Divided

:Chapter Two:

*****

Once again I find myself in the testing room, this time in a panic. I shoot up in the bed and run a shaking hand through my tangled hair. I still feel where the dog's teeth sunk into my flesh, where the girl stabbed me...

"Thank you Liberty, your results will be in shortly. Please take the sheets off the bed and exit through the back door." The loud speaker says.

I look up, and around the room. "What was that?" I ask the roof.

"Please take the sheets off the bed and exit through the back door." The voice repeats.

I scream with tears in my eyes and kick the bed as hard as I can. The force hurts my foot, shooting pain up my leg and I groan. Frustration sets in as it sinks in just how little power I have in this situation and I grunt, wiping the tears from my eyes. I can still feel blood running down my back. Eventually I do as the voice says, closings my door on the way out.

I can still picture the girls face, her pointed nose and slanted green eyes, blending with her pale skin, and freckled cheeks pink from the cold. I shiver, brushing my back where she stabbed me with my fingertips. Why would I save her after she tried to kill me? The cold air prickles my face causing my cheeks to flush with color. My shoulder throbs and I curse under my breath.

"Hey!" Kelly yells from across the yard. I study her as she runs my direction, waving her hands enthusiastically. A forced smile creeps its way into my face. Hers test must not have been as bad as mine, because she has no tear marks or problems acting happy. Maybe she actually is happy. "How'd it go?" She asks cheerily.

I shrug, "I don't know, fine I guess."

Her smile fades into a smirk like grin. "I don't know, fine I guess." She mocks. 

I glare at her playfully. "What did you do?" She asks, "in the situation?"

I think for a minute on how to answer, when Rick steps out of the building and Kelly runs over to him. I'm happy she left, I don't want to reply her question, even though I'm sure she'll ask again. Maybe not right now, but soon. Before long everyone is outside, and done with their tests. No one seems as showmen up or in pain as me and it makes me angry. Why are they picking on me! Seconds after the last kid steps out from the building the loudspeakers chime again.

"Thank you for your contribution to our society and enjoy your complimentary meal." The voice says flatly, and everyone turns to the back of the yard where a long table off food sits. Each dish is stored nicely in glass and clay containers. Soon a line forms on either side of the table, everybody taking their fill. I'm close to the beginning of the line on the left side, too far to get the food, but close enough to see and smell. Meats from different animals are piled neatly onto plates along with salads and fruity side dishes stretching out along the middle, and desserts near the end. Cakes, ice creams and whipped drinks. My stomach growls as I near the front of the line. Food is one of my favorite things in the world, but I've never had a meal like this.

I dish myself up every kind of meat I can find, filling up two whole plates. On the second, I add a huge scoop of mashed potatoes, creamy noodles and two brownies. By the time my third plate is full, I find a spot to sit down.

The air begins to warm as the day passes, but not enough for most people to notice. My skin is very sensitive to temperature, but rarely am I too cold or too hot. Rick and Kelly sit on either side of me arguing over something stupid as I shovel food into my mouth. That test really took the life out of me...

"Dogs or cats?" Kelly asks looking at me and I shrug, half because I don't know and half because my mouth is full of mashed potatoes. I had a dog once when I was little, Gunter was his name. I don't remember him much since I was so young, but I know he died saving my mother from a coyote.