CHAPTER 2: DISCOVERY

PART 1: OUT OF THE WALLS

To say he escaped will be an overstatement he didn't receive any resistance from Halfdan, the doctor either didn't care or wanted him to escape, who knows.

Keith reached the wall; it was a very tall wall that surrounds the entire city the reason for it, was unknown to Keith for now so he turned towards a guard that was standing there and asked if it was safe to go out, the guard is surprised by Keith's ignorance but answers none the less.

GUARD "Toxicity wise it's not toxic anymore but I wouldn't call the outside of the walls to be safe."

KEITH "What, is there another danger outside."

GUARD "You really don't know? Wow your parents must be very protective of you. Well outside the walls are what we call monsters."

KEITH "Monsters ?!"

GUARD "Yes, well they are animals that got their DNAs modified by the nuclear radiation transforming normal cute animals into grotesque Looking things that attack anything other than their own kind."

KEITH "Are they fast, strong?"

GUARD "It really depends on what the original animals were you would suspect an eagle to be fast and an elephant to be slow right?"

KEITH "And what is this underground place people are raging about?"

GUARD "YOU DONT EVEN KNOW THAT!!?"

KEITH "Bro, I just got here man come on."

GUARD "YOU JUST GOT HERE? How is that even possible if anyone is inside the city, they have to either pass by this gate which is basically abandoned or they would have to be born here."

KEITH "understandable."

GUARD "You really are suspicious you make it seem like it's your first time in this world and the fact that you're interested in the outside world and the underground too."

KEITH "I am suspicious then why are you not questioning me or arresting me or something."

GUARD "You can't be a criminal you don't even have a single mistake on your profile."

KEITH "My what now."

GUARD "Your pro—ugh forget it I will have a wild guess; you literally have no idea to what this place is."

KEITH "No, I got a bit of info."

GUARD "Do you now? well great I will answer your question then the underground is the place where criminals or wait let me explain the profile for you first, it is a system where you are valued by your deeds in the city and since your birth it records every single thing you do and its public information anyone with the AR eye can see your profile, that might explain why people are nice towards you."

KEITH "Huh, people were overly nice to me."

GUARD "It's honestly amazing your profile I mean, it doesn't have a single mistake written on it and that means since your birth you have been a perfect citizen. Anyway, that profile has a number and a ranking so you start this world with 1000 your number and that number goes down or up by your actions."

KEITH "So, if that's the case the criminals are people with low numbers guessing from 0 to a 100."

GUARD "Correct but it's not as easy of a distinction as that actually with every 100 you lose you get a visit from the council asking you a plethora of questions to see why you lost those points and to basically threaten you for an extended period of time."

KEITH "You are bad mouthing your government I would be careful if I was in your place."

GUARD "No, they don't really care about talk that much."

KEITH "But that 'talk' is still recorded and monitored. Yeah, I totally believe you."

GUARD "No really, they don't punish you for your words. yes, it is monitored and if you say something that can be incriminating, they will keep an eye on you in the cases you actually follow through with it."

KEITH "Another question, can't people like not have a profile?"

GUARD "That might be possible but you would have to be born outside the city and never been in it at all."

KEITH "So, let's say person A was in a coma for several years which made their number intact that person then wakes up and goes outside the city does crime in this underground place you still didn't explain to me then comes back. they can't exactly make an exact estimation to their number can they."

GUARD "Interesting example you are right if the person is outside the city, they can't monitor them and it provides an actual problem but unless person A hides their identity they still could be identified by the outside petrol and the underground investigators those keep an eye on the criminals and their actions they are not doing that much to stop them but that's due to the numbers of the criminals getting bigger and bigger by the day the only thing they can do for now is update the council on their plans and their numbers."

KEITH "Numbers seem useless thought in this situation I mean if someone is in the underground chances are they are a criminal or they are going to become one surely most of their numbers are zeros and that makes them all equally bad."

