Chapter One: Cake

There are a lot of things people would deem ‘worth it’ in life. For most people, it would be love. Maybe family or friends as well. For Logan it was cake.

“GET. BACK HERE.”

“LISTEN, IT’S NOT MY FAULT YOUR STUFF IS OVERPRICED,” he dodged people in the street as he kept running, clutching the box of cake to his chest.

His rosy cheeks and nose were stinging from the cold and he could barely see with the wind blowing in his face, but he kept attempting to escape the angry baker chasing after him.

“I HAVE HAD IT WITH YOU, TABORN.”

This was the third time the idiotic boy had stolen from the bakery downtown. But it wasn’t necessarily his fault.

“Excuse me, sorry, excuse me-” he repeated multiple times as he pushed through the crowd. Thankfully, some people were beginning to move away in an attempt to not get knocked down. “I NEED TO EAT, SIR.”

“SO YOU’RE STEALING CAKE??”

“PRECISELY.”

He managed to grab at Logan’s shirt, yanking him back a little.

“PLEASE, MR LA ROSA,” he twisted to the right, tearing himself from his grip before continuing to bolt away from him.

The exhausted man let out a frustrated groan before once again chasing after the thieving teenager. It was quite a sad sight to see, a strong grown man chasing after a frail, skinny, pale boy clinging to an unhealthy baked good.

“HAHA, SUCKER,” he cackled as he turned his head around to watch him run from behind. “CAN’T STOP M-”

Something was wet.

Why was it wet?

Logan glanced down at his feet for a moment before finding himself standing in a lake. How did he manage to run here?

He took a tiny step forward before instantly submerging underwater, holding the box of cake up above his head in a quick response so it was the only thing visible. He pushed himself back up with his legs and began trudging through the icy water towards the shore.

“I still got the cake!” he said in an attempt to somehow make himself seem less idiotic as the baker was wheezing beside a stop sign.

“Listen, I’ll let you keep it, but only because I feel bad for you,” he barely managed to choke out between laughs.

He rolled his eyes and sighed, shivering from how cold and wet he was now. “Thanks, Mr La Rosa!” And with that he began to make his way home.

He had walked to downtown Keafton, bikes were too expensive to rent if they weren’t necessary. It probably wasn’t the smartest idea to go that day, the wind kept biting at his cheeks and there was even a chance for snow, but they were running out of food at home. He was lucky to have bought the majority of the groceries two days ago, before the prices on food went up once again.

He hugged himself, the cake still pressed to his chest, and tried his best to warm his body up during the 15 minute walk home. He had to stop for a moment to tie his dark brown hair into a tiny ponytail to keep it from blowing into his face. It wasn’t really a ponytail, his hair only reached right above his shoulders and therefore wasn’t long enough, but he liked to call it that anyway. Maybe he could call it a little sprout.

“What happened to you?” a voice behind him snickered. Logan turned around to find Wyatt, someone he considered a friend but, honestly, felt more like a foe at times.

“I got wet.”

“As if that wasn’t obvious enough,” he caught up to him and the two began walking side-by-side. “But how?”

“The lake.” he realized a while ago short answers were best when talking with Wyatt, that way nothing he said could be used to bully him in the future.

“Did you fall in? Y’know, this isn’t even surprising. You’re so much of an idiot, you probably saw one of those dumb bugs of yours in the water and ran in!”

He shut his eyes for a moment in an attempt to block out the cackling that followed. “Uh- are you done?”

“You’re not upset, are you? It’s a joke!”

“Right.. anyways,” he began walking faster, leaving Wyatt behind before eventually approaching the entrance to his neighborhood.

The entrance probably would’ve driven people away if they weren’t so accustomed to the conditions of the country. It was surrounded by electric fencing, too tall to climb over and too deadly to risk digging under. Right in the middle was a gate, guarded by two officers and a keypad. It quite honestly could’ve been mistaken for a military base if you didn’t know any better.

“Logan Taborn, house number 2160,” he said, glancing up at the two tall men in

front of him. He had always been intimidated by them. It was hard not to be, they were constantly trying to find a chance to use their guns and never seemed to smile.

“What’s in the box?” one of them said with a grunt.

“Cake,” he replied, opening it up and holding it out to them.

“Go ahead,” they moved aside and put in the code as the gates opened.

“Thank you,” he walked in.

He glanced over at the many houses as he made his way down the street. A lot of the families here had children, you could tell by the toys left outside in the driveways. Not that they had much time to play, though. Every kid was forced into work at the mere age of 10, and they wouldn’t get to stop until they were either dead or too old to be able to.

But today was different. Today was the last Saturday of the month, and therefore everyone got the day off. There were usually celebrations since days off were so rare, but due to recent tension, everyone was too afraid.

He noticed many of the house’s shutters were closed. The lights were off and the neighborhood was eerily silent. It wasn’t unusual for houses to go dark, families usually did so if there was a death within the household, but so many at once was odd.

He finally stepped inside his home, and it didn’t take long to find out what all the silence was about.

“Logan, you’re going to war.”