Gunpowder

The situation seemed to frighten Abbet just as much as it frightened Axis. The two of them were in the tractor of the semi together, with Abbet in the drivers seat and Axis standing right beside her with a map spread out on the dashboard. She had gotten her tazer from its hiding place, simply to assert her dominace in the situation. Abbet seemed to recognize the meaning of “do as I say or I will literally taze you” and didn’t question when she was ordered to take the wheel.

It surprised Axis just how good of a driver Abbet was. She followed directions fluently, and kept the truck steady, avoiding swerving. Whether this was from her own fear of being injured by the one with command over her, or simply her instinct while driving, it was hard to tell, but either way she was driving. She even attempted to strike up a friendly conversation at times, which only lasted for a couple of minutes at best, but were something to break the boredom. Axis told her many things that she didn’t expect to be sharing, such as her job as a police officer and how she had found both her and Poppy and rescued them from their deaths. The discussions were often no more than a question from Abbet, followed by an answer from Axis and then dead silence, but they were interesting. Abbet was quite avasive in the conversations, but spoke a bit about her life. How she had like Oak and how she was surviving after she had been blinded. Anything deeper or more personal than that was rejected, but Axis did not push her, as she did not wish to make her uncomfortable.

The drive seemed to fly by quickly, and soon they both saw the sight of Kawden’s massive defensive wall. Abbet let out a sigh, looking up at her new friend, and asked the simple question, “What now?”

“I take you in.”

“I thought you said you were going to give me a chance.”

“I am. You will get a fair trial, and the judge will decide your fate.”

“Well, I guess that seems fair. At least I have a chance I’ll live.”

“You’ll live whatever the judge decides. We abolished the death penalty years ago. It is simply primitive. If you are deemed guilty of a crime, you will be sent to jail. If not, you will be free, and most likely placed under public housing of some kind. If you can, you will find a job, and live a healthy, normal life. And, if you’re lucky, find someone you love and settle down with them,”

“I could have a real life,” Abbet responded, her voice changed to a wistful, far away tone.

“A life where you don’t have to worry about when death is coming. A life where you will have food and a home. A real life.”

“Why though? Why would you give me such a chance? Your girlfriend told you about me, did she not?”

“She did, in quite detail actually. But, no matter what you have done in your past, it does not define your future. You are a human, as anyone else here is. You deserve a second chance at a true life,” she turned to face Abbet as the truck slowly drove through one of the truck-entry areas along the wall, “You know, it was a very noble thing for Poppy to do.”

“What was?”

“Saving you. Saving your life. I do not know if I would have the courage to save one who was so mean to me in my past.”

“I guess I’ll have to thank her,” Abbet replied as the truck lurched to a sudden stop. The truck-entry point was equipped with a magnetic ring to hold any truck in place when it entered, so that it would not move around while security checked the vehicle.

At first, the security system seemed to not let them through, but once Axis flashed her police badge, the truck was let in the next point in the entry field.

This point had much larger walls and allowed them to leave the vehicle. They both did so, opening the back so that Poppy could get out too, and left the truck behind. They exited the small truck entry point through a small iron door, which led them to a large concrete parking lot.

Poppy and Abbet followed behind Axis in a triangular formation, throwing dirty looks at each other what seemed like every few seconds. They were led to an empty parking spot with a remote placed atop a thin metal pole. Axis picked up the remote, pressed a few buttons into what looked like a dial pad, and stepped back as if waiting for something to happen. Sure enough, something did happen. The parking spot’s concrete base suddenly sunk into the ground, but only for a moment. It rose back up just seconds later, carrying a large police car on top of it.

Axis gestured for the others to follow her into the car. Abbet and Poppy both got in the back, while Axis sat in the passengers seat. The car seemed to operate via an artificial intelligence. She simply had to enter in the destination she wished for, and the automobile did the rest of the work.

The passengers were never notified of where they were headed, but neither questioned it. They eventually degraded into childish bickering, which was really just a fist fight in the back of the car. Axis gritted her teeth in annoyance, but really did nothing to stop it. That was until Poppy got her head slammed against the window, cracking the glass.

“Apologize,” she said simply. Abbet did nothing until she saw the clear glare of malice on her former enemy’s face.

“Sorry for hitting you,” she grumbled through gritted teeth.

“And?”

“I did it. I apologized.”

“You apologized for what you just did. Apologize for the rest.”

This made Abbet widen her eyes. She turned to Poppy, attempting to unscrew her face from its near-permanent look of anger.

“Sorry for everything,” she said. This time, her voice sounded genuine.

“Apology accepted,” Poppy responded, rubbing the back of her head, “You really have changed.”