The Valuable

Chapter 1

Part 1: Joel

A blood-curdling scream wakes me at the crack of dawn, as it does everyday. I hear several more screams before I convince myself to get up off of the roof of an abandoned hospital, my home, and make the trek to city square for my daily duties. I walk on the blazing hot pavement leading to city square, barely noticing the excruciating heat surging through my bare feet. I look around myself as I walk through each street, noticing bodies piled high in all directions. Some are older than others, but I scan the corpses looking for a seemingly newer body; the body of whoever was murdered this morning.
"Joel! Come here!", I hear someone yell. Catching sight of the culprit, I stride over to her to get the latest news.
"It was Christian.", she splutters through tears. Being her best friend, I hold her close and try to calm her intense shaking.
"He was the only family I had left!", she spat through tears.
"I know Anastasia, I know.", I soothe.
"I wish that they would just find The Valuable so that the rest of us wouldn't have to suffer!", she yelled.
I stare at the small metal room up a set of winding stairs, noticing a trail of blood leading to the nearest pile of bodies. That room is the deathbed of all of our countries population. I shiver as I turn back to Anastasia, who seems to have calmed down in my mind's absence.
"I must go talk to the council to resign from my housing arrangement now that I don't have a legal adult as my gaurdian.", she sighs.
I watch her wander into city hall having a moment of déjà vu, seeing as I made that same resignation three years ago when my parents were taken and killed in the metal box.

My ear chip blares so loudly that I jump, reminding me that it is time to start my day of work. Checking my calendar, I notice that it is body disposal day. I bring the large truck around from behind city hall, and open it's rear hatch. I begin hoisting bodies from all over the place into the truck's gaping trunk. I crinkle my nose at the rancid smell as I lift each decaying body into the back of the truck. My mind wanders as I hop into the front seat and steer towards the disposal cliff. As I drive, I realize that it is almost my turn in the metal room; the murder room. Christian was the last person in the '1997' category seeing as he was 18 years old and born that year. The Leader would move onto the '1998' category next, meaning that Anastasia and I would be put in the room sometime this year. I knew that my turn would be very soon, as my last name is Joel Barnes which comes at the beginning of the alphabet. I dreaded the day that I would awake due to the screeching voice in my ear chip telling my that it was my time to be tested in the room. My mind was still scattered with thoughts as I dumped the bodies into the vast canyon that is the disposal cliff. As I watch the bodies fall, I can't help but wonder how long it will be until I am one of them.