Chapter 7

Zandro

Zandro stood in front of the mirror, perched atop a small barrel leaning on the weathered, dirt-stained brick walls of the shaded alley, trying to burrow lights from the purple skies where the sun was about to shine. He fixed his fitted sleeve, and simultaneously wiped his tears, attempting to form and blur his vision as he sniffed, as if this way, he could stop his chest from exploding.

"Maybe, if I go to university next year, there will be a field trip aga–" He stopped for a moment, arms stuck on his eyes. He suddenly realized, in his four years of studying, he was just lucky to have found a rare kind-hearted person like Akaesha. He can't miss this chance. This probably won't happen again in his next school years. This was his only chance to experience at least one memorable high school life–

–the only chance to hang with a friend. 

He clenched his fist and stared his purple eyes in the mirror filled with courage. His chest rumbled in excitement, but at the same time, in fear of breaking the officer's rules, as if he was about to commit a heinous crime.

He shook his head. "No," he convinced himself, "The officer was expecting my help today–our country badly needs help." He pulled out his hair out of frustration. "What am I even thinking? Our country is on the bridge of danger yet I'm thinking about unnecessary childish things!"

He burrowed his anger to have the strength to dismiss his own desire and do what was right. He started moving.

The lights from the lampposts were being switched off by the men clad in brown uniform as the sunlight started illuminating the darkness of the streets. As Zandro continued walking in the city, the ground shook, followed by the sound of the rhythmic clacks of metals heading in the train station.

Bowing his head, his feet stopped by their own. He tried not to glance at them but his peripheral vision could clearly see the group of familiar white uniforms falling in line to the train that had just arrived. His limbs petrified, his chest beated rapidly like rolling drums, more rapidly when his eyes were pulled by the force to see the blonde girl guiding their classmates to go inside the train–simultaneously looking at the surroundings like finding someone.

He closed his face with his palms.

"Once a country is destroyed, living becomes a luxury, and freedom is nothing more than a delusional dream for children," he heard in his mind the officer's voice.

Tears ran on his cheeks.

"I'm sorry, officer!" he shouted to himself as he ran to the station, trying to pass through the tight crowds.

The train chugged, emitting smoke that signaled a minute of departure. Akaesha's face turned to disappointment seeing the last person of the line.

"What's with that look? Not happy to see me?" a red-haired boy wearing a white school uniform asked her.

Akaesha smiled, covering her real feelings. "No. It's not like that, Lirio. I was just hoping that more people could join the field trip."

Lirio shrugged and entered freely. "Well, what has happened has happened."

"You're right."

"Are you kidding me? Two hours of just sitting here and doing nothing? I knew this field trip would be boring! Let me get out of here!" protested by a rough voice echoing throughout the train.

"Teacher! Let's chain Kairus before he could do something crazy!" some of his classmates responded.

"Quiet class! We don't own this train!"

Akaesha slowly stepped onto the doorway, gripping on the handrail of the train. She gently brushed her fingers behind her ears as her blonde hair swayed by the wind. She took a final peek outside over her shoulder before the departure. But as the door was closing, her eyes widened. A familiar dark-skinned lad trying to get out from the crowd, his purple eyes directly staring at her. Feeling a wave of relief, she was able to form a genuine smile as she reached out her hands.

Zandro finally managed to escape from the people and leaped high, stretching his arms to their full extent to reach her. But the door closed just before they touched each other and the train moved.

Zandro ran to catch up with the train, but the guards were starting to run and calling out for him. Akaesha giggled then shouted. "I will wait for you, Zandro! You can have the next train!"

"Wait! I don't even know where we will go!"

"What?" she shrieked. But she understood that he was absent when the teacher announced the details, only hearing about the consent. "Stop at the Trojan City station! Then our first tour will be in Dutchel Flyer's Factory! I'll wait for you at the station!"

Zandro stopped, eyes still glued to her. Finally, he smiled for the first time in his high school life. "Okay!" he shouted back.

The guard finally reached him and dragged him to the safe area. But he didn't bother. He was happy that Akaesha was expecting him.

"When will the next train come?" he asked, still following his stare to the train.

"Just around twenty minutes. And kid, have you bought a ticket already?"

"Not yet," he just answered, still on cloud nine. But all his hopes were broken into pieces when he saw the Lieutenant walking to his direction who seemed to have just got out of the train earlier.

With his heroic smile, he gave him a thumbs up. "Wow! This is the first time we will go on a mission together! I would be happy to hang out with you! Here," He lent an extra ticket, a ride to Trojan City. "The ticket was on our budget."

Zandro's brow creased upon receiving it. "W-What do you mean?"

"The officials deciphered the pattern of the terrorism and the next target will be the Trojan City–the Dutchel Flyer's Airport."

~

The train was moving on top of the hills. Zandro could see the passing trees and blue skies on the windows while hearing the rhythmic rattling metals of the wheels against the tracks. Suddenly, a Dutchel Flyer blocked the sun, its wings gliding through the clouds, engines whining the sounds of piercing the wind.

"Wow! A flyer!" the kid awed, head poked out of the window. His parents quickly pulled him and warned him not to extend his head outside. 

The Lieutenant dropped his newspaper for a moment to peek outside. His forehead creased in worry. "Oh, boy."

Zandro got it even without asking. He'd been longing to tell him something related to this but he had no courage to produce a single voice.

The Lieutenant immediately grabbed his radio and near it to his mouth. "Dutchel Flyer is still operating. I repeat, Dutchel Flyer is still operating."

After, he took back the radio on his waist, sighed and leaned his back on the couch in relief.

Dutchel Flyer was supposed to cancel their operation today because that's where the next terrorist attack will occur. The authorities should have contacted them last night after the meeting. They'd deciphered the pattern of the attacks. Kastoria, Rhodes, Icarus, Gazian and Herculia–their initials building a word K.R.I.G.H.T, and T was the only missing and there's no other cities starting with this letter but Trojan.

There's also a reverse weekly pattern: Wednesday, Tuesday, Monday, Sunday, and today is Saturday. 

They only target businesses related to transportations such as shipbuilding factories, train manufacturing, automotive factories, bicycle, and horse farms. There's no redundancies so the flyer is the most likely to be the next, and only Trojan was the place where the flyer originated.

"O-Officer," Zandro called him, with his face staring at the table and clenching his thighs.

"My classmates were ahead of us. Our field trip was also to that place–to their factory."

The officer stood up in surprise. "Haven't your teachers received the announcement? We already contacted the school last night to postpone their activity!" He then reported hastily to the radio, but it only responded with a long beep, echoing in the tense atmosphere.

"What is happening?" He then clicked his tongue. "But don't worry about your classmates. The authorities were already in the position of Trojan. We're just supposed to assist them but I'm sure that they can handle it."

The train stopped, boarding passengers. Zandro suddenly sensed danger. His tongue tasted sulfur acid in the air.

"O-Officer–"

"Yes. I smelled it too. Someone just came."

-inkofdeath