Running

Chapter One

* Ryleah's POV *

I hear the sharp rise intake of breath beside me as Madelyn fights for the air to keep running. Running. That's all I can remember doing with my best friend for the past two months.

Ever since the government declared that all teenage girls were to be captured and sent to a compound in Maine for reproduction and testing, we have been running. Becoming the governments slave for being the perfect Americans sounds horrid. I shoot another glance at Madelyn, and I catch the tears streaming down her face.

"Ryleah!" She shouts, her words laced with exhaustion. "I can't keep running!"

I glance behind me, not knowing what to expect. Soldiers, cars, gun barrels, but I see nothing. I nod at her, slowing to a stop, the air around me becoming harder to breathe. As soon as we have slowed, Madelyn collapses into the dirt, dust flying up around her as she does.

"I can't do this anymore! I can't live like this!" Her voice is hysterical, and I'm frozen. I don't know what to do. "Ryleah. I hate running like I'm a hunted animal. Why can't things be normal?"

Just months before, I had been Ryleah Pier. Popular, excelling in school, with the quarterback as a boyfriend. Slowly, things in Washington DC started to deteriorate. First; the government shut down. Then everything started to change. Slowly, the government issued for the capturing of girls. 14 years old. 15-16 years old. 17. When the government came to look for us in my city, we ran. Madelyn and I ran.

What they wanted to do with us, that was still a mystery. I heard before I left school, they were genetically altering us, then forcing reproduction, making sure that there would be more. It made me sick just thinking about it.

I kneel down, wrapping an arm around my friend, tugging her into an embrace. "Mads," I said, resting my hand on her back, over her chocolate brown hair. "It's going to be all right."

By the look I saw in her dull green eyes, I knew she didn't believe me. I sighed and stood, catching sight of dark, looming figures in the distance.

"Looks like there is a city nearby. And, hopefully, abandoned." Madelyn said, her voice hollow.

Ever since they kept issuing for the capture of girls, people began fleeing to Canada. Where the government was still intact. Where they could keep their children. Not many down here, in the Southern United States risked it. The probability of getting captured was far higher.

I nod. "Yeah. Let's go." She stood, walking next to me. I felt guilty that I couldn't help my friend.

As we walk, my mind wanders to my old life. My family - if you could call them that. My father was an alcoholic. My mom left when I was younger. As an only child, I practically raised myself, wondering what I did to deserve this. When my dad was drunk, I had to try to stay away from him. He was abusive in a drunk rage. If he called me, I had to go. Things would get worse after if I didn't. It usually ended up in him throwing his empty alcohol bottle at me, usually missing and shattering on the wall behind me. Only once did he hit me. That was the worst night.

As we neared the city, I shook my head to clear my thoughts, sending another glance to Madelyn.

"It's abandoned." She confirmed, as the buildings started to have detail. Windows, crumbling bricks. This wasn't an abandoned city. This was a raided city.

"Oh my gosh." She said as we neared. I just nodded.

Blood was stained on the sidewalks. The bodies of several people littered the inside of houses, making me gag. Once we found a nice house, I let out a sigh of relief.

"We should get to slee-" I froze. The sound of gravel crunching beneath tires made the whole world stop.

Crap.

I motioned to Madelyn to stay quiet, and she nodded, fear evident inside her eyes. I reached my hand to the waistband of my pants and produced a gun, my fingers trembling as the bullet slid quietly into the chamber.

"Dang it John, I saw them come in here!" A guy yelled. My pulse quickened at I heard them, so close. I motion under the bed, and we both quietly crawl under.

"Shut up!" The other one, most likely John, hissed. "They could hear you!"

My blood ran cold. They knew we were here. I knew they were here. In the other room. I heard the floor boards creak as they made there way closer to us, room by room.

"I know you're in here." John said, menace dripping from his words. I slip out from under the bed, and held the gun out, my finger poised over the trigger. Two men walked into the room, a smile playing on their lips once they saw me.

"Well that's no way to greet someone." One man said. It wasn't John.

"You won't shoot us." John added.

For some reason, people always believed I wouldn't. For some reason, people are so stupid and sexist.

"Oh shut up." I said, aiming at the one whose name I didn't know, and pulling the trigger. I shifted to the left, and heard the bang of a gun being fired. It wasn't mine.

Pain spread around my shoulder, gripping me with electric fingers, making it hard to breathe. I heard the menacing laugh of John, as I screamed, and I pulled the trigger to my gun as I fell. That one movement took all of my energy.

As my vision blackened, I heard the satisfying slump of John falling, and the terrified scream of Madelyn. All this blood. Then, darkness swept over me, and there was nothing.

A / N

Ayyyyyyy! So this is chapter one. It's moving crazy fast, and I know that... I have a terrible pacing issue! But what do you think so far?

I saw Insurgent on Friday. SOOO good! Anyways,

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Love you all!
~Lacey