Chapter 6

Calem sighed as he woke up in the heat of the sand, feeling uncomfortable already. Though, the heat wasn't really what was bothering him. It was more the tightness he felt in his boxers, something he hadn't felt in a while. Well, not to this extent, at least. It hurt one hell of a lot, Calem having woken up this morning from a dream about Apollo, and boy, was it… well, amazing to say the least.

He sighed as he sat up from his sleeping bag and stared at the big bulge in his pants, knowing he wouldn't be able to wait this one out. He's never had a boyfriend before, a real boyfriend, and the thoughts of him swimming around in Calem's head would permit the tent to stay pitched. "I don't feel like dealing with this right now…" Calem spoke aloud to himself, poking it softly and flinching a little at the touch. "I've got shit to do…"

As he stared at it more, he could only imagine Apollo's gentle voice in his ear, as well as Apollo's hands running up and down his body. It made Calem twitch in his boxers, biting his lip at the pain from such a hard on.

"It… It shouldn't take too much time…" Calem told himself, slowly sliding his boxers down his legs and sliding his hands along his thighs. He bit his lip again as he could feel his cock twitch once more. "Besides… It's been a while…" He spit into his hand, lacking any kind of lotion or lube to help him out. He slid a hand up, then down his staff, shuddering at the feeling.

"It's been so long…" he mumbled, shutting his eyes as he leaned back into the warm sand. Calem's mind swam as he imagined Apollo's hand's touching him, Calem's right hand sliding up his body and softly playing with his nipple. "Oh god, Apollo…" he whispered, moving his hand a little faster. "Mmm… that feels so good…"

Calem's lust was getting ahead of him, making his common sense fall out the window. He stared at his phone for a moment, biting his lip as he continued to think about Apollo's voice. "Oh god, Apollo…" he groaned as he grabbed his phone with his free hand, dialing Apollo's number.

"Hey, Calem, what's up!" Apollo spoke cheerfully, Calem huffing a little.

"Hey, Apollo..." Calem managed to breathe out into the phone, huffing quietly. "H-How have you been today?" Calem whispered, starting to regret this a little.

Apollo was quiet on the other end, Calem starting to regret this decision. "Are you, uh… jacking off?" Apollo asked quietly, sounding like he was in a quieter place now.

Calem immediately felt like spontaneously combusting, never being more embarrassed in his life. "I, uh…" he couldn't think of what to possibly say next. "I'm sorry!"

"No wait!" Apollo shouted into the phone before Calem could hang up. "That's… really sexy…" Apollo huffed, Calem feeling his whole body flush red as he gripped his staff. He moaned into the phone loudly, an orgasm washing over him like nothing he's felt before. "Wow, did you really just cum?"

"Shut up!" Calem shouted, his voice cracking as he collapsed against the rock, panting. "Ugh, sorry for bothering you…" Calem sighed, looking at his limp dick in disgust. "I dunno what came over me, this was stupid…"

Apollo giggled again, Calem getting even more embarrassed and fearing Apollo was teasing him. "Calem, never hesitate to call me if you wanna do something like this," Apollo spoke, Calem covering his face, even though there was no one to see it. "S-Something about this kinda thing…" he started, starting to become a little more nervous. "Makes me excited for the real thing…"

Calem actually felt like he was about to explode, fidgeting where he sat and just getting redder in the face. "Jeez, Apollo…" Calem mumbled, laughing nervously and running his hand through his hair. "I… I'm happy to hear that…" he managed to get out, playing with his toes nervously. "I, uh… I can't wait either. Truth be told, though, I'm a little nervous… and by a little I mean really."

Apollo laughed at his comments, Calem feeling a little comforted by this for some reason. "I would say don't worry, but… I'm nervous too…" he commented, neither of them saying anything for a brief moment. "I'm happy to know we're both on the same page, though."

"Yeah…" Calem mumbled in response, not sure what else to say or how to duck out of this conversation. So, of course, he just let his mouth run. "So I'll send you an unsolicited dick pic soon, sound like a plan?"

This sent Apollo into unmatched laughter, loud hollering being heard until the laugh turned into a near silent and wheezy one. Calem giggled with him, absolutely adoring to hear other people's laughs. "Y'know, I'd really like that. Please do it when I'm at a big family event, or maybe even when I'm in classes."

