Lost

chapter II

Valerie felt a warm hand on her dainty wrist as she was violently spun around and slammed into the remnants of the glass door. She was face-to-face with a boy, who couldn't be older than 15. His green eyes burned into hers and suddenly she was too afraid to move. Sharply, she was thrown over her attackers shoulder and within a blink of an eye she was being rushed up the stairs. Valerie was disorientated and confused, and quite frankly a little afraid.
"Who are you?" She cried, hitting and kicking. "What do you want?"
Her calls were left unanswered as she was carried and without notice, violently thrown onto a bed. It took a quick glance beside her to see Alexandria; Valerie took advantage of the sight of her friend and huddled beside her, trembling. Alexandria, on the other hand, was livid.
"Who the fuck are you?" She shrieked, fury painfully obvious in every syllable.
One of the other boys who had taken Alexandria, stepped forward. He had brown, messy hair and blue eyes.
Lifting his hand, he struck Alexandria across the face. Valerie let out a sob as she grabbed Alexandria's hand. "Don't hurt us!" She wailed. Alexandria, meanwhile, had been stunned into silence.

The two boys looked at each other and then to Valerie. The one who had taken Valerie stepped forward.
"I'm Terrence, and that's Matthias. What's your name?" His eyes still held a light of agitation and his stance was tense.
"My name is Valerie," she whispered, her eyes not meeting his.
"Who's your friend?" Asked Matthias.
"That's Alexandria and we-"
"Shut up Valerie! We don't know these guys- they could be serial killers!" Alexandria snapped, her silence forgotten.
"We may have just grabbed you two but we're not serial killers. Look, we live here now. We can't have just anyone ransacking the place. Our parents were killed by the flares and quite frankly, we have a feeling yours were too," Terrence said firmly.
"Look, sorry for slapping you but you were screaming. If someone were to hear they'd come and they'd take us to some bullshit foster home. We really can't have that, so the less you scream the more we won't have to hurt you," Matthias finished for Terrence.
"Don't pretend to be concerned," Alexandria scoffed. "You hurt my arm from grabbing it so hard, and a simple warning would've sufficed instead of dragging us up here. Honestly, what's your issue?"
Valerie looked at Alexandria, shock clouding her gaze.
"I'm sorry- she's angry right now. On her behalf I apologize for her behaviour. Please, let us go now? We're on the run," Valerie said calmly, her eyes meeting Terrence's.
"That's the thing. We're all sort of on our own, in case you couldn't tell," Terrence started.
"And we need a group. Two won't survive as long as four- we need to stick together. We're all the same age and plus, what harm would it do? I get you're pissed and all but think about it. We could work together to keep each other alive," Matthias looked hopeful as he gave his speech.
"As sweet as that is, we really must get going," Alexandria said as she started to stand up. Valerie, on the other hand, had other ideas.
"Look, Alexandria we might as well stay with them. They're in the same situation we are- plus we can take more supplies with us now that there's more of us. Please, at least for a little bit?" Valerie begged, her hazel eyes pleading.
"Alright, alright. We'll go with them," Alexandria hissed in annoyance. She rose to her feet and stalked out of the room, leaving Valerie alone with the two boys.
"Valerie, is it?" Asked Terrence. Valerie nodded.
"I bet you're wondering why this dumb war started, hey?" Asked Matthias. Valerie nodded; she hadn't even realized that there was a reason for the bombing. Of course there was a reason but of course Valerie hadn't thought to think of one.
"My dad was a marine before he died- he gave me insight regarding what was to come. I guess maybe he figured that he ought to keep me informed... he told me all the time how-" Matthias was interrupted by Alexandria who rushed back into the room.
"Wait- I want to hear this too!" She snapped, shaking her head. "Didn't any of you think to call me up here? Because hey maybe Alexandria wants to know what's going on," she hissed bitterly. Matthias just shook his head with a chuckle.
"Well then," he said, taking a deep breath. "As I was saying, this war was started because of us. There are people after the kids of this generation to use us as mind slaves."
Valerie's jaw went slack from shock and Alexandria's eyes went bright with indignation.
"Basically," Matthias continued. "Our lives are in danger."