Chapter 3: Month One
The wind blew through Lucy's long hair as she sat alone on the park bench. It had been a week or two since her ordeal with the man. Since then, the green ribbons she had been using all this time to conceal her horns were becoming worn and falling apart. She had no idea where she got them, the ribbons that is. She just remembered waking up one day in yet another strange house, with the ribbons tied around her horns. The technique had worked, they diverted attention away from her mutation in public, so Lucy had opted not to remove them. It allowed her to spend short periods of time in highly-populated places, instead of being restricted to the back roads. These opportunities allowed Lucy to slip away with whatever supplies she could from stores and other places that sold packaged foods. This had kept her going for all these months, especially now that the supplies she'd snatched from the man's house had almost run out.
Speaking of the man, Lucy was completely unsure as to whether her efforts had been fruitful. At least a week since, and no major changes. Then again...she wasn't sure just what those changes should be. She had never really been given a thorough run-down of the human reproductive system. Although focusing on her body's internal workings was difficult enough, the task was made harder by the food poisoning she had received. A piece of fruit from the man's house had begun to turn bad and Lucy, not wanting to waste ay food item, had eaten it past its date. That proved to be a mistake. The mold growing on the fruit had aggravated her digestive system, causing her feelings of nausea nearly every day since consuming it. The churning and cramping in her stomach would fade away as the day went on, and often would be gone by the time she settled underneath a tree to sleep for the night. However, like clockwork, it would always return with a vengeance in the early dawn hours. Lucy would curse herself every time she wretched, because she was losing all the nutrients she had eaten the day before. If she couldn't recover soon, she feared starvation.
In the hours of mid-morning, in the center of a public park bench, Lucy sat and rummaged through her satchel. She withdrew a candy bar, an item she had pocketed from a grocery store the day before. At the sight of food, she felt her stomach rumble, both from hunger and the need to wretch again. With a sigh, Lucy unwrapped the treat and took a hesitant bite.
"If I can just keep this down," She thought. "I'll have just enough energy to walk to the next town over. I need to keep heading north...as far away from the ocean as I can get inland."
Swallowing the mouthful of candy, Lucy held her breath. She waited for the undeniable feeling of nausea to reach its climax, but the sugar seemed to settle it some. Lucy considered it a triumph when she finished her tiny meal without losing any of it. Swinging the bag over her shoulder, and freeing her long, pink hair from under it, she stood to begin her journey once again. Unfortunately, when gravity took affect, the nausea became unbearable. Lucy wasn't able to take a single step before feeling lightheaded.
"Ah, hell with it." She griped in her head as she was forced to duck behind a nearby shrub, spewing the contents of her stomach onto the ground.
When the situation finally lightened, Lucy found herself kneeling in the dirt, wiping sickly-sweet bile from her mouth.
"Goddamn it!" She hissed. "Not again."
Steading herself slowly to her feet again, Lucy looked about and was thankful that no passers-by had seen her episode. A ringing pain inside her head made her feel slightly faint. The disease was getting worse by the day, it seemed. Lucy thought for a moment if she should seek medical help, but immediately shoved the thought away. Medical professionals would very easily be able to trace her routes back to the facility on the shoreline, and she would possibly be sent back...or worse. Either way...she risked death. If not from this sickness, then from being returned to her captors. She chose the less painful option...the sickness.
"I have to press on." Lucy said to herself as she took the first wobbly steps forward to continue her journey. "Even if I starve...I'll use every ounce of strength I have left."
So she pressed onward. She had no real destination in mind; all she wanted was to get away. As far away as possible.
(AN: Sorry for the short chapter, they may or may not be this length in the future. How are you guys liking it so far? Let me know what you think in the reviews. Constructive criticism is always welcomed!)