Uprising (The Slums)

Chapter One (Zenny)

Zeninè Eliz Krisis. That's my name – not my whole name. That's the name they put in my head. The name I hear, see and feel in my dreams. Though, I'm the only one who knows it. But in truth it's near impossible to say out loud. No one can tell it to anyone . . . . It hurts to even try. Your FULL name is like a code or something; only you are supposed to know it. IF you are BORN they take you – the Scientists - and put it in you. You only get to use the first six letters of your first name, first four of the middle, and the last part. The last name is your model – your type. It's the name of your family of genetics. But, it sometimes means you're all alone. Especially down in the slums. You're allowed to go by your middle name but sometimes it doesn't make sense. Like it could be S-C-H-O – and well I don't think you would want to go by just that.

I'm the only one with my last name; I'm the only Krisis model. I am, the only one whose genetics are like mine. I have no guardian, though in the slums it's not at all uncommon. Yet my situation was still. . . Unique. I was sent to The Slums alone, at a time when then elevator usually doesn't even run.

They usually make gene – families through a pair.  Even though what they're really after is the genetics in the child. They make a mother and a father, who have genes that complement each other well for the best results. They using the same process as normal conception create the child. It's a process that takes around 20 years because they need the parents to be adults.  People say, that the adults that are made always start to break down quickly. Which is why so many old people and couples are sent down to the Slums with little to no memory. But the ones who are made well, over time you learn to tell them apart from people who are born. They live shorter lives, and they seem more like children. 

No one knows why, and no one questions it. No one even knows who THEY are. But it seemed that it happens less and less often. With each passing day, more and more people are born, instead of being created. Not that we could have known, not where we were. Most of us down there were considered defective. Could be mental defects, bad legs, any serious disease. Though soon it was to the point where it could even be something small like an allergy to peanuts.

All I know is that it's terrible down there. Where there is no sky and no wind ever blows. I had to wear a gas mask. We all did. Most of the gas and waste from Up Top goes down there, so they can "Preserve" things up here. All of my friends worked hard for me – but living there, what could I ever do to pay them back, ever. I was just a girl who lived in East-town – the Fourth Quadrant of the Slums...

~Zenny

 Zenny awoke to the sound of grinding metal and the squeaks of rats; the day lights had just come on. It smelled especially bad this day, so she knew there had been a new shipment of waste. She wrinkled her nose as she sat up. Her mask was over to her left. She could never sleep with it on. Though, people died in their sleep for doing crazy things like that. Every night Zenny went to sleep and prayed she wouldn't wake up. God, however, had other plans in terms of mercy. So now all she could do was pick up her mask and take a deep breath closing her eyes tight. She hoped it would kill her but instead it just left a bitter taste in her mouth. Zenny opened her eyes and put the mask on tying it tight behind her head.

The mask had filters on its side so that through inhaling the air, it would filter it as it entered; much like a water filter. It was just meant to get rid of harmful things. To Zenny the mask had only one flaw, it didn't filter smell. It was a clear plastic object with ties on both sides to tie around the back of your head. The two strings on either side connect with each other after your ear; the upper strings go over your ear and the lower strings below. Only covering the nose and mouth, on the sides of the mask were two small metal machine pieces made to hold onto anything in the air that was harmful and force it out as air was breathed out. The front was wide and came forward as not to hinder lip movement, which had hundreds of nearly microscopic holes to allow clears sound and Carbon Dioxide out. The two filters pushed in the to open the front for eating.