Kai spent the rest of the evening under the building. He didn’t know where he could go next. Maybe he would have to wait until the morning. Kai desperately wanted to call Gio and Asa to tell them he made it, but he couldn’t risk being heard.
The best thing Kai could do was close his eyes and hope the next day wasn’t as miserable.
.
Kai woke up some hours later feeling stiff and uncomfortable. Dried blood adhered his shirt to his skin. Kai nearly winced as he pulled the shirt away from
his skin. The gesture caused the wound to bleed again.
“Great.” Kai muttered. He had the phone off to conserve battery but, luckily, he had his watch. It was nearly seven in the morning. He had to start listening intently to what was happening around him, or else he wouldn’t know when the best time to break into the building was.
Luckily, Kai heard multiple pairs of boots making their way towards the entrance of the building. Kai held his breath as he watched through the fencing as multiple soldiers exited the building and went towards a larger building further into the distance.
After about forty minutes without hearing anything, Kai quickly and quietly crawled out from under the building and opened one of the windows of the building. He climbed through and closed it behind him.
It was a room probably belonging to one of the soldiers. Kai went to lock the door and took in his surroundings. Even though the building seemed to be barracks of some sort, the interior of the building was still worlds better than anything that was in the west. Kai couldn’t remember the last time he saw a proper bed, pristine sheets, a full closet…everything was new. If Asa lived in the conditions the east lived in, maybe he wouldn’t be as sick.
If the people in the east were going to think of him as a criminal, then he would prove them right. He had nothing to lose. Kai took anything and everything he could. He couldn’t take too long, given the east knew he was there, but he tried to be smart about what he took.
Kai went into the bathroom and examined his wound. Maybe there were supplies he could take. He bent down to check under the sink and was relieved to see a first aid kit. He had the items that Doctor Wang gave him in his bag, but he wanted to conserve them as much as he could. Kai crudely covered his wound and looked in the mirror. It’s not like they didn’t have mirrors in the west, but Kai looked tired. The mirror he was looking in wasn’t broken and he could make out all of his features. He didn’t realize he had a bloody nose from where the soldier punched him, so Kai cleaned himself up and looked back in the mirror. His eyes always lingered on his scar when he saw himself. Although he styled his hair to cover some of the scar, it was still extremely prominent and made Kai self-conscious. However, it didn’t really matter what people thought about his appearance.
The last thing Kai did in the room was take a uniform from a large wardrobe adjacent to the bed and set it on the bed. He peeled off his bloody shirt and replaced it with a black sweater he would wear under the uniform. At least the uniform slacks weren’t as repulsive as the top. They were fitted black slacks that Kai could keep on after. He threw his belongings into his bag and put the uniform top on. Luckily, he found a hat that was probably part of the uniform, so he put it on.
Kai couldn’t risk being caught inside of the building, but he also needed to be as inconspicuous as possible. Going through the window would be a dead giveaway he wasn’t one of them if he was caught.
Kai unlocked the bedroom door and hurriedly walked through the building and towards the trucks. He was more than relieved to not have to deal with any cameras and security systems in the garage, since he cut the power.
As much as Kai wished there were keys inside of the trucks, there weren’t. However, he knew how to hotwire a car. It took more time than he wanted, but Kai had no other way out.
Kai smiled to himself when he felt the car start. He was lucky to have brought a pocket knife and the scalpel with him. Without his knife, he wouldn’t have been able to start the truck. He put the pocket knife back in his bag and drove in the dirt and sand around the border and followed the nearest road when it came into view. It’s not like Kai had his license. He only learned to drive while running errands back in the west before things got bad enough that vehicles were rendered useless.
Every mile he got closer to civilization, his stomach would turn. Kai had never seen the east in all twenty-two years of his life. There was not much to see past the border. Maybe a few of the soldier’s barracks in the distance, but nothing else. It was intimidating, but at least Kai had motivation.
“Okay, okay.” Kai said to himself as he turned onto the first street that spat him out in front of the entrance to the city. He didn’t know if the trucks had trackers on them or not, or if it would be acceptable to have the truck in the city. Either way, Kai didn’t want to find out any possible consequences, so he exited the truck and went into the back part momentarily to rip off the uniform top and shove it into his bag. The hat was too bulky, so he left it.
Kai hopped out of the back and jogged away from the truck.
The city was amazing, it was truly a beautiful sight. Kai had never seen skyscrapers that tall and never felt such clean air. The buildings around him were very much in business, and people roamed the streets, often fashioning shopping bags or a dog by their side.
“Wow.” Kai breathed out.