"Of course, that's only courtesy," Calem casually shrugged, Apollo laughing even harder and sending the two into giggle fits they wouldn't be returning from any time soon.

A barren wasteland was all that was in sight at this point. Whatever wall that was there before had been blown to bits, stray pieces of stone still lingering at the site. Charred corpses and skeletons still lied about the ground, along with bits from the omnics that once invaded this space.

Calem took it all in with a heavy heart, walking on foot quietly in respect of those whose lives were lost in this place. It was dead silent, aside from Calem's feet through the sand and his deep breaths to stop himself from imagining what happened here and hallucinating their thoughts. His foot plunged through a weak, black skull, the loud crunch snapping Calem back to the scenery. He stared at it for a moment before letting his tears flow, relieving the strain in his throat as he wept loudly. Apologizing profusely, Calem carefully picked up the skull, only being able to wonder why on earth all of this was kept here, what possessed these countries to keep these horrific sights open to see. Perhaps it was a demonstration of something that brought them together, since Calem knew there was a big problem with Mexican and American borders long ago.

A car carelessly floated through the wasteland, speeding by and kicking up the black sand with its speed. Calem tried to take a deep breath, not wanting to think about all of this anymore, figuring he had to become desensitized to these things to follow Jack. But for now, he figured he got a pass. He could be weak in times of mourning. But was it a time of mourning? Everyone seemed to disregard what seemed to be absolute devastation for miles.

He finally picked himself up off the ground from the decaying body, staring down at it and realizing this was far from a person now. He wiped his wet cheeks, turning them bright red until they were dry of any remnants of tears. Continuing to haul himself through the sand, Calem didn't look at any of the other bodies, and if he happened to, he reminded himself that there was nothing he could do to save them.

He walked over the border line much easier than he originally thought it would be, just taking simple steps into Mexican territory without trying to sneak over some big wall and rush past border patrol. The trip felt longer, though.

After long, long minutes of hauling himself through the dark, burnt sands and graveyard of lost souls, Calem was finally on the other side, reaching an actual street and just taking it all in. He took in the town around him, taking a deep breath and just cracking a smile as a last tear built up in his eye.

Dumpsters smell putrid. This was something Calem was becoming more and more conscious of as he tried to feed off any leftover foods on top of the garbage outside of restaurants. It'd been a long while since he had his last real meal, and it was starting to get to him, his body starting to reject the dumpster food in an effort to encourage Calem to eat healthier.

He dreamed of being able to go back to Rin's house and eating meals happily with Apollo at his side, dealing with little Athena's irritating yet entertainingly smart mouth. He should've taken the opportunity to stay there and just… wait. But, if he had stayed there, he knew he'd just be thirsting to be where he was now.

"Ugh, come on…" Calem grumbled, finishing off the last of some kind of rice and bean dish while trying to just keep it all down. "Oof… This hurts so bad…" he sighed, clutching his stomach tightly as nausea washed over him. "Just gotta hold it down…"

In his fit of whimpering and shovelling food into his mouth, a shadow towered over him. Calem looked up to see a man with a broom held over his head, but a puzzled look on his face.

"... Hola," Calem laughed sheepishly, the man slowly lowering the broom and putting his hands on his hips.

"Tu comiendo la basura?" he asked, speaking faster than Calem's high school spanish class had taught him. "Pense que eras un gato."

"Uh… Lo siento, pero, no hablo espanol," Calem excused, standing up and holding the bowl close. The man only stared at him, sighing and turning around to go back into his restaurant.

Calem let out a sigh of relief, figuring the man wouldn't take very kindly to him continuing to dig through his trash anymore. Calem grabbed his hoverboard from the ground, taking the holo strip on the top and slinging it around his body to the bottom of the board, letting it sit comfortably on his shoulders. He picked the bowl back up and started walking out of the little alley, continuing to eat the food as he walked past the front of the restaurant.

"Espera!" a voice called, Calem turning to see the man from before with a package in his hands, jogging up to Calem. "Food. For you," the man said, holding the little package out to Calem.

Calem looked down at it, then up at the man, shocked by such a display of kindness. "Para mi?" he asked, trying his best to remember what he's learned.

The man nodded, smiling at him as Calem carefully took the package, looking back up at the man. "Grazie," he replied, using his italian by mistake. But the man seemed to understand, nodding at him.

