The men in black suits were young and well trimmed as they set up their gear at the front of their classroom. Some of the girls batted their eyelashes and raised their hands in the “call me” motion in hopes for a hook up later that night while others kept their eyes glued on the bright screens of their IPods and IPhones; completly zoned out in the digital world as if it was their lifeline. Violet sighed and rolled her eyes as the projector placed the words The Creative Youths of Our Time onto the whiteboard, her pencil instantly began the rhythmic tapping on her desk that indicated she was either bored or annoyed. At this moment, both were occurring at the same time. Getting up, she quickly sharpened the tip of her pencil to a nice point before taking her mechanical pencil out in which she used to draw. Her mind drifting to and fro in of what the men were making their presentation about as she began to draw the image that was set in her mind. Her hand making quick short bursts to draw the lines that created the image to be a piece of art though at times she furiously erased the mistakes that tended to slip through onto the paper which was followed by an unhearable sigh that fluttered out her lips.

    “We came looking for the best of us, the most creative and ready to protect our future. In our program we have the best minds set to creating the future technology, furniture houses, ways to keep the peace and so on.” Suit guy 1 began his speel, keeping eye contacting with as many students as possible though he seemed to get a bit agitated when one of the cheerleaders would crack their gum between their teeth.

Violet clocked out after he finished his sentence though she looked up once in awhile so it would look as though she was paying attention, but mostly to get every feature of the men right on the page she was drawing on. A small smile spreading on her lips as she continued the drawing that in a way was a harassment of the men but it was simply her opinion as she was smarter than most and understood their sole reason was simply to get more money by forcing others to do their dirty work without the employees actually knowing that.

The bell rang suddenly,startling Violet as she was thrown out of her thoughts and she mentally scrambled to get herself composed once again. Her bright green eyes flickered over to the clock and squinted as she tried to read the time. As she began to pack up, leaving the drawing out for last so she could show it off to her friends, one of the men walked by her and glanced at the detailed drawing of him and his colleague with masks over their faces, guns in hands drilling the students of the class to create the most creative things they could imagine or be punished. The students had metal hats that were strapped to their heads with many wires retreating out of them and into a master computer that in turn jostled out bags of money from selling the creative ideas to the big companies of the world without the student's consent. He frowned, obviously hurt by the harsh opinion of him and his colleague but also a bit annoyed by her sass.

“Thats a nice drawing.” He said through clenched teeth but something in his eyes told her he was thinking a lot more than just his anger over her interpretation of him.

Violet watched him leave before she shouldered her backpack and walked out of the school to her partly rusty, small blue truck.  Tossing the heavy backpack into the back seat, she cried a whoop of joy from being finally done with High school. Violet put her key into the ignition and backed out of her lot then headed for home, her radio on some Christian channel in which she sang along to. Her previous thoughts over how strange the two men were and how strangely he had looked at her before he left now drifting back into the deepest parts of her mind to be replaced by the excitement she now felt.

    Outside the weather was perfect, a beautiful warm sunny day with only a hint of clouds to offer a bit of shade from the sun’s warmth. She sighed happily. Her body now relaxed from the endless days of slouching in a chair from all the assignments she had done that year. Next to her, her phone rang, vibrating and playing a little toon that she had given to indicate it was Phillip.  She hit the speaker button and waited for his growly hello.

“You.”

“Me?”

        “Yeah you. You forgot to come pick me up today. And it is the freakin last day of high school. Just going to abandon me now, eh?”

        “Only in America lover boy,”

        “Just cause my name means love, well the root means love, doesn't mean I am a lover boy Violet! Anyways. I’m hungry.”

        “You want me to stop by McDonalds, don’t you?”

        “You know me well.”

        “Yeah yeah. Only because I have put up with you for an entire year.”

        “Aw, you love me Violet.”

        “Sure I do Phil. See you in five.”

    Violet did not wait for a response, she simply hung up and continued driving; taking a left instead of a right to head towards McDonald’s so she feed her friend. The line to the fast food was surprisingly short for a day like this. Generally there would be at least ten cars waiting to order, yet this time it was simply her. She shrugged and drove up, rolling her window down as she bid good afternoon to the person on the other end of the speaker.

        “I’ll have a double cheeseburger and a Sprite.”

