Lovers or liars

Chapter six

Astrid~

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I woke up to a loud hitting sound. It came from the man sat in the driver's seat. I slowly turn my head to see that he had smacked his hand down towards the steering wheel, his grip slowly tightening.

I grew more uncomfortable as I noticed his eyes were on the car floor, rather than on the road. My mouth twitched as I was about to say something when he muttered something under his breath.
"You should fucking know better.."

After that statement, he held his breath and dropped his head even further. I noticed his whole body beginning to shake in either anger or because he was crying.
I couldn't just sit and watch us crash so I spoke up.

"Well this is something...isn't it"

His head shot straight up, eyes glaring at me. His eyes looked slightly red but, I couldn't tell if it was from tears or tiredness. He was shocked, as if he totally forgot I was sat next to him. Struggling to say anything to my statement, I decided to say something else.

"You're good, yeah? I mean, it's not every day you see a guy like you in this...state."

"I uh...sorry. Didn't mean to disturb your beauty sleep"  His face rested back into its usual, cold expression.

Sarcasm. Really? I was trying to be nice.

I rolled my eyes at his tone before shrugging it off.

"What should 'you know better'?" I asked with exaggerated air quotations.

"Nothing. Hey, listen, I've got to sort some things out and I have no choice but to make you come with me. That's good yeah?" He swiftly changed the subject.

"Uh well I mean; I can't exactly say no"

"Great. Just don't wander off" He said with the worst attempt of a grin I've ever seen.

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After another 30 minutes of silence and attempts of small talk, we finally came to a stop. It was now 9:05 in the morning. I honestly don't know how Kai is still moving so swiftly, since he hasn't slept yet.

Kai parked the car in an empty car park. I turned to leave the car but froze.

"Welcome to Crainer City" Kai spoke whilst smiling down to me.

I've never even left my home sector before never mind come to the city.

After the war in 3000 it left a lot of countries unprotected. Luckily, in the United States our government was able to plot out a plan to save its people. Those who were left in the USA were not allowed to leave (not like anyone would want too) and no one could come in. It protected the US citizens and empowered the government massively. Majority of the land around the world was destroyed or flooded; whatever that was left was used to hold survivors.
In school, I learnt that most of the other countries have folded on their governments and fell back into war zones.
USA, France, UK and Australia are the only countries under control right now.
USA's government made 'sectors' for people to live in. It was simple. The lower the number, the less income your area receives and of course, higher numbers mean more income (richer areas). There are 15 sectors in total. As well as the sectors, there are the cities: Crainer, Shangi, Deller and Wilpher.
Then, there was the capital Tren (also known as the 'home of the saviours' - AKA the government).

I live in sector 7. I've never left, until now. The only people that get the pleasure of moving around so freely are the 'superior' and those who work with the government.
Luckily my sector is more middle class. Which means we all own decent sized houses; all have decent jobs and we also get the chance to go to a park. There might only be one park in the whole sector but it's better than most other sectors. Half the citizens in the lower sectors don't even own houses. It's sad seeing such poverty happen to so many people.

Seeing the city made me speechless. Neon lights flashed into my wide eyes; I'd need to squint if I wasn't so amazed. Electric trains fly past in silence. Blue lights shine across the vehicle lighting up the already gleaming area. Skyscrapers tower above me causing my neck to start aching. I still couldn't see the tops. It was loud yet silent all at once. I could hear the footsteps and muffled conversations of the other civilians not too far from myself. I could also hear the wind smoothly breezing against every tall object in its way. The air was cleaner here, unlike the sectors. It was so fresh; I swear I could taste it!

I turned to see Kai smiling back at me.

"What?" I asked confused.

"Nothing. You're just so amazed. You remind me of a little kid" He chuckled

"Well, I've never even left my district before! Sorry for being so gobsmacked by a city I've only dreamed of seeing" I said laughing back

Kai said nothing but just laughed and summoned me to follow him.

We walked away from the car and into some small back alleys. The city lights still gleamed through every gap between the buildings, until it got darker and darker as we went further in between buildings.

It felt like we had been walking for hours, until we reached a large iron door.

Kai knocked twice and waited for a response. It took about 5 minutes before someone rapidly sprung the door open.

There stood a middle-aged man. He wore really thin glasses, and his bare head reflected the light that was gleaming down on him. Noticing his dirty, muffled clothes had made me frown. He had stubble growing all along the bottom half of his face. He looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. His large figure stepped out of the door to exam Kai and me before his face turned into a giant smile.

"Kai my boy! Long-time no see!" He said going in to embrace the other male.

Kai stiffened very quickly and gave no affection back.

"I always thought you were a 'work alone' type of agent. Who's this pretty thing?" The man gestured towards me.

I opened my mouth to respond but Kai spoke before I could gather any words.

"I am a 'work alone' type of agent. I just...ran into some stuff" Kai stated, while glaring back to the man stood in front of both of us.

"Ohhh. You mean my boy Kai has finally got himself a new girlfrien-"

"NO" both me and Kai exclaimed, cutting off the other man as he began chuckling at our response.

"That's a shame. She really is a beautiful one. Looks like she has quite the personality too" He said winking at me.

Kai looked away from me, hiding his face. I did, however, catch a glimpse of pink appearing up on the side of his face. I averted my eyes and looked down to his fists, tightly scrunched together, causing his hands to turn red. I struggle to find any set emotion from his body language.

"Chris please. I just need some new equipment. Could you stop messing around?" Kai asked after taking a breath.

  Chris smirked, knowing he had an effect on the younger boy. He turned on his feet and led us through the door and into the dark building.

As I was walking behind the two men, a weird feeling of warmth hit me. It wasn't the temperature. It felt like comfort. It felt like safety. Only two people popped up into my head when I thought of this feeling of...of... home?

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