Heyy! Sowwyyy for not updating sooner 🥺I completely forgot I had already finished this chapter! But anyway, here it is :)

Itighten my hand's grip on my bag's strap and start running as fast asI can to my school's door.

Ihear footsteps chasing me and I look back to see the grocer's sonrunning after me. Damn....he's really fast!

Iconcentrate on getting to the door. 100 meters...90 meters...80meters... I leap forward, running like my life depended on it. Ihave only 70 meters to go when I feel a heavy weight push me to theground, crushing me. I hear the baker's son, Peter, yell : "I gother!" to his father. I inwardly insult him. I try to wriggle out ofhis grip but he is too heavy. I hear heavy footsteps and look up tosee the grocer's big boots in front of my head.

"Ha!Good job, son!" he pats him on the back "Guardians, this thiefstole bread from my shop!" he spits in my face, pointing anaccusing finger at me.

"NO!I DID NOT!" I yell back at him.

"YES,YOU DID! I SAW YOU, YOU LITTLE THUG!" he yells, spluttering allover my face "YOU WERE IN FRONT OF MY SHOP, BEING THE LOOK-OUT FORTHAT OTHER RUFFIAN WHO CAME INTO MY SHOP AND STOLE MY BREAD!". Heis yelling so loud, my eardrums hurt.

"NO!"I yell back, again "I was just going to school!" I saydesperately trying to escape the boy's grip.

"Silence."A voice says. The voice is as cold as ice and as hard as rock. I knowthis voice.

Thegrocer jumps, startled and turns around. I look up slowly and winceat the sight.

Isee Captain Randall, looking down at me with disgust evident in hiseyes. I hold his stare and look right into his piercing, grey eyes.

"Ididn't do it." I spit venomously.

"Andhow do I know that, little liar ?" he asks, his dangerous wordsechoing in my ears. 

"Iam not a liar. Or a thief! LET ME GO!" I yell, squirming aroundhoping Peter would fall of my back. "Or I'll be late for school..."I sigh, trying to find a good enough excuse for them to release me.

Outof the corner of my eye, I see the Captain smile wickedly. No, this isn't a misunderstanding. He knows I didn't do it, he's just enjoying himself.

"DearStorm..." he starts "Your parents were traitors, so why am I notsurprised that you're a thief and a liar ?" he stops, waiting formy reaction. All I can do is glare at him through my eyelashes."Besides, I've got six witnesses here who say you were in front ofthe shop when this fine man was robbed." he continues. Still noreaction. "Now. Storm, what is the name of your accomplice ?" heasks seriously. I stare at him hatefully. He knows that I knoweveryone that lives in the Dark Hovel and can recognize them in aglance. If I don't tell him who it is, I'll get in trouble. But Iwill never give away the identity of that starving child. We areOutcasts, and Outcasts don't rat out each other. So I ignored him. Heraises an eyebrow : "Feisty, are we today ?" he smirks. I lookthe other way, avoiding his gaze.

Suddenly,a sharp pain erupts in my left hand. I hold back a whimper and lookdown to see the sole of his hard boots stepping on my fingers.

"Storm"he asks threateningly "who was that kid ?" He presses harder onmy hand.

Ilook back up to his face with a hard glare. "I don't know."I say in between gritted teeth, the throbbing in my fingersintensifying.

Thatgot him. He was steaming mad now. Hegrabs my hair and smashes my face into the floor. I whelp, feelingthe pain erupting in my nose. He pushes Peter off me roughlyand grabs me by my neck and lifts me clear off the ground. I flailaround helplessly, trying to get out of his iron-fist grip. Hetightens his grip around my neck, blocking my air supply. My flailingaround doubles intensity as I start gasping for air.

"Who.Was. It ?" he seethes through his teeth, his face inches from mine.I struggle against his grip, clawing with my nails at his stronghands.

"Sir...pleasedon't hurt her...." I heard Peter protest faintly. I could see, outof the corner of my eye, his worried gaze frowning at the hands on myneck.

Istop moving, starting to feel slightly light-headed. The world aroundme starts spinning and the Captain seems to have four eyes. Blackspots start appearing and I blink my eyes trying to get the annoyingflies out of my vision.

Suddenly,the tight grip on my neck disappears and I fall to the ground,breathless. I gasp for air trying to fill my lungs with life again. Itry to stand up but immediately sit down again because of theincessant pounding in my skull pushing me to let go of conscience andjust faint.

Ifeel warm hands grab my face and look up to see light green eyes.Peter.