        “Is that all ma’am?”

        “I’ll take a salad as well.”

    With that, she pulled up to the pick up window, payed and took the food with her as she drove back somewhat near the school, took a right and stopped where her friend was sitting; his cheek rested against his hand which was on his knee as though it had taken her hours to get their instead of five minutes. An angry red mark followed up his cheek where he had rested his cheek heavily on the knuckles that had supported it for the measly five minutes it took her.

        “You are late.” he growled

    Violet threw the bag at him and sat down in the grass, crossing her legs and watching the cars drive by without a word. On the occasional car that sped by them, she would raise her eyebrows and call out in annoyance; “SHOW OFF!” before picking at the grass near her feet as though she wished she had kept her mouth shut.

    While she was distracted once again in her thoughts, Phil attacked her quickly hitting all of her ticklish spots which were practically everywhere on her body. Violet fell back,instantly trying to block his attacks before rolling left and standing with a glare. “I won’t drive you home…”

    “yeah you will.” he teased, crumpled the brown bag and threw it at her like she had done to him.

    Violet batted it away and rolled her eyes before climbing into her truck, starting the engine and slowly driving away.  Phil darted up and ran after the car, his hands on the door handle and trying to get in, lightly tapping the window to get her attention yet she kept looking forward without even a moment's glance in his direction.

“Oh come on Violet! Let me in.. I was just jesting…” Phil begged and sighed in relief after a few minutes when she unlocked the door yet kept slowly driving away. “Thank God.” he muttered as he hopped into the seat and buckled himself in; the door closing after him and once again locking. “What was that for?”

“You’re such a child Phil. Can’t have you randomly opening the door while I am driving. And no tickling! You’ll make us crash!” Violet stated firmly, her hands tight on the wheel and she licked her dry lips. “How did you do on the essay on the back of the exam?”  She could see his eyes widen.

“There was a freakin essay? What the hell? Since when do they put an essay at the end of a written exam?”

    “Uhh Phil? That is why it was a written exam…” she giggled and flashed him a cheeky smile. “You have always been the one to be too lazy to finish anything around here. I don’t even know how you graduated.”

    “I have secrets.” He winked at her and waggled his eyebrows.

“I already don’t want to know.” Violet sighed and put her attention back onto the road. Her foot lightly pressing the break as they slowed down for a red light and waited for it to turn green. Her fingers drumming against the side of the steering wheel and she whistled a small toon before turning the radio on and shooting a glare at Phil that said ‘Don’t turn the music up….don’t you dare.’  He only offered a grin and nothing more though his hands moved up to drum against his own thigh.

Violet looked out her window to see the men who had done a presentation in her class also waiting for the light though both of them were staring at her so intently it made her squirm in her seat. The man closest to her, the one who had commented on her drawing winked at her with a wicked grin before taking his eyes off of her and placing his place shades over his eyes. Her foot shifted to the gas pedal as light turned green and moved forward though she often glanced back at the car that didn’t seem to be moving even though it was a green light. In the corner of her eye she saw a large ob
ject moving towards her and her foot slammed on the break but she was too late. The SUV t-boned her small truck and tossed it into the air, the ctruck flipping as it hit the ground and kept rolling. Violet was jerked side ways, her head snapping to the side with such force she blacked out as the truck kept rolling then skidded to a stop. Phil was bleeding heavily from the side of his face and forehead though both were hanging upside down, their seat belts the only thing keeping them firmly locked in their seats.

He fingered for his phone, pulled it out and quickly dialed 911, his voice rising higher than normal and his mouth moved too quickly to understand as his call was answered by a responder.

    “..........    Crash… I think she’s dead… Dame X… on the way into The Reservoir…” he  managed to say as his face became hot and red from being suspended upside down.

Chapter 1: Sacrifices To Be Made

The sound of beeping cut through Violet's dream. It was steady and lullying as though her own dream simply wanted to move her into a deeper state of dreaming and to continue to be an amazing dream of having a picnic and then riding horses with her family. Yet her eyes began to flutter open anyways before instantly closed in regret to the bright light that streamed through. She moaned and reached out her hand, grasping the air next to her in search for her clock so she could turn off the alarm and return to her peaceful sleep yet it seemed as though it was just out of arm's reach. Her whole body felt overly sore and so she attempted to raise her arms to stretch but found something that kept them down. Violet tried again more forcefully but was only met with the sound of soft rattling on both sides of her. Her dream was starting to become a nightmare.

