Freedom & Chrome || Book 1 ENGLISH

Survival of the fittest

V was pissed. Really pissed. And the circumstance didn't get any better, because even if he did find Ash, what was he supposed to do? Leave here and now? Just leave Kaden and the clan behind? No, he wasn't a traitor and he wouldn't abandon them, much less leave Kaden without a word, but he wasn't going to let this chance slip away either. He knew it was useless to follow Ash, the tire tracks ended on the asphalt of the only main road far and wide and even if V knew how to get to Neyon, he still had no clue where Ash even lived. Gritting his teeth, he wondered if he should write to Ash, but would he even reply? Probably not.

Furious, he thundered up and down the streets aimlessly, completely forgetting the time. His head rattled and worked, but he just couldn't come up with a solution. It would be almost three years before he would be old enough to join Medic, according to his parents, but who knew how deep his roots would go into the clan by then. His dad had raised him from the beginning with the knowledge that he would one day lead the clan, a task he looked forward to and prepared for his entire life, however he had always wondered why Ash had not. After all, he was the older of the two. V was practically born with this duty. Ash couldn't have had such a grudge against the clan at the age of four that they deprived him of this position, could he?

But even though he was excited to finally work side by side with his dad and make decisions about the clan, it seemed unffair to him right now. This job could prepare him perfectly for his future life in Clan, unlike right now. His training was on the back burner right now, so he might as well use the time to develop elsewhere.

Still, he couldn't just leave his clan...

...could he?

As V drove, he passed a small store that looked very familiar. He eased off the gas and looked a little closer at the little wooden house as he drove slowly past it. V wasn't quite sure, but yes, this had to be the store he and his dad paid a visit to when it was V's birthday. He'd felt guilty since that day, a tiny bit only because he'd shot the poor clerk's finger off. After all, they had been the ones who had messed with his stuff.

V decided to stop and apologize to the vendor. He still had a few dollars in his back pocket. It wouldn't pay for the damage, guaranteed, but at least it was something. He made sure his little folding knife was in place and parked the car a few feet from the store on the side of the road. The knife had been a gift from Kaden for his 16th birthday and so far served him very well on the junkyard or for whittling firewood to size. For a brief moment he wondered why he hadn't just used the knife against the guys yesterday, but he had simply forgotten about it at that moment. The whole situation had overwhelmed him a bit and he wasn't trained well enough in hand-to-hand combat to have thought of it. Surely Ash would have thought of it immediately.

He walked the short distance to the store and entered through the squeaky wooden door. Inside, it still looked the same as last time, except the clerk wasn't sitting at his counter. Instead, he was scurrying around the store a little farther back, restocking the shelves. V could hear him grumbling quietly, something seemed to be upsetting him or it was just his way of complaining quietly. Either way, V couldn't understand what he was saying.

The clerk didn't even pay attention to the door opening and closing, and for a moment V thought he hadn't noticed him enter the store. But as V turned around the shelf, the man looked up and was holding a gun directly at V. Surprised, V jerked his hands up in a flash and blinked at the clerk out of widened eyes. He eyed V disparagingly before lowering the gun and rolling his eyes. "It's you again, boy. What do you want this time?" he mumbled the question to himself, but didn't seem as belligerent as last time. Which was only to V's benefit. Perhaps his thick, black eye had elicited sympathy.

"Nothing at all, I just happened to be passing by and wanted to apologize."

"Apologize, huh?" V nodded and carefully dug the few dollar bills out of his back pocket. Always keeping one eye on the gun. You never knew what this guy would do next. "Sorry about your hand, didn't mean to." V held the money out to him apologetically, but instead of accepting it, the man started laughing uproariously.