"What's for dinner?"
"Nothing much." Kael shrugged. "Bread, chips, some cheese, oh, and a small apple."
At the mention of the apple, his father seemed to brighten up. "Apple? Great find. We'll split it, 70-30."
"70 to who?"
"To me of course." He flashed a charming smile at Kael, "since I'm a big man."
"…so you want me to give you all the rotten parts?"
"…fine, 50-50 split."
"But I did all the work of finding it, don't you think that's a little unfair?"
It was now his father's turn to look, deadpanned into Kael's eyes, who was holding back a laugh.
"50-50." His father turned his eyes back onto the terrain. Then, as if being reminded of something, he sighed.
"What is it?"
"…don't you find it unfair?"
"Find what unfair?"
"This thing that we have to do," His father signalled to the surroundings, "just to get food."
"It's just our way of life, isn't it?"
"But the inner city can just get whatever they want with a snap of their fingers."
"…" Kael pretended to ponder over the question. In actuality, he couldn't be bothered to respond.
"Anyways," his father shook his head. "on another note, what do you think of the inner city?"
"Why do you ask?" Kael, spared from the previous thought, could already guess why his father had asked such a blatant question.
"The government seems to want some pretty random stuff." His father responded, while lifting a finger to his chin and tilting his head back with a smile.
'Father thinks he's cute.' Kael had the fleeting thought. "Is this about the bounty they gave a few days ago?"
He remembered it very well.
It was the most prominent event in Garbage city's recent history, a city where almost nothing interesting ever happened.
But this time, every government distribution center had advertised it.
It relates to a bounty the government had set on a particular item.
The Description of the target: A small, palm sized crystal, glowing with white light. Bountiful Images were also provided.
But here's the kicker. The reward of whoever brings them the target will receive:
- 1,000,000 gold coins
- Granted permit to live in the Inner City.
For just a damn crystal.
"I mean that's insane. The government never hands those permits out unless it's a really urgent situation," His father recalled. "The last time they handed out permits was after Protocol Zero 10 years ago. That incident was understandable, but this? Why would the government put so much effort into finding a stone that glows a little bright?"
Truthfully, Kael couldn't agree more. The government must be insane for them to issue this bounty. "Who knows what the government thinks? Perhaps we should overthrow the government and find out for ourselves." Kael suggested, "and then, as the government, I would upgrade that disgusting stale bread into a custard bun, so at least it will be edible for everyone. What about you?"
"I would be able to search for all the parts I would ever need, and I would build a car with my own two hands."
"Old man, are you sure your bones are up for that job? And besides, you have the whole government at your disposal! If it was me, I would just ask my subordinates to get me a car, and they would have done it within the day."
"You don't understand the joy of craftsmanship."
Quickly, they forgot about the bounty. In their deep consciousness, they already knew that simply chancing across the target in the heap was harder than winning the lottery.
That was when a particularly strong glint in the ground caught Kael's attention.
It was his habit to examine objects that stood out, so he bent down and gave it a light tug.
It didn't budge.
He then started exerting increasingly more strength, before -
Pop!
With a bit of effort, it came loose, and he stumbled backwards once again with the object in his hand, thankfully regaining his footing right as he felt that he was on the edge of falling. Straightening back up, he slowly opened his hand, unravelling what he just found. And then he widened his eyes.
It was like fate.
Because, in his hands, was a glowing, white, hexagonal-shaped crystal which was the size of his palm, perfectly matching the bounty's description.
In other words, there was a miracle in his hands.
"Boy, what have you found this time?" His father, noticing Kael stopping, sauntered over to him.
One glance at what Kael was holding wiped the leisurely smile from his face, replaced with a more serious expression. He stopped all motion for a split second. Then, he hurriedly rushed over and cupped Kael's hands to hide the crystal, furtively looking left and right to ensure nobody saw it. His eyes turned to Kael, who stared right back at him with equal shock and excitement, and they nodded to each other. No words needed to be spoken. From his pocket, Kael pulled out a small string pouch that was occasionally saved for small, rare objects, like Kael's previously broken watch, and gave it to his father. His father carefully pulled the bag over the crystal, before tightening it and giving it back to Kael, who then placed it in his pocket.
