Chapter One
Anna sat nervously on her bed waiting anxiously as her father argued with a government enforcer downstairs. She knew what was about to happen but still hoped that it wasn't to be the case. Unfortunately her father, a man who had worked hard all of his life and had raised her on his own, had fallen behind on his tax payments. A few hundred years ago this wouldn't have caused Anna to be so fearful. He'd work extra hours, she'd work extra hours and eventually repay what they could on a fixed plan. Things weren't that forgiving nowadays.
Unfortunately, a couple of centuries ago governments from the world's leading nations announced a financial meltdown and cuts and mass austerity was introduced. With living conditions so terrible, the people revolted. There were colossal losses in civilian life and it looked like the human race was heading into turmoil. Fortunately, or so they thought at the time, a large corporation had stepped in and bailed the governments out. Cuts were reduced and life slowly returned to something resembling normal. The people stopped revolting and they started working again. Over time though the corporation that bailed the governments out became much more powerful, the money they had spent for the bail out had already been returned ten fold and the owners of this corporation very much ran the world. Using the revolution of the past as a tool to scare people, they had the working class work long hours for little pay whilst they increased their hold on the world. Every service was now owned by them in some way, whether it be food, law, clothes, absolutely everything. Those who worked in civil services, police, fire, were paid well and funded well. They enforced that the people lived by the rules set by the corporation and in return were treated well and were well off because of it.
It was only within the last half a year however that the corporation completely changed the way we lived. Due to global warming and the growth of the earth population, much wildlife had died out, including many that had been used for food. Thankfully pigs and chickens were still around thanks to massive breakthroughs in cloning but other animals such as lions, goats, cows were gone. Another global downside of this was less food choices, food was now a luxury, many families having to buy cheaper rations of food that tasted bland. The corporation, not satisfied with the control and wealth they had decided to branch out in many morally questionable ways. One of which was finding a new way to produce milk in mass quantities and despite the public fighting against it, the bill was passed. If you're still unable to pay your debts to the corporations after two previous warnings, your life becomes theirs. They could repossess any of your belongings, or you as a person. One of the many ways they had to do this was in one of the many manufacturing prisons across the world. People were placed in small cells, made to work sixteen hours a day with only three ten minute breaks for food before they were put to sleep for the night, ready to wake the next day for work. They had a chemical which increased productivity but severely limited free thought. The result was a hard worker with barely a thought of their own, it wasn't a life. There were rumours that the chemical produced irreversible results, that over time the workers became mindless drones who only did what they knew, they were unable to be released and function in the real world.
Another of the ways they punished those in debt was from the production of human milk as a replacement to the long lost cows milk. If someone fell behind on their taxes their debt would be collected in other ways. They will then be owned by the corporation, put to work in the factory to produce milk until the corporation ever believed the debt repaid, that was even if they did. For Anna, this was where she was soon to be heading. Her dad had fallen too far behind and on top of that he had tried to evade the corporations enforcers. Right now, Anna's father was trying to bargain though she knew he had nothing to offer. As the argument when on, it soon escalated into a louder more violent affair as Anna's father began to fight.
"Anna, run!" The panic in his voice alerted Anna into action and she sprinted down the stairs freezing momentarily as she saw two enforcers restraining her dad with electronic wrap around cuffs.
