Road to Arcadia: the Path East

Chapter Thirty: Passing the Time, pt. II

The silence gathered, filling in the spaces between them. Before it could settle, another throat clearing came from the passenger's seat.

"You don't have to do that every time you want to start a conversation, you know. You can just say what's on your mind."

Jey elected to ignore the comment, continuing on like nothing had happened. "So. What exactly are we doing here?"

"What?"

He gestured vaguely while searching for the words. "You know, like the mission. What's the mission?"

Kai could feel his eyes bulge under knit brows. "Did Baz not tell you?!"

He held his hands up in defense. "Baz told me you had to do a pickup job on the East Coast. She didn't exactly give me any details before telling me I had thirty minutes."

"And you waited until we spent a whole day on the road to say anything?"

"I was enjoying the silence," he answered, like it made perfect sense.

A laugh nearly escaped through his nose. "That makes sense why Baz wanted you on the squad. You're on board for anything she says, no questions asked."

"It's a raider thing," he defended. "No sense in asking the why when you've already got the how."

Kai let out a deep, long exhale. "They're letting me go back for my family." His answer was low enough to barely scrape over the wisps of air from the windows.

Jey nodded thoughtfully. "I thought it was something like that." He took a moment of silent reflection. "So you're from there, then? The East Coast?"

He nodded. "Born and raised right along the coastline."

"What's it like?" Jey asked with a spark of innocent curiosity. "We always felt worlds apart in the west. They always made it sound so much more--you know, like you had a real society and not the sad excuse for one we had."

The words tumbled out of Kai's mouth before he could vet them. "God, it's a shithole." He snorted. "I mean, yes, grateful that it wasn't actively burning down while I was there--" there was a hitch in his breath, suddenly realizing that may have been too soon "--but a half-sturdy built structure doesn't exactly mean you live in a mansion. We had our own fair share of problems."

"That's everywhere," Jey grumbled.

"It is," he agreed. "But it is one of the most infuriating places I have ever been. And I have been to a lot of places. And and, I have been extremely infuriated in the past."

"How so?"

Kai felt heat swirl inside him. He choked back the pre-written essay in his head in favor of the shortened, politically correct version. "Everyone there is so obsessed with the idea of pretending the past ten years didn't happen that it's become a race to see who can be the most thankful for receiving the smallest serving of scraps. The fact they have food and water and electricity and bills is to spite the reality of the situation, not as a show of perseverance. They're so invested in their own self-sabotage that they praise their atrophy and label it normalcy."

"Is that why you left?"

He pulled his lips tight together before answering. "It's a little more complicated than that."

"Is that why you're going back?"

"That would be oversimplifying it."

Jey sat up in his seat and leaned to the side. He looked behind them, gaze lingering on the rows of seats in the back. "How many are you going to bring back?"