Chapter 10-Hang on Flash

John keeps running towards where Flash is, who is trapped in between two slow moving lava streams. Without his power ring, John has to find another way to get across. He finds some large rocks, one of which might be large enough to hold up long enough for him to use as a stump. He gets behind the rock and pushes. The rock gets loose enough to rolls into the lava stream, but is melting fast. John jumps for it, lands one footed on the wobbly rock, holds his breath as he makes a second jump, and manages to land face first in the sand without touching the lava.

John gets up and runs towards Flash. The birds are still circling him, some hovering just a few feet above him waiting impatiently for their meal. John starts picking up rocks and throws them at the flying creatures.

"Get away from him! Get out of here you buzzards!"

After several minutes, John manages to scare the creatures away. He runs towards Flash and is horrified by what he finds. Flash is lying unconscious in the sand. Mushroom stumps and pieces are right next his face, as well as around his mouth. John notices that they are the same poisonous mushrooms that Eric warned about, and from the looks of it, Flash has ate quite a bit. John turns Flash onto his back and lifts his head slightly.

"Flash, Flash. Do you hear me buddy? Flash!"

Flash doesn't respond. He looks even more emancipated then before. His breathing is very shallow. His face is very pale, almost ghostly white, as well as flushed. He is sweating and his body is shaking. His stomach is very sunken and his rib cage is poking out. His heart rate is near that of a normal person, which for Flash, is very dangerous. Although John wants to respect his buddy's privacy, he raises Flash's mask just enough to look at his eyes, which are part sunken and part dark and puffy. He feels the young man's cheeks and forehead, which are quite hot. His insides are making terrible grunting noises.

Resetting the mask to its proper place, John stares at the speedster. Tears are forming in the eyes of the normally tough as steel Green Lantern. He hasn't been so emotional in years. He feels as if he's looking at his dying kid brother, and he helped contribute to this.

"Flash, please wake. I'm sorry buddy. I'm so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"

John looks up and whispers a prayer; "God, I am so sorry for letting this happen. So sorry that I haven't been more understanding. Please do not let Flash die."

John composes himself. He must figure out how to keep Flash alive. First there was the matter of the mushroom poisoning. Normally, it takes a couple days for the poison to take effect, but with Flash's metabolism, it already has. Flash could probably survive a good amount of poisoning due to his metabolism, but John doesn't know how much poison Flash consumed nor how effective his metabolism could be, especially since it is now in starvation mode.

The only treatment John can provide is to induce vomiting. He lifts Flash up to a sitting position and sticks his fingers down the young man's throat. After a few failed attempts, he succeeds at getting Flash to vomit, but the vomit is all liquidity and thin, like thin clay. There is no traces of mushroom particles at all, but evidence that Flash had consumed sand. This horrifies the Lantern even more.

John picks up the emancipated speedster and takes him a little further inside the cave, just enough for adequate shelter but close enough to the entrance for plenty of light to shine in. If they were anywhere else in this barren land on their own, they might stand no chance at all. By some fortunate luck (though John doesn't believe in luck), Flash ended up next to a magma chamber. Not only is there instance shelter, but water tended to collect in chambers such as this. Water is the next thing John must find. Flash is clearly dehydrated, especially after the induced vomiting. Getting water into his system would also help flush the poison out better.

John pats down a place in the sand next to the wall and lays Flash down. Looking around the cave, John sees tiny series of plants growing in and around the entrance, the kind which would need a water source to thieve. He kneels on the brittle ground, digs a little, and gently presses. Water flows right to the surface. John is so relieved! Carving soft rock into a cup, John fills it with water, walks back over to Flash, gently lifts the head a little, pours the water down Flash's cotton dry throat, then repeats the process. He dose the over and over again. All the while, Flash remains unconscious and unresponsive. He might be in a coma.

After what must have been an hour, Flash's mouth is getting moist again. John drinks some water himself. He is getting tired, but he can't rest now. After a few more drinks, Flash's vital signs have improved a little and the flush look on his face has lessen. He still feels a little warm, but not as warm as before, and the sweating has stopped. It looks as if the poison is flushing out of Flash's system.

