"We can't drink this kiddo, we'd die"
She knelt down and examined the water more carefully. The stream travelling through the sewers was only a couple inches deep, but even with the lantern held closely to the water the stone floor of the canal could not be seen. He stared her down, intent on her changing her mind. She saw the sad look in his eyes. If he were properly hydrated, he might be crying. This was their last hope. Everyone back at the camp was relying on this water source to be clean, even her and her child. She shook her head.
"We can wait another day...We can make it," she whispered.
The child shook his head in disdain. Their gazes met while the mother debated what to do. Their brief stare-down was interrupted by a gunshot echoing through the sewers. In the same moment, the lantern in the mothers hand shattered and she scooped up her child and took off running. The combination of her bare feet and the slimy cobblestone beneath those feet left the panicked mother at a disadvantage from her predators, and eventually she slipped and fell, shattering her skull. The young child, uninjured, climbed awkwardly up a nearby ladder. Luckily the sewer cap was still moved from their entrance. He barely had enough strength to make the ascension, each wrung more of a challenge than the last.
The camp nearby heard the gunshots and just arrived at the sewer as the young child ascended from the hole in the ground. He fell into the arms of the nearest adult and began to wail. However, his parched throat distorted the sound into irregular choking.
Slaxx looked down into the sewer and motioned Faraday quietly to follow him down in. They switched on their flashlights, a rare occurrence in their current conditions, and began to search the sewers for the missing mother. No body was found, only a pool of blood.
"Cannibals," Slaxx whispered. Faraday simply nodded his head.
Mother, (Martyr for good flavor and a