Six Weeks After Being Arrested

It wasn't long after they handcuffed us that we learned we were back in the U.P.A. Empire City specifically. Right then we were waiting in Jail, waiting to be tried as adults.

The judge hasn't handled our case yet, but the guards, and everyone else in here, say it's a guarantee that they'll just execute us. Other than that it isn't so bad in here. It's like being back in the Boarding school, but the roles are sort of reversed. Because in here we have a bit of a reputation.

I never said that anyone didn't challenge that reputation though.

Four Nights After Arriving in Empire City's Jail Facility

"DAMN!"

The inmates around us roared as Thomas knocked someone unconscious with a crushing hook to the jaw. He didn't want to, but that guy tried to force himself on me. Since we've been here that's the act we've had to put on.

To the rest of the guy's here I belong to Thomas, and if we have any trouble Thomas can just take care of them. It's stressful sometimes but lately we've been able to handle ourselves, I just hope we don't start looking good to any of the the bigger guys in here. It's the only way we can really function, especially with how people view us.

Long after that fight we sat down.

"What the hell's with these guys?" I said, "Don't they ever get tired of this crap? I didn't even fight anyone today and my head still hurts!"

Thomas shrugged his shoulders "...Just stay close."

A guy not too much bigger than me sat down at the table, he wore thick glasses and a smug look.

He smirked "Confused about how shit works around here?"

"... Who are you?" I said, furrowing my brows at his way-too-comfortable disposition.

"You don't need to worry, I don't want trouble," He adjusted his glasses. "You just don't look like you understand the type of people you are."

Thomas sat there, his arms folded defensively, "...What kind of people are we?" He said.

"Man, you guys are dull..." He leaned across the table "You bombed Empire City."

"UNINTENTIONALLY!" I interjected.

"How the hell do you unintentionally organize a terrorist attack on the world's capital?"

I facepalmed, "WE DIDN'T KNOW, OKAY?"

"Travis, calm down..." Thomas said nonchalantly.

"I'm tired of everyone saying we did it on purpose, it's NOT true!"

Thomas gave me a stoic glare of disapproval. He sighed "...He's neurotic in bad situations..."

The boy raised his brow, "...That attack was organized by Azharian terrorists, that bomb was a signal to all the other terrorists running around the country to set off a bunch of other attacks. Sorta like a ripple effect. You can imagine the country was pissed.

So America released all this propaganda about why Those terrorists are so horrible. Y'know a bunch of 'How could they do this to the great people of America' and 'Those heartless monsters will be brought to justice' crap. So the terrorists responded with this."

He reached into his jumpsuit and pulled out a smartphone.

"How'd you get that?"

He smirked as he scrolled through the thin device, "The guards around here don't give a shit about rules, give 'em something to smoke on and they'll give you whatever they can."

With the press of a button a holographic image was projected in the small space between us.

He read the text. "'I'm terrorized in my own country, but I'M the terrorist?' Is how they responded. They released this message with a ton of reports about how they've been oppressed by America and other first world countries.

Y'know how we like to steal oil and kill people but get pissed when they bomb a few hundred people, or when they get treated like the shit stain of humanity whenever they go somewhere?"

Thomas grumbled under his breath.

The boy looked him up and down, smirking. "...So my guess is the other countries got to thinking and realized it's true, and in just a few weeks you've got half the planet pissed at you."

He leaned back, "Honestly I don't know how nobody saw this coming. America may be ultra rich but we're dicks to a lot of people. We killed the people who used to be here, steal resources, and still treat people like dirt. I really never liked us in the first place, and all that 'we're the best' bullshit's got me at my limit."

For someone in Jail I had to give him credit, he was a thinker. Not dumb at all. In fact I agreed with him, at least partially.

He wiped his glasses clean, "But back to the story. Everybody's pissed at us, so then their attention turns to all the other 'elites' and now they're mad at anybody who's ever dominated or oppressed them. But of course the U.P. wasn't having that."

His voice took on a mocking tone "I mean, we're America we can't let some terrorists question our authority. So America put them in their place." He chuckled, "They did Azhar worse than Baiyo in WW2. Thing is they didn't have shit to say about all those accusations so now everyone's even more pissed off.

So then Azahar got an idea. They formed alliances with every Second and Third world country on this planet and started war with the First world. We're in WW3 right now.

And it's all because of you."

I stuttered, "W-We didn't-"

"Now the way the entire world functions is different. The police, schools, travel, technology. Nothing's like it used to be."

Officers began to bark orders "LUNCH IS OVER. LET'S GO!"

"I gotta go," He said "But strong guy, can you help me out?"

"...What do you want?" Thomas said.

The boy took off his glasses "I like your white boy... Loan him to me for some crystal meth?"

