Few To Many Flowers

Chapter Two

Thanks again for taking time out of your life to read this! This chapter might be a little confusing... maybe. Still open to any feedback or criticism.

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"Ivy, over here!" I looked around the lunchroom hearing my name called out. Behind me, where I stood like a frightened cat in the middle of the bustling room, sat my two friends Nina and Alyssa.

"Over here!" Alyssa yelled once again swaying her arms back in forth as if she had just found treasure. Nina turned away from her, hand covering her burning face from embarrassment.

Letting out a huff of air I walked over to the two and slid my lunch tray down onto the blue table. "Finally, I was yelling at you for ages..." Alyssa said whilst grabbing the apple off of my plate and biting into it.

"Really?" I said annoyed and scooted my tray closer to myself.

"At least you didn't have to sit here getting weird looks." Nina huffed.

I had never been one to get along well with others so Alyssa, Nina, and I all became friends easy, as we were all outsiders. Alyssa annoyed everyone to death, Nina was to smart for her own good, and everyone assumed I hated them. (And maybe I did.)

Eating my sandwich slowly I listened to Alyssa blab on about the hot boys in her class. Alyssa reminded me of the typical popular girls in all of the books besides the fact that no one envied her and that she wasn't a blonde.

"Hey, umm guys... Have you seen or talked to that girl Alice?" I asked and received a glare from Alyssa as I had interrupted her hot guy rant.

"I don't recognize the name. What does she look like?" Nina asked tucking her dark midnight curls behind her.

I put my sandwich down and ran my hands over my face, " She has a small frame, blonde silky looking hair, and her eyes--" I stopped in my track remembering how empty they looked. Like saddened doll eyes that held back streams of tears that could run for miles.

"What about her eyes!" Alyssa chirped seeming to forget that she had only just been mad at me.

"They... They sorta look dead like. It's hard to explain, but they're a pretty shade of blue." I offered up hoping they may have at least seen her.

"Nope, don't believe I've ever seen or heard of her till now," Nina said shrugging and then got up to take her plate to be cleaned.

"Maybe she's a mutated?" Alyssa said, hand holding her chin and eyebrows scrunched up in a thinking face.

"A mutated? Here!" My mind had become knotted in thought. The Finis War had caused most of the world to become radioactive. Most who survived had found a bomb shelter and still then a lot of younger children had passed.

Only a few outside the shelters had survived, and not for long. The mutated were those who mothers had been pregnant with them at the time when the bombs rained down on us and had been unsheltered. The mothers usually died, but some had given birth before running out of life. The children born from these women had become known as the mutated.

"It could be possible," Alyssa muttered and took the last bite out of what used to be a blood red apple.

"But here?" We lived in one of the smaller unaffected areas and it was known that the mutated were kept in the government buildings having who knows what done to them.

"Why not," Alyssa smiled,

"Perhaps she is a runaway with great plans to kill us non-mutated!" She laughed out the rest.

I groaned, "If anything gets us killed it will be your stupidity."

Alyssa lunged forward and smacked me in the forehead, "It was just a joke! Why do you always have to be an ass about everything..."

***

The stars shined down like small leading paths. I smiled up at them, feeling comforted. I had just now returned to the dorms as I had been out late studying in the library.

The dorms were more like small apartments stacked on each other sloppily like that had just been quickly thrown together. A toddler could stack blocks neater.

Turning towards the direction of my dorm I heard a loud bang come from three rooms down. Jumping, I tugged my blue windbreaker tighter to me.

Lately, the mutated animals from the affected areas had started to get in past the gates to the safe areas. Shivering from the thought I felt conflicted if I should just continue or pretend that I head nothing. Safe or heroic?

Heroic it is.

Taking in a sharp breath I turned, my hands reaching deep into my pockets like I would eventually find a non-existent weapon.

"H-hello?" I shouted hoping to get a quick response.

I watched my shotes closely and walked closer to where I had heard the noise.  Peeking my head around the corner, the light flickered like in the horror movies where everyone knows the person should run then. I should run.

"Hello?" I asked again finally finding the courage to step around the corner.

Alice looked up at me panicked. She laid kneeled on the ground picking up what looked like textbooks she had dropped.

"Oh, it's just you." I sighed in bliss.

I walked over and picked up two of the books and handed them to her,

"Here," I smiled down at her, as I had just come to realize how short she was.

Alice looked down at the ground and nodded awkwardly before taking the books from me. Seeing her in the bright light and quietness of the night she appeared to look even more like a porcelain doll. Skin to pale, eyes too big, and even her frown looked painted on.

"I meant to ask--"

BANG

Startled I looked behind me, a guy glared at me from the door of his room.

"The fuck! You know it's late right!" The guy turned back into his room slamming the door shut on his way. The noise rung out like a siren in the night, and I rubbed my hands at my eyes before turning around.

"Alice?" No one was there.