The Flower Girl, Ellie Anne [the little red hen ebook .TXT] 📗

hardest to hide and outrun an infected Mute. The only problem was that this was an unidentified species of Mute. 

I glanced at Mika. She looked horrified, and stood there frozen. It was so strange to see such a terrified expression on her delicate face. I knew I had to do something, so I did. I made a run for it, yelling and calling, doing anything I could to get the Mute's attention. I saw the girl struggling to get her arm out of the Mute's hand, and made myself run faster. I picked up the biggest piece of broken city that I could, and lobbed it at the Mute's head. I hit it. Thankfully, it dropped the girl, and she ran towards me. When we reached each other, I instructed her to climb the hill, and stay with Mika. I waited until she was safely out of view to inspect the Mute.

It was knocked out, but still alive. Quietly, I came closer, restrained him, and checked out the pretty decent sized gash on his forehead. I shuddered, and turned him over. He wasn't a big Mute, and was rather small, just a few inches taller than my 5'9''. His face was surprisingly human, and his hands less beastly than was expected. The Mute was covered in the gray dust that hung in the air, and had brilliant purple-blue scales running up the ridge in his back, and along the side of his arms. He had a few by his eyes, and running down the side of his legs. They were interesting, and seemed to illuminate the world around him. I went back to inspecting his face, and noticed the scar that ran from the corner of his mouth to the middle of his cheek, It was faint, and barely noticeable, but still bumpy and uneven. The Mute's eyes shot open.

His eyes were the most stunning, luminescent, dark blue eyes I'd ever seen. They were unnatural and unnerving. They were beautiful. They were eerie and haunting. They were mesmerizing. He said something, but I didn't catch it. His face took on an irritated look, and he closed his eyes. I shook my head and stood up. I pulled him up to his knees, but still kept him restrained. Finally, he opened his eyes again.

"You done staring?" he taunted.

I wasn't expecting him to be able to speak.

"What? Not used to Mutes that aren't gory and lethal?" he let out a sardonic chuckle.

"No, I know they're still people. I know they still  feel. I know they still care. I know that they can hurt the ones they love." I replied softly. He didn't know what I knew, I went through.

"Sure, I'm just supposed to believe you're here for the common good, while you tie me up and throw me in the back of a truck." he scoffed.

"What were you doing with that girl anyway, Mr. Holier-Than-Thou?" I glared.

"I--well. I--I was just, um -- why do you care?" he stuttered.

"Alrighty then, bye." I gave a sarcastically sweet wave and turned on my heel. He could sit there and die for all I cared. I walked a few steps, then looked over my shoulder. Maybe not die.

I sighed and walked back to him, and watched as he struggle with the cuffs. They looked like a pure white oval from a distance, but the closer you got, the more you could see the locking mechanism and other Mute-proof things. There was no way he'd figure out how to get them off. It was so simple. If you knew where to look.

I took a step closer. "Here, if you tell me what you were doing with that girl, then I'll let you go after."

It was a very dangerous deal, but I could tell he had a conscience. He groaned, and looked like he just wanted this whole dealio over. I put my hands on my hips and pursed my lips. I still didn't know if he'd tell me, but if he didn't, I would be hauling his sorry butt back to the cells. He forced himself to meet my gaze, and a look of regret filled his eyes. Their deep blue hue seemed to become more luminescent by the second. I felt my knees grow weak and I screamed.

I knew that the extreme drowsiness I was feeling was his fault, I knew that was how he got his victims, but all I could do was open my mouth and scream. I heard Mika's light footsteps race  toward me, and Mr. Blue-Eyes turned his gaze to her. I fell forward on my elbows and knees. The sharp rubble tried to tear through my suit. I forced myself up, and looked at Mika. She was in a trance, and staring directly at the Mute.

"No! Leave her alone!" I shouted, but he didn't even flinch. 

I flung myself at him and knocked him over. Mika stumbled, then caught herself. She leaned forward and put her hands on her knees. I held the Mute down, as he growled threats at me.

I shoved his cheek farther into the gravel. "What's you name, you psycho?"

"Get off!" he rumbled.

"I asked you a question." I reiterated, my voice a lethal calm.

he didn't answer, and I twisted his arms.

"Candor!" he gasped.

"Try that eye thing one more time, Candor, and I swear, I will kill you. I don't care how far I have to chase you, but I will get you. That is a promise." I let his arms go, and let him lift his head out of the debris. 

