“Here and there.”
He leans across the table, “Help me get out of here.”
“So eager to jump to your death.” How could he be so naive as to trust the person who upset his life and delivered a bomb? Azure wonders. Is he desperate or just that oblivious? Azure could help him right out of here and to the bottom of a lake and no one would be the wiser.
“I don’t know what you mean, but I can take you in a fight.” His eyes glance over Azure’s form. “You’re not stronger than me.”
Azure ignores him. “You’re broke and weaponless, why should I help you?”
“Because it’s your fault.”
“I don’t feel guilty, so try again.”
“So I won’t turn you in?”
“You don’t know anything about me, so I’m not sure how much that would help you or hurt me.” The other boy stares at him blankly and Azure tilts his head, studying him back. This soldier has a peculiar way of talking, no inflection whatsoever and almost no emotions playing across his face other than the brief flash of panic he saw in the forest yesterday.
Does he care that little or does he care so much he can’t risk letting it show? This soldier could be a blessing or a curse depending on how he plays this. He could be a blank slate used to taking orders, someone who will follow him easily or he could be someone with a hidden agenda that may well turn on him when he least expects it. He’ll find out soon enough and if it happens to be the latter, one less soldier walking the planet won’t hurt anyone.
“I’ll tell you what. I plan to come back here one day, but in the meantime there’s a lot I need to do and some of it might be life threatening. You do what I tell you, when I tell you and I’ll help you out.”
The other boy leans back in his chair, “Why would you come back here and what will you have me doing?”
“I didn’t ask you why you ran and I’m sure it’s nothing worse than anything you did as a soldier. Do we have a deal or not?”
“Fine,” he murmurs.
“Perfect.” Azure adds an extra train ticket to his order and calls the waitress over to scan his card for payment. “Let’s go.”
Azure speedwalks through the city, keeping a cautious eye on the soldier trailing in his wake. The other boy couldn’t make it more obvious that he’s never been here before. He stares at everything, shopfronts, people, kids, families. All of it catches his attention and it’s starting to piss him off. You don’t move around without being noticed by staring at everything.
“Hey!” Azure calls back from a few feet ahead. “Get over here and stop being so obvious.”
He frowns, “My name is Ocher.”
Azure shrugs one shoulder, “I don’t actually care what your name is.” He turns and continues towards the train station. The army is keeping things quiet, so he’s not overly worried about a random person recognizing Ocher, but it’s still better to leave in case he’s wrong.
He scans their tickets at the train line entrance, ignoring the funny looks Ocher draws. Considering his appearance, it’s not surprising, but he has other things to worry about rather than a soldier who looks and smells like he just came back from war.
Ocher takes the aisle seat next to him and peers over him out the window as the train begins to gain speed, “Where are we going?”
“Most people would ask that before getting on the train.”
“Most people aren’t running for their life.”
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Azure responds, pushing him away from the window and back into his seat with one hand. “If you were running for your life, it’d be a lot more desperate than casually walking onto a train.”
“Just tell me where we’re going.”
“Ralis, you know it?”
“I’ve only heard of it.”
Azure gives him a flat stare, “Then what does it matter where we’re going? You probably can’t tell one city from the next.”
He shrugs again, “I don’t know the names of the few places I’ve visited. I wasn’t there to sightsee. We arrive, carry out our orders, and head back. I’ve never been chosen to stay and help keep the city in line. Too young for that privilege.”
“Privilege?” Azure raises an eyebrow.
“It’s freedom,” Ocher explains. “We’re away from the base and all our daily training. Everything is good as long as you keep the citizens behaving.”
Azure shakes his head, “You really have no clue about this country, do you?” Keep the citizens in line and he really thinks everyone would live happily? How could someone raised in the army from three years of age be that oblivious to the fear those citizens live under when unchecked soldiers occupy their cities?
“I might have been picked within a year or two, but now…”
“Now, you get to be free sooner.”
Ocher pauses for a moment, “Also...true. I suppose, but maybe not considering I have nowhere to go.”
“You’re better off here than terrorizing people into behaving.” Azure reaches into his satchel and pulls out an earbud to loop over his ear and lets his music block out the traveling companion that he’s quickly regretting bringing for the remainder of the ride.
Chapter 4: Ocher
The scenery flashes past the window in a rapid blur of color and shapes. He barely has time to focus on one thing before it’s far behind the train. It’s his first time traveling this far of a distance without being squeezed between his squadmates and with a clear view of the outside.
The route isn’t particularly scenic, lots of trees and flatlands, no mountains or lakes, but experiencing it in this level of comfort more than makes up for that. A passing attendant offers him a drink and he accepts. Why not? He’s not paying.
His eyes flick over to the male beside him who is turned away and asleep. Ocher has a brief moment to wonder what he’s doing. This person has both put his life at risk and saved him, yet there was really no better option.
In less than twenty four hours he’s delivered a bomb, been blinded, abandoned the army, and agreed to another form of servitude to a stranger. A stranger who he can already tell sees him as expendable. It’s similar to the way the officials in the army looked right through them all without caring who they were.
If one died, there was always another one. They were taken care of in a distant, impartial manner. He doesn’t think that this male next to him would find another soldier, but that same type of tenuous connection links them. If he were to become a burden, there’s no doubt he’d be cast away without a second thought, alone and poor with his only skill being army training.
Those skills might help him for a little while, and where he’d end up couldn’t be worse than whatever he has in store for him, but he can't say for sure. The best option is to make himself useful until he can come up with an alternate plan to save himself. With that decided, Ocher settles back into his seat, marveling at the softness compared to sleeping on the ground or even his bunk back on base.
Despite how filthy his body is, he’s full, warm, and running on very little sleep. It takes less than a minute for him to slip into unconsciousness.