GUARD "That's where you're wrong buddy, see I never said numbers stop at zero did I."

KEITH "Numbers go to negative?"

GUARD "Actually, people from 0 to 100 are considered criminals but they are considered redeemable too. The people under that are the ones that end up either in jail or flee to the underground."

KEITH "Flee? Wow you must be great at your job."

GUARD "Hey it's not my fault. the council doesn't even care about it if you leave the city you end up either dead or lost or in the underground."

KEITH "And the underground is?"

GUARD "The underground is simply the place where the biggest criminals gather."

KEITH "And I'm guessing it's underground?"

GUARD "Well not entirely the place is divided in two parts a small one on top I hear it's something like a gate and the rest which is the actual city itself is like you guessed underground."

KEITH "Thank you, you were very helpful but one last thing, can you give me vague directions to where it might be exactly."

GUARD "I'm afraid I can't do that it is illegal for a guard to tell any ordinary citizen about the whereabouts of the underground."

KEITH "Oh, come on, you basically told me everything you knew about the place."

GUARD "All that I told you is public information. Why are you even asking that."

KEITH "It doesn't matter if you don't tell me."

GUARD "Well, it was nice talking to someone."

KEITH "I'm Keith, what's your name."

Karl "It's Karl sir."

KEITH "Thank you for the help Karl."

After that exchanged Keith turned around and headed outside the city the guard was staring at him from behind with a worried look.

The map Keith stole wasn't your normal paper map but a tablet looking device with a map in it. Keith clicked on it making the map expand up to take 3D form and he noticed a search function so he took his chances and searched for the Underground----------And it showed where it was.

So now Keith knows about the dangers of the outside and where the Underground is located what's left is for him to go there while trying to avoid these monsters.

"A way of transportation?" he looked at the things he stole and remembered that he didn't steel without checking because one of the things he stole had the vague word transportation on it, it was small enough for Keith to be carrying it in the small bag and it had a button on it so he did the obvious thing and with a bit of hesitation clicked on it.

The initial form of this gadget has been a thick plate in shape (Keith throwed it for good measure) it started to elevate and expand "A hover board?" he saw this kind of thing in fiction a lot so he immediately recognized it.

The plate took the form of a hover board and of course Keith doesn't know how to use it so, like anyone would, he jumped on it without question and leaned forward---------------And there was nothing but dust left where he was.

PART 2: THE OUTSIDE

Constantly checking the map Keith was zooming through the now familiar terrain of ashy cracked earth and broken buildings with The City of Tears getting smaller and smaller as time passed by, the hover board was surprisingly fast and Keith is controlling it like it was second nature to him which he didn't mind and just thought of as beginner's luck.

The map didn't show Keith how far the place actually is it just gave him directions.

KEITH "This is actually very inconvenient, why did I even think it wasn't going to be easy."

Realizing this Keith tried to tamper with the map to see if it could give him any kind of indication to the distance he's taking. So, he stopped near a building he was passing by.

The place could have been a small town at some point in the past but now it's nothing more than rock, metal, wood and debris with plant life going rampant. It has been 80 years since the war happened so Keith expected a bit of plant life around but to his disappointment, the world he was in wasn't that similar to the post-zombie-apocalypse worlds he saw in games or movies because here nature didn't get revenge for the deeds of humanity but at this point was trying to recover and you could have said the same thing about the humans but they are living in a more technologically advanced city then ever all the while everything on the outside of those walls and that place they call home is a world where nature is trying its hardest to recover its now gone power. All the plants Keith has seen to this point have all had this grey color, he wasn't sure if they were withering but after going closer, they didn't appear so, maybe plant life evolved against radiation somehow now able to survive these harsh conditions. Keith can only speculate.

Leaving the plant alone and going back to what he stopped for he tried tinkering with the map clicking everything until he found out nothing is working and gave up and just opted to see the distance, he covered compared to his destination by zooming out and it was far very far what he covered was only about 1% of the whole thing.