He turned to go back to the restaurant, Calem looking down at the package and wondering what delicious food could be inside. The fact that the food before was from the garbage made him sick, but it did taste delicious. He could only imagine how good a fresh meal would be.

The sun was starting to set as Calem continued down the street, figuring he should find a place out of town to camp out for the night. He stared down at the package still, smiling at it every time he remembered the man's kindness. He was thankful for it.

The night was becoming gradually colder as Calem made his way through the sand, having a full stomach from that delicious food and just wanting to sleep. Apollo was on his mind, thinking about how he hasn't talked to him in a while, but couldn't call him due to international charges. He'd have to find somewhere with wifi to text him, or somehow directly connect a modem to his phone. He could also see what it would take to get a satellite phone, but that seemed like too much trouble to go through just for a boyfriend. He sighed as he dragged his feet through the sand, trying not to fall into a food coma.

Hearing his phone fall to the ground, Calem groaned, leaning over and picking it up from the sands. As he did so, a gunshot fired over his head. The boy froze for a moment before rolling down to the ground and scrambling behind the nearest rock. He ripped his guns from the belts on his hips and tried to take a deep breath and calm down. He peaked his head out from behind the rock, yanking it back just in time to see a purple trail left by the bullet.

"Who the hell is just shooting at me like this…" he mumbled to himself, pushing the hoverboard off of his pack and onto the ground, crouching down onto it. He threw the old package from the food up in the air, escaping from the rock over to the right just in time to see the purple stream go through the air again. He smirked a bit as he approached a figure, dodging around anything else fired at him and seeing the figure get visibly frustrated.

The person stopped for a moment, Calem trying to get a gauge as to who and what they were. They were dressed in heavy desert equipment, their face covered and entire body seemingly ready for some kind of sandstorm. While he was studying them, he didn't realize something was flying at him until it hit his arm, flinging him up off his board and onto the sand.

The slam into the sand left him winded and wheezing for air as he whimpered in pain. But he couldn't sit there and writhe, he had to get up. And so he tried. The first time getting up, he nearly blacked out, running to his board and falling on his face. He grunted as he got on his hands and knees, his vision becoming doubled and fuzzy. He looked over at what was left in his arm, seeing some sort of syringe with a couple of Z's on it. He struggled to keep his eyes open, seeing the figure towering over him as he grunted in frustration.

"Fuck… You!" he shouted, seeming exhausted as claws protruded from the knuckles of his gloves, taking a weak swipe at the person who just stepped away from it. "I… I won't let you… I won't… let…" Calem could barely speak, his words slurring as he started feeling a relaxing sensation sweep over him. "I… won't…"

A gentle, warm light greeted Calem as he slowly opened his eyes, confused as to what happened and where he was almost. He slowly sat up in a pile of blankets, staring down at them and being unable to recognize them. He was so confused… last he remembered he… he was… he really couldn't remember what he was doing last, it all just seemed to be little snippets of unimportant things. He stared down at his hands, then his belts, seeing his guns were nowhere to be found. This put a bit more in perspective for Calem, realizing how weird it was he remembered nothing and was in an unfamiliar place.

He looked around to see someone sitting at the fire in a rocking chair, seeming to sip some tea. They weren't paying any attention to him, Calem figuring they hadn't noticed him wake up yet. He carefully stood from the pile of blankets, very slowly as to not let himself pass out from the dehydration he felt. After steadying himself and clearing his vision, he became laser focused on the enemy, taking quiet steps toward them. He let the claws from his knuckles materialize, pausing for a moment before rushing up to the chair and putting the claw up to their neck.

"Who the fuck are you?" Calem asked in his best intimidating act, but his voice crack once again ruining it. Why did he say that? Why did he say it like that? He wished he was the one in the chair at that moment and to be killed instantly.

"How old are you, little one?" the person laughed, shaking their head. The voice sounded… familiar, Calem knew it from somewhere. Before anything else could escape his mouth, his arm was grabbed with amazing force and he was yanked away, then slammed to the ground.

Calem groaned at his head throbbing in pain, squinting his eyes and trying to make out the face. Once his vision managed to focus and center, he felt a strong wave of emotions that only made him want to cry.

"Holy shit!" he shouted, the woman raising an eyebrow at him. "I just got pinned down by Ana Amari…" he whispered under his breath, making her chuckle as she pressed harder on his arms pinned to the ground.

