Rapture

Thirst

I strain my legs to keep with the stride of the black-haired twin across the desert. The searing heat of the sand under my bare feet encourages me to pick up my steps.

Seems like ages that the two of us walk alone towards the snow-capped mountains in the distance. The new sun lingers at noon, and the air seems to get hotter by each moment.

Water...

My throat pulses with every breath. Even my skin dried out of sweat. I lift my eyes from my escort's shade and examine her. She's been walking naked in the desert for as long as me. She's keeping her pose, because she knows I'm watching, but we're in the same state.

Or she finds us water, or I'll drink her blood.

She looks over her shoulder, as if sensing my consideration, flashing me a wicked smile. I smile back at her.

I blink my eyes, thinking I imagined it, but there are more in the distance. Ahead, behind us, at our sides; groups crossing the sands, covering from the sun in black clothes.

"Who are all these?" I gasp, covering myself with my hands. She snorts a mocking laugh at me before striding on.

"Their eyes are already burning. Soon their souls will too."

"What-?" I pause for moment, but upon leaving her shade, the sun flashes me with an image of jaw ripping out of place. I hurry my step to catch up with her.

"So they're all going to die?" I ask in hushed voice.

"Yup."

"And us not?"

"Us? Not. You? Most likely."

"Huh..."

There's a crowd gathering ahead of us, rounding up thickly. I hear shouts about water, and more people rushing to push their way in.

"They have water." I say.

"Oh, sure they do," The black-haired twin takes my hand and makes a sharp turn into the crowd. The people shrouded in black cloth rush from her path, lowering their gazes and murmuring to the ground.

Where the crowd thickens and volumes rise with craze for water, they don't notice us anymore. Just trying to claw and push their way through.

She flattens one in our way with a cracking kick to the spine, and turns around the head of another. The rest seem to notice her after that, and the way opens for us quickly.

"Here Elena, take a drink." She clears the way for me with an open hand and a wide smile. I step forward, and my jaw slackens in shock.

People are down on their knees, cupping their hands and filling their mouths with sand. Some went on to splash their faces and hair with it, and others stripped down and jumped in for a swim. Laughter and shrieks of mad glee cover up those choking among them, coughing out bloodied sand as their bodies crumple.

"Jump in Elena, you already got your clothes off."

My stomach lurches, and I steady my knees not to shake. Ugh...

I turn away to find the crowd bunched up behind us. I start making my way through, when a rough hand resists, grabbing me by the elbow. A tall figure with tanned skin and a grey stubble lurches towards me.

I slam my elbow in his face, rushing up against him. He falls back to the sand, and I kick him in the mouth before he manages to get up. He yelps, and scrabbles, grabbing my foot. I yank it from his grip and stomp on his head.

I feel a crack under my heel, and he falls still.

The crowd had opened a gap around us. I consider taking the man's black clothes, but I take a sniff, and change my mind. The stench of sweat is horrid.

I get up to find the black-haired twin slow-clapping.

"Are you ready to go on, or do you want to drink his blood?"

"Ha-ha." I wipe my foot on the sand, and she joins my side walking out of the deluded crowd.

"What the hell is wrong with these people?" I ask.

"Can't you tell? They're thirsty."