Surviving Patorum

Chapter 1

Every time I look at this picture, I end up with tears. My father died with the other billions of people worldwide from the nuclear bombs that started the war. When the bombing started, he was at work an hour away. When my mother and I took off for the six-hour journey to the compound, my mother told me my dad would meet us here, and he never showed.

I was a mess. It took my mother hours to calm me down, and it took weeks for me to speak again. It's been six years, and I miss him every day.

Before I take another sip from my glass, the front door's electronic chime fills the room.

"Dallas Trenchhart has arrived at your residence." The automated female voice says through the speakers.

"Let him in." I take another sip as the metal door slides open.

He walks in, looking the same as he always does, dirty and sweaty. The deep purple bags under his eyes accentuate his hollow cheeks. The small amount of black oil smeared on his chin tells me he just got off work. His torn red t-shirt is also covered in oil, making it look like it came straight out of a car's engine. He's wearing the blue baseball cap he always wears with Houston, TX, written in bold white lettering across the front. His shaggy brown hair peeks out from the sides of the cap and clings to his sweaty face.

I met Dally when I first arrived. Despite our three-year age gap, we've become best friends. The first time we met was right after my mother, and I entered the compound. I was sitting alone while my mother took care of our paperwork. Dally strolled up to me, chocolate bar in hand, and gave me a piece. He said I looked hungry, but I think he needed someone at that moment since he came to the compound alone. It was a strange, new, and terror-ridden place. Having someone around my age to talk to made the fact that the Earth outside was withering away a little more bearable.

Dally's had a hard life. Thrown out of his parent's house at fourteen for being uncontrollable, he moved into his grandparent's house. They were strict, as Dally says. The year he was with them was the worst of his life. He was in and out of police cars, causing trouble with other kids in school, and being disobedient to anyone of authority. However, Dally's grandfather had a soft spot for him. He helped him get out of trouble numerous times. And when the whisper of Patorum started, his grandfather sold everything he had, even the clothes off his back, to get Dally a ticket to the compound. It wasn't enough. Dally had to come into the compound the hard way, just like the rest of the Grubs. He signed his life away to work in hard labor and use his blood, sweat, and tears to pay off his spot here. That's why he works in Mechanical.

Dally's eased into the compound life, not causing trouble like he used to. I'm glad. I didn't want to be friends with a heathen.

"Ethan, my man!" He walks up to me and gives me a pat on the back.

"Always nice to see you, Dally." I put my glass back on the kitchenette counter.

Dally plops down on the loveseat. He eyes my still bright HoloTablet and picks it up. "Ah, the Pythagorean Theorem. I remember failing that test."

"Not a surprise," I join him on the couch.

"Oh, shut up," He sets my HoloTablet on the coffee table, made of wooden pallets that grocery stores used to get their food off their trucks. "Good grades don't get you anywhere down here," Dally adds.

"Uh, it does. Good grades get you a better job. What if I want to work in Cultivation or Air Purification?"

"Ethan Cooper working Cultivation? You got to be joking." Dally laughs with a grin that stretches from ear to ear.

I roll my eyes. "I'd rather work with plants than in Mechanical surrounded by boilers, furnaces, and engines daily like you."

"You're a Grub man, and they'll never move you up to one of those smart people jobs. You know the Richlings run ramped there."

"I just want a future that doesn't involve almost dying from exhaustion all day."

The ranking system here is pretty set in stone. However, there are ways to advance yourself. The students with the highest grades get a chance to work in higher-ranked jobs. Grubs usually can't advance, though, since the Richlings can pay for tutors and other ways to ace their tests. The only Grub I know that was able to move up was Jason Allen. He was intelligent beyond belief, and I honestly think he's gifted. But when he was awarded his job in Cultivation, the other Grubs got jealous and started treating him like a Richling.

Being a Richling does sound tempting, but I don't care about titles and ranks, and I want enough food in my belly for my mother and me.

Dally stands up off the couch and walks, with his boots clattering on the metal flooring, to my half-drank glass of water on the kitchenette and gulps the rest of it down. "Why you got to be so negative?" He says after a swallow.

"I'm just tired of being down here. Tired of being hungry."

"Aren't we all?" Dally says, putting the empty glass back on the counter.

"You think we'll get out of here soon?" I ask.

"You know the drill. The scientists say the air out there is a year away from becoming breathable again. But that next year comes, and they say the same shit every time."

"Well, if I work in Air Purification, I'll get to see how the air is out there myself."

"They won't let you outside." Dally rolls his eyes. "I have a theory. Patorum never happened, and we're all down here to be controlled."

I laugh. "You have a big imagination."

"Think about it! We all have curfews, guards patrolling the hallways every day, and they have fucking guns. Why would they have guns if not to control us?"

"You've seen the riots firsthand, Dally. You know how out of hand things can get."

"You can't change my mind." Dally tucks a piece of loose hair into his hat.

"Why'd you come over here anyway? I've got homework to do, and I can't have you taking up all my time." I grab my HoloTablet off the coffee table.

"Put that shit down! It's Friday night! We're getting drunk." Dally smirks.

"With what alcohol?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Paige Smith's alcohol."

"Count me out. I'm not getting in trouble for stealing the Founder's liquor."

"You're telling me you're going to pass on getting drunk with the girl you've had a thing for since I can remember?"

"I've never had a thing for her." I sigh while fiddling with my hands. "Do I have a choice?"

Dally winks as he walks towards the door, and it opens just as he gets close to it. "Come on. Let's have some fun."