In The Midst Of Chaos

0.3 Dangerous Child

Jacob stood in front of Justin with a smile as he raised a bag up to the young man. Justin was flabbergasted. Never did he think these two children would not only save them but feed them.

Looking at the bag, it could be seen that they were sincere. Justin's attitude and suspicion were lessened by this gesture.

"This food...." Justin began before cutting himself off, "Thank you."

"There's a lack of water, but we have a lot of food. " Jacob explained after Justin took the bag from him. "We are in this boat together, so we could only spare 6 bottles of water for today."

Justin's heart warmed slightly, and with a smile, he told them, "My ability is water. With me around, there will be no shortage of water."

Justin watched the two children glance at each other in disbelief before turning their gaze back at him. With their eyes shining with a joyful light.

"Then......" Jacob wanted to ask something, but Ariella pulled his hand, stopping his question.

"It's okay. You guys can ask me." Justin reassured.

"Then can we take a bath?" Jacob asked, scratching his head in embarrassment. Justin was a little taken aback by the request but understood completely. These children probably haven't taken a bath in a long time.

"You look so clean, though," Justin teased them for a bit before agreeing. "This bit of water is nothing. Of course, you can take a bath."

Jacob smiled at Justin so hard that his eyes disappeared. It was plain to see this child's joy at taking a bath.

"Can we have one now?" Ariella spoke. It was the first time Justin heard the little girl speak.

"Sure, give me a sec." Justin agreed and went inside with the food and water before coming back out with Axel and his sister.

"Um, these two want to tag along." Justin scratched his face sheepishly. "Axel wants to check out the car, and Jennifer wants to see if she can find some clothes."

"Oh, we were inconsiderate," Jacob knocked his fist on his palm like a hammer. "We collected all the food and clothes at the base and placed them in the main house. Also, the two cars are parked in front of that house. "

Justin and the others nodded in understanding. "Then lead the way," Justin said. Jacob nodded and stretched his hand out to Ariella, who grabbed his. Only then did he start walking.

"You're such a good big brother." Jennifer couldn't help but praise Jacob. Jacob smiled at her but didn't reply. He then turned his eyes away, and gave Ariella a side glance, squeezing her palm gently.

They didn't know, but he did. Ariella's body was taunt like a bowstring. She was not comfortable around these adults, so she spoke as little as possible, but she did have opinions about them, but for now, she chose to be quiet.

Though he reassured her they weren't a threat to them, she didn't see it that way. To Ariella, anybody who was not Jacob was a threat.

Jacob could only hold her hand and try to calm her frayed nerves this way.

'Ellie, you need to calm down. Listen to my voice and nothing else. These people won't hurt us. You need to trust me. If you don't trust me, how can we work together as a team?' Jacob said to Ariella through a mind link.

Jacob's power was essentially that. For now, he could control a person's movement and read their thoughts. He could also establish mindlinks and dive into a person's memories. However memory diving was painful for him, so he chose not to use that aspect of his powers.

He had no way of controlling how or when he could read other people's thoughts. Even as he was talking to Ariella through the mind link, he could hear the thoughts of all four of them loud and clear.

'I'm sorry Jake, I'll try to calm down.' Through the mind link, Ariella could feel Jacob's distress. He was stressing about her and trying to stop her from attacking these people.

Gritting her teeth, Ariella forced herself to calm down. She couldn't let Jacob's careful plans and considerations go to waste. It wasn't easy for Jacob to make Justin less wary of them, so if she acted up now, that would throw his plans to waste. But she felt as if Jacob was being naive at the same time. So for now, she will keep it together.

'I'm sorry too, Elli, but there's no other choice. We have to rely on them for now. The further away from here, we get the better. ' Jacob told her as he squeezed her hand in comfort. Ariella hummed in response and one minute later, they arrived at the main house.

"We're here. There are the cars", Jacob announced. "Follow me. I'll show you the storage."