"Hey,are you okay ?" he pants.

Ijust stare at him, breathing heavily. What was that for ? Icough a bit and look down to see Captain Randall rubbing his bloodynose. Did Peter just punch him ? For me ? I wonder. No, ofcourse he didn't, I reckon. He wouldn't risk defending aRogue. I look around, the painful throbbing slowly disappearingfrom my head, and see Captain Randall slowly getting up on his feet,swaying around. Peter asks me again if I'm fine. I really don't knowwhat to say to him : on one hand I feel resentment because it's hisfault I got caught in the first place and I'm now in this mess, buton the other hand he just saved my life from a rather unpleasantdeath. I don't know whether to thank him or punch him. But whatever Ido, whichever choice I choose, I'll get in trouble doing so ; if Ithank him for defending me against the Captain, I will be considereda rebel, a direct treat to the authorities for putting up a supposedriot and encouraging a citizen to fight against them, but if I punchhim, I will suffer the punishment for attacking a fellow citizen forno apparent reason. So, instead of doing either, I glared at himhatefully, muttering for him to leave me alone at once. He lookedquite saddened by my rejection and seemed to plead at me with guiltyeyes to forgive him for putting me in this situation. I just avoidedhis stare and watched the Captain preparing for another telling off :"Mr. Peter Robinson-" he started threateningly, "May I know thereason of your sudden act of violence ?"

Peterlooked at me, then turned his face to the Captain before looking atme again. He didn't know what to say. "I um.." he hesitated forquite a long time. Well, he's not very creative....

"I justcouldn't bare seeing one of my fellow citizens being treated in suchan ill-manner." he answered, with his posh accent. Even though hisfather is a grocer, which is a highly respectable job, sellinglab-made food, the only type of food there is now, his mother is anOfficer, a highly placed one who takes care of External SecurityAffairs such as keeping the dinosaurs out of the bunker. And hisfamily is believed to have been a very powerful and rich dynasty ofdukes in the North of England, which used to be in Europe. His familyis still rich and influential with his mother being an Officer andhim living in one of the best houses in our bunker, so he still has away of changing fellow Officers' minds because he is destined to beone thanks to his school results.

CaptainRandall raises an eyebrow at the disrespectful answer. "She was notbeing ill-treated" he continues "considering the fact that she isthe daughter of traitors and that she most certainly helped stealingfrom your father's shop..." He smiles, satisfied of his arguments.

"Justbecause she is the daughter of traitors doesn't mean she is one."he says, his brows furrowed. He sneaks a glance at me, earning asurprised look from me. Why is he defending me ? Him of all people? Five minutes ago, he attacked me and nearly crushed me into theground on his full accord, and now he's my lawyer! I can't helpbut feel confused at the thoughts rushing in and out of my mind.

"Well,you yourself helped capturing her, didn't you Peter ?" he asksconvincingly. "That was quite a jump if I may say so. Quiteimpressive really." he smiles proudly. It's quite rare to becomplimented by an Officer, especially a Captain.

"Yes,I did. And thank you. But I wasn't expecting her to be treated likethat." He sounded honest, but I refused to believe him. He's theson of an Officer, we can't get along. Just because he's helping medoesn't mean he's doing it out of kindness. Maybe this is all a trickto get me to tell them the name of that poor child. Or maybe he'sjust doing it for fun. Or even out of pity. The Captain just staredat him, confused as to why he was defending me. But he didn't let hissurprise show for too long because he quickly covered up hisexpression and looked stone cold again.

"Iam just trying to do my job, boy.It's my job to catch thieves like her and make them pay for theircrimes." he repeated. "I am nota thief." I interrupted yet again, using the distraction as anescape. He stared coldly at me with his harsh eyes. "You will get aDiscipline ticket, girl. I will see you tonight." he says finally,leaving no doubt about the fact that he still wants me to pay for that.

Ilooked at him my face paling, Ihate going down there.I look down at my rough, damaged hands. The Discipline ticket is aticket proving a punishment that canonly be given by a highly-ranked person such as an Officer, a teacheror a Ruler to someone from a lower rank such as an inhabitant or aRogue for any minor breaking of the law. It isa penal sanction which consists of performing unpaid work for theprofit of the Bunker's community. For people in my physical condition– healthy and strong – this work means collecting, stacking andmoving heavy rocks from the place where the bunker caved in.

Idust off my pants and shirt before walking to the school as fast as Icould keeping my head down tiredly.

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