I turned my head towards Thomas, gawking frantically. Without looking Thomas slammed his fist into the boy's face and he fell out of his chair, his glasses flying across the room.

"Thomas!"

He looked at me, his bored expression not changed in the slightest, "What?"

"What's wrong with you?! Why did you do that?!"

"That was pretty damn rude, besides I'm pissed already," he yawned. "And tired..."

"HEY! YOU!" a guard's voice shot over.

Thomas slowly turned in his direction.

"SOLITARY CONFINEMENT! LET'S GO!"

Thomas let out a groan, dragging his legs as more guards walked over to escort him.

I swear to god, he was so out of character...

The boy with glasses stood, wiping the blood from his nose. "Hey."

I nervously turned in response.

"If you're thinking about escaping, don't bother. The minute they even think you're gone the Nexus is gonna use everything they've got to wipe your slick asses of the surface of this planet."

I hesitated for a second, then I turned to follow the line of inmates back to my cell with the thought on my mind.

Nexus...

Present

I shielded my eyes from the intense sun as the sound of basketballs bouncing off of the hot concrete sounded above the shouting.

Peering past the sea of orange jumpsuits I could see Thomas standing by the perimeter fence by himself. I jogged towards him, avoiding the eyes of other inmates as I slowed to a halt.

I put a hand on his shoulder "This fence has barbed wire. Don't even try."

Thomas began twitching as he heaved a sigh "I c-c-can't s-stand being caged like this..." he grumbled, his deep voice breaking under a smoldering rage. "I g-gotta find a way outta-"

"Hey!"

I looked around.

"Over here!" The disembodied voice continued.

Kelly sprung from behind the building, "ME!"

My jaw dropped, "What the-! How'd you get here?!"

"I escaped after that sleazy bastard made it back here and I'm here to bust you out." She said, patting the dust off of a rather fashionable outfit and fixing her one large braid of shiny brown hair.

My heart immediately raced as I began to panic. "Kelly you can't be here! If they notice you-"

She immediately lashed out a thin switchblade. At the press of a button it instantly became red hot.

"Woah..." Thomas croaked.

She slashed through the large fence and pushed out a hole almost as big as me. Before I could climb through Thomas shoved past me, tumbling to the ground as he emerged on the other side.

"HEY!"

The sound of a guard's voice made me cringe in fear and for a moment I had to ignore the trembling in my limbs as I forced myself through the gate.

Kelly pulled me along, "C'MON LET'S MOVE!"

As we took off a shrill noise blared in my ears as guards poured from the buildings around us.

"Great," Kelly grumbled, "We've got pigs on our ass..."

She snatched two grenades from a rather stylish belt around her waist and flung them behind her without turning. I hear a loud boom sound behind me and turned to see officers scattered across the grass.

Still, more armed guards appeared, and Kelly unzipped a large black shoulder bag.

"Travis, catch!" Kelly tossed me a machine gun "No time to think, just shoot before they do!"

I turned and unleashed a flurry of ammunition as the feeling of power once again came over my body, using adrenaline as a source of strength as I struggled to stabilize the heavy weapon in my hands.

A small grey sphere spewed from behind me and exploded into a screen of blinding white as I turned to run.

"That's enough!" Kelly shouted. "We need to get the HELL out of here!"

As we ran I couldn't help but feel a sickening knot twist in my stomach.

Something isn't right...

I could feel a menacing danger, and my heart raced the more I felt it drawing closer. I turned my head for just a second.

"DOGS!"

A hoard of them shot from the screen of white.

"Why the hell are you telling ME?! You're the one we need here!"

"What?! I can't shoot a dog, they're so-"

They bellowed a hoarse growl and bared their fangs.

"OH MY GOD!" My fear kicked in and I sprayed the vicious wave of K-9s with a deadly ear shattering force and didn't stop until I ran out.

"C'mon!" Kelly ran into a thick forest while me and Thomas followed suit.

From then on we had no choice but to keep running. For hours upon hours we trudged through the woods looking up or over our shoulders for signs of dogs or a helicopter.

After watching the orange skies disappear, night fell and Kelly dropped her large shoulder bag on the middle of a small clearing in the forest.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead, and began breathing heavily "T-Tonight... We'll camp... Here."

Thomas and I nodded, proceeding to assemble a pile of wood and lit it with the tool used for our escape. Kelly rolled out some sleeping bags and tossed us each a green apple.

"You guys are lucky," She said. "After I woke up I tried to shake you guys but you were both out cold, by then he'd noticed me and I had to run."

She stopped talking to take a few bites out of an apple and a long gulp of bottled mountain water "But I stuck around. Because of that I've been able to keep tabs on you guys since you left that human slaughter house, which is how I found you."

She stretched her arms and let out a yawn.