Violet’s  eyes snapped open, then shut and reopened a few moments later, darting around the room she was in. The layout was much different that her room; all of the walls were completely white which was almost blinding, it did have a window in the far right side of the room but had the shades pulled down to cover it up and to her left was crowded with machinery she had never seen before though she recognized one as the screen showed her a not so steady heartbeat flashing across it. Suddenly a click came from the door and it began to open. Her breathing started to rise as she finally realized she was not home and she couldn’t remember anything about her past.

A nurse with a sky blue blouse that seemed a bit too low for someone like her and a doctor came in laughing about something he had previously said. Violet watched them both as they continued chatting without acknowledging her existence for quite a while. After tiring of their flirtatious conversation she gave a soft cough and stared at them as the doctor dropped his clipboard and became a pale white as though he was staring at a ghost. The nurse's eye widened and her hands trembles on the second clipboard she was using.

“Well Miss Violet. You have been out for two years now… welcome back to the real world.” The nurse offered a small smile but her tone told her much more than just that. It was nervous and terrified at the same time.

“What are you talking about?”, Violet coughed and took deep breaths slowly, her throat very sore along with most of her body, “What year is it?”

“It is 2034, miss. You went into a coma two years ago from a violent car crash.”

“Why are my legs so numb?” Violet moaned before she could register the year difference and tore the blanket off her body so she could stretch her legs and massage them but her eyes were froze on the flat areas of pants where her legs should have been. She moved her hips and the four inches of her legs that were left along with it; the small stumps wiggling with her motions yet she felt as though the rest of her leg was there and moving. Only a fantom of her legs still being attached. Her hand reached down, patting what was left of her legs and the flat section below it. Her stomach churned and she felt like throwing up; her head began to spin. Then the year differences swam its way back into her mind as a delayed reaction.

The nurse said nothing as there was nothing to tell after the patient had seen the                                       reasoning behind her legs feeling numb however she did feel a bit of sympathy for the girl. She had lost two years of her life and she also had lost her legs. “I don’t think you will be able to walk again. We have give you a hover chair though. Or if you want to be old fashioned, you can use a wheelchair.”

Violet wanted out of what she instantly realized must be a hospital. Though the walls were painted an innocent white yet she felts as though they were truly covered in a bloody red hue. She wiggled her stumps and frowned before speaking. “I need a wheelchair.”

    “Are you sure you do not want a hover chair?”

    “I’m not fat am I?”

    “Well no.. but..”

    “Just get me a wheelchair.” Violet snapped, her patience running short as her heart raced. She had lost two years and there was too many question left unanswered. As the nurse left to get the wheelchair, Violet’s mind raced. Where is Phil? Is he okay? Did he die? Where are my parents? My sister? My two brothers? What about the pets? The house? My college fund? My car? Do I have anything at all? Am I alone? Can I still go to college? How could I let this happen? Was I not watching the road? Why can’t I remember?

The nurse finally returned, pulling Violet out of her thoughts and her eyes moved to the small black wheelchair with silver trimmings.  Pushing herself over to the edge of the bed, Violet allowed the nurse to help move her into the chair before the nurse backed off to let Violet test out the wheelchair. Her hands tightened around the small silver rails and pulled in all directions to get her bearings of which way was which and she smiled. It was time to leave. Her hands pushed at the rails as she rolled herself out of the room and down the hall to where the front desk was stationed at. There was a stocky old woman with glasses that were too big for her and often fell down her face that peered over the counter with a sneer.

    “May I help you?” her voice was high pitched and in almost a whine.

    “I am checking out and I would like my clothes at the moment.”

    “State your name and condition.”

    “Just give me my clothes and check me out. I’ll send the payment in the mail.” Violet again snapped, generally she was soft and quiet but she needed to get home; she needed to see her parents.

When she finally was able to dress herself and pull herself into the chair, after many fails, she quickly wheeled herself out of the hospital though she stopped shortly after moving out of the door. Her eyes caught sight of many unpleasant things. She had known that this might happen but she assumed that the intellect of humanity was stronger than what they had come to know. She had hoped that they would be able to see what she did and fix the mistakes before they turned into this, her mind finished for her.

