Felix woke up in the hallway of the residential zone to his head pounding and Christian shaking him and yelling at him to get up. Felix didn't know how long he had been out but he still heard rain pounding the sides of the ship, which was rocking violently. The lights had turned back on and there was no longer hail, but the ship was still caught in the middle of a storm.
Christian lifted Felix up and took him inside their house and told him what happened. Apparently the ships had gotten caught in an unforeseen storm and were forced to stay still until the storm passed. The ship that Felix and Christian were on, just named by the captains as "Ship 5" hadn't even gotten the worst of the storm. The captains said that one ship had capsized, with there being no seen survivors. At this news, Felix felt dizzy that that could have happened to his ship. But then he felt guilty that he was even thinking about his own situation when almost two thousand people had died due to the storm, with many being children. Christian said that in a week the captains of the ships would be holding a memorial service on a nearby plateau, which used to be a mountain cliff.
Felix was in shock. How could something so horrible happen to so many innocent people? Christian came over to Felix and put his arm around him, and that was when it all caved. Felix burst into tears and sat there, crying into his brother's chest.
"It's okay. It's all gonna be fine. The scavengers are looking for survivors and there's sure to be a few. It's gonna be fine. I promise. It's okay," Christian said to him. "Now, let's take a look at that head wound."
Christian went around behind Felix and looked at the place where he had hit his head. It didn't look good. Christian saw blood and he could see that Felix wasn't feeling well. Christian hoped that he didn't have concussion, as getting to the infirmary would be more complicated than usual, with all the confused people in the halls. Still, Felix was obviously badly hurt and needed medical attention, so Christian had no choice but to make the trek to the infirmary.
"Come on, Felix. You need medical attention so we need to get to the infirmary," Christian said.
"Okay, I don't feel well. My head hurts really badly," Felix said faintly.
"Okay, just don't fall asleep. You may never wake up."
Christian and Felix got up to make the journey to the infirmary, walking around all the confused people roaming the hallways. Felix felt horrible. He couldn't see straight and his head was throbbing. He was fighting to stay awake despite his body saying he should just go to sleep; he could have fallen asleep and never have woken up. He felt blood trickling down the back of his head from the wound, standing out from his white shirt as it dripped down onto it.
The two brothers finally got to the infirmary and a doctor treated Felix immediately. The doctor said that he had a medium-severity concussion and that he would need to treat it, then Felix should rest for a while. Felix was glad that he didn't have to go to school because of the severity of the storm. If he had to, it would have been torture.
"You good, Felix?" Christian asked.
"I have a concussion and I can't go anywhere. What do you think?" Felix replied sarcastically.
"Okay, okay, jeez. You don't have to be so mean about it," Christian said, backing away.
"Sorry, Christian. I shouldn't have been so mean, I'm just not feeling very well, both physically and emotionally, so you have to forgive me for being a little rude," Felix responded, sighing.
Christian left, as he had to go to work, leaving Felix in the infirmary alone. He looked around at all the hospital beds, noticing how many fishermen and scavengers there were. They had gotten hit the heaviest, with them being caught outside during the middle of a hailstorm. Many of the fishermen had bad-looking head wounds and many scavengers had limbs that were bent at unnatural angles. Felix was glad that the only wound he had gotten was a concussion and nothing more serious had happened to him. He looked out the window on the wall next to him and watched the rain pour down the glass. He hadn't seen this heavy a rainstorm in a long time. They were rare, but, as it was getting warmer in spring, rainstorms were becoming more common, and when you're living in a place where everything in sight is covered in water, monsoons and heavier hailstorms happen more. All fishermen prepared for this, but the weather was unpredictable and things like the hailstorm could happen.
Felix saw the doctor coming over to him. Perhaps it was time to go? Felix was feeling better and his head no longer hurt.
"Well, I think it's time for you to go," The doctor said. "You seem to be feeling better and I have some more patients that have more serious injuries. I recommend that you try to get some rest and make sure to not cause any damage to your head."
"Thank you, doctor. I greatly appreciate it," Felix replied, walking out the door of the infirmary.
As Felix left the room, he saw the person who was being brought in, and the shock nearly knocked him over. The person on the stretcher was Matt. Felix could see shards of glass in his face and his body was very bruised. Blood dripped down from a gaping wound on his forehead. Felix knew that Matt had been close to a window when it broke but he didn't realize that the impact had been so severe.
"Stay strong, Matt," Felix whispered under his breath as he walked past.
When Felix got back to his residence, he saw a note from Christian on the kitchen table. It said that he was at work and would be getting home a bit late, since he worked in the industrial sector and everyone there had to work on fixing the ship after the storm.
Since it looked like he had the house to himself, Felix decided to sit and read. Stormy days were perfect for reading books and on such days Felix would find himself reading for hours without realizing it. The quiet atmosphere of his residence while he was alone mixed with the sounds of rain hitting the ship helped Felix become totally immersed in his book.
Felix had been reading for quite a while when he heard a knock on the door. He went to see who it was and saw a young man dressed in scavengers' clothes standing outside the door.
When Felix opened the door the man said, "Hello, I am coming around to ask if anyone has any spare bandages or medical equipment, as my dad got hurt in the storm and the infirmary is full, so if you could donate, that would be very helpful."
Felix looked around in his bathroom for any bandages, but the only thing he found was a box of Arachnid Man medical tape.
"This is all I could find. I hope it helps," Felix said to the man.
"Thank you, God bless," The man said, walking away.
Religion. Something Felix didn't understand. How could you believe in something you couldn't see? Besides, there was a scientific explanation for everything. But how could you explain The Flood? Felix was sure there was a scientific explanation for everything, but The Flood was one thing he couldn't explain. And if God was real, why would he make such a thing happen?
Felix heard the door unlocking and in came Christian with a tired look on his face. Christian worked in Disaster Relief, so when a storm of this magnitude happened, it was always a long day.
"Hey, Christian, how was-" Felix started.
"Got a lot of cuts. Where's the bandages?" Christian interrupted.
"Uh, i-in the bathroom, under the sink… you okay, Christian?"
"Just fine, except for the fact that I had to sweep up broken glass all day and mop all the water off what felt like every single surface in the whole ship, and had to watch people die in the infirmary as I cleaned up their blood, and had to tell young children living in the upper deck that they wouldn't be seeing their parents again, among other horrible, trying things!"
For what felt like an eternity to Felix, the entire room was silent. Felix had never seen his brother have an outburst like that before. Christian was normally very level-headed and very few things could set him off. Then again, something like this had never happened before, at least in Felix's lifetime.
"I'm sorry I was so rough, Felix. I've just... been having a bad day," Christian said, sighing.
"Hey, Christian, did you happen to see if Matt was okay? I saw him in the infirmary and it looked like he got hit pretty hard," Felix yelled to Christian, who was in the bathroom treating his wounds.
"Yeah, I saw him. I didn't catch what the doctors were saying about him, though."
"Did he look any better?"
"Well, he didn't have massive shards of glass in his face, so I think he's a bit better," Christian sighed, sitting down in their living room. "Are we okay, Felix?"
"All good."