I had the dream again, the one where I was running as fast as I could. I was running with others, not away from them.

The earth underneath my paws comforted me, the twigs that brushed through my fur as I ran only made me want to run faster, longer.

Just as the calls of the other animals sounded, I was startled awake. The sheets around me stuck to my skin, and dawn light barely peeked through the half shut curtains.

I turned over onto my back and stared at the ceiling, not kicking the articles of blankets off despite how hot I was. That dream ... Made me feel really good for some reason. My heart continued pounding rapidly in my chest, as though it were recovering from a real run. I drifted my hand up and rested it over my heart gently, listening to my breaths rhythmic repetition and feeling the heavy beating under my palm.

I slid out of the bed, resting my feet on the chilly wooden flooring. I moved my toes around, soaking in the nice coolness, then pushing myself off of the mattress. I padded immediately to the bathroom, ignoring the demanding growl of my stomach. Before I did anything else today, I was taking a bath. A nice long bath.

After filling the tub with warm water and bath salts that were under the sink, I shut the curtains of the window that rested above the tub. Despite the bathroom being on the side of the house where it showed nothing but the backyard and the forest, I still didn't want to risk being seen in my birthday suit.

I pulled off my clothes that were stuck to my skin by sweat, sighing when the conditioned air overpowered the sticky humidity and sending an army of goosebumps along my body.

I felt the sudden need to be as clean as possible. I stopped standing in the middle of the bathroom like an idiot and stepped into the tub, sinking as low as I could. My head was still surfaced, but the rest of my body was surrounded by the gentle lapping of water.

I moved my hands around lazily within the water, closing my eyes. I was sure that I would be falling asleep any moment now if I were to allow myself to.

To prevent from doing so, I let my mind wander. I lifted the thought-blocking barrier and waited for my mind to begin racing with questions, whispers, images, built up thoughts of any kind.

I first let my mind travel to my mom and dad. My parents ... What could they possibly be going through right now with me being assumed dead? Did they even know of my "death", or did they know everything about this terrible situation the government put me in? My parents were many things, ranging from neglectful to pretty damn smart, but I don't think they would put me through something so life-changing and keep me in the dark about it.

Are you sure about that? One of my little opposing voices whispered. Stop trying to block the real doubts out. It's very possible. You don't even know your parents very well.

I reached my hands up out of the water and lowered my head. My wet hands gently cupped my face, blocking out the lighting of the sun outside colliding halfway with the light the bathroom bulbs provided over the mirror.

My fucking conscious was a complete asshole for slapping me in the face with possible options, but it was true. I don't know my own parents very well, or what kind of work they do. Trust me, I would have loved to know my parents a whole lot more but they for some reason decided to have a kid just for ignoring. Okay, that was a little extreme, but there are times where I can do absolutely nothing to get their attention.

After sulking in the tub, the water was cooling down. I lifted my head from my hands and opened my eyes, searching for shampoo and soap. I reached over to the corner of the tub near my feet and grabbed a bar of soap.

I pushed myself up in a sitting position and began scrubbing my upper body with the bar of soap, digging my fingers into the softened object so it wouldn't slip from between my fingers.

-:-

After my bath, I got dressed in a pair of clothes my grandmother had given me the other night: a brand new pair of undergarments (thankfully), some ripped jean shorts that didn't reach my knees, a white part-button-up tank top, a leather jacket without sleeves, and combat boots. Why my grandmother decided to give me this attire was beyond me, but I wasn't complaining. The clothes were quite comfortable.

I ignored the hair drier that was sitting neatly in the corner of the counter, deciding to let my hair air dry. It's been a couple weeks since running away from home, and weirdly enough, my hair has grown about two inches. I wondered if it was apart of the mutation.

I winced and pressed the palm of my hand to my ear. Something screeched, vibrating my eardrums, and then it grew silent. I was left with a throbbing sensation in my ears, but something was different.

My eyebrows furrowed when I heard shuffling. It was followed by crunching, like teeth munching on fresh lettuce. I went to the bedroom window and gazed outside, shocked to see a brown rabbit nibbling on wildflowers.

What the hell was this? I haven't had intense hearing ever since I was kidnapped from the motel, and even then it wasn't nearly as intense as this. I stick my finger inside my ear and twist it around, scrunching my face up. It was like a radio in and out of service, with cracking static in between shows.

I stared at the rabbit for a few more moments, but the bastard just kept on munching his grass. Lucky fucker has it easy. I suddenly hated the rabbit. Within seconds I went from being curious about the small mammal to hating it's guts, a new record for me. I narrowed my eyes at it and resisted the urge to open the window and reach my arm out as far as possible and flip it the bird.

I snapped out of my fantasy, blinking a few times at the brown rabbit, which was oblivious to my hateful stares. Freaked out, I stepped back and turned around, leaving the bathroom before I become a homicidal bunny killer.

My hearing continued to act like a radio, fuzzing in and out, being clear and being my normal hearing. I wanted Tommy to get his ass over here before I went insane from this, and went outside to kill the bastard bunny.

I was face down on the leather couch, intaking the beautiful smell of fresh leather when I heard footsteps walk up to the wooden porch. I shot to my feet, excited. I rushed to the door and ripped it open. Tommy's fist was lifted, as if about to knock on the door when I opened it. His face split from shock to amusement as he looked at me.

He was wearing a pair of fitting dark jeans, heavy combat boots like mine only for males, and a grey t-shirt. His hair was soaking wet and ruffled, as though he just stepped out from the shower.

"You —" he started, but I pushed past him and slammed the door behind me.

"Thank god that you're here," I groaned, letting my back fall against the door with a thump. "I almost became homicidal towards rabbits."