"I'll stay here and check the cars out. You guys go without me." Axel moved towards the two parked cars.

"Led the way," Justin told the children. They took them inside and brought them to where they stored the food.

Stored neatly in a room was the most food Justin and Jennifer had ever seen in a while. Cans of unlabeled food along with rice and flour, not to mention salt, soap, and toothpaste, to name a few.

"You guys.... Is this what this base collected?" Jennifer swallowed and asked the children.

"Yep, we didn't venture outside until you guys came. " Jacob answered.

"Is that so," Jennifer looked at the children weirdly.

"So, can this food fit in the cars?" Jacob asked.

"It doesn't have to," Jennifer answered before activating her ability and storing a portion of the food before making it reappear.

"Is that your ability?" Jacob tilted his head, seemingly like a curious child.

"Yep, it's like I have a subspace in my body, I can store this food safely." Jennifer explained before adding, "With your permission, of course."

"I...I don't know, will you give us food when we ask?" Jacob asked as he warily glanced at the adults in front of him.

"Of course," Justin chose to cut in here. "My friends and I don't have a place to call home anymore, so we were thinking of sticking together with you two."

"We can't stay here!" Ariella suddenly shouted. This startled Jacob. Her sudden exclamation wasn't part of what he discussed with Ariella.

"Ariella?" Jacob looked at her, but she was agitated, staring at Justin and Jennifer with hostility.

Being quick-witted, Jacob stood in front of Ariella and blocked her glaring.

"What Ariella means is that this base was like a stop for many wary travelers. They'll be back soon, so we should leave before they come back." Jacob explained calmly, trying not to make it obvious that the girl behind him was having a fit.

"Oh well....."Justin's words were cut off by Jacob.

"I'm sorry, but I need to get Ariella a bath. Can we talk about this after?" Jacob's smile was strained. Justin glanced at Ariella, who had her head down.

An unsettling feeling washed over him as he stared at the young girl. It was like she was a bomb waiting to explode, and the only thing stopping her was the young boy standing in front of her.

"Yeah, show me to the bathroom." Justin told Jacob, who nodded in agreement, then took Ariella's hand and dragged her towards the door.

Jacob led Justin to the bathroom, where a small barrel was placed inside. Justin didn't speak. He only filled the barrel with lukewarm water and turned and left.

Not forgetting to tell the children he would be out front helping Axel fix the cars. When Justin left, and it was just the two of them, Jacob closed the bathroom door.

"Ellie......." Jacob glared at Ariella. "What's wrong with you, I told you to stick to the plan. We need to come off as less dangerous as we seem."

"Why? I don't trust them. What if they wanted to stay here? In this horrible place." Ariella snorted and folded her arms.

"Ellie, you trust me, right? Then, trust my ability. It's what got us free in the first place. So stop being a f*****g brat." Jacob said, his annoyance clear on his face.

"You can't rely on reading people's minds, Jake. People are more complex than that, "Ariella warned him.

"I'm not reading anyone's mind on purpose, Ellie. Plus, I don't trust them. I'm trusting my vision. That's all." Jacob explained, making Ariella hum in response.

"Fine, but I'm not playing along with the innocent child act. I'll keep my mouth shut, but if any of them look at us funny, I'm burning them into dust." Ariella told Jacob as she started to undress.

Jacob glanced at Ariella and rolled his eyes." Your definition of that is any type of look."

"Stop reading my mind, Jake." Ariella huffed out in frustration.

"I can't control it, Ellie." Jacob shot back as he began to undress.

"Whatever, just help me wash my hair. You do know how, right?" Ariella waved her hand dismissively and got into the shower, followed by Jacob.

Jacob didn't answer, only giving her a pointed look as he grabbed the things they'd need for a shower. If Justin and the others were in the bathroom with the children, one could only imagine the horrified look they would have had.

The scars on the children's bodies, especially Jacob's, were horrifying enough in itself. One could only imagine the horrors the children went through.