This story is copyrighted.
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I am sitting cross-legged on my bed reading my favorite book, Battle Royale. The rain outside is pouring hard; I can hear its constant slapping on the roof.
“Jenna, it’s time to get ready,” My mothers voice creeps up the stairs. I can tell she is extremely nervous as her voice is trembling and cracking as she speaks.
“What are we getting ready for?” I ask, forgetting that today is the day I dread each month.
“The blood samples,” she replies bluntly.
I can tell she doesn’t want to talk about it. My older brother, Lucas, was executed last year for having “bad blood”.
About three years ago, in 2009, a doctor from the United States created a new flu vaccination. It gave everyone who took it infinite immunity to everything from the common cold to cancer. Since the people in the Outercast died frequently because of sickness we were given the vaccine first and the richer part of our "great" nation never had to endure this death needle. About a month or two after the entire population of the Outercast was injected they had found out that there was a mutation in the vaccine, causing certain people to go insane, become extremely zombie-like and go on killing sprees. They say that their blood goes bad. The thing about the whole situation that makes me so angry is that even after executing so many people because of having bad blood they still don't stop using the vaccines. Every child is still forced to take the vaccine at the age of two and everyone of us is made to give their blood each month for inspection. If we are unfortunate enough to be affected by the mutation, they kill us.
We have special outfits to wear for the first Wednesday of each month, especially for the blood sampling. None of us want to wear them, but the dictators make us. It’s not our choice.
I sit down in front of my mother and she straightens the back of my dark brown hair. I never do that part properly. And of course, she begins to cry. She always cries on days where I have to take the blood tests. I know she’s scared of losing another child.
“I’ll be fine mom. They’ve checked my blood for two years straight now. Never once have they found an impurity in it,” I say, trying to reassure her.
“Lucas said something along those lines,” my mother snaps back. She does that often.
She stands up and makes her way to the kitchen where she lets out an exasperated sigh.
“Mom, don’t worry. It’ll be alright,” I say before hugging her goodbye. I’m not sure if it will be okay, but I smile. After all, it’s important that my mom stays happy.
When I get to school I see a mix of expressions. No one is happy though. Leanne runs up to me, and Jared follows.
“Jenna, they’re making things worse, the dictators are. Now even if our blood has as little as 3% of the damned mutation they’ll kill us. 5% was bad enough, now they’re taking away the little bit of chance we had,” she says as tears well up in her icy blue eyes, “I’m scared.”
I look at Jared, and he too wipes the tears from his eyes.
Jared and Leanne are my best friends, I suppose. We always hang out, and people say we’re best friends, but I wouldn’t dare trust either one of them with a secret. It’s not that they wouldn’t keep it; it’s just that no one trusts each other in the Outercast. It’s just the way our lives work.
“Look guys, nothing is going to happen to us. Jared, they only found a 1% impurity in you. And that was two years ago, it wasn’t there last year, remember?” I turn to Leanne, “And you have never had an impurity either. And neither have I. We’ll be fine. Like always.”
I meant it too. We always get all worked up, and it always turns out okay, and we continue living our lives.
“What-the-fuck-ever.”
It was all Jared said before turning away. He combed his hand through his thick brown hair. Then he turned around and looked me in the eyes. Even though he didn’t say anything I knew he was telling me that we will never forgive me if one of us ended up being killed.
How am I supposed to respond to that?
Well, I end up rolling my eyes and steping into line without another word.
One by one, the children are cleared. First the kindergartners, then the first graders, and then it comes to us, the eleventh graders. Nobody has an impurity so far except for poor Leila Hampton. At first I think that there was no way that she will have bad blood, but I was wrong. The machine beeps, and the number five appears on the screen. I want to help her, but all I can do is watch her scream helplessly as they drag her away to the helicopter. Soon, she will be gone.
Now, it is my turn. I sit in the seat and look around me. The nurse has dark red hair that reminds me of blood. I stare at her stone cold green eyes as she sterilizes the syringe that will soon be under my skin, drawing out my blood. I look behind me to see all of my friends panicking and yelling something to me. I can’t hear their words. Instead I imagine what Lucas would be doing right now if he were alive. Probably playing video games and laughing at his friends’ jokes. He always was one to make others happy. I still can’t believe the mutation got to him. I imagine him smiling at me, telling me everything will be alright. And then something snaps me back to reality. It’s the machine. It’s beeping loudly. I look at the screen and see the number. Horrified I turn to Leanne, telepathically asking her if it’s true, if what’s happening is real. Her face looks pale against her ebony hair. She nods slowly, as if she can’t believe it herself. I look at the monitor and I read the number.
47%.
I look up at the nurse. You could see it in her face that she hadn’t seen a number that high for a long time. I knew that now was the time to be afraid.
It wasn’t long before a few men from the Dictator’s army came to take me away. I didn’t fight back. I know it’s no use. I’m done for.
I only manage to mouth “sorry” to Leanne and Jared before I am sitting inside the helicopter. Alone.
