Family Business: Anarchy (Book II)

Introduction

April 2039

It had been over a year since the XAR movement had been formed and established as a front runner against the Legality Movement. The clash between the two movements had been deadly from the beginning. The leader of the Legality Movement, Xander Arnell, had hundreds of thousands of men at his disposal, set up his home base in Washington DC, and thrived in his newfound power. With some of the prolific crime families under his command, he easily ruled the eastern seaboard and as far west as what was formerly known as Colorado. The leader of the XAR movement, Aria Rossi, had the two largest crime families on her side; the Rossi's and the Violante's. There were a few gangs from California who had joined her movement as well.

The border split the former states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. Aria Rossi dominated the west. Thousands of refugees escaped across the border to seek out the XAR's aid, but it was a perilous journey. There were countless roadblocks, checkpoints, renegade gangs, and the ever-present threat of the colonies. Soldiers from both sides clashed on the border, each believing they were in the right. The Legality Movement believed in the desire to be free of rules and regulations of society, while the XAR movement believed in a more egalitarian regime.

~Unknown POV I~ Legality movement territory

Food became more scarce as time progressed. The rich began profiting off of the fact. People who were not well off financially began having to rely on the rich for their daily rations. Everything was falling apart. International travel was no longer a thing. The power was becoming centralized rather than nationalized.

I sigh as my alarm goes off and I get up, putting on my work clothes. I had been in college until it closed six months ago. I was unemployed up until the college advertised that they would hire people to farm food for the money. Many students signed up, but the college wanted people who would work all day so when I got the email, I signed up immediately. I worked here since March and we planted things nearly every day for the past few months. The group before us prepared the soil, adding the important things. Now, we are spraying pesticides, tilling the earth, and watering things. The amount of work that we did, and the pay that we received, did not add up at all.

I leave the house with a few other people and we take the bus to the college before getting a ride to the fields. I put my hat on and ignore my stomach growling as I grab the tools that we need for the day.

"Ready?" My friend Jane asks as she adjusts her hat as well.

"As I'll ever be," I sigh. My body ached from farming all day yesterday. I knew that the college was exploiting us for our work, but I really needed a job right now. They were paying me $9 an hour, plus room/board. It is not much, but hey, a job is a job.

"Stop chatting! Get a move on!" Our boss snaps, shoving the rest of the tools towards us. "You guys in the 9th quadrant today, so get going. Don't forget to check the plants and water everything."

I put the handkerchief over my face to protect myself from pesticides and pick up the sack of seeds. We trudge across the fields to the back sector where we began spraying the base of the plants. My back groans as I lean down, but I ignore it. I zone out as I begin to go through my row of bean plants. On the other side of my two rows, a woman was singing softly in Spanish. I hum along with the song she sang because she sang it every day. After about two hours, a bell rings and we were allowed to break to eat breakfast. Breakfast consisted of peanut butter, dried cereal, and an overripe apple. After the 20 minute break, including walking time, we were up and heading back to the fields. Part of me was pretty sure that it violated any and all labor worker laws, but who was I going to tell? I needed this money.