The scattered words in my brain spilled "Kelly, you have no idea what the hell the world's been through! We-"

"I know," She interrupted "The attack from two years ago, World War III starting, and all that. I know."

My heart sank "It's all our fault..."

"No it's not," she quipped "It's because of Roscoe and his dumbass... It's not all bad though. It's a little weird, but y'know ever since people started talking about how we were helping Roscoe out with that deal we've been associated with that cartel, right?"

I silently pondered over that as she continued. "We're pretty popular with street gangs too. We're like legends to pretty much any criminal organization out there."

She went into the large bag and pulled out two smaller ones, then she slid us each a little bit of everything we needed with the accuracy of a card dealer.

"That's how I got all this stuff." She patted me on the back, grinning. "We got mafias on our side."

I groaned, "At least not everybody in the world's tryna rip our heads off..."

We sat there for a minute, staring blankly into the fire and swatting at insects.

"Get rid of those jumpsuits and wear these," she pulled out about two outfits for each of us along with some contacts. "We're not staying in this forest forever. Tomorrow we're going into town to try and learn more about what this Divine Society is. And we're doing it..." She put on some designer sunglasses, "On fleek."

Not too long after that, our exhaustion took over and we dozed off.

That morning I wiped the sleep from my eyes and we began our trek towards civilization. We emerged from the forest into a large mall parking lot and found a bus stop nearby. Our disguises in check, we boarded the first one that came.

While we sat there a few eyes panned over us, only to return to the screens of smartphones and thin tablets.

I swallowed the lump in my neck, "Where are we going?" I asked.

Kelly adjusted her sunglasses "Public Library. I got us some library cards so we can use the computers there, they aren't ours but it's still just as good."

She rummaged through her purse and handed them to us, checking her makeup in a small mirror. "I think they've got some books on the Divine Society. Remember, just-"

"Two suspects of the Empire City bombing escaped from custody with the help of an unknown third only weeks after being captured. Hello, this is Victoria Stonewater on Channel 7 Morning News, where we bring the scoop to you." A monitor on the back of the seat in front of us interrupted her.

Kelly heaved a sigh.

"Reporting live from Empire City Jail where inmates and officers alike claim to have witnessed the two suspects Travis Kennedy and Thomas Colton break out of jail and devastate efforts to recapture them. Behind me you can see footage of the incident."

We gawked at the recording of us racing across the facility, leaving trails of bullet shells and dead officers behind. As a picture of us appeared in the corner of the screen, I felt a hard thumping in my chest.

Looking around, I put my arms around my face in an attempt to convince people I was sleeping.

Thomas pulled the strings of his grey hoodie and mumbled under his breath "We look so badass..."

I narrowed my eyes at him.

Not even gonna try figuring that out...

"When we asked for a description of the girl who helped these two escape an inmate gave us the following description:

'A tall busty vixen with really long brown hair and sunglasses...'"

Kelly's face twisted, "Vixen?!"

"After questioning other inmates and receiving near identical reports, it was confirmed that the third is most likely Kelly Nicholson, one of the five terrorists that struck two short years ago." Suddenly, a picture of her appeared on screen.

Kelly sucked her teeth, "Shit."

"With the return of these vicious attackers, most are wondering what's next for America and the rest of the first world. All citizens are urged to call the police if you see anybody that resembles these individuals. In a time filled with war and treachery like ours we can't afford to take any chances."

The bus filled with an earsplitting uproar.

A little girl shouted, "What the HELL?!"

The woman sitting next to her wasn't any better, "God DAMMIT I am MOVING!"

"We need to start blocking planes if they're gonna keep doing this shit..." said a guy not to far from us.

Kelly nudged me, "Let's go"

After yanking the cord and triggering an immediate halt I followed closely behind her, hiding my face in her hair as we stepped out.

"Where the HELL are we gonna go?!" I asked.

Kelly massaged her temples as the bus pulled off from behind us "C'mon girl, think..." She looked around, "East Coast."

"What?"

"East coast." She said, "We need to get to a second or third world country, we'll be safe there. Then we figure out what's next."

We followed her through the urban streets, hiding our faces until we came to the subway and boarded a train to Pagos.

As we huddled near the back of the train Kelly's hands flew across the keyboard of our laptop.

"We're gonna board a cargo ship to Ghira. It's a second world country in Afzhad. We ride, sneak out, learn more about this society and fight it."

I heaved a sigh "Kelly, are you seriously trying to stop the Divine Society? We don't even know what they are."

"I do," she said. "I know enough. The Divine society is a radical cult started by former senator Renaldo Ace. They believe they've been chosen by god to cleanse the earth of 'evil' and they do it by murdering hundreds of third and second world citizens at a time while totally convinced that anybody who opposes them must be under influence of the devil and that by killing them, they'll be rewarded by getting sent to heaven and heaps of 'blessings'. Thing is, most people from the first world actually support this shit. It's sick."