"And who are you?" she asked, intimidating even with the motherly smile on her face.

Calem was a little frozen in shock, trying to take a deep breath and not pass out at this very moment. "My name is Calem Brookes and I'm looking for Jack Morrison!" he spat out, gaining a curious look from the older woman.

"Jacky? Why might you be looking for him?" she asked, slowly loosening her grip and taking her hands away from him.

"I want to shadow him and become the world's next Hero of Overwatch!" he spilled, just dumping his brain out to her. God, he wanted her to be his mom so bad. He'd be 100000x more attractive and smart and overall amazing. She was amazing! He wished he could be like her daughter, Pharah Amari. How he adored the Amari's.

Ana chuckled, getting up from the ground carefully and walking back to her tea. "You're a silly kid. Overwatch has been disbanded for years, darling," she explained, sipping from her cup and looking back at the boy sitting up from the ground and rubbing his head. "I'll get you a water, stay there."

"Uh… thank you," he nodded at her, watching as she walked by in a pair of slippers and sweatpants, but was still somehow incredibly badass. "And there has to be something like Overwatch again!" he tried to continue their previous conversation. "These terrorists, Talon, they've been popping up everywhere and they're making, like, a hella lot of trouble!" he explained, looking over at her as he rose to his feet. "It's like they want to see the world burn. You guys have to stop them! I want to stop them!" he practically begged, Ana staring at the water bottle in her hand with laser focus, studying it in contemplation of his words.

Calem felt bad for putting her in such terrible thoughts, pouting a little as he crossed his arms. "I wanna start the new generation of heroes… I wanna save the world…" he mumbled, Ana looking at him with a mix of concern and regret.

"Honey…" she started, sighing and shaking her head. "Jack isn't that man anymore. He's no hero-"

"Yes he is!" Calem immediately defended, his fists clenched tightly. "He was a hero and if you kept up with any of the stuff he did-"

"I do, kid," she cut him off, her voice not matching Calem's with volume, but easily being overbearing with pressure. "Why do you think I'm here in Mexico, little one?" she shook her head at him. "Jack isn't the hero he used to be, or the hero he wants to be… He's… a very different person from what you see on TV."

Calem stared at her in silence, frustrated by the way everyone talked about him and how even Ana Amari, Second to the Strike Commander, thought so lowly of Jack. "He's a good man, one that I love dearly and always will, but he is no Hero of Overwatch anymore," she continued, Calem shaking his head and stomping his foot on the ground.

"Like hell!" he shouted, running up to Ana and trying not to stumble. "Who else would go and save countries from a crisis even after their government told them no! Who else would selflessly dedicate himself to his work and deal with all the shit he had to go through! I have a breakdown everytime I see a person die and contemplate it for weeks!" Calem defended him, tears building up in his eyes. "No one else would do his work but you and the other members of Overwatch! You're all heroes!"

Ana remained quiet, staring at the boy as he started sniffling and rubbing his eyes, shaking his head. "Y'know…" she started, gaining an angry, yet adorable glare from the boy. "I never thought of it that way…" she smiled, holding the water out to him. "It's nice to finally hear someone call us heroes."

Calem, being a spiteful teenager, kept his glare and swiped the bottle from her hands, making her giggle. "You're funny, cry baby," she teased, Calem giggling a little and wiping at his red eyes once more.

"I'm not crying…" he refuted jokingly, Ana laughing once again. Calem took a long sip of water while Ana wandered back to her rocking chair in front of the fire, Calem contemplating how the hell she could stand the heat of a fire in a desert.

He walked over sheepishly, being a little nervous around her, especially after yelling at her so loudly. He blinded himself with his feelings and didn't even realize what he was doing, but she was a mother, and probably more used to this than he thought.

"So, uh…" he asked, sitting in the other rocking chair and relaxing for the first time in a few months. "Why were you shooting at me…? And dressed the way you were?" he asked shyly, fiddling with the water bottle lid and realizing the fire seemed to just be decoration as it gave off no heat.

"Sometimes people track me down, and I just try to play it safe," she explained, sipping from her tea that Calem wondered why she still drank since it was probably cold now. "Living out in Mexico has become fairly dangerous now that Los Muertos have started growing. That gang is becoming out of control and could even overthrow the government," she sighed, shaking her head at the thought. "Jacky is trying to somehow take them out, but he's by himself…"

Calem felt a smile bloom across his face, clenching the arms of the chair as the old woman looked over, chuckling softly. "Are you thinking about helping him?" she asked with inflection, Calem giggling a little.