Discouraged Keith sat on the rusted car behind him and closed his eyes "This might take days." he said as he sighed deeply trying to calm himself down.

After a minute of silence and consideration Keith "I'll do it." decides to go anyway "Whatever it takes" determined Keith hops back on top of his trusty hoverboard leaving nothing but dust.

Dusk, the sun was setting down for this day, Keith looked back in the city's direction but didn't see a thing. Keith stopped for the second time with a bit of unease, the place looked like some sort of gas station with a restaurant and a grocery store nearby.

Going inside the grocery store Keith realized that he was hungry looking back he didn't eat or drink since he woke up so he looked around the store for any canned foods he can eat but remembered that it has been way over the expiration date so he gave up on finding anything eatable and opted for useful things.

Turns out nothing in a grocery store other than food is useful for survival. Empty handed, hungry and ashamed of his naivety to leave the city without knowing the distance between the city and the underground and without even getting any life necessities on his journey he left the grocery store to be met with monstrous sounds all around him.

KEITH "OOH GIVE ME A BREAK!"

He was surrounded by a hoard of monsters, dangerous looking monsters their skin was black and gooey they even looked rotten. Not knowing how to deal with the situation Keith went with-

"RUNNING OUT OF HERE" trying to avoid the monsters, he rode his hoverboard as fast as he could even faster than before but that wasn't enough, they ran after him.

Keith rummaged through his bag for anything absolutely anything that can be of use to him and the perfect thing was there a grenade weird that a doctor would have a bomb lying around their lab but now wasn't the time for questions he took out what he thought was safety pin held onto the grenade for some seconds and threw it behind him.

BOOM—trying to remove the thought of being blown up himself if he held a bit more onto the grenade, Keith took a deep sigh of relief and stopped for the third time today, the sun was already down and it was dark not as dark as Keith expected though, the sky was full of stars this was the first time in Keith's life that he saw what the real sky could have looked like without all the artificial lights of the cities.

Snapping back to reality by the cold air Keith gathered some wood planks nearby and some tumbleweed he put on fire using the corpse of a monster that caught on fire from the grenade blast. Keith sat down near the fire on a pile of wheat he collected.

KEITH "It would have been really nice if these monsters were actual animals, I'm dying of hunger here. Huh what is that?" Something caught Keith's eyes a paper stuck to one of the animals.

KEITH "A note?"

||| Day 12:

It has been two days since I got thrown out of that facility and the world is still the same radioactive mayhem as it was on day 1.

My situation hasn't changed to the better I'm still roaming around this place like a stray cat I can survive for several more days with the supplies they gave me but that was about all they had given me; I should be thankful they gave me the hazmat suit and food and water for days and I didn't give them anything in return I wonder what would have happened to me if I accepted that offer from that guy, what was his name again? I forgot well it doesn't really matter I think what I did was the right thing to do.

After spending ten days in there I managed to collect some information the most important one being the bio-weapons China used in the war they manufactured a virus that only infects animals and plants turning animal flesh and the plants poisonous so there won't be any way a human could consume and survive off of them and that wasn't the end of it, apparently the virus had a reaction with the nuclear waste and the radio activeness of the environment which transformed the piousness animals into the so called 'Monsters' and killed the plants it got in any kind of contact to.

However, I don't think the virus is spreading fast as dangerous and harmful it is it wasn't contagious and China didn't bomb every single place on the United States so there was a chance a big chance that something could be salvaged, if you can collect two unaffected animals you could theoretically make a solid source of food but that will take a long time to actually bear any fruit, speaking of fruits in the ten days I stayed in the facility I collected every kind of seeds I could put my hands on they had offered meals with vegetables and fruits and every time they did I collected my chare of seeds and any other's that are around the dinning place, which gave me the opportunity to have close to hundreds of seeds in my bags and they won't take as much time to grow and collect as animals.

