The city was alive with strange noises—metallic roars, blaring horns, voices echoing in the night. To Sasha, it was chaos. She stirred, her head heavy, only to realize she'd been tied up. Rope dug into her wrists. Across from her sat Barry, slouched in a chair with his eyes shut, drifting in and out of sleep.
Her struggling woke him. His eyes flickered open, narrowing at her.
"Alright," he said, rubbing his face. "Let's try this again. Who are you?"
This time, his tone was less mocking, more serious—demanding truth. But as he studied her, his frown softened. She looked exhausted, clothes mismatched, her body trembling with fatigue. She didn't look like a spy or a soldier. She looked like a girl on the edge of collapse.
Barry crouched down, leaned closer, and lowered his voice. "You're from Ivi Town… aren't you?"
Sasha's chest tightened. Her head dropped. She thought it was over. If he knew, then her fate was sealed—death was certain.
But instead, Barry reached for the ropes and loosened them. "Get up," he said gently. He placed a change of clothes in her hands and nodded toward the bathroom. "Shower. You'll blend in better with these." Then, with a half-smile, he left, muttering, "Dinner's only for one, not two."
When he returned, Sasha was still rooted to the spot where he'd left her, holding the clothes but unmoved. For a moment, Barry just watched her, then a small smile tugged at his lips.
"Listen," he said softly. "I'm not going to turn you in. I don't believe every footstep from your town belongs to a killer or a thief. Some belong to people who just… want a better way to live."
His words confused her. No one had ever spoken like that before—not about Ivi Town, not about her. But it wasn't the promise of safety that unsettled her most. It was the way he asked to help her—as if he needed her permission, as if her trust mattered.
She hesitated, then finally whispered, "Sasha."
Her name. A gift of trust in return for his.
Ivi Town and the Big City were like past and future locked in a war that neither could win. One clung to blood and shadows, the other to progress and light. Acquiring the knowledge to survive in this unknown land was another problem the foreigners were yet to solve, so dieing in the light was something you'd rather say would be very very easy