“She’s a bit frightened of most authority figures. She just wasn’t expecting it,” Ren says. “Astra, are you okay?”
“Y-Yeah,” I say quietly, dropping my head.
“Ma’am,” the officer says.
“I’m sorry for running into you, sir,” I say.
“No. No. No,” Zev says, lifting my chin. “Take a deep breath, okay?”
“She is a refugee from Ossara,” Ren says.
“Ah, that makes sense,” the man says. “You all are genetically mutated, correct?”
“Yes. Zev is the leader of Torvex. I am second-in-command,” Ren says. “She is instinctively connected to both of us. We made a last-minute decision to bring her with us so she could see other parts of the world and how they live, so we had not gotten her any identification yet. We do have paperwork if you would like to see it.”
“No, that’s okay,” he says. “Astra.”
“I’m sorry,” I say tearfully, finally looking at him. He is not wearing red, so it helps tremendously.
“I know this must be confusing and scary for you,” he says. “What can I do to help?”
“I just…” I start to say, but sigh. “I don’t know. Usually in Ossara, if the police talked to you, then you were going to be punished. They were almost like robots with zero emotion or compassion.”
“Balavix is much different than Ossara,” he says. “The world does not know much about the treatment of the citizens, but we have enough insight to understand that it is bad. The world fears another war, and Ossara is volatile enough to resort to extreme measures.”
“I was married to the leader’s son,” I say. “Well… I was his chosen wife. It was decided when I was twelve.”
“Jesus,” he says.
“We had someone able to get close to her. We knew she was genetically mutated, so we had to work fast to get her out of there,” Zev says. “Can you give us any insight into what crime is like in the city?”
“Well, I’ll be honest,” he chuckles. “No one will mess with any of you. You two gentlemen are much taller than anyone here.”
“Genetically mutated males average around our height. It’s always a surprise to others,” Ren chuckles. “Females are the ones who blend in.”
“Well, Astra, you are incredibly brave for fighting for freedom. I truly hope that you live a peaceful life,” the man says with a smile. “I’m going to find my way back to my partner. You all enjoy the city.”
“You seem like you are getting overwhelmed again, so let’s go ahead to City Hall so we can meet with Lupin Fugate,” Zev says with a smile.
We step into the large building, and my eyes immediately catch a section of the wall that is dedicated to the Great War. I go over and look at the photos hanging. It was devastating and killed most of the population. The entire world is a graveyard now. Ultimately, only the rich survived. They were the only ones who could afford a spot in a bunker, so millions upon millions of people were left behind to be disintegrated by the nukes. They worked hard to bring back the population of many animals, but a lot of them went extinct the day the bombs went off.
“Zev Kross,” a man says cheerfully.
“Lupin. How have you been?” Zev says, shaking his hand.
“Not too bad,” he says. “Ren, it’s good to see you as well. How was the trip?”
“It was great,” Ren remarks, and Zev laughs.
“Let’s go back to my office. I know the board will want to meet with you, too, since I suspect I know where this is headed,” Lupin says.
We follow him back to an office, and I sit between Zev and Ren while Lupin sits behind his desk. “This is Astra,” Zev says.
“It is so nice to meet you, Astra. How are you liking Balavix?”
“It’s wonderful!” I say sweetly. “So much different from Ossara.”
“I can imagine. I had the displeasure of meeting with Aaron and Vinny Black a few weeks ago,” he frowns.
