Watch As We Burn

Chapter 3 - Part I

"Do you think it would be okay if we went out of the City?" I questioned as Nate passed Glimmer, City currency, over to the bot. He was quiet, but I watched how his jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed.

"Kyrine, I'm risking even taking you into the City. The Wilds are overrun with Fallen and possibly Hive." He turned to me. "I don't want to risk it. And we need to get you groceries. Your cabinets are like a ghost town."

I narrowed my eyes at him, and watched through his eyes as my own sparked with arc energy. I'm not a "I want to go to the Wilds." I growled.

Then, I stopped myself. I growled at Nate, and I haven't turned hostile on humans in years. I growled. At Nate. I coughed, wishing I had more scones. His eyes spiked. Towards me. I really, really wish I had more food to stuff my face with.

"Don't use that tone with me." He growled back. With that he got up and grabbed my wrist, pulling me out of the cafe behind him. I yelpled when he tugged me harder to him.

My vision blurred, we were going too fast. I vaguely heard Min talking and then the roar of a Sparrow filled my ears. I was yanked on and a helmet was placed on my head. Then he wrapped my arms around his waist.

I screwed my eyes shut.

Sparrows don't run on gas. Nothing really runs on gas anymore. The Traveler, once it came to us, to Earth, cleared up the atmosphere. And in exchange, we powered vehicles with raw energy. It smelled similar to when you light a match. But fire and gas didn't have anything to do with it.

We lurched forward and I scrambled to get a grip on him.

"Nate!" I yelled over the wind rushing past us.

He either ignored me or didn't hear me, but he sped up. I didn't know where we were going, and I still didn't open my eyes to see. He wasn't wearing a helmet though, because the helmet didn't cover my cheeks and I felt his hair on my face. We did a turn and I grunted when he accelerated even more.

"Nathaniel!" I growled into his ear.

When he didn't reply I sighed and gave up. His body was still tense and anger was still writhed in him.  I took a deep breath, and I smelled the forest, the dampness from the rain, and the woods were quiet save for the Sparrow weaving in and out of the trees. We weren't in the City any longer.

The Wilds.

The last time I was here, was around two months ago. Only because I wanted to get away from the Wolves ordeal. I had been around to many people, to many rules for so long. And I hated it, I don't hate many things.

Whenever I left the Tower I flew to the Asia quadrant. Or at least that's what it was named before the Collapse. Before..everything. I stayed off the grid for a few days, didn't go back to the Tower or to my friends. I didn't want to.

I lived off that purple mineral food and the water around the place. It was also one of the places that the Fallen hadn't corrupted.

When I took off, I didn't tell anyone where I was going. I didn't think of it either. Because I'm used to being alone, I liked being alone.

The last time I had done something with my group of friends Jo, Sarah, Sean, and Nate, had been the drunken crucible thing that Nate and Sean thought would be amazing.