"Well, if he could use the help, I gladly would," he smiled, the woman sipping her tea once again.

"I'm sure he'd appreciate the help of someone as skilled as you," she smiled, Calem choking on his saliva and coughing loudly in his seat.

"Wh- Ack!" he hacked, clutching his chest. "Y-You? You think I'm skilled?" he finally spat out, Ana laughing at him.

"Of course! To be able to dodge my shots the way you did!" she praised, nodding at him. "I've been sniping for years and haven't missed a shot in two decades. And with that sneaky little escape of yours?" she huffed, still wondering how she fell for that. "How on earth did you learn to do what you did?"

Calem was red in the face, unable to believe that he caused a pro sniper like Ana Amari to miss shots. "This is a dream…" he mumbled under his breath, shaking his leg in excitement and anxiety. "I, uh… used to practice a lot of strategy stuff at home… I played a lot in the junkyard and I dream about this stuff," he explained in complete infatuation with the fact that he was here telling Ana freaking Amari about all of this.

"Impressive… So you've put a lot of thought into this?" she asked, Calem just kind of smiling as he realized he left on a rush of adrenaline in the middle of the night.

"Uh…" he mumbled, averting his eyes away from her as he leaned back in his seat. "Sure…"

That made her laugh and shake her head at him, sighing as she also sat back in her seat. "Kids will be kids. As long as you can keep yourself safe, I don't think there'd be a problem," she smiled encouragingly, Calem taking a deep breath to take that all in. Out of all the people in the world who could support him, it wasn't his parents, it wasn't his boyfriend (entirely), it wasn't Jesse McCree, one of the most reckless agents of Overwatch. No, it was Ana Amari, the woman who was pretty much the strict mom of the world.

"Holy shit…" was all Calem could utter in complete awe that such an amazing person even cared about him. He was just a child after all, had he been older, she might have killed him.

"Don't let that go to your head," she instructed, tapping her fingernails on the arms of the chair. "You still got a sleep dart landed in your arm, you're lucky that's all you got," she explained, Calem suddenly shrinking back into his chair in embarrassment.

"R-Right…" he mumbled, shaking his leg a little harder now. "So, uh…" he started, his voice cracking and making him go bright red in the face. He thought he was done with puberty, why did this shit still happen to him in front of the people he admired the most. "How long was I out for?" he asked, taking a sip of his water bottle.

"About a day and a half," she replied, Calem choking on the water and coughing violently.

"Two days? No fucking way!"

"Watch your mouth!" she barked, crossing her arms. "You have too much of a potty mouth on you."

"Sorry, that's just…" he couldn't believe that he was out that long, shaking his head in disbelief. "That's a long time… Don't those things only last like… a few hours or something?"

"Well, you are a very small child," she said, looking his little frame up and down and easily making Calem insecure.

"I'm not that small!"

"I am surprised you stayed awake as long as you did, though," she praised once more, ignoring his previous refute.

Calem sighed, hating to have so much attention on anything good about him. "I… It's not that impressive…" he mumbled, staring at the decorative fire. "It was probably just the adrenaline, I had no idea who you were and I thought you were going to kill me!"

Ana shrugged, sipping from her tea once more and seeming to finish it. "I don't know… You're an impressive kid," she continued, shrugging at him.

"It's probably just the weeks I've gone without sleep in high school."

Calem sighed heavily as he walked around the large city he was in. He couldn't remember the name of it, but Dorado was just another couple towns over, and Jack still seemed to be stationed there. His backpack was much heavier than when he left, Ana having loaded him up with snacks and water bottles, and although he appreciated the sentiment, it was heavy as all hell to lug around. He was lucky he made it to the next city without suffering from heat stroke.

Boy, was her food good, though… He chewed off a bit of some Egyptian dessert she made him, basbousa. He picked off the almond, scoffing at it as he absolutely despised them, but the rest of it was delicious. He stuffed his mouth full of it, chewing it and nearly choking on it with cheeks as big as a chipmunks. He wandered around store fronts, stopping in front a few shops and checking out their cute little gadgets and random tourist items. Must've been a town that attracted a lot of people, maybe.

