City Hunter

Chapter One

10/5/70

Let's face it, people: There is no such thing as a utopia.

I would know. I was paid to find such places.

My name is Melissa Skylar.

This is my story.

-----~<*>~-----

It all started on Saturday, October 5th, 2070.

I was arguing with my mom about my brother. Again.

My brother, Fred, is in our military -- or whatever's left of it. But more on that later.

"He has to come back," I argued, pounding my fist against our woodmetal table for emphasis. "It's far too dangerous, and besides, he never actually does anything. What's the point?"

My mom let out her breath in a long, drawn out sigh. "Oh, Melissa. You don't understand. Fred needs to be in the military. He gets paid. And...other reasons. You don't need to know about them." She looked away, but I could still hear the catch in her voice.

I should've taken those words as a warning that they were. I should've gone back to staring at the fake grains in our table and dropped that conversation. It would've made our lives a whole lot simpler.

But I growled, "What other reasons? It's plain and simple: The military's too dangerous! Why won't anybody tell me anything?"

My mom sighed, looked down, and whispered, "It has to do with Opalesca."

When she didn't elaborate, I asked, "What's Opalesca?"

She said nothing more.

After a few seconds, she stood up, tossed her chocolate brown hair -- the same color as my hair and both of our eyes -- and feigned a smile. "It's getting late. Why don't we talk about this in the morning?"

I wanted to bombard her with more questions about Opalesca, but she was already getting up and walking down the dimly lit hallway to her room. I'd been through enough arguments with my mom to know that meant this conversation is over.

Fine. Let it wait. I'd pick it up again in the morning.

Of course, I was about to find out how wrong I was.

-----~<*>~-----

Let me explain how crazily messed-up our world is right now.

I live in the area that, according to historians, was once called the United States of America. Now it's called the Oligarchy, which is pretty self- explanatory. The Rigidists rule over this land in, well, an oligarchy. A small group with all the power.

The Rigidists formed because of one woman -- Karen Johnson. Nobody really knew how she rose to power or even got into politics. Suddenly, she was there. When I was little, I figured nobody paid attention to her because they must've all thought, "What's a naive little girl going to do to our perfect government?" Now I knew that she had risen to power because of countless decades of preparation, bribes, and sabotage.

Within months, the government had been attacked by foreign nations, strange rebellion groups, and even our own military (she clearly had allies somewhere). She must have been planning the attack for years. I didn't know much about it because my family was fairly average, and I didn't know much about politics. By 2038, she was everywhere.

And there was nothing the country could do about it.

After Karen gained control of America, there was a draft. And I mean a huge draft. The kind of thing that would never have happened in the old days. Every man over 18 had to join the military -- except those who were scientists, government jobs, and a few others. The women? We were left to handle other jobs and our homes, besides who Karen had recruited to be in the Rigidists.

The Rigidists were the oligarchist group Karen led. I only knew a few things about them -- all of them were women, they were the best of the best, which was why Karen had recruited them -- and they were completely and utterly loyal to their leader. Well, most of them.

I also knew a few of the members, and that was only because I had heard them mentioned a few times.

Maria Storm was Karen's closest -- well, I wouldn't say friend, advisor maybe? She was apparently cold, whip-smart, and ruthless.

Ella Parks was one of Karen's weapons advisors. I had heard rumors that she was one of the top scientists in the country before she was recruited. She, like Maria, was completely loyal to Karen.

Julie Hampson was one of the elite military overseers. She was bound to Karen mostly by fear, and some people said that she could be coerced to give up secrets.

I only knew about those three. Well, and Violet Johnson. Violet was Karen's daughter, and nobody knew much about her. Some stories said that Karen's husband had been a wealthy businessman and had died soon after Karen got into politics. Some even said that Karen had poisoned him.

After Karen made the draft, she implemented a system. The old system (the Constitution, I think?) was thrown away. Every boy, when he reached fifteen, would either be put into military training, science training, or government jobs. When a girl reached fifteen, she would either be put into the elite military, science training, or the regular town jobs (which happened to most girls). Very rarely would someone become a Rigidist.

The scariest part? Nobody knew what Karen's plans were -- although everybody had their theories.

The system worked. Until 2041.

See, Karen had a deal with some countries. Those were the same countries that helped Karen win over America -- now the Oligarchy. But after Karen won, she turned her back on them. They wanted their end of the deal (I didn't know what that was, though). They sent diplomats to meet with Karen, hoping she would see reason. But she didn't let them meet with her. The Oligarchy had basically been isolated from the rest of the world.

I didn't know the specifics of what happened next, but I knew that nuclear war was involved, and a lockdown of the Oligarchy.

In the year 2050, after the radiation had been cleaned up, every single country agreed to isolate themselves from the rest of the world -- well, the countries that were left. Most had been obliterated by the war.

Karen kept the same system, of course, but there was no air travel allowed, due to the poor air quality.

And here we are now.

I was fourteen years old now, and I turned fifteen in... well, very soon.

-----~<*>~-----

I lay awake in total darkness.

How many weeks were left? Two? Three? I had stopped counting due to fear.

The old metal clock on the desk was ticking its repetitive, staccato pattern. Tock. Tock. Tock. Each tock reminded me that the initiation was very soon, just a few weeks away. I would be whisked away from my mother to do who knows what who knows where. The only people I knew who had been through this was my mom, who refused to talk about it, my brother, who was too far away to ask, and my father, who had died before I was born. My mom wouldn't tell me what had happened to him either. And I didn't have any friends to talk to; I was pretty much a loner at school.

Tock. Tock.

Stupid clock.

I was considering knocking it off the nightstand when I heard a thump in the direction of my mom's room. I sat up. Another thump. I tiptoed quietly to the door.

No more sounds.

Tock. Tock. Tock. Tock. Tock.

Then the sound of shattering glass pierced the night.

"Mom!" I raced down the hall, bumping into random objects, nearly falling twice. I fumbled for the doorknob, opened the door, flicked on the special green-energy lights, and...

The room was empty.

Devoid of any human beings besides me.

My mother was gone.

A/N - Hello, Wattpad! I'm glad you've chosen my story to read, and comment what you think!