That's my plan for now get as far as I could from a zero point (the place where the bomb hit) and build a safe place where I can grow plants and animals to survive it will take time so I'm going to save these rations for as long as I can the human body can survive without food for up to 2 months if it has the proper water intake so I have to:

1-Conserve food (Around a meal every week).

2-Find a source of water (A clean lake/Rain although that will be hard because of acid rain/River).

3-If 2 is met conserve even more food (Around 14-20 days until a meal).

4-Find a safe place to live/grow plants.

5-If 4 is met start planting as soon as possible for sooner results.

6-If 1 to 5 are met take care of the plants and wait for the fruits of the work.

7-Repeat if no changes occurs.

I hope I live to see those fruits of labour everyone used to talk about. |||

KEITH "Huh, this note appears to be a page out of a journal from a person that lived through the war it says day 12 so I'm guessing this person has written at least 11 more of these with their daily experiences, this might become very useful. I mean I'm going to use their strategy just without food though." Keith didn't speak to himself that much this day so he was going all out talking like someone was listening to what he was saying.

KEITH "The virus made it even more impossible to consume these monsters not that I was planning to eat them, now I just need a source of water clean water to survive with. Rain will be good but that will mean I'd have to wait for rain and I don't even know what season we're on so that is going to impossible to even guess based on the sky. Digging down might turn up water but if I had to bet I would put my money on it being radioactive or piousness so that's a no go too. Cactus? No haven't even seen one. Maybe plants because if they are alive, they have to be safe from poison but I'm not an expert on plants so I don't even know where to look for water. And I'm stuck, it's a dead end. The only way I can find water is if rain falls or that I finds someone else's water supply in the wild."

Really Keith couldn't take a break today he was totally exhausted and miserable he looked at the map and he was about 10% of the way in, if keeps the same pace he can reach the underground in 10 days that will be easy enough without food but without water he can't survive for more than 3 days.

KEITH "My safest bet right now is to go shamefully back to the city get water and food and come back, but I despise the thought, I don't even have money whatever the currency is around here. I guess it's all my fault that I was too naïve to not think everything throu--"

Cutting Keith's words short the sound of lightning echoed through the sky with its bright flashes and big sounds calling for the clouds to come and bringing rain to this water starved terrain and to this desperate lost soul.

KEITH "THANK GOD THIS IS THE BEST TIMING."

Scrambling around for something that can carry water Keith took out one of the rusted cars head lights and set it on the ground while looking for anything that can hold liquid, he saw some good candidates and chose them because he can't be exactly picky about this.

A hollowed-out tree trunk, any of the car parts that were curved, he even took a rock and hit the top of the car as hard as he could to dent it in a way it can be another water-holder.

The rain started pouring after that and Keith hid inside a building nearby, he sat down staring to the horizon and listening to the rain falling-----and he slept sitting down from the exhaustion.

The next morning Keith woke up with back pains from sleeping sitting down, he rubbed his eyes stretched and stood up to leave that building, there was the fresh smell of wet sand under his feet and cod breeze that almost woke him up fully from his laziness. Looking around him there was some puddles so he decided to wash his face.

Splashing the water straight onto his face the cold rain water actually woke him up, Keith sighed and finally looked at his reflection for the first time since he came to this world, he was surprised by his appearance he looked around the same age as those other subjects he saw with Halfdan. He looked in his 30s, his face was clean and more defined, a full beard has grown too and his hair was put into a man bun so he didn't notice it's length until now. His build was bigger he wasn't as big as a body builder but he wasn't that far of one, with broad shoulders a taller figure stronger arms and legs he looked like his ideal self.

He was surprised but not surprised in the same time because it made sense, he didn't feel comfortable in his "own" body when he woke up and it tied nicely to his enhanced capabilities.

Even if being 18 in a 30-year-old body weirded him out at first giving it a second thought he liked how he looked and his mental age was probably closer to 30 than 18 so in the end he was happy about this situation.

