Warriors of the Badlands

The Time Before

Night was always so quiet in the desert. There was no wind. No animals rummaging around. Despite that, he could hear his parents muffled conversation from outside the camper. He kept the window open just a bit to hear their conversation, although he struggled to listen. When he found that their whispers were too low for him to understand, he drifted off to sleep.

Sleep in the Badlands was valuable. At least that was what Kane Hatsune thought. Afterall, he grew up there. The Badlands are regions of the world that are occupied by criminals, past or present; the poor; and basically any minority that wasn't the wealthy upper class. The cities were barely cities. Crime was almost normalized, since policing was not prioritized there. Early nights and mornings were patrolled, but it left time for crime during the day and late twilight. The people have adapted to the rough society, since the living conditions weren't any better. The buildings were usually tall, concrete apartments. But they were abandoned, becoming overgrown at some point in history and never renovated, making the area look apocalyptic.
But the outskirts of one city stretched until running into another city. This area was usually desert, miles and miles of sand. People who wanted to live more peacefully usually lived out here, or maybe the exact opposite. Many gangs traveled through these, bringing along danger. Then there were the people who wanted to eventually escape the Badlands entirely by crossing seas of sand. People like Kane and his family.

He opened his eyes, waking from the slow rumble of the camper. He saw his mother and father sitting in the front seats with hazy vision. He knew that they probably didn't sleep a wink. Kane rubbed his eyes and sat up.
"Good morning, sweetie," His mom said, smiling.
"Where are we going this time?" Kane said, stretching as he walked uneasily across the van.
"We need to head into town for supplies. But the camper needs to work, you'll have to go in while your father and I fix it, okay?" She replied.
His mother patted the space next to her, inviting him to sit. The desert all looked the same, which reminded him much of what he learned in it. In the desert, he learned to drive, to hunt, to shoot, to fight. Whereas, in the city, he learned to carry out small crimes like stealing and how to stealthily move under the bright sun. Kane learned how to survive in the Badlands before he even knew how to read or write. Yet he didn't even know that this wasn't the norm for children outside of the Badlands. He didn't even know that the life away from the Badlands was different. He was just running with his parents on and on, thinking their nomadic life had no purpose.
The camper stopped with a small jerk after half an hour of driving. Kane stepped out onto the sand, observing the towering buildings of the city. Broken windows were covered by wooden planks or ivy. Distantly, he could hear a car alarm go off. He was surprised that someone had a working alarm. But he was even more surprised that someone bothered to have a car. It would end up stolen or broken because there were no dealerships or good mechanics in the city. 
"Come on, Kane," His father said, holding up an empty pack with water, a holster that clipped, and a gas tank.
The boy walked up to him, letting his father slide the pack on his back. Kane took the gas tank and buckled the holster around his thigh. His mother came up to him, the knife shining in her hands after sharpening it. She gave it to him with worry in her eyes.
"It's okay, mom. I'll be okay, I've been into the city before." He gave her a reassuring grin and took the knife, slipping it into its sheath. Kane hugged his mother, who smiled sadly. 
His father knelt down to him, his honey colored eyes were hiding something but Kane didn't bother to question it. His father hid many things in order to protect him. "Kane, come back soon, okay?" He caressed his son's head.
"Of course." Kane hugged him. "I love you guys."
"I love you, Kane. Now go on." His father let go.
The boy went off into the city, waving to his parents as they became smaller and smaller until they were blocked by buildings. The city was quiet, at least the part he was in. Not many people were on the street. It was eerily empty. He didn't blame citizens for not being out, the streets were littered with trash and junk. Before coming to the desert, he lived in the city. Living in the tall buildings wasn't any better, there was no running electricity, air conditioning, and the rooms  were stripped from all their furniture. At least they weren't overcrowded at all. Nor was there a way of organizing who lived where. People often changed where to camp by moving floors or rooms. As long as you kept to yourself, you wouldn't run into any problems. 
Kane went over the list in his head: food, water, gas, medical equipment… what else? Just as he was about to turn a corner, he ran into someone. He apologized profusely, hoping whoever he ran into wouldn't see it as a personal attack.