I actually finished the chapter today! *does little happy-dance* Anyway I hope you like it. Thanks to animal luvr1 and Electroclasm for supporting the idea for the donor's name. He's mentioned in the chapter. Anyways, here's chappie 4.

Disclaimer: If you still need to read this, then there is something seriously wrong with you.

Claimer: Victoria and her depressing tale are my creation and not anyone else's.

A pinprick of hope

Good news, or bad news?

VPOV

I grew suspicious as soon as my food came. It was way too early. And it had more food than I have ever seen at one period if time. If they were trying to poison me, I didn't care. Anything was better than living in this hell hole.

I launched myself at it like a savage dog. Luke actually stepped back at my ferociousness. Either I was being fed actual food, or I was being poisoned. Either possibility was better than going hungry.

What startled me most, was the look Luke gave me. Like he knew I was going to be put through hell, but couldn't help me. I gulped, and started to eat my food more slowly. I looked at what I had in my hands.

It was green, and thinner than my usual bread. It crunched when I bit into it. My tastebuds screamed at me for more, they had had nothing but bread and water all my life. "It's lettuce." I jumped at Luke's voice. He was still standing in the doorway.

"Lettuce?" I frowned. In my books, people had described lettuce as, well, not very tasty. But this was delicious; I guess that's what you get when you've had nothing but bread your whole life. "Do you always get stuff like this?" I asked.

Luke looked startled. "Well, not many of us prefer salads to meat, but yeah, we eat like this all the time." I bit into my lettuce again. I noticed more interesting foods on my tray. I reached for a little red ball. "Cherry tomato," Luke informed me.

Again, it tasted so good. I picked up a circle of green. It looked odd. It had dark green on the outside, lighter green inside the darker and little clear seed-shaped things in the middle. "Cucumber," Luke told me all of the different vegetables on my tray. They all tasted heavenly.

"So," I started, chewing into a carrot. "Why all the food?" I knew I wouldn't like what the answer was, but I didn't like being left in the dark either. Luke sighed. He looked at me with a look so sympathetic; I wanted to take back my question.

I didn't though. He sighed again. "They want to try a new experiment." Well, duh! He looked at me, his eyes begging me not to make him continue. Now, it was my turn to sigh.

"Look, I've been through a lot. I don't think anything you say now can surprise me." He looked doubtful. Sitting down, he continued slowly.

"They, they want to see if you can," he stopped, choosing his words carefully. "To see if you can give birth, have a baby." He looked at the ground.

I almost fainted. I dropped the carrot I was eating. "What?" I stared, wide-eyed at him. "How are they going to do that?" I hoped it wasn't what I was thinking. I would rather die than be raped by one of those jerks.

"They've chosen a donor. From the, uh, I guess from the outside world." Well, at least they weren't going to rape me. But I still wasn't comfortable with the idea. Getting beat almost to death? I would survive. Being a mother to a child which I would never know the father? I shuddered. They wouldn't give me a choice though.

"Have you seen them? The donor, I mean." If Luke told me that they looked alright, I would feel slightly better. Only slightly though.

"No, I haven't seen the photo, but I've heard bits about him. His name's James, he's got brown hair, he's tall. . . and that's all I know." He looked disappointed that he couldn't tell me exactly what he looked like.

"That's okay. At least it's something." He nodded and left. Leaving me to my salad and my now racing thoughts.

What do you think? Is it good? Bad? Terrible? Tell me what you think.

Alienated2