Ablaze »»DARKEST MINDS««

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO:
FRECKLES
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It's been two days since the Blue, Marcelina, arrived at the Zone. She has struggled with being quiet and staying in line, but she eventually understood her place in the community when she tried to defend a Green who was being harassed by an adult, and she ended up with a bloody nose.

Now we're sitting together along the creek, washing the adults' dirty laundry with soap someone had looted from a grocery store. The motel has running water but the washer and dryer were stolen when the economy crashed; plus, the kids aren't allowed inside the motel. I'm just glad today isn't my day to chop fire wood or do any manual labor. I don't know if my body could take it.

My eyes found their way over to Jeremy and a few Greens who are digging holes for something. The adults haven't told us what they're for yet. At first I thought they were going to be graves for us kids, but then I remembered they don't care enough to deal with our bodies.

"You like him?" Marcelina asks quietly. I glance at her to see she's also watching Jeremy.  I study her with a blank look. Of course I like him, but not in the sense she thinks.

"Brother," I say tersely with a nod of my head. If the adults hear us talking we're both going to be in trouble. Marcelina just doesn't understand.

"He's your brother?" she asks, her eyebrows drawn together.

"Of sorts," I reply, watching the adults out of the corner of my eye. I force my muscles to relax as I realize they haven't noticed our conversation. Marcelina opens her mouth to say something else but my sharp look makes her clam up. She shrugs apologetically. In an ideal world, I could see her having slumber parties and staying up late to talk about boys. It's too bad that can never become a reality, not anymore.

"Get to work!" someone barks at us from a few yards away. I duck my head and scrub the clothes more furiously against the washboard. Marcelina rolls her eyes at the adult but does the same.

"They better get here soon," she mutters underneath her breath, making my hands stop scrubbing for a beat. She didn't mean for me to hear it but I did. Is someone coming for her? Are they going to set us free?

I mentally chastise myself for getting my hopes up again. If someone is coming, then they'd only come for her. Why waste their time on thirteen random, broken kids?

After two hours of washing filthy, rancid clothes that reeked of sweat and blood, we are called to the yard in front of the motel for food. The sun is high in the sky, beating down on us for the first time in what feels like weeks. I can't wait for the ground to dry up so my bare feet aren't constantly caked in mud.

I rise to the tips of my toes to see over the line of children to catch a glimpse of the food we're having today. It's not often we get the pleasure of eating, it's more of an every other day — or every three days, if we're low on food — type of thing. And when we do eat it isn't much, but it's enough to barely survive on.

Today's meal is canned corn. I watch with hungry eyes as adults dish out small portions of the vegetable onto plates we'd have to wash later. Behind me Marcelina's stomach growls and she groans at the sight of food. At first I think she's as happy as I am to get to eat, but then I realize she's upset we don't get more than that. The kids here are used to this. I guess whoever she's been living with had kept her eating good.

We get our plates with the our portions on them and try to find Jeremy to sit with him. A frown settles over my face when I can't find him. I turn to Marcelina to see if she saw him anywhere, but she returns my questioning look with her own. I try to keep the rising trepidation buried within me as we sink to the ground to eat by ourselves. Throughout our short meal my eyes are searching for the familiar Yellow's blond head of hair, but he's nowhere to be seen. Across the lawn, sitting on a rocking chair on the cracked porch of the motel, Derick catches my eye and sends me a knowing smile. Anger and pure hatred boils in my veins, threatening my abilities to start storming out.