Four

Mika and I called the office, and asked them to send a high security truck, and waited for them to arrive. When they finally got here, we traded vehicles, and I threw Candor in the back cell. The girl slipped into the back seat with Mika, and I drove. I was fuming, and tense. I didn't really care what happend to Candor anymore. I tried to help him, and all he did was attack not only me, but Mika too. That was too far. I knew I was speeding, but the faster we got the the office, the faster I would get to interrogate Candor, and throw him in a cell for the rest of his pathetic life.

We finally arrived, and I got out, slamming my door shut. I knew I freaked out the girl, but I also knew Mika could handle that. Right now, I needed to slap the crap out of Candor. I threw open the metal sliding door of the portable cell, then unlicked the Mute-proof glass. I grabbed Candor by the cuffs, and yanked him out. I knew that he knew that he was in for it. He had no idea.

I dragged him through the office, and everyone stopped working and stared at us. They could already guess that he'd done something to Mika. I only got this way when she got hurt. I found the Interogation Room, and threw him in, planted him in the chair, and smacked him so hard across the cheek, that I could tell he hurt. I held his jaw in my hand, and looked him in the eye.

"You're in for it, Candor. When I ask a question, you will answer. I will only ask once, and if I don't get a response, things are gonna get a lot worse. Understood?" I spoke with a deep, angry-calm voice.

He just stared forward, his cheek red, his eyes rebelious. I was about to hit him again when he nodded, and lost the defiant look. I nodded back, and began questioning him.

"First off, what species of Mute are you? I've succesfully caught at least one of every known kind, and I've never seen you." I asked.

"To be honest," he started. "I have absolutely no idea. I don't remember getting Infected or anything. I just woke up one day at the Sill with scales and funky eyes."

I nodded. I didn't want to accept his answer, but there wasn't anything else I could ask about such an unknown species, so I moved on.

"Why did you have that girl?" I asked, my voice rough, and merciless.

"I . . ." he started. then drifted off, looking at the ground.

I leaned my hands on the table, and glared down at him. "Choos your words wisely."

"I don't do anything bad, I can promise you that. I just, I need to, argh, how do I explain this. I have this thing I can do with my eyes, as  you've experienced--"

"Just get to the point!" I shouted.

"I don't really know, I just need to do that eye thing, and then I feel better." he said meekly, looking at his feet.

I slammed my fist down on the table. "That's not good enough. Why dod you have that girl?"

"I didn't do any thing to her! I found her in the Sill and was going to lead her back to civilization then she freaked out,  I tried to get her to calm down, she wouldn't, I did my eye thing to get her to calm down, she freaked out even more, I grabbed her, you showed up, end of story." he said in a very irritated rush.

I was ready to smack this kid again. I didn't.

"How old are you?" I growled.

"I think twenty or twenty-one." he mumbled.

I grabbed his chin again. "How old are you?"

"I just answered that!" he huffed.

"Really? 'Cause that seemed like a guess to me." I snarled.

"I don't know okay! I went through a bad phase in my life, and that kind of threw off my calendar. I apologize." he said, utterly sarcastic.

I smacked him this time. Then continued my questioning. When I finally got down to important questions about his lifestyle, the type of Mute he was, and again, why he had that girl, it was well into the night, and I was ready to suckerpunch this dude.

"Candor," I snapped. "If you don't give me a straight answer, I will personally escort you to the firey pits of Hades and leave your sorry butt there."

He took it like a joke, and I lost it. I grabbed him by the shackles, dragged him down the hall with the cells, found the darkest, most disgusting one I could, threw him in, then shut off the light so he was immersed in darkness. I stormed out back to the Interrogation Room, grabbed my notes, then headed back into the office. Mika was still getting tests done, so I sat at our desk and filed the very few legitimate notes I was able to take. I don't know what made him so infuriating. There was jus something about him that made me want to smack him and hang him from his ankles.

I shook my head and waited for Mika to get back. There was no way I was leaving this Containment Office without giving her a good hug and making sure she was well situated in the apartment she shared with her sister. They were close, especially after they lost thier little sister in bizarre Mute attack. We were a lot like each other in some things. Both of us came with a lot of baggage, we both threw oursleves into our work, had more time on our hands than we cared to admit. No matter how similar we were, we looked completely different. Mika