Peace Seeker

This is it? Pt. 2 (Welcome to Kaizer)

With only a handful of months passing since the thing, I crash land almost half a mile out from a town once known as "Nova Mutum;" now named "Kaizer," after the overly proud family in charge. The walk there is a breeze, minus the hundreds lined up near the town's front, all begging and pleading in different languages, all filthy and distressed, seeming as though Kaizer had been attacked not too long ago. I've been to many places and like majority of them, everything here is covered by a thick layer of dust and debris.

I take my first step within their walls and surprisingly, no security detail approach me; an attack was definitely the cause.

"Hey mista!"

I look around but see no one to address. "Who said that?" Still, no one appears before me; my imagination maybe? I take another step forward and immediately hear a yelp.

"Ow! Watch it ya moron- and where do you think ya going anyway?!"

" A child? You're... the security detail?"This boy couldn't have been older than seven years old but was clearly standing in front of me in a policing uniform with a small handgun drawn. This town was odder than my information foretold.

"You got somethin 'gainst kids?"

"Uh- no, it's just... I've never seen child security detailing."

"Well the men are away so the boys ain't gonna play; now, what's ya business in these parts and where ya from?"

I had to ask, "Kaizer was attacked?"

"How'd you kn-" He froze; I'm sure I was right now. "State ya fuckin business here or keep it pushin!"

It was time for me to decide whether or not to deceive the boy; I've never been question by a child so it's tough to decide. Normally, I'd swindle or even bribe one of the many corrupt enforcers to buy my passage into towns but this was an entirely new situation. This was a small child, aiming a gun directly at me as if I came for a gun fight; bribing with toys wouldn't do me any good but get me shot with this kid. "I'm looking for a old man named A.C." That was true.

"You must be talking about Gizmo, the old whacko; what do ya need with him?"

"I'm in search of something he knows all about." Also true.

"Right; where ya from?"

This kid's persistent; that gets him a partial lie. "My family is originally from the wastelands." True. "But relocated to south of brasil." False.

"Oh yeah? My family is from the south too." Great, this is escalating quickly for a child-teen situation. "Where exactly did they go to?"

"Santiago." Thank you NAVI.

"No way! That's where I'm from-" Aw crud; thanks again Navi. "Hey- hey, ya ever been inside the giant air hangar?"

"Uh- yeah, loads of times."

"That's cool man-" He smiled but then it just suddenly disappeared. "'Cept that entire place was destroyed 20 years ago!" I panicked, snatching the gun from the boy as he cocked it back and taking off into an alley. "Get back here you fuckin fraud! Get back here!" Fun fact: security details are prohibited from leaving their stations no matter what; they can though, radio-in a pestering team.

I sneak into one of the buildings through the alley's back and hide out till the team finishes their sweep. Boys and girls, none older than nine years old are sent in search of me; madness, who would be so desperate to employee children to life-risking tasks? Their uniforms weren't over sized so i knew this had to be a protocol. I spent an hour on the second floor of that abandon apartment, watching them from a gigantic hole in the wall, joined by various forms of vermin; nothing I'm not used to though.

Finally, one of the girls grabbed their radio. "c'est clair!" A dead language? One I haven't heard since Jade. I haven't a clue what she said though; I'm just gonna have to go with my gut. I jet out the back, easing my way onto the main road.