No more words were exchanged as they continued their journey. How could they? The ticket to their freedom suddenly ended up in Karl's pocket. The previous joking and light atmosphere had been shattered, replaced with one of hurriedness and secrecy.
'Could it be?' A million thoughts raced through Kael's mind.
He could not help but take a few, furtive glances at the bulge in his pocket as they trudged towards the city.
'If so, we would never need to come to this place ever again.' Although The Heap had been their faithful provider for his whole life, he had no attachments to it. Nobody wanted to search through mounds of trash.
'Our exit ticket is sitting right there. Our only job now is to keep it safe until we reach the government facilities.'
———-
Nearing the border, only a gradual hilltop blocked their view of the city.
Right then, his father halted. Following their protocol, Kael halted as well.
Crouching down, his father carefully approached the hill edge and peeked his head over. Squinting his eyes, he scanned the border. After about 5 minutes, he retreated and walked back over to Kael.
"Some of the Vultures showed up early today. I estimate about 50 are down there, and they are spread about very evenly, so whichever direction we go will have equal risk."
Kael was alarmed. This was unusual. It was only about 6:30 pm, and at this time, only a small few showed up. Since they stole in groups of about 4 to 5, that left enough space for them to sneak past when they weren't looking. But today…
"It's going to be a hard one today. Pull your hood up. We'll crawl down and evade those bastards."
Kael nodded and followed his instructions. If they wanted freedom, they needed to get past them first.
It was at that moment that another anomaly happened.
"Thats not very nice of you." A voice called from behind, sending chills down Kael's spine. Alarmed, both him and his father turned to face the slithery presence behind that had gone unnoticed. And then they tensed up.
Standing a few metres away from them, with a snaky smile on his face, was Haskel, one of the most infamous Vulture in the area.
"Haskel, I don't know what business you have up here. But why don't you return back down to your buddies down there and leave us alone?" Adopting a fighting stance, his father growled at him in a warning tone.
"Haha, mister, don't be so unfriendly. I won't bite here." Haskel warmly gestured for him to stop. Kael could see a drop of sweat trickling down his forehead.
"Then why are you here?" His father didn't let his guard down.
Taking a big sigh, Haskel responded in a self-pitying tone. "To be honest, I was forced to come up here."
"Explain."
"Well, you know the bounty on the crystal that the government gave a few days ago?"
"Yes, I do, now explain."
"Have you heard of The Null Order?"
"Who hasn't?" The Null Order was one of the most terrifying terrorist organizations in the kingdom, famous for their kidnappings, ruthless killings, and causing Protocol Zero, one of the most devastating acts of terrorism in the entire kingdom.
The next few words turned Kael's blood cold.
"Well, The Null Order for some reason also wants to get their hands on this object, so they forced us vultures to come up here to find it for them. In fact, if you were to look closely, you would notice that those on the ground aren't us vultures, but members of the organisation patrolling the border."
Kael had an ominous premonition.
Slowly, he and his father both approached the hill edge and peeked over. Squinting his eyes at the border, Kael could now see small ant-sized human figures patrolling the area. At first, he could only see the small figures of the people, but as his eyes adjusted he took a clearer look…
Shudder!
Every one of the human figurines had a long object strapped to their chest. The long object was a rifle. And in the middle was a single truck. These were things that only high end organisations could procure in this place of poverty, unless you were like Kael's father, who was crazy enough to try to build one.
'How are we going to get past now?' Kael turned to look at his father expectantly, only to see his face scrunched up in a frown.
"Look at that unlucky fella." Haskel, who had moved and was also peeking over the edge a few meters away from the duo, pointed at a commotion on the ground level. They both turned their eyes to look at the commotion, which was taking place near the truck.