“-And that is why you would be best off making the journey back to South America: by foot, if need be.” Liv's boss repeats once more, a sentiment it had repeated since they left the confines of her city. She rolls her eyes, trying her hardest to relax as the sun pours its gentle rays down on her bronze skin for the first time in her life.

  After exiting the city that had plagued her for her since birth, she got to experience the treat of what the outside world could look like: sprawling hills of grass and trees as green as emerald, breezes running across her face to cool her from the sun, the sound of running water tickling her ears, clear as crystal, and clouds fluffy and white dotting the sky like sheep in a flock. This was supposed to be a blissful day, something she had only been able to dream of; unfortunately, her boss had spoken more in the last handful of days than in the entirety of their decade long tenure together. They were loud, insistent, and pragmatic while being completely asinine. It was infuriating, but manageable on its own. Liv did not have the fortune of her boss being the only nuisance during her trip

  “-You just knocked it down in one go! You're so sick!” Ean gushes over her, his eyes practically sparkling as he oohs and ahhs over her and her weapon. She had tried to engage him in conversation, she truly did: answering questions about her home, what she did, why she did it– a tidbit of knowledge she didn't know herself– and the specifics on her weapon. Most of the answers were "I dunno" and a shrug, though those seemed to be his favorite answers for some reason.

  “I mean, they’re fine.” The girl Liv has come to known as Olivia mutters odiously, her arms crossing tight against her chest. “Could've been a bit faster with the draw, but I guess it worked out."

  Olivia had been like that since Liv got there. Dismissive of her every word, snide marks at every turn, and glances thrown in her general direction for seemingly no reason. Every question answered earned her a glare from Olivia. It added an extra layer of annoyance to Ean's ceaseless questions, questions already exacerbated by her boss' relentless chatter.

  “Easy on ‘er. She’s a newbie!” Alexis laughs, giving the wheel a quick jitter, causing all four of his passengers to get flung around like rag dolls. Despite his more aggravating tendencies, he and Jessica were far easier to deal with on the day to day than the duo beside her. She had found most commonality with Alexis, though she found herself gravitating to conversation with Jessica more often. It was a calmer type of conversation, one she found herself enjoying; though, Jessica seemed adverse to any sort of conversation at any time.

  Liv grounds out a groan, her fingers digging in her head to relieve some of the pressure building in her skull. She thought people were supposed to be fun, but this was miles from fun. Half the time she was trying to come up with a reason why it took three to activate her weapon, a fact she didn't know herself, or listening to Olivia talk about how they should've stayed so she could try and find Synth Weapons. Liv doubted it. She'd ventured up to the surface thousands of times and she hadn't found anything. In all fairness, she wasn't looking– and she didn't know what to look for– but she'd know. She had one, after all.

  As she continues to grumble, her gaze squarely turned away from anyone in the car, Olivia pipes up again, her arms crossed as she speaks.

  “What’s up with the rags? I saw a bunch of apparel shops n’ stuff with some cute stuff." She says snidely, giving Liv a once over. "Do you even wash those things? They look like they're rotting on your skin.” Her voice is filled with accusation, especially eyeing the stained tank top Liv wore.

  Liv looks down at herself, pulling on the collar of her tank top, truly observing it for the first time in nearly a decade. She never really considered what other people wore since she never had anyone to impress– nobody but her boss, at least. Her only frame of reference for what would or wouldn't look good were some posters she took from shops when she was way younger of models, that and her Ma'. Of course, the models weren't built like Liv in the slightest, and her Ma' had dressed just in the same rugged tank top and jeans she did, so she never saw a point in wearing anything else. It was just convenient, thick enough to block the stone that flew back at her with her explosions, easy enough to wash, and cool enough to aerate the hot tunnels she worked in.

  “These always worked for me,” Liv starts, a bit of confusion and melancholy creeping up in her tone. She considered what to say next before just shrugging. “These were my Ma’s, my boss too. Last things I got from ‘er ‘fore she got, uh… 'Caught'. Ain’t really know how to clean any of this ‘sides washin' in 'em. Ain’t get a chance to do that ‘fore you guys rolled in, though.”

