Elite

chapter 1

It has been thirty-four years since World War III annihilated the once luxuriant world my ancestors lived in. The year is 2124 and the Earth is still in anguish, blanketed with plague and famine. The entire population was reduced from 7.3 billion people to a mere five thousand after the massacre. World War III was like a gruesome scene from the movies that became a reality. Every country was split into one of the three sides of the war, and it became a bloodbath. My mother and father survived the war and banned together with all of the other survivors to create one society of the lucky ones who got a second attempt at the game of life. Fast forward a few years, and I was born.

I always hear stories of how it used to be. A life without the stresses we have now. A life where you could just go to the store to pick up dinner, then go home to a family movie night. I have never even seen a movie. We do not have that technology anymore. The limited technology that was saved is used to power the city. There is a government center, known as Headquarters, that is completely blocked off from the rest of society, and it holds the technology that systematizes the cities power. Only the Elite get to go past those walls. I have always wondered what was in there. That is why I have worked so hard to do well in school. On the first of the month, if kids turn eighteen that month, they take a final test to determine which coterie they will be assigned to for the rest of their life. A coterie is like a sorority that groups people based on a similar mannerism. There is the Elite coterie, which consists of the smartest, strongest, most supreme individuals. Ever since I was a little girl, I have dreamed of being that prodigious, so I could stand among the Elite and see how everything works behind the scenes. So, I work hard every day. I have never earned anything but an A in school and I excel in sports, so I will keep my fingers crossed. But I do not have to wait long, because I take that test tomorrow.

"Reagan"

I snapped out of my daydream and see my best friend, Kinsley, staring at me.

"I've been saying your name for like five minutes," she laughed. "Did you even listen to a word I was saying?"

I chuckled, kind of embarrassed, "No. Sorry. I was daydreaming abo--"

"About the past? The Elite? Your Parents?" Kinsley sighed, "Ya, I know, Reagan. That's all you ever think about. But right now we need to prepare for tomorrow" she said sternly pointing at the textbook in her lap.

"You're right," I say, standing up from my creaky, old bed, joining Kinsley on the floor of my impoverished, broken-down bedroom. My "house" was just a run-down, abandoned shack in the middle of nowhere. I don't have parents anymore, so I have no income or guardian to worry about. My mom passed away when I was 8 from one of the plagues that ravaged our land. And my dad? Well, no one knows who he is or where he went. After my mom got pregnant, he had an "important job," so he left. And he never came back.

I grabbed one of the textbooks that were lying open and began to read an article entitled "Electric Cars & How They Damaged The Atmosphere." My eyes moved down the page, but my mind traveled elsewhere.

What if I don't get into the Elite?

Maybe I would be better off with the Artifacts, the historical coterie. Or maybe I belong in the mechanical coterie with the Paradigms.

"No," my mind tells me. I've worked too hard to let those thoughts fill my emotions. I will join the ranks of the distinguished laborers.

I glance at Kinsley who seems extremely invested in her Human Body textbook. Sympathy fills my face as I remember there is a good chance that I will never see her again after tomorrow. She is studying to join the Caregivers, who are like the doctors of our city. And if I get chosen to join the Elite, I will be taken to Headquarters for the rest of my life, secluded from the rest of society, including Kinsley. A small tear wells in my eye, but I shake it off.

I shut my book, recognizing it is no use studying any longer. Either I know the information, or I don't.

A knot grips my stomach, turning it inside out. Am I good enough?

I lay on my back and stare up at the hole in the ceiling. The countless stars twinkle across the sky.

I guess I will find out tomorrow.