Birthright

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

(Sorry for the slow update! I wrote this whole chapter in like 2 hours because I didn't want to keep you guys waiting any longer. Please show your support!)

Friday was Field Experience. Kray and about twenty other students, both Metas and Sansers, piled into three big trucks and headed for a nutripak plant in the Outskirts of Calsin. Alex sat on a metal bench on the other side of the truck, gazing out at the landscape zooming past them. Robert was next to her. He sat with his legs splayed out, staring Kray down.

When they locked gazes, he made a show of lifting a hand to rub Alex's shoulder, letting his hand trail down her arm. She's mine, his golden Meta eyes said. Don't forget that.

Kray gave his attention to Violet and Shane beside him instead. "So how'd it go last week? Is there anything I should know about this outing?"

"You should know what to expect already," Violet said.

"Yeah, I would've. Except I got stabbed right before I was supposed to come with you guys."

"No, I mean, Instructor Goodwin sent us all notes on the Nexus." She finished tightening her shoelaces before jabbing him gently in the ribs. "You should try to do your homework from now if you expect to rank in the teens."

"Lay off the guy," Shane drawled. "He made the biggest improvements out of anyone in this foundation."

"Beating out a bunch of chumps doesn't count. This is where it counts."

Alex was watching them, paying attention to their conversation. He almost expected her to say something as their warden when she realized he'd caught her staring. Instead she frowned and looked away.

Oookay, he thought. He'd been getting ice-cold vibes from her since class started. Maybe he'd gone too far with asking her to win him over by breaking up with her boyfriend. Comments like that had to be a huge blow to her ego.

Then again, this was the same girl who'd sold him out to get in good graces with the ANEF. A little bit of discomfort was the least she deserved.

An hour later, they were pulling into the plant's spacious parking lot. It was a giant factory that made and distributed nutripaks to the lower Skads. Decades ago, scientists had engineered technology that could stretch out the world's food supplies by creating synthetic, albeit nutritious, food bars called nutripaks. Unfortunately they were also bland and not very filling. They'd been all Kray had eaten in his two years in the Wasteland.

When he'd gotten back, Mrs. Eagan had given him a simple dinner of peas and rice and a chicken breast. He used to get annoyed when he saw the rest of the family eating much better food. But that night, he'd devoured the meal, savoring every single bite, and then proceeded to throw it all back up because his stomach couldn't so much food at once.

Being in this place and seeing those nutripaks again was going to give him major PTSD.

Taking a deep breath, he hopped out of the truck and followed the row of students. Instructor Goodwin, or Droid, as the trainees called him because of his thick neck and bulging muscles, marched ahead of them, his gruff voice narrating the history of this particular plant. Once inside, Kray gazed around at the machinery. Workers poured the synthetic meat and vegetables into different machines. Other machines churned the mixture before spitting out on conveyer belts out what looked like crap.

"Ewww," a few kids went collectively.

Droid turned them with a lethal expression. "You are soldiers, not children. Act like it."