"This is the end of the Line, thank you for choosing Dyson Railways."

Me and Thomas were awoken in the afternoon of the next day by a male's voice on the intercom. After rousing from our rest all of us left the subway, shoving through people and up the crowded stairways.

The second I stepped out of that subway my mouth began to slowly gape open. It wasn’t anything like we’ve seen on the internet or on TV.

I looked in all directions to see nothing but an endless sea of gigantic buildings that towered hundreds of feet into the air. Strange people with multi colored hair, strange clothes, and even stranger accents were all over, just like the sound of mixed languages from people who came from all over the world to see our country.

I'll never forget the way it felt. Walking through the buildings, the shiny labryinth of malls and stores, seeing the brands everybody wished they could touch being advertised on giant digital billboards. This really did feel like the dream.

The sights amazed me, it was more than I could ever imagine, but I had to maintain my focus.

Kamarion’s house.

We couldn't waste time.

Compared to Monica’s railroad system, these charts were really complicated, with all the codes and colors you’d think you were looking at the inside of a supercomputer…

And the prices being sky high isn’t helping either...

We decided that bus fare would be better, so we went to Metro Station to ask about the schedule and prepared to wait.

“Our bus comes later on tonight, about 7:00. We have time.” I sat down in a park behind the station along with the others.

It was a peaceful area separated from the bustling urban streets. The constant flow of water from a fountain created a sense of tranquility along with a small garden, and low shady trees groomed to perfection.

“Well that’s good to know. You know it really is nice back here.” Kelly leaned back on a bench “I just wanna to sit here and relax, y'know?”

Thomas just sat there without saying a word, he just laid there and fell asleep underneath a small tree. Hard to blame him though, everything was just so quiet and undisturbed. It was seldom like that back at the boarding school. It makes sense we all wanted to savor the feeling.

Most of that day was uneventful and calm, but once again time neared for us to leave and we prepared for departure.

We rode the bus to the projects, which was a completely different area within the city. We arrived at a disgusting bus stop near a drug store, and as soon as we stepped out a group of men looked our way. The more I stood there a putrid musk burned my nostrils.

They sized us up as we passed by. I stared forward, trying to hold a straight face as the stench brutally intensified. We quickened our pace and turned the corner as they began to whisper among themselves.

“Hey!” I whispered. “Kelly!”

She whispered back. “What?”

“Did you notice those guys?”

Kelly rolled her eyes. “Travis, we all noticed ‘em.”

“No! I mean did you see how they keep looking at Roscoe?!”

Kelly turned back forward and burned holes in the back of Roscoe’s head with a stare.

She turned back around. “I want you and Thomas to stay by me, okay?”

I nodded.

“Kamarion!” Roscoe shouted as we approached a boarding house.

A man sitting on the stairs stood up and towered over us with Roscoe at nearly identical height. His bloodshot eyes passed over all of us and seemed to pierce through my soul. Suddenly, I found myself looking down.

Roscoe whispered a lot of phrases I didn’t understand to him. I think they were speaking spanish. But from what I could piece together, he was just explaining our situation.

Kamarion furrowed his brows at us. “They look soft as hell…”

“I know.” Roscoe smirked. “Don’t judge ‘em though. If they’re that smart, there’s even more to these guys I bet.”

Kamarion walked inside and tilted his head to beckon us. Once we entered, the cold stench from outside was replaced with the even stronger smell of Marijuana. I wasn’t gonna touch anything, and judging by the look on Thomas and Kelly’s faces, they weren’t either. Instead we stood there silently, afraid to speak and too uncomfortable to sit down.

Roscoe took a look around the room. “Just lay somethin’ on ‘em while I handle some business.” He walked away, taking his large black duffle with him.

Kamarion put out his cigarette and took a long look at us. “So ya’ll smart, huh?”

We stared at him.

Kelly spoke. “We can get around.” Her voice was shaky, but calm.