There were many people in what she assumed were the hover chairs. Each looking marvelously beautiful in their own unique design. All of them had a base color of silver but yet the designs etched into the sides or back looked similar to the work of a tattoo artist. However the sight of the bulk over their chests, stomach and butt seemed to make it impossible for the chair to be seen. Violet even wondered how the small chair could even support the person's weight.

Cars had been replaced by multi dimensional teleporters, each stationed at the most convenient areas. If there was not one for the specific area the person was wishing to go, they all seemed to be able to tap the inside of their arm which would light up in different colors before they would vanish and assumingly appear to their destination. Restaurants were run by robotic pieces to cook and had out the food instantly in any way shape or form. What really disappointed her was the occasional hover car that passed by with animals that she knew were almost extinct as they were showing them off in any way possible and forcing them to do tricks like circus animals. Her heart dropped and she knew she was extremely disappointed.

Pulling her eyes away from the disaster of her world, she slowly wheeled herself by walkers who looked at her with strange glances as it was not normal to be working to walk or to use an old fashioned wheelchair to get around. It took her nearly an hour to get home when it only was a few blocks away yet she had to maneuver around many devices and people in hover chairs. Her chest was heaving, her arms were sore and her hands had blisters covering her palm from the constant rubbing on the ring. Her house looked the same but the car was different. She checked the mail that also read the wrong name and her eyes glared though she was more worried than anger.

She wheeled herself to the door and raised her hand to knock on the steel door when it opened. A young man was in the way, his eyebrows raised, a chiseled face and quite muscular, she could see his pecs and abdomen against the tightness of his shirt.

    “May I help you?” He finally asked after looking her up and down.

    “Excuse me, my parents live here… Are you a family friend?”

    “Last name?”

    “Gardiv”

    “I’m sorry. I live here now. The Gardiv’s died after they were they were informed that their daughter went into a coma that they did not think she would ever return from. I didn’t know they had two daughters; but wouldn’t you know about this since you are the second daughter?” He did not seem puzzled, his eyes were searching behind her.

    “I am that daughter.” Violet said in barely a whisper as she contemplated that her parents had died because of her. Suddenly the man closed the door without another word. Taken back, Violet sat in silence, blinking in astonishment before she wheeled herself away from the door. She made her way to a less populated area a bit in the shadows and waited there; her hand slipping into her pocket and pulling out an old flip phone, her fingers quickly tapping a series of numbers before she held it up to her left ear. She listened to the ringing before smiling as she heard Phil’s growly voice answer for the voicemail. He was older but still had that growly aspect in his voice that she now missed. He seemed happy at least.

    “Hey Phil, it’s me Violet… Where are you? I want to meet up with you and catch up. Thanks, you know my number.” She hung up and pocketed the phone, her eyes turning once again to what was her home. Her eyes spotted a sign in the front of the houses and rolled herself over to it so she could read what the bold blue but small letters formed. Near the house was what looked to be almost a computer screen. As she rolled by, the screen flashed on and announced her name in a soft delicate voice.  Violet froze and watched the screen for a bit before pressing her finger to the screen. It registered hyer finger and the screen changed to what seemed to be her bank total.

    You have 1,000,000,000 donated from Mr. and Mrs. Gardiv.

Violet stared at the amount. So they did leave em something. She reached over and tapped the small house icon on the far right corner of the screen and tapped again to confirm that she wanted to buy the large house. For the final request, the screen asked if she wanted anything else while she was buying the house. Violet requested for a surprising amount of tech type equipment, supplies and gear before hitting confirm. Her eyes watched as the numbers of her account began to drop before to her surprise they sky rocketed back to its original number as though someone was watching it and supplying her with endless cash. It sent shivers down her spine but she took no notice of it.

While waiting for the items to be moved into her new home, Violet went to explore the new world she had woken up in. It shocked her how much everything had changed within two years. She wheeled herself to where the old railway was that she and Phil went to give a few dollars the the homeless that stayed there as it was the only place the police would allow instead of beating them with batons until the area was cleared. Homeless were seen as parasites that needed to be dealt with as quick as possible.

