Unravel

Chapter Seven- Follow the Red

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"Crabsticks! I broke my ruler again," Miza clenched her fists in anger and threw the shattered remains of her plastic ruler onto the snow covered road, "that's the second one this week!"

Sen, Miza and Ryy were walking through the streets of Old Town, buzzing with excitement about the execution they would soon witness. They were journeying towards the centre of the district, where the small cobblestone streets gave way to magnificent towering structures of industrial, steam powered machinery, constructed of gigantic cogs and intricately designed stone.

The buildings there were different from the other areas of Concentration City. Sen tried to picture the time in class when they were being taught about it.

"Old Town was designed in the Steampunk style of Victorian London and Paris," Sen remembered his incredibly boring history teacher, Professor  Viokolova, saying. " After the industrial revolution of England and the Lithuanian Rebellion of 1871 (this isn't a real rebellion kids :) many people from across Europe came to Alasia in 1874 and built much of the country in the European way. These European designs influenced the small country. They built Old Town in this Steampunk style and for forty years, it was the industrial centre of Asia. But remember students, the great republic was only formed after World War Two when the people of Alasisa rose up against the monarchy and declared itself a republic."

"That was a boring lesson," Sen thought to himself, kicking at the slushy snow underfoot, "out of all the things to remember, that was the piece of information that chose to stick in my brain! It probably won't even come up in the NICE exams."

The sound of Miza's voice forced Sen out of deep thought- "I wonder who will be executed," Miza sighed enthusiastically, "maybe it'll be someone I've seen around my area before!"

"I doubt there are Red Blizzard members happily skipping around your street, Miza," chuckled Sen, rubbing his hands together, "I think they like to hide their faces, that's their whole deal."

"Well you'd be surprised, I live in a pretty dodgy area."

"You live in the safest part of Z Section!" Ryy interjected, "the last major crime in your area was five years ago! I wouldn't exactly call your place a hub of criminal activity!"

"Well maybe that's what Red Blizzard wants us to think," Miza shouted triumphantly, spinning around a lamp post and pointing dramatically at her friends.

"Yeah, sure Miza," laughed Ryy patronisingly, patting his gloved hand on her shoulder.

"Screw you guys," Miza scowled, gathering a pile of snow in her hands and hurtling towards her friends. The snowball flew centimetres past Ryy's face and hit Sen solidly between the eyes, knocking his glasses askew which quickly fell to the ground and into the dirty snow underfoot. At the moment of impact, Miza dashed away towards the end of the street, followed by Ryy, now armed with the largest snow ball Sen had ever seen.

"Those are my new glasses Miza, if they're broken you're paying!" Sen shouted facetiously, bending down to pick up his glasses. As he began to bend down, someone knocked forcefully against him, throwing him off balance and into a pile of snow by the side of the pavement. A small, skinny boy with dark skin, pale eyes and particularly frayed clothes was apologising repeatedly in a thick, foreign accent. The moment Sen attempted to get up, the boy grinned widely and sprinted away from him, weaving through the large crowd ahead and into a backstreet.