Keith went back to check on the water supply and everything was full of water. Yes, the water was kind of dirty but that wasn't something boiling it won't fix, after lighting a fire he threw it inside the car with pieces of wood and plants to feed the fire, that was probably the most convenient way to boil the water seeing that the roof of that car was full of water, now the problem lies to where Keith is going to keep these litres of water, he was out of natural options so he took scrapes of metal, heated them up and shaped them like flasks, then filled them up with water and because they didn't possess any lids or caps and for them not to spill, he just closed them up with the metal he had left and if he needed to use them he can stab the flask with the knife he had and drink up. Repeating the process until his bag was full of water flasks, and filling his stomach with what was left, Keith was ready to go now.

And he went alright, it became routine for him to move as far as he could to the place avoiding any monsters occasionally going inside a building he might recognize, to maybe check it out or to search for something useful, but he always leaves the place with a disappointed look, then to slow down by dusk to stare at the sunset for a bit then to sleep early so he can resume the journey once more.

It was the 7th day for Keith he woke up to the same routine as usual and he was around 80% of the way through so he was doing even better than he expected, so he took a bit more time looking around the terrain for anything interesting and it wasn't long before he got a catch, he found a house that looked both old and new the structure itself was old and probably destroyed but it looked like it was repurposed by someone else after the war, yes, the place looked old but it didn't look absolutely destroyed like all the other buildings around it was just burned a bit and this whole place had more plant life than anywhere else so it was suspicious.

Keith headed for the place on his hoverboard excited that he might find something actually interesting, On the inside the place looked cosy and even more repurposed than the outside it looked lived in unlike anything else Keith had seen so far and it was a breath of fresh air for him knowing that there were survivors out there that relied on themselves and no one else.

Keith looked around the rooms to find hints on who might have lived there until he found a table full of paper. It was all sketches of animals and plants and some random stories but a specific note in particular caught Keith's attention.

KEITH "Is this?"

||| Day 75:

The months summary: I've spent two months doing my plan of action and if I count the actual date, it is around the first of October 2022.

My plan is blooming and there was a lack of acidic rain, I already harvested and replanted once around the middle of the month, the animals' numbers grew too, the lone pregnant cow now has a bull and that baby was out, the five chickens that I had now have around 20 chicks all the plants that I harvested I took out their seeds so I pretty much tripled my stock.

My water situation is poor now but I can survive out of the cucumbers and the rain if it falls.

My hideout it was an old farmhouse that I tried to rebuild is now looking more like a house than it did before. So, all in all, my situation was promising.

However, that turned on its head by the evening, I was sitting in my "office" writing this page of the journal and doing some sketches of the place when I heard the cows moo, of course cows moo that's what they do but this wasn't normal the moos sounded like the cow was in pain and there was a lot of sounds near the chickens, so I went outside to check. To be met with a terrible sight, most of the place has been caught in a big fire, the inferno burned fiercely into the barn and I was greeted by two men in business suits.

Man in a business suit #1 "Hello, we're sorry for the sudden visit but we have been notified of you trespassing on the government's territory here."

"Trespassing?" government territory? After a nuclear war they still worry about that?

Man in business suit #2 "Yes, you see we are with the SRU I believe you have heard about us in the past, correct?"

"The people that talked about the project?" This is the last thing on my mind I need to do something against the fire or I'm going to lose everything I have.

SRU agent 1 "So you remember, fantastic now you can quickly get your stuff and leave this place." The smile on his face was all too familiar, it was an exact replica of the other guy's.

"Does the American government burn down the buildings of the people they want ejected?"

SRU agent 2 "Oh, you are mistaken we are not with the American government no, we are a part of the new world, all the other old governments are gone now."

"A new government?" Remembering what happened in the first days of the war these guys were awfully calm and ready about the war and radiation it's like they expected it.

SRU agent 2 "And if you had accepted our offer, you would have been a part of the new city."

