❝Don't you see the cycle we are living in? The same repeating cycle our ancestors have lived in?❞ I yell glaring at him.
He chooses to remain silent, his eyes set in a hard glare. He's starting to get annoyed with me, but I have to help him under...
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"RONNIE, WHAT HAPPENED?" Aiden says, concern showing all across his face as he quickly closes the door to Outsiders. His eyes then travel to Anthony, who stands completely frozen next to me. I watch him from the corner of my eye to see him surveying the area around us, confirming my conclusion that he's never been nor heard of Outsiders before. "Who is this?" Aiden asks, unable to hide the curiosity in his voice.
"I'm Tony." Anthony quickly says before shooting me a quick pleading look to not reveal his real name. I offer him a curt nod of the head in affirmation. I can understand his hesitancy to reveal who he is, I have felt the same way since my name was announced yesterday. But Outsiders is safe, Anthony just doesn't know it yet.
Aiden glances at me once, before he looks at Anthony asking, "Can I please see your right wrist? I need to confirm that you aren't an X before allowing you to come in any further."
Anthony slowly raises his right hand and moves his sleeve up to show Aiden his bare wrist. Once Aiden has the confirmation he needs, he gestures for Anthony and I to head inside. I grab one of Anthony's hands and pull him towards a table far back. I didn't expect Aiden to follow, but when he pulls out a seat and sits down next to me at the table, I know for a fact that he won't be leaving until I answer his questions.
"You both look very rattled, what happened?" He asks me once again.
I sigh looking down at my hands, my mind forming an excuse to avoid answering the question. "You can't just leave your job post Aiden."
Aiden rolls his eyes, "Ronnie, you are my friend and I can tell that something is wrong. I won't be able to focus on my job until you tell me what happened." His face is stern and serious, and as much as I don't feel like talking about the incident, I do feel the obligation to tell Aiden the truth.
I can feel the dried-up tears on my face and I can still hear the screaming from the bus clawing at my eardrums. I don't look at Aiden as I start speaking, "The bus we were on was hijacked. X's were killing regs. We managed to escape in time and I knew we had to come here. This is the only safe place I knew I could count on."
When I look up to take a peek at Aiden's expression, the shock and mortification I see on his face is not a surprise. It takes Aiden a few seconds to collect himself before he says, "Did they say the reason why they were killing the regs on the bus?"
Anthony scoffs from the seat across from me. "What other reason would there be besides hate? The Xs hate us, they always have. Isn't that why this place was created, to be a safe place for regular humans like us to hang out?"
I look at Anthony in surprise, "You catch on fast."
Anthony shrugs his shoulders, "I put two and two together, you were telling me we were going to a safe place and he asked to see my wrist to make sure I wasn't an X."
"I guess it's my turn to say something." Aiden says while staring at Anthony, "What's your real name?"
A small smile appears on Anthony's face, "So you caught onto that."
