FoxAnima:

A thousand pardons, my friends for the long and tiresome wait.

I can only hope you had the patience to wait for me to get my butt in gear.

Thank you so much for the reviews, they definitely helped in my motivation!

Here's the next chapter!

Anima: Killing the Mockingbird

Chapter 2

Dandelion

"Don't be stupid!" Mother hissed, giving Mataya only the sternest of looks.

"Mother!" Mataya objected, picking the tufts of cotton just a little quicker to catch up to her skilled parent, "We can't live here! There's a whole world to explore, Grandmama always sai-"

"Sh!" Mother warned Mataya, "The Warden is near, if he hears your nonsense…!"

Mataya lowered her voice, careful to continue picking as she insisted, "Jesse is dead, Mama! They didn't even care, we can leave! Go in the night, I've seen ways, I know where to go. We'll run into the forest-"

Mama's slap knocked Mataya backwards, her stinging face hardly soothed by her hot tears.

"No more talk of this."

And it was final.

At least it was final.

It was final until the beatings that night.

The beatings for the pause in work witnessed by the Warden that day.

The beatings that broke little Elizabeth's right arm.

She was old enough to be beaten now, and Mama couldn't take the sight of another daughter ravaged as Mataya was.

No bags, no luggage, nothing.

The dead black of the night cloaked the three girls as they skirted along the confines of the camp. The stale, cool air gave them no relief, the sweat on their brows obscuring their eyesight ever so slightly. This was dangerous, so so dangerous, but as proven the night before, so necessary.

Mataya knew the way. Her small field was at the edge of Tsuget manor, surrounded by the barbed wire fence. The single exit was monitored at all times by several men, and was most definitely not the exit the girls were aiming for. At the edge of her field, the wire was thinner, and unguarded.

"Mataya, Elizabeth, stop please. I need to say something to you." Mama gasped. The three crouched behind the final shed in the complex – the home of Stuart and Hilary, their friends.

"Yes, Mama?" Elizabeth whispered. The child only having a half idea of what was happening.

"This is terribly dangerous. You two know we may die."

The sisters nodded solemnly.

"I love you" The three said at once, then giggled quietly, turning sharply to confirm they hadn't been heard, then sighing in relief. "Let's continue," Mama said, kissing both girls quickly on the forehead, "This field is long and bare, we must run quickly, and low to the ground."

The three cursed their luck as they surveyed their safety. The field was bathed in moonlight, being unseen was not an option. Elizabeth examined her right arm, the makeshift cast fixed on by her mother consisting of her other shirt and 3 sticks found outside their shed.

But neither is staying here.

The girls sped across the small slope, Elizabeth gasping as she trod on a strawberry. Mataya's hold on her wrist prevented her from stopping, dragging the small slave forward more.

Voices!

The party stopped, catching a snatch of the conversation between the two sons of Tsuget: Tor and Tadc, "Father's taking us to the Coliseum tomorrow, eh Tadc? That Maggie's a sweet one, that's for-"

"What are they doing here?!" Mama hissed, her voice ragged with fatigue.

Too loud, the men stopped talking. Hushing each other and attempting to find the source of the noise.

Footsteps. A cocked shotgun.

A gun?!

"Run!" Mama hissed, "Don't look back!"

And they ran.

So close to the fence now.

A tear ran down Mataya's cheek, Elizabeth dragging behind her. Mama back there, slower.

So close so close, freedom!

The crack of the shotgun filled the air, Mama's cry.

Please please, we need to get out!

The men were hooting now with excitement, shooting wildly at the remaining girls.

They reached the fence, Elizabeth first, under easily. A fox had dug a shallow route underneath. Mataya was larger.

Dig dig dig.

She clawed at the ground, dirt flying, fingers scraping and bleeding; the yip of a nearby animal hardly audible above the men's ruckus.

-Zing-

So close now, a bullet sped past her ear and ricocheted off the wood support of the fence.

"Hide Lizzie! Run, I'll find you"

She obeyed, and Mataya continued digging, tearing, spittle shooting from her gasping mouth.

Mama's gone, Mama's gone, and I'll be gone too, please please, Mama help me!

Pain, terrible terrible pain. It burned right through her backbone, tearing, ripping, bleeding. Mataya screamed, howled. More yips in the distance.

The moon was full and so beautiful.

The men yelled in victory, as Mataya fell, walking slowly the many yards that distanced them from their prize.

FoxAnima:

And there will be a next chapter out either very soon, or sometime in February.

Send me hate mail if I don't come through!

:P I hope you enjoyed the second installment of

Anima: Killing the Mockingbird

Next chapter: Fox