Tommy raised his eyebrow slowly and crossed his arms. "Homicidal ... Towards cute little bunny rabbits?" He repeated, drawing out the question as though waiting for me to confirm it.

"You heard me." I nodded rapidly, reaching up and tangling my fingers through my partly dried hair. "I seriously wanted to beat it up for having an easier life than me."

"That's not normal, Kenzi."

"I know," I said, releasing my hair and lunging forward to grip his arms. I shook him slightly. "Tommy, I am seriously losing my mind."

His face softened, the amusement leaving his expression as he placed his hands on my shoulder and gently stopped me from shaking him anymore. "McKenzie, I promise you that you're not going crazy."

I breathed a heavy sigh through my nostrils rather than my lips, taking deep breaths and trying to calm my assumed panic attack. "I'm pretty sure I am."

"I know for sure that you're not." He shook his head and let go of my shoulders just as I removed my hands from his arms. "Trust me, these people have seen crazy. There are mutants who aren't able to cope with the experiment and go on a rampage and just lose their minds."

"I think that's what's happening to me." I nodded, quite sure of my new found insanity now. "Yup, that's it."

He laughed slightly and tried covering it up with a fake cough. He was looking as though he was doing best to be serious, but found my situation funny for some reason. "You're an ass," I told him, lifting my foot and slamming it into his balls. That went from 0-100 real quick, I thought.

He howled with pain and I watched with sick satisfaction as his hands flew down and cupped his pained tenders, his legs buckling. He didn't fall, but sure as hell looked like he would if he was pushed.

My arms folded over my chest as I scowled at him, waiting for him to recover. He looked up at me from his bent position and wheezed out, "That was unnecessary ... Very ... Unnecessary ..." He stopped talking and groaned loudly.

"Well don't laugh at me," I snapped, sticking my tongue out at him childishly. "If you do, you now know what will happen."

"I laugh at you and you kick me in the nuts? That doesn't make sense!" He insisted, stumbling back up and leaning against the wooden beam.

"Oh it wasn't just because of that," I assured him, smiling sweetly. "It was for sleeping with Eleanor, too." I walked past him, expecting him to limp after me. I glanced back and saw that he was, his face scrunched with discomfort. His forehead was creased with frown lines, and his lips were tugged downward. I slowed my pace so he could catch up, almost feeling sorry for him.

"Listen," he said, reaching back to scratch his neck. "About that..."

I bit the inside of my cheek, tensing up. I knew he wanted to talk about that night, and he probably wanted to confess the affair of two months.

"I know." I turned my brown eyes to him for a moment, then returned it to my moving feet. "I know about the entire thing. You and Eleanor had this thing going on for a couple of months, she thought you got her knocked up, etcetera etcetera," I continued, making the tone of my voice as passive as it could possibly be. It took a lot more strength than it seemed to need, but it needed a lot.

There was a stretch of silence between us, my words sending him into a place of inability to respond. I focused my attention to the way our feet crunched the forest trail underneath them, a sound I found to be pleasurable to the ears. The birds above us were singing their morning songs, unaware and uncaring of the tension only feet below them.

"I never wanted to hurt you." The words were soft, so soft that I nearly didn't hear them.

I felt a cold chill pass over my spine and I stopped walking. He stopped a few inches after me and turned around. Feeling his eyes on me, I lifted my head and glared at him.

"You didn't want to hurt me?" I asked in the same soft voice, tilting my head to the side. "Then why did you cheat on me? Not to mention in one of the most painful ways possible?"

He didn't respond. My guess was that he didn't know how, he was out of ways to try to apologize without apologizing. He knew apologies didn't work on me, not when they're a situation nearly as bad as this one. It was hard enough for me to forgive someone for something tiny, like stealing a shirt from me (Eleanor still owes me three hundred dollars worth of clothes).

"Thought so," I murmured, brushing past him. To change the subject and get off of the past, I call back to him, "Where we going? Are we going to talk to Silo?"

"You're meeting with the Council Members and Silo, yes. They're going to explain some rules to you then they want me to take you on a tour and teach you about some of our customs."

I hummed softly and stuck my hands in the pockets of my shorts. "Okay, and then what about the whole acceptance thing or whatever?"

He sucked in a breath and released it. I shot a glance of question at him, noticing that his features were grim. "What?"

"You're not going to have an easy test. Nobody does."

"Just tell me what the test is at least," I insisted, not at all liking the way he was sneaking around it.

"I can't, not yet."

"Oh for goodness' sake," I wanted to scream. Instead, I rubbed my forehead, feeling the humidity already causing some sweating. I said, "Why not?"

"Chieftain orders." He gave me an apologetic blink and walked faster, encouraging me to as well. "We'd better hurry, we shouldn't be late."

We entered the part of the village that I saw first when I was led out of that building where I was being held. It was active already, lively voices and crowds making it a place of popularity. The larger of the buildings is the first thing you see if you were to walk up from the main path. It looked like a town hall of sorts, and I realized that this was where we were headed.

Tommy stopped me just as we were outside the two large doors. He put a hand on my eyes, facing me. We stood facing one another, our sides facing the doors. "McKenzie, whatever you do, do not disrespect these people. They are very powerful."

"I'll try." I didn't promise him anything, knowing my mouth. He seemed disappointed, even doubtful, but just nodded and reached his arm over without breaking my gaze and pushing the two doors open.

-:-

Hey guys! Sorry to leave you like that, but a girl can only write so much per chapter (;

So I need some feedback. I would appreciate it if you answered these questions in the comments:

1.) Is the story moving to fast or to slow? If so, how would you like me to slow it down / speed it up?

2.) Do you enjoy McKenzie as a character?

3.) Is the plot entertaining and / or make sense?

4.) Do you think, despite the language, that this book deserves more reads?

Tell me what you think!

Love you guys!

- Grace xx