As the sparse houses turned to open land farms, her mind shifted to old memories, back to when Nadia’s life was still peaceful and had a hope for the future.

Nadia had lived in the countryside until she was about eight years old. Her parents had to leave her to grandmother because they were too busy with the company they established, and leaving her to a nanny was not good for her emotional health.

This was actually one point of debate between the couple. Her father didn’t care if she was raised by a nanny, as long as she went to school in a city and didn’t embarrass him.

Her mother wanted Nadia to be loved, but couldn’t spend as much time with her as she wanted—as she was the one putting most work in the company—and did not want her to miss the truly important things.

Her father disliked Nadia from the start because of her lack of ’culture’. As for her mother, she doted on her a lot when they were together, and she would come by every weekend or so to spend time with her, 90% of the time without the sperm donor.

Still, her memories of that time were the happiest for Nadia. She remembered the times she climbed trees, jumped on puddles, and slid on hills with friends.

Life was simple and they lacked a lot, at least in the standard of those in the city, but it did not feel like so.

For Nadia then and for Naia who had gone through the apocalypse, it was already a blessed existence.

Not having to starve that you could eat the dirty bark of a tree, and not so parched that you’d drink the grey water from the skies, was already very good.

Already having a roof over her head, and having two people’s (her mother and her grandma’s) unconditional love was already fortunate, not to mention they had no worries of major natural disasters or aliens.

Sadly, it was not meant to last forever. Her mother got cancer, and it was too late when they detected it. Rather, her mum’s pain tolerance was so strong, she only collapsed when it was already stage 4.

Nadia was called on to take care of her mother in the hospital. Grandma got someone else to handle the farm and went with her.

When she died, Nadia was prepared to head back to the village with her grandmother.

Her grandmother gave her a choice, whether to come with her or her father. Grandma explained that it was better to live freely even if they were not too rich (they were comfortable anyway, thanks to her mother’s money).

It was definitely better than becoming dependent on Houser, the man who had already started revealing his infidelities even before her mother died.

Nadia agreed with her grandmother, but fate had other plans.

Her father insisted on taking her in, citing enrolling her to good schools and classes. However, in reality, he took her in because in her mother’s will, her shares were Nadia’s, and her father would only be able to use the shares, only if he guaranteed that Nadia was living well.

At some point, Nadia was brainwashed to give the shares to her father to take care of, and her life plunged even more since then. The man even remarried another woman, with whom he actually had two children!

Naia also got a lot of new information from the internet. This included reporters’ and policemen’s investigations of what Houser had done through the years. Some of that information was open to the public.

Nadia was not allowed to contact her grandmother either, lest she ’dirtied’ the house, and her father threatened her that grandma wouldn’t live long if she made trouble.

Nadia was thoroughly brainwashed and was powerless to do anything. She started covering her face, hunching her back, and just lost any inch of confidence. The girl was positive that she did not deserve to breathe the same air as anyone else.

Her solemn mood was temporarily pushed down when the view beyond the town revealed itself.

Her destination, Lotus Town, was actually less developed than Acero Town and the land in between them was mostly undeveloped.

On her trip, she appreciated the natural landscape and the vitality it emitted.

What a pity...

...

Naia arrived at the Lotus Town Bus Station sometime in the afternoon. Naia touched her stomach, gently patting it.

Technically speaking, she wasn’t hungry. Not to mention, she had been chewing on random chips while traveling. But now that she was on fixed ground, she decided she was hungry!

Lotus Town was much less developed than Acero Town. It was more like the center of hundreds of villages around. The biggest establishment was the depot for the surplus potatoes and sweet potatoes, and it just looked like a typical warehouse area.

She bought a lot of potatoes and sweet potatoes, and they were cheap, but she didn’t buy too much. First of all, the plants were not shelf-stable. Another, she could just plant them herself!

After she squeezed in a few more things in her space, she prepared to head to her home village.

To go from the town to the villages of choice, one had to go to the tricycle hubs or pickup points, spread around the town.

These were motorcycles with large covered side-cars. They had been recently consolidated by the local government, so they were much more organized, and the fare was much less variable.

While a kebab on hand, she went to the nearest pick-up point according to the locals.

When she headed there though, she heard some muffled hits and screams at the side.

Her eyebrows rose and headed there, mostly out of curiosity. She didn’t think she’d see another dramatic scene on her first day!

It was the classic bullying scene of high school students. There were three big kids, kicking or slapping a small one.

Pak!

Naia wondered what she should do: Should she help out or should she watch the show?