He walked closer to us. “Getting around ain’t shit when it comes to the people out here.”

He pulled out and lit another cigarette, lighting it and taking a drag. “I’ll let you know right now this is not no game. Hell, I barely got my shit together. Three of ya’ll…”
He looked at us for a second and then let out a chuckle. “Shit funny as hell…”

Given my experience with these kinds of people, I understood what he was saying. What we had done was really dangerous, and yet he still found the situation hilarious.

And apparently the idea having to take us seriously...

I knew that the world had lots of things that I couldn’t even understand yet, but It felt like I just had to make that choice.

It was something only I could decide for myself, and it just so happens I have Thomas and Kelly by my side. I knew it was a rushed decision but I was glad I made it. Despite what he said… I didn’t regret it myself at all.

“I’m back,” Roscoe walked into the room after a few minutes, the bag he was carrying very empty-looking compared to before.

Kamarion shook his head at us and let out a long sigh as he walked away, followed by giggling.

He came back with a few link cards, a few new bags, and a pack of cigarettes.

Thomas looked his things over and handed back the cigarettes. “We don’t smoke.”

Kamarion sneered, snatching away the cigarettes. “Bitch ass…”

Kelly grimaced at him. “Yeah... We need to go”

After that we left and took the trains back to the Metropolitan area of Empire City. As you’d imagine, everyone was exhausted so we stayed at Luxe Inn for the night. Out of all the things I fantasized about doing on this escapade, staying in a huge five star hotel strangely never crossed my mind.

I took my shoes off and felt the black velvety carpet.

Our room was huge.

There was a balcony that was turned towards the nicer part of town and the ocean was visible in the horizon just beyond the condominiums.

The inside was unimaginable. Everything smelled so food. Everything was so perfect. Everything was so clean.

And the water was so expensive.

The  crystal chandelier in the center scattered light like a magical prism, and the bathrooms were beyond emaculate. I can still remember the shower, it was so powerful and hot it almost hurt.

But it hurt so good...

Once we got cleaned up, Thomas, Roscoe and I had king sized beds to ourselves while Kelly and Liza shared one.

“It’s so soft!” Thomas spread himself across his comforter. “I ain’t know beds could be this nice, and I thought the train was good...”

I had already wrapped myself in covers and started feeling the pillows. “I know! It’s crazy how crappy everything back in the dorms were. The bed’s so cushiony...”

I noticed Kelly snicmering. "You’re both crazy. Now go to bed already. We’ve had a...” Kelly yawned while taking off her earrings. “...long day and you both need to sleep."

“I swear, you could be a mom...” Thomas said.

Kelly ran fingers through her hair. “Nope just lookin’ out for my lil’ bros.”

My eyes wandered to Liza and Roscoe speaking across the room.

“That’s nice.” I said.

“Whaddya mean?”

“What you just said about us being ‘Little bros’.” I stretched. “It’s real nice.”

She smirked. “Don’t get all soft on me...”

I curled up in the hotel blanket and sank deeper and deeper into the bed. I actually went to sleep without thinking. I wasn’t worried about what to do or being scared the next day. Instead I felt satisfied. My mind was just… blank.

I imagined that from then on our lives would be an endless adventure, where we’d visit places like this and set off for the next one.

I didn’t know what to anticipate. I just decided to watch and see what happens.

That’s the last thing I remember from that day.

~~~

Hello all my readers on this amazing day! Just a heads up, this book is heading into warmer territory. Things are gonna start heating up from here on out and by that I mean these next two chapters are gonna be intense!

The reason I say that is because the chapters go together very well and I'd hate to separate them by an entire two day weekend, but I still belive in my update schedule of two chapters a week, so here's the thing.

If I can get three votes on this Chapter and five comments (I believe have enough readers to accomplish this) I'll upload an extra Chapter ASAP. I may do this more in the future as things get even spicier! Besides that, we have Today, Tuesday, and Wednesday to do it!

Good luck!