Area One

10

The woman screamed as she was being dragged through the streets, the soldiers not even caring enough to silence her.

Baekhyun turned away, trying to suppress the feeling of disgust and hatred that started building up inside him once again. His mother noticed, of course.

"Don't look away, sweetheart. You know it's only for our best. She probably planned an attack on us or didn't want to share her harvest with the City." Her voice was soft and she smiled, as if they hadn't just witnessed the abduction of another, probably innocent, soul.

Everyone knew what they were doing with them. And most of the people in the City were already suspecting that not everyone of them had broken the law. But, of course, no one dared to speak their minds. And what reason would they have to do so, anyway? The people in the City were treated fairly well. Of course, the people who were directly working in the science labs, or the soldiers' families, had more advantages. But as long as the citizens behaved, they were given parts of the crop yields the villagers gave to the City (not willingly, Baekhyun suspected), and for the past few years, none of the citizens had been forced to take part in the experiments.

It was logical that they didn't take the citizens. They were responsible for the sewers, the building of new apartments, they were craftsmen, butchers, had cleaning services and so on. People the Red Force needed to keep the City running.

The villagers, on the other hand, didn't contribute with anything other than their harvests, and preventing uprisings as a result of unreasonable kidnappings was far easier in a village that wasn't able to contact any other villages to ask for help.

Baekhyun knew how this worked. He had been outside a few times, even though his parents had tried their best to prevent him from doing so. 'Those villagers are animals, they would kill you on the spot if they knew you're from inside,' his father had told him.

And so, he hadn't gotten into contact with the people and just observed. But that had already been enough. He had seen how the people lived and how they were treated by the Red Force Patrol. The soldiers who were called 'our guardian angels' by some of the overly enthusiastic people in the City.

He didn't know whether his parents were just too stupid to see the truth or whether they knew it and deemed it wiser not to say anything. Baekhyun didn't want to imagine the third option, but with the rise of the number of patrols, the thought that his parents actually knew everything and still supported the Red Force wholeheartedly occurred to him more and more often.

He was pulled out of his thoughts with a nudge from his mother. The screaming had stopped and he felt his parents' concerned looks burning into him.

"Are you alright, dear?" his mother asked with a worried expression. He nodded quickly.

"I just... I just can't imagine why anyone would go against the rules. I mean, everyone knows they're good, right? The rules help us to maintain peace and prosperity everywhere." His own, naive voice made him want to vomit, not to mention the brain-washed crap he was forced to repeat every day. He had seen no hint of peace in that village, nor were the old rags the people wore and the wooden houses signs of prosperity.

"No matter what kind of good things you achieve, there will always be people who are too stupid to see it, son," his father answered with a heavy sigh. "There will always be traitors searching for power, with the excuse of wanting the best for the people."

Baekhyun thought back to the screaming woman. She hadn't looked like someone who was hungry for power rather than something decent to eat. But again, he nodded. Like he always did.

It had to be past midnight by now. Baekhyun checked the calm breathing of his brother to make sure he was asleep. He quietly started packing his things. It didn't take long. How often had he already thought of doing this, how often had he imagined packing his things and escaping from here?