SRU agent 1 "A shame if you ask me, instead of living your life safely with us rebuilding the world like we want it you chose the life of the homeless."

"But you're the ones burning down my house." How can they say stuff like that with a straight face, acting as if it has nothing to do with them.

Both SRU agents "We had nothing to do with this, it is sad and unfortunate and we hope you can get as much of your belongings as you can and leave please."

I ran inside to get most of my important stuff, mostly what was left of the seeds, foods and water.

Taking a peek outside the agents weren't there and the fire started dying out, I would have thought I was safe now but that wasn't the case, they were threatening me and I'm not dumb to ignore that threat. |||

KEITH "I think this page is a continuation of the other page I found but I'm still missing a piece there was mentions of a facility in the page with day 12 in it and in this one it seems that the person that repurposed this place was attacked by these SRU agents, the person seemed to also know them which probably meant they were the ones behind her leaving that safe place because she refused some offer"

Keith was a curious person and this was gold for his theory loving mind, he took out the other page to make sure it was from the same person and the handwriting was the same.

KEITH "This SRU organization or whatever it was seems like it is behind the City of Tears they do sound like the kind of people to make people slaves because it was 'best for them', they also went out of their way to threaten the writer because they survived on their own."

Keith hoped this writer survived until the end and passed at least without anyone's manipulation "I hope they wouldn't mind me trespassing today" making light of the situation Keith apologized for using the place and slept on the bed that was there, it was nice.

Looking over the orange hue of the horizon was a small village? It was Keith's 8th day on his way to the underground and for the first time in those 8 days did he see something close to a currently lived in place. From what he remembers the underground had a gate of its own with a small city that welcomes you inside the underground.

Keith was going to stop but seeing this so close and checking his map to find the same result he didn't stop but went faster.

And not long after he was there.

KEITH "The Underground."

PART 3: THE UNDERGROUND

Reaching the gate Keith was surprised to be stopped two people like guards approached him.

GUARD? 1 "Stop right there."

Keith did as he said and stopped his hoverboard putting it back in his bag.

KEITH "Is there a problem sir?"

GUARD 2 "Not exactly, we search if you're with some investigation group or police."

KEITH "Wow, you're actually careful for a bunch of criminals."

GUARD 1 "If you plan on getting in you should speak carefully."

KEITH "Isn't that the opposite of what you want?"

GUARD 2 "Not everyone is a criminal in here, that generalization is very pro-government of you."

KEITH "Is it? sorry I'm new around here and I do believe you, but I was just testing the waters with you."

GUARD 1 "This guy isn't acting like one of them, I don't think they will even try to call us criminals if they wanted to blend in."

GUARD 2 "But still he's saying that he is new? How is that possible?"

KEITH "My situation is pretty hard to explain, if I was to give a revised version I was in a coma for a long time."

GUARD 2 "And you were inside the city at the time, right?"

KEITH "I was inside the city but the way I was brought up by my parents was quite different to what they do now, so don't worry I'm not a robot."

GUARD 1 "He can go in."

Saying that and signalling another guard the gate's door opened and he was escorted inside to an elevator looking thing, it was big it could have even fit cars inside.

KEITH "So what's with the small city you have on top?"

GUARD 2 "It's where our what you could call military power is situated."

KEITH "Military? When I was imagining this place, I was expecting chaos and randomness."

GUARD 2 "There is a lot of that down here but we try to keep some of it under control."

KEITH "What can I expect?"

GUARD 2 "Firstly as you might expect it's dark all the time so the people are battling that with lights, colorful lights."

KEITH "Oooh, a cyberpunk city."

GUARD "A what?"

KEITH "I guess you wouldn't know huh, that kind of city used to be called cyberpunk cities."

GUARD "Used to? Just how long was that coma of yours."

KEITH "It doesn't matter really."

As Keith tried avoiding the question the elevator stopped and quickly after opened.

