Deleterious

ONE

  "Don't trust anyone," that's all I was told to do growing up. It was an easy task, seeing as I never really had any friends. As a matter of fact no one did. A few decades back, a little before my dad was born, there was a fire that had consumed most of the US. I couldn't explain it to you in detail, but we learned about US in history classes. All I can say is that there are some remnants of settlements here and there. Our leader Kurt says that we are in some place that used to be called Manhattan. After the fire there was a scarcity of supply, and that led to war, it led to humans being rid of their humanity. The founders of each settlement handled things differently. Kurt always says that we are lucky, are we? Founder of Settlement 7, which is my settlement, gave all of us jobs. My late mother was in charge of security, I guess that's how she got killed. That's another thing; nobody knows how a dead person has died.

When my mother died no one came up to me and said, "Iris Vauner your mother died from a bullet wound."

Iris, that's my name, and yea it is the part of the eye. Apparently I was born with beautiful blue- green eyes. I'm assuming this is where you'd want to hear more about settlement 7 and less about my eyes. In settlement 7, besides doing our jobs, we have to be trained for combat. Each year, two men and two women over the age of sixteen and under the age of twenty, are pardoned from their jobs to go and get rid of our enemies. In school they taught us that when settlements were at war the founders made a decision to let two men and two women to go to a place decided by the founders to duel to the death, which ever group lives, the settlement that group is from gets a years' worth of supply. Most people don't survive, and obviously nobody wants to leave their lives and go on a dangerous and deadly expedition, except the crazy people, so the founders are in charge of selecting the four individuals. The four men and women who are chosen go through vigorous training and then they always leave on March fourth. The only one from our settlement that went and came back is a woman named Annabeth Hendrick. She was my mother's best friend and I go up to her house occasionally to visit her. It's weird with her; she never talks about what her experience was like, she never mentions anything that happened out in the ruins. As a matter of fact, she doesn't take much, sometimes I find her staring into nothing as if something is there and crying. Her neighbor Aiden Corza says that every night he can hear screaming from her house. All of this makes me wish I never have to go. The only thing that Annabeth did tell me was that my father was dead; I can't tell if she was lying or if she was just being honest, it's hard to tell with her. Today is December 31st, which means tomorrow is the day that our founder will announce the four young people who have been chosen. Today was also the day that we know if we would be getting a year's worth of supplies. Unfortunately, we didn't. Natalia Anza, Helena Morn, Caleb Ruth, and Trey Fisher; never came back, therefore they are presumed to be dead. I didn't know any of them yet still I mourn them. Natalia and Trey were together, they were engaged. The two never had any family remaining. Alas, the other two did have family. I do know Helena had a little sister and Caleb had an older brother. Kurt announced their deaths over the loudspeakers and he said, "Death happens, but life goes on," as if it was no big deal. I hate Kurt, most of us do, but we aren't allowed to say that to him. He demands we respect him, but he doesn't do the same. He lures innocent women and children in and robs them off their supply. He doesn't try that with the men, he has learned not to at least. The only reason we haven't rebelled against Kurt is because well for one we need a leader, even if it's a crappy one. Also he has pack as I like to refer to them as, that follow him around like lost puppies. Lost puppies that are very well built and are probably ruthless, from what I've heard about them. Anyway I guess I should move on to the less depressing subjects in life. The things I like about all the miscommunication and close to no association with other human beings that happen in our settlement, is the silence. Sometimes it's so quiet you can hear the sunrise. It's kind of peaceful really but in a way, it's surreal. People outside their shelters interact only when they have to in low whispers. I guess the reason it's this way is because there's simply too much to do. There's no time for meaningless banter. Usually when we are young, usually ages five to fifteen, we are required to go to school. Our school is not the kind of schools there were in like 2000 or 2014 or whatever. Basically all the kids go and gather in the clearing in the middle of the array of tents, and we learn about life in the old times, we also learn a lot about what plants are edible, fighting techniques, and what all the jobs are like. Then usually in the last month of our mandatory schooling, based on our performance from the last ten years we are given jobs. Two weeks after our graduation is also when a founder is supposed to pick out the two men and women who will be in charge of trying to win a get us a year worth of supplies. It has been two weeks since I graduated and four days since I turned sixteen. So if you cared to do the math, my birthday is December 27th. Funny thing was that it was also the day last year, that Tara a woman who was in charge of security came up to me and told me that my mother was dead, she also told me that my mother was killed, something that was considered illegal. I'm not just talking about the killing part being illegal; I'm also talking about the information exchanged about the cause of death. I never did see Tara after that, and I know exactly why. I wish though that there were something I could do to find out whoever killed my mom and avenge her death. My mom and I were never that close, like two peas in a pod kind of thing. This was mostly due to the fact that she was in the security team which meant that she got on duty at approximately seven in the morning and seven at night. By the time she zipped open the door to our somewhat spacious tent, she was too tired to do anything at all. On the rare occasions when she had a day off of her duty, the two of us would take what little food we would muster up the little amounts of food we have and a blanket and have a picnic in front of our tent. Those days were fun but I guess things change, as cheesy as this sounds things happen but life goes on. I never really cried when my mother died. I guess I was afraid if I started I would never stop. In all honesty I'm scared about tomorrow, this is my first year and I really don't want to be picked to go out in a strange new place with three other complete strangers. Just the mere idea of it makes me want to find the nearest portable toilet box like rooms and throw up on the door. Let us get one thing clear, I am eighty percent content with my current state of being and I have no intention of changing it. Clear? Got it? Good, makes things heck of a lot easier for us both. I don't care that my job is going to be the same thing every day every hour. Like my mom I got security. So far it has been pretty easy. I actually had lots of spare time and I got walked around examining the entrances to the settlement. There was a lot to the settlement that I learned about from standing in another angle. I guess all I'm trying to say is that I don't want to get chosen and I don't want to have to leave the tiny amount of comfort I find in my tent among the remains of my mother that are left in there. I really hope it's not me tomorrow. That does not in any way insinuate that I wish this upon someone else. I just don't want to leave my life behind like the countless people I've witness in my coherent portion of fifteen years. As this thought leaves my mind I zip up my tent and I snuggle into my sleeping bag, waiting for the nightmares to roll in.