Calem sighed as he continued eating the Egyptian snacks Ana made, binging them like an idiot rather than saving them up. But he was fairly stressed. He was going to be meeting Jack soon, hopefully, and he wasn't sure how to present himself to them, or where he would fine him! It made him nervous to think about, but that wasn't what was really bothering him. This time away from Apollo was getting him thinking about their relationship, if he could even call it that. What was he thinking, getting so obsessed with Apollo in such a short amount of time. What if Apollo isn't the person Calem thought he was? What if Apollo didn't really like him? What if they rushed into this? Who was he kidding, they did rush into this. Calem was just… really afraid of missing, what seemed like, his only chance at love. He sighed, not wanting to act on anxious impulse but also wanting to ask Apollo to… slow down with him and get more friendly before romantic. He wasn't sure, he was scared of romance. Everything about Apollo made him nervous and unsure and he wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

A loud explosion nearby caused Calem to choke on his food, the boy coughing and whipping his head to the action. There was nothing to see though, except for a large cloud of debris rushing down the street with immense force behind it.

Calem rammed his way into a store, still trying to cough up his food as he slammed the door behind him. The shopkeeper stared at him in shock, a little confused as to why Calem was acting in such a panicked way. Then, the sound started rolling in, followed by the glass shattering tsunami of debris and rubble. Calem tried to dive behind the counter as fast as he could, shards of glass cutting into his arms and legs as he took the shopkeeper down with him. He barely made it away from the door in time before a giant piece of concrete smashed into the door, destroying the frame and bashing into the wall to create a hole into the next store.

The worst of it was quickly over, though, leaving the lights swinging from the ceiling, flickering hopelessly to stay lit. The store was completely destroyed, Calem couldn't even recognize what this person was selling before this. He started helping the woman up, apologizing for tackling her down the best he could in Spanish and making sure she wasn't hurt. She seemed to have some minor injuries, but nothing that couldn't be helped with some rubbing alcohol and a band-aid.

He carefully wandered outside the store, seeing the whole street was destroyed in whatever that was. What was that, anyways? There was still a lot of dust in the street, street lines sparking on the ground, making it almost unseeable what happened. He picked the hoverboard off of his back, allowing the holo-latch to fall from existence and drop the board on the ground. Slowly, he rode it down the street, avoiding anything that could be dangerous. As he rode by, he could see a woman and a child killed under the weight of their home, Calem taking a deep breath to try and prevent an anxiety attack. All he got, though, was lungs full of dust, causing him to cough profusely and wheeze in desperation. He pulled his shirt up over his mouth, the spandex easily morphing over his face up to his nose. He then lowered his visor from the top of his headphones, letting it fall over his eyes and turn on. He could see much easier now, but it was something he didn't really want to.

A building was completely collapsed, people screaming in horror as they were either running away, trapped, or trying to help people out of the rubble. Calem felt a wave of emptiness and helplessness wash over him as he witnessed these events unfold. What was happening? There was no way a building in a town like this could just… collapse.

He rushed to a few people screaming for help from under a piece of rubble, Calem trying to lift the heavy concrete. His arms were getting stronger, these last few months, but not strong enough to lift this. He quickly whipped his head around, looking for someone to help, but anyone within the mile radius he could see was either dead or traumatized and incapable of breaking away from the intense thoughts of these last few moments.

Calem looked down at the people he was trying to help, continuing to try and lift the rubble, but failing with each try. "I… I'm trying!" he shouted, the people continuing to cry and wail for help. He huffed as he tried one more time, not able to get it up even an inch. At this point, Calem had to give up, having already spent those majority of his energy on this one thing.

He began backing away, the people screaming for him to come back in desperation as he shook his head. "I'm sorry!" he tried to shout above the sounds of ringing in his ears and the screams of, what felt like, the damned. He sprinted away from them, moving on to helping more people that he could easily get up and out of the way.

He dragged people who were still alive and breathing and propped them up on a wall of, what used to be, a small shop. Many of them were hurt past saving from regular medical methods… but Calem pulled out the health pack he was given by the Fukami family. He checked to see how full it was, barely any juice being taken out of it from his beating several months ago, and he hasn't needed it since.

He set it down on the floor in the center of the injured civilians, watching as their wounds slowly started healing up and color began coming back to their faces. There didn't seem to be much crying from them anymore, either, as they all looked at themselves and wondered what had happened. Once Calem saw they were all healed up, he closed the pod again, seeing it was about a quarter empty.