The lights were as the guard described, they were colorful and blinded Keith for a moment, the city itself was bigger than he imagined for a place underground, The city was absolutely filled with people turns out there was old and young people too, the city structure was random people build houses wherever they wanted even on top of each other a clear contrast to the City of Tears' coldly organized streets and structures.

The streets of this place were bustling with venders and with people buying from them, it looked like something out of a popular Souk to Keith, it made him nostalgic even if it wasn't that long ago for him. Passing by all these food venders Keith was hungry surviving on only water for the last 8 days, but he didn't have money.

Keith tried focusing on the way people pay these venders, looking for maybe a way to go around it. The people pay with paper, no really just paper with some writing on it.

KEITH "I guess the money I was used to was just paper too, their value was what we believed they were, this can be the same thing."

As he was thinking this through Keith bumped into a man that was walking towards him.

KEITH "O-oh sorry, I didn't mean to get in your way."

This man was the same height as Keith around the same body structure but he looked old around his 50s, he was red headed with strands of grey hairs going through his head and brown beard, his face had wrinkles around his eyes and forehead and his blue withered eyes that looked through Keith's soul with a wise determined look, even as old as he is he was strong but technically Keith is older than him.

OLD MAN "Don't worry what were you even mumbling about that's so important?"

KEITH "I just got here and was just wondering about the economy."

OLD MAN "The economy?"

KEITH "I just got here you see, and I'm hungry I was just wondering to how I pay for stuff."

OLD MAN "Oh you can just trade."

KEITH "Trade? Then what's with the papers some people are using?"

OLD MAN "The papers are used by regulars they are like promises by the customers."

KEITH "And is that really okay? Can't they just not deliver on their promises?"

OLD MAN "That's why it's exclusive for regulars, and in the case someone might not show up afterwards, the shop owner for example can report that customer for not delivering on their promise in the time period they agreed too."

KEITH "That's interesting, do you know the reason for the use of these promise papers?"

OLD MAN "Everyone knows, if you were going out to shop and take multiple things from multiple vendors you would have to carry a lot of things with you to trade them and well that's very inconvenient isn't it. So instead of that you just have to know what you have that can be traded and promise to bring it to the vendor in the span of time you both agree to, and if something happens like you don't find the thing you promised or you just don't need what you bought anymore you can just bring it back and the vendor will just burn the PP."

KEITH "But you can't return something like food after you ate it right?"

OLD MAN "Well of course you can't and those complications do occur sometimes but they can be solved by maybe trading something."

KEITH "Cool, thanks for telling me I was kind of lost."

Keith turned as if to leave but the old man grabbed him by the shoulder.

OLD MAN "I was going to eat myself, care to join me?"

KEITH "I will gladly take the offer."

The old man led Keith to a restaurant looking place that was close by and sat him down at the back, and after calling the waitress to get our orders, he smiled and put his hand to his chest.

REINHARD "My name is Reinhard by the way."

Reinhard? Keith thought wasn't that Rose's dad? And taking a look at him again he bears striking resemblance to Rose, what kind of luck did Keith have to meet him.

KEITH "Reinhard? As in Reinhard Morrison?"

REINHARD "Huh, have we met before?"

KEITH "No, I actually met Rose your daughter."

REINHARD "YOU MET ROSE!"

KEITH "Y-yeah, she told me to check on you."

REINHARD "WHERE IS SHE? HOW IS SHE? WHAT DID SHE SAY?"

KEITH "She's still in the City of Tears, she looked a bit tired and sad, and she just vented to me about how she felt about you and the city. But first can you calm down a bit?"

REINHARD "I'm sorry I got carried away, I was worried about how she was you see."

KEITH "No, I understand."

REINDHARD "She might have run from home too."

KEITH "Well I found her sitting alone in the bus stop, and she was badmouthing her mother."

REINHARD "That stubborn brat, she didn't want to listen to our explanation."

KEITH "Explanation?"