Satisfied that Flash is out of immediate danger for now, John turns his focus on the much more difficult tasks, finding food. Not just finding food, but finding enough to keep Flash alive. John doesn't know how much nutrients Flash needs, only that it's massive amounts. There are some insects roaming around the cave, mostly scorpions, but these couldn't be enough to keep Flash alive. John starts looking under rocks and holes. He finds a 4 foot snake and a few large rodents, killing them with sharp rocks and stones.

John then remembers that he had knocked down some of those pterodactyl birds with rocks earlier. He decides to see if any of them were still lingering. He goes a little way from the cave entrance, not wanting to leave Flash alone for too long, and finds one bird dead and another one struggling. John brings them back to the cave, rustles up a fire, and soon meat is cooking. John has to force feed Flash small chunks of meat by placing it in the back of his throat and inducing him to swallow. He also has Flash drink the broth. This is a much slower place then Wally is used to, but John can't go any faster. Since the speedster's starved, sunken stomach has hardly felt food on it in over 3 days, probably equaled to several weeks to a normal person, John knows that he can't feed Flash too much too fast, but feeding him as fast as he could with a small piece of meat every minute or two probably equals the right kind of slow and steady pace for the scarlet speedster.

Every now and then, John talks to Flash' hoping for a response. Still, nothing, except for some gasps and groans.

John continues this pace for several hours, ignoring his own hunger in the process. Eventually he would have to intake some food himself to keep up his strength, just not now. He's long worn out, at one point even collapsing. The sun had been setting the last John knew. When he came to, it was dark and the fire was out. With just barely enough moonlight shining in to see what he's doing, John restarts the fire and resuming the feeding. The last of meat and broth is soon gone.

Although it not cold, Wally's shivering. This is due to his body not having enough energy to produce heat. John builds another fire right next to Flash and covers him with as much sand as possible to keep him warm. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to resuming hunting until morning, John is reduced to feeding Flash bugs in the cave. Initially disgusted by this fact, John knew that bugs were actually a good source of protein and currently critically to he's buddy's survival.

Although John would work just as hard to keep anybody alive, keeping the Flash alive has become very personal to him. No matter how nasty John could be or how stupid and incompetent Flash usually was, he was always kind hearted, down to earth, and friendly. He always had their backs, or at least tried to. He was always willing to risk his life for them and for their enemies. He was never willing to leave anyone behind no matter what, and always tried to be a true friend.

Why is Flash so kind and persistent towards people who aren't kind in return and who give him the cold shoulder. Maybe it's his child-like faith and trust. Maybe it's his innocence. Maybe it's his heart. Whatever it is, John would like to know how he could feel that way just a little bit. Flash was like his perfect balance, his ying and yang, his oil and vinegar. They go together, but they don't mix. Maybe that is why Flash is in the league. While his speed is an assist, maybe it's his character and heart that made him more essential to the league.

John also knows that Flash has a family back home. He has often mention his mom and a Grammy Flash, although he always refereed to the latter in past tense. He has mention a grandfather, an aunt and an uncle and more than one cousin. Flash claims to be keeping his identity secret and John finds it strange that he would often say his mom says this or his cousin did that, but he never gives personal details about them. That was one thing he was real careful about. While John really respects those who keep secret identities, he's really wishing right now that he did know Flash's real name, just in cause Flash didn't make it, which John knows will happen soon unless they can get out of this barren land.

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While Wally is unconscious, all he's dreaming about are nice things. He's dreaming about food of course, all his favorites, mostly junk food and desserts. He dreams of his family, especially his mom and beloved grandma, and of things that make him laugh and feel good. He dreams of his friends, and he has many; childhood friends, long-time friends, and more recent friends, including each of his Justice League teammates. He's not dreaming of anything negative; not his fears that sometimes creep into his dreams, certainty not of he's current situation. It is the way Wally's brain and spirit are dealing cooping in his nearly coma state. This is the way Wally's brain and spirit work.

At one point, Wally sees bright lights, brighter than he's ever seen. Could these be he lights of heaven? He thinks he sees his deceased grandparents, including his Granny Nadine, whom he refers to as Grammy Flash when in costume. He also thinks he sees the face of Jesus, who reaches out to Wally and tells him in a still, small voice, to hold on. He'll be alright, just keep holding on.

