105

Stay Alive

Chapter 105 — A Survival Lesson

The whole dinner seemed to cool when Kai asked Alan to explain the situation on the front and why sometimes it is necessary to kill people.

“You don’t have to do this, Alan.” Lee didn’t want Alan to get upset over the words of an angry kid, but from the look on Alan’s face it seemed he couldn’t do anything to calm the situation.

Alan wiped his mouth with a napkin, looked at Kai and said, “How do you think you’re still alive? That’s a question you should ask yourself every damn day you get to live another day—how do I have hot water and fresh food? If I were in your damned place I’d be asking the same thing every single day. Christ, how do I have this peace around me?”

“Not now…” Claire, who had noticed a better attitude from her mother toward Alan, was upset by what was happening.

Alan looked at her and said, “Come on, Claire, Kai needs to know.”

“I don’t think this is the best time.” Margaret wanted to calm things down thinking she had control, but she was wrong.

“I decide when the damned time is!”

Crack!

The crystal glass in Alan’s right hand shattered from the force he applied, but without caring he pointed at Kai with his bloodied hand and said, “If we let those dogs—rapists, murderers, cannibals and damned looters—live, they’d be a cancer that sooner or later would affect us all.”

“They kill children, rape women and abandon anyone who no longer serves them. Damn it, do you even understand that outside these walls there’s nothing but death?” Alan stood up, walked toward Kai—who seemed overwhelmed by the murderous look Alan was giving him—and Kai did not move.

Lee clenched his fists but did nothing; that kid certainly was an idiot. He knew better than anyone what Alan had ordered to keep the Unification together and prosperous.

No one but the mentors knew what Alan, as Commander General, had done to save thousands of lives.

Other kids kept eating; what was happening was like an incredible show to their eyes. Obviously, their leader was great—the way he saw the world put him years ahead of all of them.

“Look at the table and tell me, what do you see?” Alan held Kai’s head, smearing it with blood, and asked in a louder voice, “What do you see?!”

“Food…” Kai wanted to pull away from Alan, but Alan’s strength was greater, so he couldn’t do anything.

“Exactly. How do you think you can get food right now?” Alan waited for an answer.

Kai shook his head and said, “I don’t know, damn it.”

“Nowadays you’ll find two kinds of people inside the refuge we’ve created. The first deserves absolutely everything we offer here and knows perfectly well what must be done to defend it. The second thinks the world is still the way it was before.”

Alan paused and said, “Normally, the second type I just mentioned die out there… But look around—here you’re lucky. You have the chance to give your opinion because inside these walls you’re very safe. But I’m sure that if you were out there you'd already be dead along with your whole damned family.”

“Don’t talk to him like that!” Margaret shouted, banging the table.

“Say one more word and the least I’ll do is rip out your damned tongue!” Alan drew a huge black knife and pointed it at Margaret; she fell silent after that.

“Claire, I think the dinner should end…” Margaret wanted her to try to take Alan away from there.

Claire stood up, took a handkerchief and wrapped it around Alan’s hand, which had driven the knife into the wooden table they were dining at.

“If you or anyone else disrespects me again, you will receive a punishment: you will be sent to the border bases and see what privileges you currently enjoy.” Alan looked at Lee sternly, expecting him to understand.

Lee nodded; for a moment he had forgotten that Alan was the leader of the whole refuge and that his word was like an order that could not be revoked.

Kai ran out; he couldn’t stay another moment in that place.

Lee apologized and went after his son.

“Sorry for the trouble, Margaret, but I think Kai must understand. I heard he’s trying to protest the supposed deaths we cause outside the community. If this continues, his father’s death will be insignificant.” Alan said, pulling the knife from the table.

“I’ll tell Lee…” Margaret said, a little at a loss for words at that news.

Another boy watched Claire leave with Alan and said, “Kai is an idiot; he deserved it.”

“Yes, but that went beyond what we can control.”