Worlds Apart

Chapter Two - Scarlett

"Scar! Come on, I'm not waiting for you all day!" Screams Makya, an old woman whom always seems to be in a bad mood. "Shut up, I'm coming." I say as I shove past her. I heave a bucket of water onto my should. I hear her start walking again, and soon she is next to me. We carry the buckets of water back to Base 904.

The Waste was developed around 50 years ago. It wasn't until about 47 years ago though, that we have finally been free of the Arcadia scum on the other side of the gate.

There was a terrible war, and the population split in two, and now we have the Waste, and they have Arcadia. They named it Arcadia because it means somewhere offering peace or simplicity, but in reality, the Government controls everyone. They manipulate the people there to do what they want, and act how they want them to act. The Arcadians can't even have their own thoughts without being reprimanded for it. I think it's disgusting and vile.

I was born in Arcadia, and put in the foster care system, but when the Outsiders invaded Arcadia, they made the Government agree to give up any children put in the system because they weren't going to go anywhere anyway. Everyone in Arcadia is limited to two children per household. When I was taken from the system, the Outsiders told me that my records said that my name was Scarlett Mason. I was six at the time. They said my parents names were David and Jenny. And I had two sisters, One named Kelly who was 12 by the time I was taken, so she should be about 22 now. I also had a twin sister named Juliette. She is three minutes older than I am. I sometimes wonder about them, if they really loved me, and what they're like. I don't remember them at all because I was not even a month old when I was put into the system.

Every once in a while I think about what it would be like to live in Arcadia. I think I would hate it, besides the fact that in that world, I would see my family and know them. But what if I don't even like them? What if they are so into the idea of Arcadia that they are blinded by everything else? What if they don't even care about me, or remember me?

I shake my head to clear it of the thought, and see we have made it back to Base. Makya places her bucket down gently whereas I slam mine down on the ground heavily. People look over at us, and I look walk to the serving counter for breakfast.

The Waste divided into bases after we signed the treaty with the Government. There are over 1,000 in existence, and I live in Base 904. They haven't been making as many lately because we haven't needed the room, and also, we don't have as many resources anymore. They are still building Base 1,011 now. They have been working on that one, along with three or four others for at least two and a half years now. We just haven't had the materials to make them.

Each base has a maximum of ten people in it. We need a minimum of five, because we have five necessary jobs that need to be done each day. We can only have up to ten people in each because if we over crowd some, then one base could have 70 people, and another could have 16. It is easier and more orderly this way. But now, there can only be a five person difference, so it is a bit more balanced. Besides, most of the bases have all ten, there are only few that don't. We try to even them out as best as we can.

Although we made the Waste to get away from all the order and structure, it is necessary unless we want utter chaos all the time. That's how it was before the treaty. That is why everyone was dying off so quickly. They took advantage of the resources they had, and they used them too carelessly and not sparingly. They soon ran out of their supplies, and they had nowhere to turn. So after the treaty, we have used our materials and supplies as we need to, and try not to waste anything. If someone doesn't finish their dinner, either someone else eats it, or we use it as bait for catching animals. We can't save it for the next day, because we don't exactly have fridges lying around to store things in.