The Picking

Prolouge

I hid out in the willow tree, searching the ground. The Virus was everywhere now. No one could get away from it.

Day by day, elders and adults died from it, leaving our generation to fend for themselves. Mind you, I just turned twenty and stayed together with my seventeen year old sister. We made a pact to never leave each other under any circumstance. Even though we were royalty, Mom and Dad died almost immediately after The Virus infected our country. I was considered queen, being the first born.

But, I didn't want to. Not even my sister Claire wanted to. Our province had started getting infected when an immigrant from East China came through town to visit his fiancé.

Soon after, he and his wife had to be quarantined. It was too late though. Neighbors got the same symptoms and it began to spread. Dad heard about it before all of the elders got The Virus. He closed the gates to our castle and made sure the guards kept watch around the perimeter.

Except, while Claire and I walked into the garden, Dad and Mom both came down from heavy fevers after the doctor came in to give each of them a physical. Dad died the night after his fever escalated.

Mom had been improving a bit but once she heard that Dad died, she couldn't handle the pain. I think of them now and then. I know that they would be proud and upset with me for not taking the crown.

Instead, Mom's horrible sister, Elizabeth, took the spot and it's been tragic since. She's reinforced laws to try and find Claire and I.

That was a year ago yesterday that she took the throne. Claire and I have been surviving off our backpacks that we take everywhere with us.

Hers carried blankets and matches while my bigger backpack carries a bow an arrow, a loaf of bread, and some cans of beans, potatoes, peaches, and peas.

Today was our dramatic escape toward happiness. Tonight was the night that we were finally going to enter town and leave the castle behind.

Claire and I both knew that The Virus wasn't going to be a problem. It only attacked humans that were older than forty-five. We had already transformed ourselves a little bit. I dyed my hair the morning we left the castle.

Claire packed an old dress in her bag to wear so she'd look like she was in her twenties.

"Do you think this will actually work?" She whispered to me as we climbed down the tree together. "Of course. We just need to stick together. I love you Claire." I held onto her and we hugged before sneaking through the darkened woods.

The sun had just started to rise, peaking above the ground.

Thinking about the picture that Dad used to show me of our province kept me together. It had a gorgeous scenery with large, beautiful houses.

When I was little, I had always wanted to live here and experience the enjoyment of walking around town. I just hope Claire is as excited as I am. I thought cheerfully to myself.

"Here we are." I whispered to her after an hour of hiking. We shivered in the cold and looked over the ledge onto our province. "Woah." Claire said. I gasped, looking below us.

Guards dressed in white uniforms stood around the wired border. "This is not how I thought it would be like." My heart dropped as I looked out onto the landscape. The town was just starting to wake up from the evening.

No cars or carriages roamed around the street. Everyone wore blue hospital masks across their face, afraid that if the didn't, they would get The Virus.

Just beyond our little province, I could see West Barron. West Barron was just north of Pipoll. Pipoll was the biggest province around us and controlled itself, West Barron, and of course, our province, Pinna.

All three provinces held The Picking every May. It seemed to be coming up faster and faster. Both Claire and I had to go no matter what. I've never gone until Queen Elizabeth made the rule last July.

Since it was nearing the end of April, I became nervous. I had never gone to The Picking before and neither had Claire. Now, all sixteen through twenty-five year old girls came to The Picking to be selected.

My goal was to keep Claire guarded from the world. If I was selected to be in The Picking, she was coming with me, no excuses.

For now, I just had to wait and see what our fate was going to be.

~ Hello guys! I hope you are enjoying my book so far! I can't wait for you guys to come along in their journey! xoxo