As she entered, she noticed that the walls had been destroyed and changed into some sort of shiny silver substance that was fairly resistant but was not steel, iron or silver. The graffiti had been removed and the railway looked like an all new expensive subway that after a bit, plummeted downwards into the darkness of the earth. It was much quieter and neat. It took her only moments to confirm that the homeless were most likely removed from this area as well.  With a sigh, she turned and left the area, moving the look into another area that still interested her; the small river that everyone had always loved. It brought many animals and was filled with all kind of fish. It had been a large tourist attraction two years ago. Though as she found the area, the river was gone, instead it was a oil drilling area. The oil ran through the river and into a near by plant.

Covering her mouth and nose, Violet quickly fled the area and answered her stomach’s call for food. She entered the first restaurant that she found and ignored the bar with drunk men and women as well as the men who tried to cox her over to the bar. Settling into a seat, she was a bit startled as a virtual screen popped up in front of her, showing the options available. Violet selected the salad, hamburger and a pink lemonade in which a waiter brought a few minutes after she confirmed her order.

    “So does anyone actually talk to get an order anymore?”

    “No…”, the waitress frowned as though she was puzzled to why the girl would want such a thing, “You can go to Area Z if you want to do that. Its where all the rebels are. If you do, you can’t ever return. I hear they are going to exterminate them… such  nuisance.” she muttered and walked away rolling her eyes to collect another trey.

A man walked over and sat across from her as Violet started to eat. She kept her eyes down though she could tell he was watching her every move. After a few moments, she put her food down, cleaned her mouth and met the man's eyes. He was young though he did look tired, a bit of stubble around his chin and an expressionless face. He had sea blue eyes and short blond hair that almost swirled around to one side.

    “So… Can I help you with anything?” Violet asked, her hand running through her hair nervously.

    “Can you?” He asked back.

    “I would need to know what your problem is.”

    “What if it is you?”

    “Are you going to answer everything with a question?”

    “And if I do?”

    “Alright… well what is your problem?”

    “What if you are my problem?”

Violet was about to make a response when she noticed the restaurant had become extremely quiet and even the bar, with all its drunks was quite, everyone staring at her and the man with fear in their eyes. She looked back over at the man and her eyes flashed instinctively over to her wheelchair but the man kicked it away from the table and stood. He reached into his belt and pulled out a revolver. Her eyes were locked onto the gun was was pointing right between her eyes and blinked repeatedly as though she couldn’t believe she was being held at gun point.

Before he could pull the trigger, the windows behind and in front of them broke, glass shattering in all directions. Violet let herself fall onto the booth and covered her head with her arms to protect herself from the incoming shards. When she pushed herself up and back into a sitting position, there were people in black surrounding the area in gun point though they seemed to be protecting her at the same time.

    “One the ground, now!” A man yelled, stepping through the ring of black. He did not hold a weapon but seemed to send fear into everyone he looked at as they cowered and shook in fear. “Put your hands up, don’t think about even going to for phones or any weapons. All power sectors connecting to this area are down so it is useless.  Each and every individual shall be searched and then have their memory wiped for short term memory loss and you all will cooperate.”

When the assassin that went after her tried to defy the orders of this man, one of the armed guards cut him down though they did offer him a warning before shooting.

    “Anyone else? Good.” He turned towards her and offered his hand, though when she took it, he did not help her back into her wheelchair, instead he picked her up and carried her out of the room and onto a black motorcycle where he left her sitting alone and holding the handlebars to keep herself steady as she could not do so with her feet then re entered the restaurant to complete his task.

After many flashes of white light, the black masked people retreated out in silence and each paired up to ride home on black motorcycles. The leader climbed on behind her, his arms keeping her from slipping off though she did cling to his muscular arms for dear life. The roughness of riding hurt her leg stumps that rubbed against the seat and the side of the seat which made her worry that they would begin to either bleed or blister up; in either case both incidents wouldn’t be a pleasure to have.

    “Where are we going?” She asked through clenched teeth and tried not to bite her lip in fear they would hit a bump and she would bite down through her lip.

    “Silence.” The man growled as he turned the bike sharply and into a dark tunnel that moved in a steepish downward slope.