REINHARD "Yeah, she might have told you that my wife was the one that reported me and she was, However, she didn't do it because she was selfish, she did it because I told her to, if she didn't then they might have evicted all of us out of the city."

KEITH "Oh? So, for the sake of your wife and daughter you took all the blame?"

REINHARD "Exactly, but I haven't gotten to tell Rose about it and she certainly won't listen to what her mother says, she was a daddy's daughter after all."

KEITH "It's a misunderstanding that has to be resolved."

REINHARD "But who's solving it though?"

KEITH "I might go back to the city of tears at some point."

REINHARD "But how, weren't you evicted too?"

KEITH "No, I left out of my own choice and apparently I have a perfect score on my profile."

REINHARD "You are an odd character."

WAITRESS "Here's you order sirs."

KEITH & REINHARD "Thank you."

After the food was on top of the table Reinhard gave the waitress containers filled with stuff.

KEITH "What did you trade?"

REINHARD "Some salt, sugar and seasonings, they are pretty valuable especially to restaurants."

KEITH "Hmm, I'm quite surprised of the size and evolution of this place I thought it might be very difficult for people, criminals no less to build a place like this."

REINHARD "You're right it would have been very hard but this place wasn't built by the outcasts at all, it's actually a jail for them built by the City of Tears but over time it got over populated and the outcasts stopped being just criminals and had some smart and influential people, so the city pulled its powers from here and let the outcasts be practicly free."

KEITH "Now the outside part makes sense, it looked like a small military base because it was one. By the way, why were you evicted?"

REINHARD "I thought you would ask that. Well, my family has this piece of documentation that is passed down and it held descriptions of the lives people had before the war and well even with its imperfections that life was much better than the dystopia I was brought up in, and that made me frustrated, I wanted to change it I wanted to bring my daughter up in a free world but I couldn't I just make our situation worse."

KEITH "I know that feeling."

REINHARD "Y-you do??"

KEITH "Well I don't have a daughter nor a family anymore but I understand the feeling of being frustrated and wanting to change your surroundings to the better, that task is not impossible but it might as well be if you try to do it on your own, a whole city won't change if just one person is trying but I think with enough people it might be possible."

REINHARD "You're right."

After that both of them finished their now cold meals and stood up to leave.

REINHARD "Before we part ways, is there any other way I can help you."

KEITH "Actually, I happen to be looking for someone..."

After asking Reinhard for the whereabouts of Violet and giving a vague description of her he got a "I don't know myself but I know someone who probably does" and was handed a paper with directions leading to this place where they might know Violet.

Going through these random paths that lead to everywhere and nowhere in the same time was impossible without the paper Keith was given and after sometime he reached a place called "The Resistance camp" entering it he was met by the gazes of everyone around him, it seemed like they weren't fond of unannounced visitors, reaching what looked like the reception.

KEITH "I heard that you might help me with finding someone."

RECEPTIONIST "From who?"

KEITH "That doesn't matter, I'm looking for someone called Violet."

Somehow the gazes of the other people got fiercer just by calling out Violet's name.

KEITH (What, is Violet not liked in this place?) he thought.

RECEPTIONIST "And why do you need to meet her?"

KEITH "None of your business, and from what you said, she is here or you know at least where she is right?"

RECEPTIONIST "Who do you think you are?"

KEITH "If you're asking for my name, it's Keith. But that hardly matters just call her out or tell me where I can find her so I can leave."

The receptionist gritted his teeth and opened the door next to him going inside and disappearing for a few minutes, those few minutes felt like days being stared at by everyone in the room like he murdered someone.

And finally, after all the wait the receptionist came back apologizing to someone behind him, that someone was none other than Violet.

VIOLET "Who would just come in and ask for me?"

Now looking older her beauty now of a mature woman, she looked way more elegant than she did before but with a serious, stern expression.

KEITH "That would be me, Violet."

Her eyes widened as soon as they looked at Keith.

VIOLET "KEITH!!"