100 years ago, amidst WW3's nuclear bombing, a deadly virus was released in the atmosphere and nearly wiping out the humanity.
It lives inside the human brain thriving on the empathy receptors, leading to irrational behaviour and ultimately brain death. To slow the damage, scientists created L.O.V.E, short for Living Off Vital Emotions, a nanovaccine that numbs the virus and switches off all strong emotions.
As a last resort and with a dying planet, the Supreme Government created the City, a place to contain the infected survivors suitable for the experiment. Those in the first stages of illness became ideal candidates to receive the neuroinhibitor. Having their feelings restrained and their memory altered, those who come of age are designated a life partner through a Selection process, thus preserving the humankind.
A few decades after the trial had started, scientists had a major breakthrough. The nanites, which are highly chemically reactive organisms, are changing their bio-engineered purpose when dopamine levels are high. With a new generation of nanoids, stronger and smarter to fight the battle, the virus doesn't have a chance. Many attempts were made to create a man-made version of synthetic dopamine and each time the outcome was a disaster.
Their goal is to create new generations, immune to the virus. These are called Purebloods, the offsprings of those who find pure love, the only cure to save them from a violent death.
Running out of time, the Experiment entered in its final stages. To minimize the threats, the Colonies have sent their best soldiers to oversee the trial and protect its key subjects. If only things were going according to plan, or better...stay hidden.
With Iron Guard, the resistance outside the walls, hunting the Purebloods too, will the trial save human race before it's too late?
#3 in #dystopianfuture (27.06.2020)
In the quiet desert village of Dey, living among the sand dunes and mirages, existed an anomaly - me. I was different, born without the ability to read, write or keep long memories. My scientist father hailed my uniqueness as a miracle, but my life was far from ordinary. To the village, I was just an oddity, a walking puzzle with missing pieces. My only solace was my best friend, always standing by me, his unspoken love for me etched in his affectionate gaze.
We lived under a cruel regime with a population no more than a hundred. Every year, one of us would be chosen on the Counting Day, a ceremonious banishing ritual, to become yet another outcast to the floating prison island far off in the ocean - our village's dreaded version of population control. Our past criminals, defiant to government, and more terrifyingly, our loved ones gone missing, were thought to inhabit that island, their fate, a terrifying enigma.
This year, as the Counting Day approached unrelentingly, and my loved one's life rested on borrowed time, I made a decision. I volunteered to be casted out. It was my turn to face the unknown with a hidden purpose - to locate my lost father who was sent there years ago.