Inside The Earth’s Fracture: Chapter Four

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CHAPTER FOUR

Kai looked on their new path with curiosity after swiftly leaving the dinner table in chase of  Padre.
                    
The walk was long, and mostly silent, making Kai almost queasy at what Padre could have planned. They ventured further, passing by abandoned houses and makeshift accommodations, countless people who were made homeless due to the split.

Kai looked down at their shoes, tattered but still in good condition, their clothes which were worn yet still clean. It was times like these that they could truly see how well off they had it, how lucky the family was to have had minimal damage to their home, to not have to start completely from scratch.

Padre looked like he had aged almost a decade since the split, his skin had darkened, scars littered his bare arms and face. He looked near filthy, something which Baba would always nag about, saying how they had a perfectly fine natural pool behind the house and how it would only take a few seconds to look a bit more presentable. Yet the beast of a man never listened, kissing his husband on the temple and heading off to bed after a long day of fighting. Because that's what he was. A fighter, and that would always be something Kai would look up to.    

The houses and decaying buildings started to disperse as the pair neared the road. Kai's breath caught in their throat at the long stretch of cracked concrete laying ahead of them, the glistening towers of glass that made up the city which it led to. They looked up to Padre, full of curiosity and alarm at what the man could be planning. They had always been taught not to wander too close to the road, that there were creatures toughened by the Scorch.        

Kai remembered how in their younger years they had always laughed at the idea of the Scorch, they thought it was ludicrous that for an entire month areas throughout the country had set ablaze in the heat of a weakened ozone layer. Yet the barren wasteland stood strong for miles in every direction. It intimidated them now, just as it had the first time they’d disobeyed their fathers' warnings and ventured to the edge of town.

"Padre? What are we doing here?" Their voice sounded meek, trying not to show any form of fear before the man.    

"This, my child, is the start of a revolution." He looked out upon the inhabitable land as he spoke, glaring at the city ahead. "And that is our first step to victory."

Padre outstretched his arm, pointing into the glaring heat. Kai raised a tanned hand above their eyes, shielding them from the sun's blinding gaze. Out in the distance they could see what their father was pointing to. A large white van, with the letters ENB painted across the side, a large satellite dish attached to the top of the van.                        

"The Edenia news van? Pa... what're you planning?" The child looked up to their elder, excitement slowly trickling in at all the possibilities and opportunities that could be aroused for the cause could they obtain such a valuable asset.

"We're going to take control of the next broadcast, and we're going to show what really goes on this side of the barren land. And not that wishy-washy smile and wave rubbish they have been broadcasting so far! We're gonna force those Edenia Gluttons to truly see the damage they are causing!" Padre’s eyes lit up like tiny suns, a grin on his face as he stared triumphantly down at his child, confidence shining as though he had done this a thousand times prior.

Kai looked up, a matching grin adorning their face. Confidence rushing through their blood like a wildfire, adrenaline firing as excitement for the coming hours began to set in.

This was it. This was the start of something amazing, something so brutally truthful that it could not be ignored.

This was, like their Padre had said, the start of a revolution. And Kai could not wait. 

"Okay, what do you want me to do?"