  The car goes as quiet as a funeral, the motors hum the only sound filling the overbearing silence. Liv looks around, seeing their faces, her confusion growing by the second as she observes the people around her. Olivia looks like she just saw another demon, her jaw dropped as far as it could go, and Ean looks paler than a ghost. Jessica, who’s hair Liv learned was called Strawberry Blonde, has her head in her hands, almost as mortified as Olivia, and Alexis has this expression on his face, something akin to sadness, but not quite.

  “Really, Olivia?” Ean pipes up after a second, his tone awash with disappointment.

  “How the hell was I supposed to know? I literally couldn’t have known!”

  “You could’ve, I dunno, inferred that it might not have been a good question to ask about someone who lives alone in a dangerous city?” Ean retorts.

  “It's a simple question! I didn't know questions were banned, dictator!” Olivia growls, her teeth clenched. Ean openly glares back, their bickering continuing, each jab raising the volume just a bit.

  “C-Can you two calm down, p-please?” Jessica interjects, trying, and failing, to quell the firestorm of an argument that was erupting between the young members of the group.

  “I, uh, s'pose I don't really mind I guess.” Liv interjects as Ean prepares to retort, dousing the flames of the fledgling argument. "Ain't no skin off my back tellin' y'all somethin' that already happened, 'specially since y'all helped me outta there.”

  Silence reclaims it's grip on the car once more, just as overbearing as it was the first time. Liv leans away, her eyes locked on the beauty of the nature around her. The wind whips about her, cooling her skin. It's fresh, truly fresh. There's no putrid smell, no heaviness, no acrid aftertaste. A small butterfly flutters about in the wind, bright oranges and yellows emblazoned on its wings. Even if for a moment, she was enjoying the silence of it all-.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “What… happened to her? Your mom, I mean.” Ean asks, his voice small, but enough to cut through her peaceful silence. His question is a meek one, a voice juxtaposed to the blabbering he was doing earlier. The strange switch in tone sends Liv for a loop for a second. It hardly sounded like the loudmouth boy she met a few days ago.

  “So my question is bad, but that’s ok?” Olivia snipes, a shit eating smirk mixing with a sneer plastered onto her face. "You a contrarian now or something?"

  “She said it was ok to ask questions, so I'm asking questions!” He defends himself, looking bashful as he turns to her, reassuring with a follow up, “That question's cool, right?”

  Liv thinks for a moment before shrugging her shoulders again. She doesn’t see the harm, not like it's some forbidden knowledge that would kill her if leaked. Alexis told her stories about his life when they had some downtime, so divulging some of her own didn't seem that big a deal. Besides: this is what people did, right? She clears her throat, trying to recall with as much detail as she could.

  “My Ma was the only one ‘round when I was 'lil. I didn’t really know my Pa, he was long gone ‘fore I was born. Ma taught me how to survive: how to tell if somethin' was expired, how to count, how to speak, how to scrap, manners... the works. Whole buncha other stuff, but I ain't gonna talk yer ear off 'ere,” She chuckles softly to herself, her fingers drumming against her knee as the memories begin to flow in quicker, flashes of her mothers face clicking in her mind. “Half my life she was there. She had my boss ‘fore me, and she was awful good at usin' em. She could punch a demon– pretty damn hard too. She ain't one to play games, but I think she loved me, and I loved ‘er for that. Don’t got a clue how she dealt with these things, though.” She mutters to herself, looking down at the gauntlets. For a second, she lapses back into listening, just to see what it was saying.

  “-If you do three, quick jabs on the boy next to us, we can blow up the big one before he can stop you. if my calculations are correct, the explosion will take out the mousy one as well. That will just leave us with the one with the name that’s too similar to yours. I believe you can win the one versus one if you just-.” It prattles off, Liv tuning it out once more. Her insult didn't even seem to effect it: if it heard it, that was.

  The memories continue to flow quicker and quicker, the dam of thought crashing into her conscious. That same burning memory engulfs her mind over and over again, replaying like a movie in full HD. She shakes her head before continuing, a sigh peeling from her lips. She couldn't hide the merriment in her voice, tainted by a sense of tension.

  “Only real thing to look forward too was Christmas. Ma used to tell me all ‘bout Santa, how he came to visit all the good boys n’ girls. Every year, on Christmas day, he’d drop off a present in our lil hole in the ground. Somethin’ nice enough, somethin’ entertainin’, somethin' to get my eyes all lit up. Sounded real cool, yeah? To lil’ me, I was dazzled. Hell, I wanted to meet em’, tell em’ I was bein’ good so he'd, uh, maybe us outta there.” Her tone becomes listless as she looks to the blue sky, one she’s dreamed of for years, a dream she never conceived of experiencing. She closes them, the burning images taking over her voice.