I stared outside of the window for a while.

"If you know that much, what are you trying to learn?" I said.

She closed the laptop "I'm trying to learn their strategies. How they attack, where their weapons come from. If we know how their organization works we'll know how to fight them."

"Kelly, you are NOT serious about this. We are three people, there's no way we're gonna wind up bringing down a first world terrorist organization." I whispered, "Besides what about the rest-."

"Listen Travis. When we were back in Silona I talked to Liza and made a promise. I said I would fix this problem and STOP things like this from happening to people, NOT to run away and hide."

"Kelly that isn't reasonable. Say we do learn about how the DS works. Great, now what do we do AFTER that?"

"We find a way to kick their asses."

"HOW?"

"Travis, I just told you two in the bus. We've got connections. Y'know how in a lot of modern rap they talk about how they know people to get shit done and all that? That's the type of position we're in right now."

"Kelly I'm not trying to get killed, so why don't we just forget about Ghira, forget about our 'connections' and-"

"And what?" She barked.

I couldn't think of what to say.

"What Travis?" She said "What's next? We spend the rest of our lives dodging cameras on the goddamn street? Is that what you want?"

"Kelly-"

"Travis, our lives are already over. We can't go back to Boarding School, we can't go to Silona, and there are literally hundreds of millions of dollars in reward money for sniping our asses. We'd might as well be dead now. So, we can make the rest of our short lives exciting and actually try to do something for once, or we can sit and cry about it. I'm choosing the former with or without you."

She folded her arms and leaned back, closing her eyes. As she slept I noticed the baby blue ribbons tied into Kelly's hair. I blankly stared into the dark tunnel from the back of the dimly lit train, sighing before I dozed off.

Pagos, U.P.A. 9:56pm

We blasted through a familiar forest of pine trees into the quaint port town. Being July, it was warmer in the town. Only about 60 degrees Fahrenheit, no more and no less.

We stepped into the small retro-western style subway, huddling together as a busy crowd stirred.

"'Be on the lookout for disguised Terrorists' says the latest headline. Hello, this is Victoria Stonewater and welcome to Channel 7 news at 10, where we bring the scoop to you."

Kelly swore, "This bitch..."

"Here you can see photos of the terrorists behind me along with a few eyewitness descriptions. Ever since their return and escape, America has been in turmoil over the threat they pose while others have been actively searching for a solution to this problem, that being, finding them and dealing with the situation themselves."

Kelly slipped me a handgun.

I frowned at her.

"Just in case," she whispered.

"Now it seems the three young attackers have chosen to disguise themselves according to what people say."

A candid photo of us was blown up on the large screen.

"Remember if you see anybody that resembles these children, alert the authorities IMMEDIATELY."

Instinctively we began to speed walk out of the subway, pulling off hoodies and changing sweatshirts as we passed through the small town as if nobody were there.

Normally we'd just hide, but at this point I feel it's pretty much given that none of us really gave a shit anymore.

"HEY!" A stern elderly voice called out from inside a souvenir shop.

Not even bothering to turn we hit the gas, speeding by as people on sidewalks and in parked cars shouted at us. We kept our eyes locked on the coast, ignoring the people who flung things and bellowed slurs as we dodged vehicles that swerved in our path.

It feels so familiar...

Hatred.

That was familiar.

I look around and found myself in the middle of boxes, crates, and 100lb bags of whatever.

"Travis!" Kelly shouted, "Here!"

I darted after the two and entered a large vessel floating in the cold water to find myself in a dark space filled with cargo. We climbed the boxes, ignored the fish smell, and made our way to a small nearly pitch black area.

I felt around Kelly's bag and spread out a large soft comforter. That's how we'd sleep until the end of our voyage. I turned on a small flashlight and set it in the middle of us. The light provided was just enough for us to make out each other in the thick darkness surrounding the area.

Minutes passed and then I heard voices from the outside.

"We're setting off," said Kelly. "Hope you guys aren't seasick."

Her voice was followed by the sound of propellers.

"Kelly, those propellers are really loud..." I said, a worried tone slowly possessing my words.

"This isn't 1865," she said. "Almost every boat needs 'em, Travis."

"He's right." Thomas said, "Those propellers sound too large, too fast to be underwater. I can even hear them through the walls."

The large hatch closed, trapping us in total darkness.

Kelly grimaced, "Well, what are we on?"

"Clear the way for take off," A voice from the outside called.

I felt a strange emptiness.

God...

"Kelly," Thomas said "This is a cargo seaplane."

Her face dropped. "SON OF A-"