Divided We Fall

Chapter 1

Cold. Cold. Cold. Cold. There's snow collecting in her boots, and by the time Mika gets home, the cuffs of her leggings will be dry and stiff. Whatever, she thinks by the time I get home I should have food waiting for me.

There's only about four inches of snow on the unbeaten path to walk through, but each step brings a couple more snowflakes into her shoe. After what Mika has been through these past two days, a little snow is nothing, but the cold is starting to sting and she's kind of scared that she'll get frostbite. It doesn't pay in her line of work to lose limbs.

It's been snowing on and off for the past two days, and nature has fallen silent like it normally does in winter. It's beautiful in an odd sort of way, like how the branches bend under the weight of the snow and grass peaks up above it.

The snow out here is hardly left untouched; who knows how many different species have left their footprints before hers?

A stick snaps in two under Mika's feet when she takes her next step, sending either a rabbit or squirrel running and birds into the air. If the early morning sun wasn't shining directly into her eyes, she could've counted them. The weather had called for some warming up before the snow started to get heavier in the coming days. I can only hope.

Once Mika has reached the dirty creek with a big rock, there's only about a quarter of a mile to go before the town fence is in her sight. And her breakfast. And her rent.

The fence surrounding Knox isn't all that tall, easy to hop, but the cold that seeps through Mika's gloves, combined with the lack of friction, adds some difficulty to the situation. Not to mention her right foot is starting to lose feeling. It's gonna be such a horrible walk home.

"Damn Mika, did you leave any snow for the ground?" Leo asks, and it's amazing how he can patronize her at such an early hour.

"Considering there's a lot more ground than there is me, I'd say 'yeah, I did leave some snow for the ground'." Okay, maybe she's a bit cranky, but it has been a long weekend. "When're you gonna start my food?"

"Is that all I am to you?" he asks dramatically, giving a fake sob.

"Not. In. The mood." Mika might not have been in the mood for his incessant joking, but she wasn't so horrible as to tell him that yes, he was just food and a joint apartment with split rent. Some things are just better left unsaid.

"Fair enough," he says, leaving the potential conversation untouched. "I can start on breakfast while you're gone. Pancakes and eggs, right? The breakfast of champions."

"Or I can eat and then head out. Dealing with Leader after a five-star meal would be bad enough, let alone on an empty stomach. I haven't eaten since last night." Maybe if she plays to his kindness, he'll feed her.

"I feel for you, I really do Mika, but money's important to survival," Leo says.

"You're right," she concedes. "I wouldn't put it past him to dock my pay for every minute since I left town."

"He's not that bad Mika, I wish you could see that."

"Yeah, right," Mika says, walking onto the road with Leo. They part ways after a minute or two of silence as Leo heads down one of the main roads. It's not normal for it to end like this, but still, after two years, this can get annoying.

Leo sees Leader as a hero who pulled him from the depths of darkness, but how can a man who runs a faceless organization be anything less than incredibly suspicious? A man who picks kids up from the streets and offers them money if they pledge their loyalty is not someone Mika would want to work for. But want doesn't mean anything when you have no other source of income.