  “One night, I decided it was gonna be the night. I was gonna see Santa. Just ‘fore Christmas day, I crawled out of our home, waited to see his sleigh zoomin' 'cross the sky. ‘Course, the ol’ city ain’t exactly kind. Started coughin’ somethin’ nasty n’, havin’ a bit of trouble breathin’. I wasn’t givin’ an inch though, I wanted to be all pigheaded ‘bout it even though I was freezin’ my butt off. Come midnight, I see my Ma comin’ in with a bunch of toys in a sack. I think she was sweatin', I can't recall all them little details." She says, her eyebrows furrowing. She could recall it, though it was a bit fuzzy around the edges. She shakes her head, continuing her account.

  "I 'member how shocked I was thinkin' 'Is my Ma Santa?' Then, it kinda hit me that Santa wasn't real. So, I start bawlin' my eyes out. My Ma hears me. Everythin' close could. But Ma ain't the only one who hears me." Liv mutters, clenching her fist open and shut rythmically. The memory plays through her mind like a song on repeat, the details flashing in vivid detail over and over again. The snapping jaws of beasts in the nights smog, eyes burning in the distance, her mothers horror changing to grim resolution, the terror...

  "Demon’s come out, and she’s only able to get me in our cave home ‘fore she’s gotta start fightin’ the big ol’ buggers. I was hidin' for hours. When I came up to find her, she was just... Gone. All I got left is some memories, her clothes, and some gauntlets.” She murmurs the last part, rubbing her thumb over the knuckles of the gauntlet, a prolonged sigh escaping her mouth as she finally opens her eyes. The memories might've made her feel sick to her stomach half a decade ago. Today? Only a dull ache remained, a small pang that sat hollow in her heart.

  For the hundredth time, silence creeps across the buggy. Despite her internal plea for silence before, she almost feels hollow without the constant dribble of questions. So averse to the strange silence, she actually tunes into the slop her boss is spewing out. His current plan involves grabbing the wheel to force the Buggy onto its side. While not peak entertainment, its better than the somber mood that's fallen over the car. She taps her gauntleted finger on her lap, her legs crossing and uncrossing as she tries her best to ignore how quiet it had gotten.

  After what feels like hours, Ean pipes up, his voice even more muted and sheepish than it already was, “I'm sorry that, uh, all that happened to you.”

  Liv gives him a side eye, her frown deepening at his expression. It was piteous, as if the mere mention of it would shatter her like glass. Why? It happened, and it sucks that it happened, but it just did. Who cared if it did?

  “I said it was fine, didn’t I? Who cares? It happened. It's over.”

  “Still sucks it happened.” Olivia pipes up, her eyebrows furrowed. lip down turned in something akin to sympathy. It made Liv feel nauseous, but she couldn't understand why? That lack of knowledge cultivated the bud of frustration in her heart, her teeth set on edge as she shifts in her seat, trying to contain whatever was brewing in her soul.

  “I said it's fine,” Liv says again, annoyance building in her chest. Her stomach feels like it's on fire, and her chest constricts. This conversation was just getting worse and worse, her nerves running higher and higher. Looking at Ean, she knew he was going to press on. She closes her eyes, breathing through her teeth, trying not to explode. "It don't matter no more. I ain't worried 'bout it, so you ain't need to be worried 'bout it either."

  “But-” Ean starts, concern evident in his voice; however, he’s quickly cut off by Alexis’ sharp voice cutting through, cracking like a whip.

  “They said stop, so stop. You don't need to push anyone about their story." Alexis scolds sternly, giving them a withering stare through the Buggy’s rear view window. Ean opens his mouth to protest, but the words die on his lips as he sees Olivia turn away from the conversation, subdued into silence. While he seems to want to press the issue, he can’t– especially not without anyone to support him– he simply hangs his head, begrudgingly allowing the silence to overtake the space between them once more.

  Liv lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding, her head slumping forward as the feeling that coiled so tight around her drains away into nothingness. She felt empty, a husk that burned up into cinders and ash. At least it was silent, a silence she didn't quite know if she wanted, but a silence she would bask in as her head tilts, watching the sprawling fields of emerald green as they pass by her eyes.