Freedom & Chrome || Book 1 ENGLISH

Once upon a time

V was up early and had already disappeared with his whole upper body under his car to install the new exhaust. The sun was just scratching the first hills of the Wasteland when V woke up, except for the guards no one else was up, not to mention Kaden. There were still a few motorcycles and cars missing, so V assumed the others were still in Neyon. Wouldn't surprise him if they had stayed in a hotel there, after all Neyon was a good 90 minutes drive away from them.

The silence and early morning air helped him concentrate better. Technically, there weren't many parts missing from his car either. The seats were installed, the steering wheel was in and the engine and wiring was almost done. All that was really missing were small parts and especially spark plugs. So far the junkyard didn't give much for them, but he was positive that he would still find them. Otherwise, a trip to town was probably coming up soon so he could get some.

The more voices began to echo across the clearing, the more excited V became. He had spent several hours under his car just waiting for the day to start for the others, because then Kaden would be awake soon too. At some point during his tinkering session, he heard several people shuffling past him. They were the concert goers returning from Neyon. V quickly recognized the footsteps. There were many different gaits at once and all seemed to be more or less dragging themselves across the sand. Except for a few exceptions, which were probably the drivers. V waited for the troop to spread out and disperse before rolling out from under his wagon.

"Kaden!" called V a short time later, knocking on the door of his best friend's trailer. Wiping his oily hands on a cloth, he waited patiently for an answer, but none came. "Kade! Open up!" he tried a little more forcefully. He barely managed to jump aside when the door suddenly flew open and an angry Kaden stared at him.

"What?!" V's eyes snapped open in surprise. He hadn't expected Kaden to snap at him like that as a greeting.

"Where were you yesterday? I was looking for you."

"Sure you were," he growled. "I'm sure Siria was a big help to you."

"What do you mean?" asked V confusedly, tilting his head a little.

"Nothing, never mind, forget it. What do you want?"

"I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to come to the junkyard with me. I need parts for Bandit," V replied a bit irritated, not quite understanding where Kaden's bad morning mood came from.

"I can't, I have to go to my parents, mom needs help with dad," he replied dryly. If V already decided to be with this bitch, he didn't want to sit in camp and watch the two of them do it. He knew it was his own fault for not saying something, but what was he supposed to expect from V? That he was into guys? That he wasn't laughing, sooner the moon would fall from the sky, Kaden was sure.

"What? But you never said anything about that," V groaned out, now starting to get pissed himself. Since when did Kaden conceal anything from him?

"She just called me last night and asked," a pure lie. Kaden had been planning the trip to his parents for some time, and his mother didn't need any help either. His parents had just accidentally taken something of his that he needed for V's birthday present, but the Siria thing gave him the perfect excuse to leave earlier than he had to.

"Oh, I see," V noticed his motivation instantly leaving him and slumped his shoulders in disappointment.

"Why don't you ask Siria, I'm sure she'll be on fire with the idea," Kaden added sarcastically. V didn't really feel like taking Siria with him, he liked her, yes, but exploring the junkyards had become sacred to V and he didn't want to take anyone else there but Kaden. Besides, he doubted Siria would enjoy digging in the trash.