The Same

Chapter One

We are all the same. That's what I have been told ever since I was born. From our hair to our eyes we are all the same. We have different facial structure but same weight. There are still different races we all just have the same color hair and eyes. Black and blue. We live in the same kind of home and each married couple can have up to two kids. It's no surprise what the hair and eye color will be. All the genes for the other colors have been eliminated through genetic engineering. Everyone gets paid the same amount of money but we do have different jobs. You became what your parent is or was.

This all may sound crazy but to us it's normal. This all started when WWIII broke out. The war was started from greed. Everyone wanted what the others had. To eliminate greed and jealousy all countries agreed to change there ways of life. All baby's were genetically engineered to have black hair and blue eyes to take away jealousy from others. Soon everyone had black hair and blue eyes. Homes were tore down and rebuilt. Every single on was the same. Three bedrooms two bathrooms with gray, white, and brown paint. People had different jobs but got paid the same amount of money. It's all about what your parents are or were. My parents are defenders. We defend ourselves from the rebels. They don't believe in conformity. So now they attack our sectors and try to take they children so they can change there way of thought and raise them to be unique. For some reason being unique doesn't sound like a bad idea to me but I could never say that out loud. Anyone that ever spoke out vanished a few days later. People got the message and we all kept our mouths shut.

It was a Sunday morning. We were all required to attend church. I live in sector 23. We have over 240 sectors in the IIS. IIS stands for Identical Independent Sectors. In sector 23 we attend church on Sunday at two in the afternoon. The time for weekly events changes in each sector. I sat in the third row behind Hunter. Hunter is my neighbor and best friend of five seven years. We will graduate school next week and begin our training for our jobs at age sixteen. Hunter is going to be an accountant. He has been applying to be a defender ever since he was thirteen. He should be a defender. When ever we would play tag he could run two times faster than the other kids and if we ever went to play laser tag he never missed a shot. As for me, I am not cut out to be a defender but my parents have been so excited for me to become a defender ever since I was little. So now I feel like I need to do become a defender.

We sat in church for what seemed like eternity. Whenever I would look over at Hunter he would make the funniest faces and I tried to hold in my laughter so hard but a laugh came out. Everyone stared at me but Hunter was just laughing. I then had to apologize to everyone in the church. Defiantly not one of my best moments.

After church everyone could return home and do what they pleased till ten o clock then it was the sectors curfew. My parents would leave for there jobs at this time to protect the city and enforce the curfew. They worked until about four, came back home, then slept till about eleven. They also had to work from two pm to six pm. I never really saw the much, but I knew it was apart of their job.

That day Hunter and I decided to hang out. Whenever we hung out we usually went to corner park. We had been going there ever since we were kids. It's only about a block away from our houses so we would race each other there and whoever lost had to do a dare from the other person. With school and us growing older days like those seemed like a one and a thousand occurrence. I missed them.

"So how is your application to become a defender going," I said trying to start a conversation to break the silence.

"I am actually going in for my final interview tomorrow. If all goes well I will be a defender just like you."

"Yeah, I wouldn't exactly call myself a defender, but that is great news."

"I think you will be a great defender just like your parents."

"With my strength and size I would beg to differ. But thanks for trying to make me feel better." Hunter or I didn't know what to say next. Our conversations had shortened over time. We had forgotten who each other were. Silence filled the air again but I didn't break it this time. We walked for about five more minutes until we reached the tree we always climbed when we were little. This time we didn't climb it, just sat under it. We talked about school, and becoming runners, and what we wanted our futures to look like. We sat there for at least two hours maybe more. We the got up and went to a diner that was about two blocks down from our houses. We bought milkshakes and a large fry to split between us.

After we finished eating it was dark and curfew was slowly approaching. We paid for the bill and started walking home.

"I can't believe you got ketchup all over me," I said laughing.

"I thought it would bring out the color of your eyes," he said as we both laughed.

We had stopped laughing because it was ten minutes until curfew and we were just about home. I hear what sounded like a snap of a tree branch and jumped. Hunter told me it was just a twig falling which calmed me down but I was still on edge. After that I heard footsteps.

"Someone is following us," I whispered.

"I'm sure it's nothing," Hunter said trying to hide his concern. Second later the alarm sounded. The rebels where in our sector, and we're looking for all the young people.

The sound footsteps behind us turned into and obvious figure running after us. Hunter and I took off running as fast as we could. He made sure I was in front of him though. We were no less than twenty feet away from our homes when the figure pulled out what looked like a gun.

I heard a bang. Hunter got hit. Another bang. Then I got hit. Suddenly I felt dizzy and noticed Hunter was stumbling. We both collapsed to the ground and seconds after I hit the grass my vision went blurry. Then my vision went black.