Psychic

29. The Evaporator

Ken and Marlene fell asleep only a few minutes into the ride. Rai had not gotten to enjoy her first time in a car back in Laridion so this time felt like the first for her. She kept the back window all the way down and let her hand hang outside of it. As they drove, the sky became increasingly overcast and soft, mists of moisture were hitting the front window and Rai's hand.

"There's not supposed to be any rain today, huh?" Kiyo scoffed, repeating what Ken had said earlier;

"Not in Facidis, I guess," Rai said. "It's not so bad." The car slowed to a stop and Kiyo sighed as he turned it off. "Shit."

"What exactly did you expect?" Reno growled at him as he opened his door to get out. "Just get it over with."

"Come on, Rai. We're here."

"And them?" she asked about Marlene and Ken as she climbed out.

"Leave them. They'll be grateful."

The city looked as though a tornado had blown through it and tore up any trace of civilization in its path. Broken furniture and splintered pieces of walls were all over the ground. Only a handful of buildings were still standing and those had windows and walls missing. Some people had built small shacks built from the rubble of former houses. They could see people looking through rubble.

The dirt was soft under Rai's boots as she scanned the remains of the city before her then noticed a smell that made her face twist. "Don't make that face." Kiyo gestured for her to follow him. "They're burning bodies." She rubbed her nose, trying to clear the smell from it and started breathing through her mouth. Kiyo walked in front of them navigating his way through the rubble, followed by Rai while Reno followed her.

"One bomb made this mess?" she wondered aloud.

"Wasn't a normal bomb. Nothing publicly available."

"You said they were making it, right? What were going to use it for?"

"Leveling terrain for construction."

"Really?" It did not sound as though she believed Kiyo. "Not so that people like you could have an easy way out of the front lines?"

"We don't use bombs in war," he said flatly. "None of the empires do. The strength of an empire is the strength of its people. Only people can fight those wars. It's like... battle etiquette. Certain actions are considered low blows. A General or Emperor who breaks these laws is stripped of their rank and banished from their region."

Rai looked back at Reno to see if he would confirm or deny what Kiyo told her. She was not sure he had even heard what was said. His eyes were low on her, watching the way she moved. He could feel her eyes on him and his eyes met hers. "Yes?"

She groaned and turned around, "nothing."

"What? Am I supposed to not look?"

They were all distracted by an elderly woman nearby picking through a pile of debris, digging for something in the debris. They could see that half of her body was badly burnt. Her skin was peeling off her arm and the side of her face. Rai started to slow down, thinking she could easily go and help this woman.

"Don't stop," Kiyo told her, knowing what she was like.

"We just leave her like that?"

"There's likely hundreds of people in the same condition or worse. You can't help them all. We're going to get what we came for and go."

"But it's just one person."

He turned around to her quickly, "no. You help her and she'll tell others. Then we'll be stuck here for days absorbing all this radiation while they keep making you do more and more for them out of pity. No. You have other kids out there waiting. You don't have time to give to these people. Reno, tell her."