Children of the Underground

2

The Grounders bodys fell lifless to the floor. "Nice shot Bianca!" The boy said as he sprung down the ladder. He went from having a deadly aura around him to one of joy and laughter . "Learned from the best." Bianca replied with a sly smirk. The girl had tan skin with freckles all over and the same accent as the boy along with the same hair but longer. Black hair with two white streaks. "Now to deal with you boy.". 'For a second I thought they forgot I was there.'. "What in Mercy's name where you bloody doing out here! You didn't even get past the block! If you were on your own you'd be six feet under by now!..." He continued to rant about how idiotic I am but i couldn't help notice how the other two turned around and pointed there guns towards the opposite side of us creating a protective ring. "... Speaking of which what are you doing out? Shouldn't your guardian be stealing/getting the food or are you an eldest?" This is one of the darkest parts of our survival in the Underground. I don't say anything. All I do is look at the ground in defeat. "Oh... Your an Unclaimed. Aren't you." He looks at me with not pity in his eyes, but understanding. I can only nod. 'An Unclaimed.' Mercy has done many unforgivable things in there time of controle but this is by far the worst. Mercy cannot afford to let everyone live in this world. The 'Unclaimed' or previously known a 'Orphans' are children who have knowone. No parents, siblings, aunts or uncles. All alone. Unclaimeds are taken away from society, tested and branded by Mercy are sent above ground to die alone. 'I'm an Unclaimed. I was supposed to die.'

    "Well, that my friend is a problem." The boy said with a sad smirk. "King we gotta go. Grounders could be back any minute." The girl who was called Bianca said with urgency as she lowered her gun. " I guess you're right. Felix Let's head out!" The boy, or 'King' shouts. The other two children begin to walk away. ' What the hell just happened?'. 'King' turns around. 'I may have said that out loud.'. "Ya, you did. But what are you just standing there for? Pick your lazy bum up follow us." He said with a grin. He starts to walk back towards me and reaches out his hand. I look up at him and smile widely. He than yanks me up and I scream out in pain from putting pressure on my leg causing me to fall, but King caught me. The bullet wound was still bleeding, alot. " Well that doesn't look so good." King says with his face scrunched up. He rips part of his shirt, revealing a slight scar and ties it around my leg. " Let's get you up now." He slings my arm over his shoulder and starts to lift me up. " On 3. 1,2,3." We manage to get me up and hobble over to the others.

" Now that you two are done with that can we go before we get shot." Felix says. "All right drama queen we both know you would be crying for hours if you got shot. Lets let them have their moment" Bianca tells Felix. "I would not, you'd be the one crying" Felix shot back. " When I was shot I barely flinched!" She said smugly. "Did not." "Did to." "Did not." "Did to!". "All right children let's get a move on." King says with his accent shining through. We 'walk' out of the ally and turn down a corridor on the left. Bianca and Felix walk about seven steps ahead of us, talking about Grounders, cracking jokes and laughing. They went from hostile to humorous in almost an instant. I glance a King and he has a look of contentment on his face. It almost looks weird on him. He notices my staring and tenses up a bit but relaxes after a moment.

             "You know it's been awhile since we've seen any action with the Grounders. We started to think they forgot about us." King says with an awkward glance and smile. A couple seconds of silence pass by except the hysteric laughs of Bianca and Felix. " I'm sorry. I'm no good at starting conversations." He fumbles. More seconds of silence followed. I laugh out a light laugh and he looks at me in confusion. "Im sorry, but I don't think you'd be so..." I try to find the right word. "Normal?" He siguests with a questioning look. "Weird." His face goes blank. 'Why would I say that to the guy who just saved my life and now is trying (failing) to drag me to safety.' He looks down at me, than forward, but what comes next surprises me the most. King bursts out laughing, almost dropping me in the process.  " I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you. That was such a bad move..." He cuts me off. "Well I can't blame you for that now can I?" 'What?' Now I'm confused. "I mean some random kids who look ridiculous practically drop out of the ceiling, kill two Grounders and are now taking you to there home is a little weird, even for me." King says with a grin. "Oh, well when you put it that way it does seem weird." He lets out a light laugh It goes back to silence as we stumble through the streets, but it's a peaceful silence. "Since we were on the topic of weird why is your hair like that?" I ask. Sometimes I have no filter, one of the downsides of spending years alone. "Um" King hesitates. "I actually don't know. Me and Bebs have had them our whole lives." "Bebs?" "Bianca, my sister. I call her Bebs for the fun of it." He gives a sly smirk and looks towards her. "I heard that!" she shouts ahead of us. King chuckles. 'They really are weird.'

        End of Chapter 2