from the hidden room to drink, wash, and enjoy.
Michael finished his ascent. He looked upon what remained with demented eyes.
"Barren. It's so... Barren. So... Empty."
He clenched his fists and held his breath. There was no blood; there was no ash. The world had already washed away all of the sins; no evidence remained of any crimes that had been perpetrated. No trace remained of any struggle.
"Eh... Ehehe..."
Michael's breathing became erratic as his cheeks and mouth forced themselves into a twitching smile. His eyes were glaring down at his hands, his left eye began to twitch, and he found it all so funny. He collapsed onto the dusty ground in hysterical laughter, dirtying himself as he tossed around, squealing like a pig.
Gabriel finished his descent. He looked upon the tap ahead with gleaming eyes.
"Yesss."
He ran over to the tap and took his favourite ceramic cup from the drawer they had in the room, he had found that cup himself while scavenging, and it had a friendly-looking giraffe on it. Gabriel didn't know what the animal was, but the warm colours made him feel happy. The water without Anna's filter didn't taste anywhere near as good, Gabriel thought to himself as he casually filled his cup with water.
He took a sip. The texture was strange; it was thick, it was stuck in his throat. It tasted like... Blood.
Gabriel whimpered like a beaten pup as he tried to spit the blood out, but he couldn't bring himself to use the full force of his body. He began feeling weak, lethargic. He collapsed on the ground, spilling the rest of his cup of blood on the floor beneath him, staining his clothes. In his mind, he knew he was going to throw up, and as the blood oozed pathetically from his mouth, he began to cry.