Afterglow

Part 2

Looking down to check the time on my watch, I realized how much time had passed since we left the premises of the capital city. I glanced to the road behind us and studied the towering infrastructures which looked rather tiny from this distance. It was getting dark, the night sky was a huge smudge of blue and black. Underneath that void darkness, I watched the red tongues that set the Town Center ablaze. The helicopters were still flying over the fallen burning building, pouring down volumes of water in attempt to control the fire. I could see lights going all over the sky, the ones that signal people of danger, and it was telling me that the next days would be worse.

I pulled away from staring and settled myself on my seat. Yuu and o'-two were still quiet, not a single word slipped past their lips. The last time the two of them talked was probably when o'-two asked the blond to duck, and the next thing we know, a dozen of soldiers were knocked down and the door from the shotgun was badly damaged. As a result, Yuu kicked it and untangled it from the car. That began my doubt about the owner of this cab. If o'-two was like Yuu, other words, rebel, then it would be probable that this car was stolen. More likely.

"Is tram twenty-seven far from here? I've been sitting here for more than an hour, you know. My butt's hurting now," I stretched my limbs a little but the space was a little cramped, especially after the crashes this car had gone through.

"You sound subservient there," o'-two said, his hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. He never turned to address me, he didn't even call my name.

"What do you mean?" I asked, head turned aside to watch the scenery from my seat. The tiny orbs of light from a distance looked like a personal galaxy. My personal galaxy. I liked city lights a lot. "I never said I enjoyed being dragged into this mess."

"You just asked how far are we from twenty-seven. It's like you finally submitted to your fate," he replied. Surprisingly, his voice remained cold and calm, and I thought just now how worst of a combination was that. Cold and calm. Like an AI voice command with no feelings.

"Fate, huh? Isn't that something we are supposed to make?" I couldn't think of a better retort. It made me wonder why Yuu wasn't butting in, anyway. That kiddo sure loved to talk.

"How humanist. Determinism taught us otherwise. Ever since we are born, our fates are decided. Naturally," the car went over a big rock, momentarily giving us a bumpy ride. That didn't make Yuu talk though.

"Don't go all philosophy on me. I'm a mere Lower Order, not educated at all." It was weird. I was keeping an eye on the back of his head, trying to imagine what sort of face he was making as we talked. Nevertheless it was impossible to think of an expression, given that his voice was icy like frost. It was like the wind in a desert once the sun vanished from the horizon.

"Then you're too wise for a mere pawn of this country," he said, this time tugging the wheel to the right. We went through a narrowed, dusty road until we came out of an alleyway that was rather dark and desolated. "I'm glad you still have that brain of yours in tact right after what they did to you."

"What?" I didn't hear clearly what he said that time because as we came out of the alleyway, the blowing horns of the jammed cars chorused. People were evacuating. O'-two didn't repeat anything to me then, he never spoke again. He stopped the car just where we got stranded due to the traffic, and he woke Yuu from his seat. Soon enough, the three of us left the car.

I stood beside Yuu, his tousled lemon hair was sticking everywhere. His eyelids were still half-opened, I could barely see his sea-green eyes under the dim illumination of the streets. Yuu seemed so tired, his shoulders were sagged and his sighs, depressing. He had this long face, too, that I have no idea why he was making so. Then I decided to tap him, raising a brow to ask how was he.