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Dawn finally breaks the horizon. John has been feeding Flash bugs non-stop for hours. His vital signs have only slightly improved. John has to find more food, but he doesn't know how long he can keep this up. Using stones and rocks, John builds a wall around Flash and damps the fire slightly to protect him. He leaves the cave and spends the next 3 hours hunting, but all he can manage to get is a few small lizards and rodents. Hunger is starting to catch to John as well, but he won't eat just yet.

John makes it back to the cave, exhausted to the point that he collapses next to Flash. It isn't long, however, that he is up again, cooking, and feeding. Soon, all this food is gone as well and he has seemly depleted the cave of any insects and rodents. John is too exhausted to do anymore hunting right now, and he's at a lost as to what to do. Flash's vitals are once again fainting, and the green lantern lets go of all his emotions. He really wishes that manana would rain down from heaven, like it did for the Israelites in the wilderness.

Just then, a loud crash is heard from a little further in the cave. John makes a torch and investigates. He finds a large stone laying on the ground, revealing a man size hole. John looks inside and he can't believe what he sees. Inside this hole is dozens of jars filled with what looks like honey and jam, and packages of crackers.

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Back at the complex, two scouts return from scouting and report to Dr. Parker and Eric what they found out.

"I'm afraid what Maria said was true. The gangs are planning on banding together to attack us. And you didn't believe her Eric."

"What was I supposed to assume?" replies Eric, "A punk casually telling her that they're coming for us while he was beating her? That didn't make any sense to me."

"Well he must her have," replies the other man, "I don't know when they're planning to attack, but they're after our women! Maria's been warning us that something was up for weeks, but I didn't want to take her seriously either."

"Neither did I," adds another, "I don't think any of us wanted to believe her."

"Well that's what happens when we all assume she's too young to know better or that it's just her imagination," adds Dr. Parker, "Even I had my doubts about what she said she was hearing out there. They have their own women, so I couldn't imagine why they'd want ours. And I'm a psychologist."

"Karin believed her," says Eric, shamefully, "She believed her all along. I should have known. Their women are trashy. They're probably tired of them. So now they want ours. I'll kill them! I'll kill all of them!"

"You shouldn't have sent John and Flash away," Parker tells Eric, "They could have been a big help to us."

"It doesn't matter," replies Eric, "It's hopeless anyway. But I won't go down without a fight. I'm a solider and I'll go down defending my girls. I won't be remember as a coward, but as the warrior I am."

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Wally slowly regains consciousness. He can feel the sweet taste of chocolate and honey in his mouth. Occasionally, he tries to open his eyes, but just closes them again. He's vision is to blurry to see anything, and he's so tired.

Wally's really at a lost as to what's going on. At the moment, he doesn't remember what happened. He's just enjoying this sweet substance that's being poured down his throat.

John carefully pours the honey-like substance down Flash's throat, succeeding in getting most of it into his mouth. The substance taste like a cross between honey and chocolate. It's very, very sweet, too sweet for John's taste. The jams are also awfully sweet, and not any fruit taste that John recognizes. However, after feeding a couple dozen jars to Flash, John did intake a little of the food himself, just enough to keep his strength up somewhat. He'll be no good to Flash if he gets too weak.

The crackers John found are very stale and hard to bit into. They are about as bad as hardtack. John has to soak them in water for some time, then cook them over the fire. This will leave the crackers very chewy and hard to swallow, but it's better than trying to eat them hard. Flash will have to be fully awake and able to chew before he can eat any of these hardtack.

Whoever this food belongs to, John knows they will be very angry when they discover they're food has been stolen, but John has no choice. For once in his life, John can't come up with a plan as to what to do next once Flash regains consciousness and all this food runs out, and he really can't focus on it neither. As crazy as this may be, maybe they should go to Chuck's boat on their own, which John realizes isn't that far away. Though what they'll do when they get there, he has no idea.

And will Flash even regain enough strength to make that journey? John might need to carry him. Unfortunately, he's light enough.

As John pours the next jar down Wally's throat, the speedster coughs, sneezes, then start to slowly open his eyes. John gently shakes Flash and speaks to him, "Flash, buddy, can you hear me?"

Wally dose hear the voice. He weakly turns his head towards it.

"Mom," says Wally, weakly.

"No hotshot. It's me, GL."

"GL? Is that you?"

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