Baku Chapter 9: Humanity

Then

Ginevra handed a bottle of water to the child. It wasn’t the most expensive bottle of water Ginevra had ever had, but it was the best — and the only one — that the girl had ever drunk.

Julian stood back, uncomfortable. Venezuela wasn’t his country; this wasn’t his desert; this wasn’t even his continent. But at least — at the very least — he wasn’t wearing a damned suit. 

The roads were more dirt than road, and barely distinguishable from the dirt that wasn’t road. The place was barren; logging discrepancies had long ago uprooted all the greenery. Julian frowned. Just like everything else, humans screwed this up too.

He watched his mate; her kindness was still a foreign concept in his eyes. 

The child walked away, carrying an armful of water bottles, to bring to the rest of the group of kids. Julian looked at the stopgap measure, clenching his jaw slightly.

“Why give them water?” Julian asked. “They’re cubs. Giving them water only prolongs the inevitable.”