"How do you feel?" he questioned the crowd, all of them ignoring that they couldn't understand what he said and immediately moving to thank him. Calem started shaking his head in protest trying to figure out what to do to communicate with them that he needed their help.

"W-Wait! We, uh…" he paused, all of them continuing to try and shake his hand and pray to him. He pulled his mask down, putting his fingers in his mouth and blowing hard to create a sharp whistle. "We," he started, gesturing to the lot of them. "Need to," clenching his fist into his chest, because for some reason he thought that conveyed those words. "Help," he made a plus sign with his fingers, hoping that'd signal to them "first-aid" or something along those lines. "Them," he finished, waving out to the huge amounts of rubble.

The people nodded at each other, chatting amongst themselves to try and decipher his weird hand signals, and starting to rise up. They were still weak, though, Calem could see their limbs shaking as they rose and their faces turning paler. He stopped them from moving another step, reaching into his backpack and pulling out the water bottles that Ana had given him. "Por a tu," he would say to each person, handing them the water bottle one by one.

As they drank, Calem ran out to help more people, hearing sirens sounding in the distance finally. But staring as the huge pile of what was once a building with lives and people inside made everything fall silent, the ringing in his ears getting louder. What happened? What caused this?

Calem sat in a hospital in Dorado, getting glass removed from his body. It was exposed that what had happened was a terrorist attack, presumably by Talon. From what Calem could hear over the news, Talon has been dealing weapons with the Los Muertos gang to help overthrow the Mexican government. His mind was fogged up with the memories of people screaming for help from deep in the rubble, the sounds eventually fading out to nothing as the voices lost hope to scream anymore.

He yanked his leg up when rubbing alcohol was applied to the many cuts on his legs, accidentally kneeing the nurse in the face. "Oh, oh my god, I'm so sorry!" he sputtered, getting bright red as the nurse shook his head.

"No, no, don't worry about it," he replied, clearly annoyed that he had to be cleaning up a child with lives at stake in other rooms.

"I was just spacing out and I didn't know-"

"Kid, don't worry about it," he cut Calem off, making the boy feel small and insecure as if he did something really wrong.

He jerked a little as it stung, clenching the bench under him as he held in his little whimpers of pain. With every little jerk, the nurse was getting more and more annoyed with him, but he had to do his job.

"Luckily, you don't have anything that requires stitching. You somehow made it through that unscaved, consider yourself lucky," the nurse said, wrapping his leg up to prevent infection. "And nothing seems broken or anything. You may have a couple of pulled muscles, so just rest at home for a few days," he continued, taking a deep breath as he stood and began putting the wraps away. "Assuming you still have one. Do you know where your parents are, kid? You don't look like you're from around here," he asked, Calem suddenly remembering that he's a runaway.

"Yeah, I'm from a few towns over, I was just checking some stuff out," he explained, the man raising his eyebrow.

"You don't look…" he skimmed his eyes over Calem, making the boy embarrassed. "Or sound like you're from around here," he said, Calem looking away as he tried to think something up.

"We… just moved down here," he tried to keep lying, being painfully obvious.

The nurse laughed and shook his head as he looked over the clipboard at the bottom of the bed, seeing the name "Caden Brooklyn." "You're the Brookes kid, aren't you?" he asked, Calem yanking his head up.

He tried to think of what to say next, not even sure how this guy knew about him. He didn't think news all the way from Nevada would spread down here. "Alright, you got me," he started, putting his hands up. "But I'm gonna be off-"

The nurse shut the door, locking it behind him and instantly giving Calem an off feeling. "Y'know… Los Muertos heard about what you did to their friends up in Arizona… And they've got a pretty big ransom on your head," the nurse started, Calem's eyes widening.

Without thinking, Calem lept off the bench and made a run for the door, body slamming the nurse into the counter behind him. This was obviously unexpected, winding him as Calem unlocked the door with fidgety, misbehaving fingers, barely able to get it open. He yanked the door open, slamming it back into the nurse and bolting for the exit.

He was in astonishment that he managed to get out of there by the skin of his teeth, tearing the hoverboard off of his back and speeding away from the hospital. A ransom on his head? Now this was the kind of life he was ready to live. Maybe Jack would see and start paying attention to him! Maybe Jack would even seek him out! Who knew!