Radioactive

Chapter 2

 CHAPTER 2

      I wake up to urgent pounding and shouts outside my door.

"Hayley! Hayley! You have to come out. Quick!" Amy's voice yells at my door.

"What? Why?" I yell, springing out of bed and throwing on my day clothes.

I swing open the door and dodge Amy's hand about to try and knock on my door again.

"Alex got his results at 6:00. He wants to tell you what he got." she says pulling me out of my room and into Alex's.

"She has arrived!" Amy yells and swings me onto Alex's couch.

"Drum roll please!" Alex yells from behind his kitchen doorway.

Amy pats the nearest table. Alex slides out from behind the wall dressed in a lab coat and a new pair of glasses. A square device with buttons and dials on it hangs from his belt.

"I'm a radiation scientist! Isn't that awesome?! A job I'm actually interested in! Wow! Can you believe it?!"

"Congratulations! Alex I'm so happy for you!" I exclaim and stand up.

"Though it kinda sucks, because we work with the military. Though people don't hate the scientists as much as the soldiers."

Then suddenly a man dressed in casual military gear walks past Alex's window and stops in front of my door. I swallow and look at my friends stunned. I burst out of Alex's room and walk over to officer.

"Hello, are you Hayley Grayson?" he asks me.

I nod, standing a bit straighter.

"Ms. Grayson, I'm Major Hallmark. You have been selected by your E.P.T to serve your country as a soldier. Here is your uniform and schedule. Come to the barracks at 10:00. Don't be late." he hands me a box and then leaves by patting me on the shoulder.

I turn around to my friends in speechlessness.

Getting chosen to be in the military is one of the worst jobs in the bunker. You train for six months and then are put in a section of the bunker with four other soldiers and you have to work with radiation scientist who only want to put everyone's lives in danger. Soldiers sometimes will also go four days without sleeping. Not to mention, citizens don't appreciate soldiers like they used too. When the bunker was first starting up, soldiers were like the enemy. When they were giving directions to people on what they had to do, sneering, jeers and objects were thrown their way as if the soldiers were no help at all. The hostility is still alive and well.

Amy wraps her arms around me in a hug, but I just stare blankly ahead at Alex.

I run out of my door, stomping my boots on and swinging on my new Army fatigues. I slide around a corner into Glory Square and run right into a group of people glaring at me.

"Hey! Watch where you're going Stiff!" the man in front says pushing me back.

"It's a new one!" someone from the back of the group shouts.

"Yeah, you're right! I don't see a star at all." the front man says cracking his knuckles.

I turn to my left and sprint toward an alley way. I break through the alley and am suddenly dragged into a dark building. I hear shouts and boots pounding on cement outside and wait until they get quieter and quieter. The lights turn on and momentarily blind me. The building is so tall it seems to go on forever. Catwalks, rooms and stairs are suspended above me, activity rushes throughout the whole place. The building seems to emanate life.