October 20, 2062. The Capital is a monotonous city, everything packed so tightly together that no sunlight reaches the ground. The only color you can see is the glare of the bright red sun, bulging out of the dull gray sky. It’s a cold day, the icy fingers of winter reaching out early. 

Tucked away in the cement landscape is the Capital North Hospital, which is just as dull as every other building around it. Inside, however, the chaos is inevitable. This particular day has been quite pleasant, operations running as smooth as possible. That is of course, until the very moment there is a series of screams from room 407.

Jaime, the delivering nurse in the room, shrieks in horror as he sees the child he had just helped to deliver. Lucille Ostello, the mother, gazes with eyes full of fear as the nurse holds her screaming baby. 

“What happened? What is that? Jaime?” She asks worriedly.

“Mrs. Ostello, please, don’t panic. The baby has a heart parasite… We will have to take her to be tested and to stop it.” Jaime rushes with the baby to another nurse, as doctors rush in and out.

Lucille’s eyes well up with tears,when a realization hit her. “Her? It’s a girl?”

“Yes, Mrs. Ostello.”

“May god have mercy on her in this world.”

. . . . .

For the next few years, the Ostello family lives in The Capital as close to the hospital as possible. The child managed to survive with her parasite, though it has been slowly spreading throughout her life. The purple discoloration over her heart has been spiraling out onto the rest of her chest and arms. Every week she goes for more treatment, and every week her family loses more and more money.

Soon enough, they have no money left to spend on treatments. They are at the end of their rope, nowhere left to go, no choice but to leave The Capital. The only place in The Civilized States of America where they will be allowed to go is the worst possible option… Agriculture District 4. AD4 is the hard labor district of Civ. States, where the citizens spend so much time in the sun that many die from the toxins. 

. . . . .

“Bye, Ma! I’m off to mine duty!” she yells as she leaves the family’s small, run down home. This, of course, is a lie. Since she was a kid, she’s been sneaking off and ditching her gov assigned duties so that she can go to school.

She barely hears her mother yelling, “Be safe, Al!” as she leaves.

She hopes that one day she can gain enough specialized knowledge to take her family out of AD4. And, of course, she has learned things she never thought she would about the government through her sneaking around. Armed guards keep AD4 citizens from leaving, for any reason. Most families in AD4 have never even seen the other 3 agriculture districts, let alone the suburbs or cities. If an AD4 citizen ever got into The Capital with the gov’s knowledge, there would be a full lockdown and manhunt. 

The deaths that Alessia has witnessed while trying to avoid her own has left more scars on her mind than there are on her body. Children, parents, elderly folks, men, women, everybody. She’s learned the best ways to look and act like she belongs in The Capital, how to avoid the constant watch of the gov, and most importantly, how to stay alive. 

She’s had to sneak through banned zones of the Civ. States in order to get where she needs to be, and she’s witnessed operations that are hidden from the public. She has tried to spread awareness without getting caught, tried to stop everything she can without being killed. Standing up is sure to get you noticed when everyone else is sitting down, however.

It’s 2085 now, and she has made it to college after all. Years of skipping her assigned labor to attend classes and protest on campus has put unwanted eyes on her.

“Alessia Ostello, please come with us.” A masked guard says as he grabs her arm forcefully.

“Let go of me, prick! I ain’t goin anywhere!” She fights back and pulls herself away from the man, sprinting as fast as she can through the crowd and into a maze of alleyways. She turns and yells “And it’s Al to you!” as she continues sprinting. As she runs down a dark back alley, a team of hands grabs her and covers her mouth.

The entire world goes dark.