(Rated +12 for swearing.)
Meyersville, Indiana: 2073
Chapter 1
“It is my unfortunate duty to announce that the United States has entered a crisis.”
Hah, Kaylee thought, that’s definitely not the first time he’s said that.
The president, Jack Warsaw, was a stocky man with wired frame glasses. He stood behind a floating podium, looking up and down from the teleprompter in the middle of the stand.
“Last week, after the unfortunate Greenland glacier meltings, the amount of natural fresh water decreased rapidly. Canada, once our ally, has sent spies over the border to steal large amounts of our food units and water supply.”
“Americans can no longer survive on anything they want. Therefore, I’m instituting rations to every household. Each family will only be allotted two gallons of water and four food units per day.”
“Citizens, I can not tell hard this is going to hit us. We’re lucky, compared to the Asian and African countries now in shambles because of this epidemic. Unlike other countries, the US is already on ways to prevent droughts and food shortages. However, we take in to account that our environment is changing drastically…”
Kaylee rolled her eyes in disgust. “Turn off,” she murmured at the TV, and the old, holographic Cinescreen 2052 turned off immediately. She bounded across the tile floor of the cottage and picked up her eManual, turning on the screen to one of her favorite books, The Catcher in the Rye.
The old cottage wheezed around her as rays from the sun reflected through the bulletproof window panes. She settled down in her old leather chair next to the Cinescreen.
“Lean back.” The chair did as it was told, and moved instantly down into the lower position. Kaylee arranged her long, brown hair behind her and then focused intently on the book. Her freckles on the tip of her nose glowed in the sunlight and she kicked off her TechnoBoots that were making her feet sweat.
A couple of rooms away, Kaylee heard the front door slam, and the ominous foot steps that echoed through the house.
“I can’t believe it! First the reforms, now these rations? When will our insane government learn that a lot of us were already trying to conserve as much as much as they possibly could? You know what this crap is? Pure sh*t! The government has lost it!”
Jack Monroe came thundering through the living room, his boots clanking against the floor. He was wearing his usual farming apparel: a yellow, temperature-controlled suit and an EZ Tool attached to the belt at his waist. He stopped to stare at Kaylee for a second, who was lying haphazardly on the chair. He tilted his head – an odd little quirk he’d had since he was a baby – then sped of into the cottage’s thin hallway. He kept on talking as, Kaylee guessed, he’d changed; he wasn’t really thrilled with the new president, Mr. Warsaw.
By the time Jack had changed, Kaylee had rearranged herself on the chair, this time hanging upside down, her head close to the matching leather ottoman.
“Did you watch President Warsaw’s speech, Uncle Jack?” She asked as quarts of blood ran to her head. She already knew what her Uncle’s answer was going to be, since he was definitely Anti-Warsaw. He mostly watched all of the president’s speeches to just disagree and debate about the politics of what the government was going to try next.”
“Yes, and it was completely ridiculous. I think Warsaw made the whole debacle seem like a life and death situation.”
“But it is a life and death situation.” Kaylee retorted back. “Up,” she murmured, and the leather chair adjusted back into its original position. She sat up in the chair again and reached for her eManual.
“True, but unlike the rest of the population, we don’t have much to worry about. We grow our own food, and don’t eat those sickening, genetically mutated food units. Do you realize there are only seven farms remaining in the world, including ours? And we’re the only farm in the world that doesn’t supply our produce to the food unit factories!” Jack reached down for his belt and grabbed his EZ Tool. He fiddled with it before pressing a red button, and the contraption easily turned into a hoe.
“Have you realized that billions of people don’t even know what this is? They’ve never even seen a farmer’s hoe; something you seem to think is so common.” He pressed the red button again and the hoe transformed back into the neon orange EZ Tool.
“Everyone eats food units except us. You’ve told me a million times that scientific food is bad; that its non-renewable. Same with the water they make.” Kaylee sighed, then pulled on the sleeves of her polyester, hand-me-down sweater from her cousin Magda.
“Good,” Jack picked up his EZ tool and clipped it back onto his suit’s belt.
“Where’s Aunt Kit?” Kaylee asked , getting up from the chair and setting her eManual in its charger spot. It flashed green, meaning that the battery had been quickly restored.
“She’s in field eight planting the new banana plant with Cedric. Also the market is starting in a couple hours. We need you to sell the squash.”
“But Uncle Jack,” Kaylee whined, stomping on the wood floor with her naked feet. “I always get assigned to…”
“You have no choice,” Jack interrupted sternly, looking at the eManual in Kaylee’s hand. “Come, help me load the squash into the Turbo-T.” He motioned for Kaylee to follow him, then left the room and walked to the front door.
Kaylee stood in the middle of the room, feet planted in place as if she was one of the many trees outside. She didn’t want to go to the market this time. Going weekly only made her more embarrassed to be….
“Are you coming?” Jack yelled. Kaylee slowly slid her feet into her TechnoBoots and went racing to the front door.
(Short little first chapter to a sort of action adventure/sci-fi novel I couldn't really categorize! Hope you liked it and thanks for reading!)(
