Exile

Chapter 1 - Now

I was one of the chosen. I was one of the handful of people to go to Mars to see if we truly could live there. But now that dream is dead. I highly doubt it'll every come back to life ever again. I'd do almost anything to get out of here. Almost. The only thing I wouldn't do is go into exile. Even if I was guaranteed I would live, it's worse out there then it is in The Walls. And that's saying something.

The place everybody lives in is called The Walls. Not a very creative name but nonetheless, a name. There are thousands scattered across the globe, it takes days to get to a different one because cars have nothing to use for fuel and a horse costs more then anybody can cough up. The only way to get anything to ride on (Including a donkey, they actually cost more because they can carry things) to a different Wall is to have been friends with a rancher before everything started. Try to make friends with one now and they'll just flat out ignore you.

The air is terrible. Of course, most people are used to it by now but for the babies. It's terrible. There's a whole building dedicated to house the children while their lungs get used to the foul air. If you get anywhere near it you can hear their crying. Old people don't have a lot of time because of their weakening lungs. There are many problems since it all began; and I don't know which one is the worst.

During the day it gets so loud. At night it gets quiet enough to sleep, but there's still the constant crying of the children. I can't imagine being born in this... This hell. Who would want to doom their child to this? I certainly wouldn't.

I can only begin to imagine what it must be like for the children. To have to grow up never knowing how beautiful the sun can be, to see it only as a force of destruction. To never see trees, to never see a clear blue ocean, to hear stories of beautiful, wild animals as if they were myths and legends and a thing of the distant past. I felt horrible for the newly weds who were so excited to have their first child only to have it born into this madness. It's terrible. I don't know if the human race can ever come back from it. This could be the human race's mass extinction. Just like the dinosaurs. We could be the last generation.

This could be it for humans. We thought ourselves on the top of Earth's food chain and now we're on the bottom. Friends turned against each other, families keeping close, enemies become somebody you can only count on for betrayal, and the person you once thought your best and closest friend; turned against you. If somebody isn't your bloodline, it's nearly impossible to trust them. And to those who have fallen because they trusted, we miss you. We need more good in this world. A world that's getting worse every day. A world that for now, has no hope.

Everything's fallen. The government, the IRS, the NSA, NASA, everything. Very little is thrown away. I rarely see somebody smile. The last time I saw somebody smile was that new born baby I glanced at yesterday. A smile so innocent. I don't want that kind of smile to grow up in this world. I don't want ANYBODY to grow up in this world.