As he was walking, Kai felt a little bit unprepared. He thought about going to the east, but he never thought about how he was going to acquire Chi. He had no money, he had no idea if it the antidote over the counter, nothing. The best Kai could do was comfort his brother, at the very least. He took the phone out of his bag and turned it on. Immediately, Kai called Gio’s phone.
“Kai?” Gio sounded worried. “What happened? Are you okay?”
“Can you put me on speaker?” Kai asked and Gio obliged.
“Hi to both of you. Yeah, I made it into the east. It’s so different here.” Kai looked around as he spoke. “I almost didn’t make it. Some soldier found me and tried to kill me.”
“I’m so glad you’re okay.” Asa’s voice was weak, but he sounded relieved. “Are you hurt?”
“Don’t worry. It’s nothing I haven't been through before.” Kai said. “I’m going to look around. Maybe I can be back relatively soon. I didn’t think I’d make it this far so quickly.”
“That’s great news.” Gio replied. “Everything is okay over here, too.”
“I’m happy to hear it.” Kai’s heartbeat evened out a bit knowing his brother was okay. “Thank you, Gio. And, Asa, I love you. I’ll be back sooner than you know it.”
“You better be.” Asa laughed lightly. “I love you.”
Kai smiled to himself and hung up the phone. He turned it off once more and put it in his bag. At least Kai was smart enough to bring a big enough bag for everything. He couldn’t imagine not having any of the items he did. They each played an important role in Kai’s plan.
The next concern was money. Kai had no idea how to go about getting some. He needed to be able to survive while he was in the east, or else all of his efforts would be a waste. Kai didn’t want to steal, but couldn’t think of any legal ways to get money. However, he could at least see if any medical supplies stores or pharmacies even had Chi in the first place.
.
It felt like hours until Kai found a pharmacy. He tried to make himself as invisible as possible while he looked around for Chi. He finally made his way to the counter and his heart skipped a beat when he saw that there was Chi. The book Gio showed him didn’t really show what Chi looked like, so now Kai had a visual. It was a yellowish liquid in a syringe. He would have to be careful traveling with it.
Before Kai tried to get the medication, he hid in one of the aisles and poured out some bottles of whatever was on the shelf. It smelled strongly like alcohol, but Kai didn’t wait to find out. He went back to the pharmacy.
“Excuse me,” Kai got the pharmacist's attention. He wasn’t even going to try charming his way to free medication. It wouldn’t happen, “There’s something leaking from one of those shelves over there.” Kai pointed to the aisle, “It smells like alcohol, or something. I nearly tripped in it and it burned my hand a little.” He kept the hand he motioned to pocketed.
“Oh, thank you. Are you okay? Wait here, I’ll help you out with that burn in a moment.” The pharmacist opened the door that led behind the counter and looked at Kai. His gaze lingered on the scar before he snapped out of it and ran to the aisle.
Kai took that opportunity to take the Chi that was in stock. He moved around some other bottles, so it didn’t look like anything was missing. Before he left, Kai snuck some money from a zipped up case just under the register. It was most likely the money that the pharmacy earned that day that they would have to bring to their higher-ups. Kai felt a little bad, but he needed to go. He used the emergency exit that luckily didn’t sound and ran from the pharmacy.
Kai was ecstatic. He wanted to cry. Finally, he got Chi. Asa would be okay. As long as he could get back to the border and get to the west, everything would be fine. He couldn’t go yet, though. Surely the soldiers were on high alert and going back to their home base would be an invitation for death.
It was getting dark, so Kai figured he could get a hotel room. He had the money for it.
The city was so beautiful, especially at night, but Kai was angry. He was angry that the people in the east had everything and his people had nothing. They probably took advantage of their heaters and electricity, meanwhile the people in the west were lucky to get their electricity working enough to charge a phone, or shower without being in complete darkness.
Kai searched for a hotel and kept his guard up whilst looking. That one soldier saw his face clearly and would be able to easily point him out. Kai didn’t want to find out if that would actually happen or not.
When Kai heard some voices, he hid in between two buildings and waited for them to pass. It was just a couple, fortunately. Kai breathed a sigh of relief and continued on until he saw a hotel coming up on his right hand side. Perfect.
Just as Kai went to open the door, he felt himself be grabbed and dragged in between two buildings. It was the same soldier as before.
“You know, it’s funny. I guess people tuned into our announcement earlier that there was someone with a facial scar wandering around the city that was wanted. And look who we have here. It’s nice to see you again.” The soldier had Kai shoved against a wall.
“Look, I got what I needed. I’m leaving now, really.” Kai stared straight into the soldier’s eyes. “You’ll never see me again.”
“You’re joking, right? You know the kind of promotion I’ll get from finding you?” The soldier laughed. “You’re so stupid.”
Before Kai could say anything else, he felt his head be smashed against the wall and he saw black.
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