Immortals

Chapter One // Mia

Once upon a time, the world used to make sense.

Every one of us was equal in worth to the eyes of society. There was no such thing as the archetype of perfection. There was no such thing as Favorables or Unfavorables.

We were all one until we fell into two.

I know there's a link between power and perfection. Perfectionism drives success, motivation and adversity over obstacles. This drive can, and in the case I was all too familiar with in the current state of the world, did result in the gaining of power.

And if a ruling body is a power hungry perfectionist, they can and could take this perfectionism, use it to set standards for society, and use any means they can to keep their set standards in place.

Especially if they view the world they came to rule as a dirty place, stained and tainted with the reputations of those not seen as clean, as perfect. Particularly tainted by the youth that they saw as a rampant disease infecting what could be a perfect world.

And so that's when the decision came to add the language of Favorables and Unfavorables to a common vernacular.

The Favorables were the youth looked upon in a kindly light in society. They were the ones seen as pure, seen as clean. They didn't get in any sorts of trouble. No legal trouble, n academic trouble, no family trouble, no sorts of trouble. They were strong students, model students, model youth. They were who the government wanted us all to be.

They were kept in society, put into schools with the intention of keeping them favorable. Schools that groomed them into perfect adults meant to work in a perfect world.

And then there were us. The Unfavorables.

One little flaw could turn someone into an Unfavorable. One dabble into drugs. One disagreement with a parent. One academic flaw. One run in with the law. Even something as trivial as sexuality, gender identity, or physical presentation could get you flagged.

Society didn't want Unfavorables. They wanted us gone.

So they came up with a way of brainwashing us, a way of removing us from ourselves and using our hollow shells as servants to the government's bidding.

Nobody had ever escaped. At least, not alive.

All you could really do was run and hope they never tracked you down.

That's what I did. That's what Ashe, Parker, Emery, and Shane did, all knowing that we were Unfavorables and teaming together to flee that dreadful day when government guards infiltrated our school two years ago.

That's what we had continued to do in those two years between then and now. Sometimes we caught a breath of fresh air, were able to settle down temporarily, but it never lasted.

It was the five of us against the world.

Emery, marked as an Unfavorable by a record of drug usage. He was only fourteen when the world we knew came crashing down, but was already hooked on a number of substances when the time came. I couldn't find him fully at fault for these addictions of his, as it was an open secret that his parents were dealers that appealed to many types and many products. He was, at the core, a product of an upbringing that nobody wished to make any sort of interference in. His act was forcefully cleaned up once we were on the run, but a past as drug induced as his was not one that would be overlooked.

Ashe, bleached blonde and pierced, was seen as a problem child. Confrontational in her youth, a streak of hot temper that could and would not be quenched burning deeply within her. She was always looking for a challenge, usually in the form of challenging authority. If she didn't like the rules implemented in an institution, she was very vocal in her opinions and displeasure. This wasn't accepted by the higher ups in charge of maintaining order, and placed a target on her back.

Shane had been my friend long before the end of the world. We had grown up together, two lonesome children gravitating towards each other in school years and social events. I had been there for him when they started questioning their sexuality and gender identity while we navigated middle school. I had been there for him they officially came out to me as queer on his thirteenth birthday, just weeks after the new government came into power and just weeks before our school was scoured for Unfavorables. Shane's identity, one they were finally proud of, was a risk to him, and he had no choice but to go into hiding with the rest of our ragtag group.

Parker was not much more than a child when the guards came, only twelve when the fateful day marked the calendars of history. I barely knew him before he joined us, and he never really talked about the reason he was marked as an Unfavorable. He had been questioned multiple times as to why this was so, but he was a master at dodging our inquiries. All he ever said was that he was too smart for the government's pleasure. This was a plausible response, as he was a brilliant mind who quite literally could make or break a civilization with his intellectual strength, but I was slightly wary of the truthfulness behind his response. Not that it mattered though, all that mattered was that he was one of us, even if his reasoning for being so was clouded with doubt.

And I, Mia, was found too promiscuous to avoid staining society. Personally, I found myself too young to truly wield this title of a whore that was bestowed upon me. Barely breaking the barrier of thirteen, maybe a bit more flirtatious than what was considered acceptable, and perhaps not a virgin, but I would not consider this to be giving myself away to the highest bidder.

Personally, I found myself not fully pure, but pure enough to escape the Unfavorable status.

Clearly, I was wrong.

Clearly, I was too tainted to be protected.

And so I ran, spent two years running, spent two years trying to find some sort of safe haven to create my own protection, with my allies by my side.

We had found safety. Not quite freedom, but safety. The world of our youth was still upside down and inside out. We were still being pursued, hunters trailing our fox tails, but we had covered up the scent, temporarily at least.

Forever was never a guarantee. Never in the world before, and less of one now. Nothing could truly be forever in the grandest schemes of all things, even in normalcy.

But maybe we had found a new normalcy in our lives on the run, our lives hidden away from those in control, our lives of trying to maintain control over ourselves.

We would not let our freedom die. We could not let our freedom die. Giving ourselves up was never an option, not in the slightest. Not in one's wildest dreams would we let ourselves become the bait of the government, the Favoriables, anyone who would steal our souls.

At least, that was never the intention.

It turns out that sometimes freedom isn't always freedom.

Safety wasn't always safe.

Sometimes both of these concepts could blur themselves into the most masterful illusion, a false safety net only concocted to make one believe that they were immortal, untouchable.

I thought we were untouchable.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I guess I thought we had run long and far enough that the dangers of the world would never touch us again.

We all thought that, I think. We all thought that we had found our safe haven in a land as untouchable as us, a place as poisonous as us meant to keep the pure out and away.

I forgot that there were antidotes to poison.

In blind bliss and relief I forgot that safety was only an idea, not something that was real anymore.

And it cost us everything.