Toxic City

Chapter 1

"Who were you with?" The crabby lady narrows her eyes at the girl, peering into her soul.

She huffs her chest at the older lady. "I told you, I was with my friends."

"Abiga- I mean, Ms. Price," saying the name makes the woman backtrack. "Price? You aren't by chance Greggory and Suzanna Price's adoptive daughter, are you?"

Weights come crashing down on the girl's shoulders once again. It was over. At that moment she knew her parents would be notified and she will be grounded for as long as she lives.

"Yes...." She says shamefully.

The woman almost looks speechless. "I wouldn't have thought Abigail Price would be arrested for trespassing on government property."

Abigail slouches back in the metal chair, the clanking of metal painfully loud in the smoldering silence. "It was an accident. My friends didn't know that you can't go up there. Please, this is my first warning. Can't you cut me some slack? I just happened to be at the wrong place, at the wrong time."

"Sweetie," the woman's voice changes, now seeing as I'm Price's daughter. "Kids are at the wrong place at the wrong time, all the time. Everyone in the city knows that's a restricted area." There's a pause. "But.... since it is the first time you have acted up, and you are part of the Price family, I will let you off with a warning."

Abigail tries to hide the rolling of her eyes. Of course, if I'm the daughter of Price. She thinks.

"Thanks, it's appreciated." She says, getting out of the uncomfortable interrogation chair.

"However, I do expect you to not be encourage by your friends next time." The lady says, glimpsing over the papers scattered on the table.

"Of course." Abigail plasters on her fake smile in response.

When Abigail exits the intimidating building, she hurries to get away from it, keeping an eye out to avoid anyone she knows. The clicking of her boots echo as she paces through the street, heading up towards the high class neighborhood to where she lives.

 The lower down the city, the more torn buildings are, and crafted from scrap metal. Dark ally ways make up the city more then streets and houses, seeing as the lower districts are used as garbage dumps. Abigail likes to avoid those places as much as possible.

As usual the city is bustling with excitement as citizen travel from building to building, accomplishing their everyday jobs to earn their keep. Lights and lanterns flicker above the street pathways in illuminating light. The towering of large bulbs glowing from the earth above. The city is rustic, buildings made from metal and stone, steam filling the air from engines and power generators.

Hiding among the shops and stands, protesters wave signs, trash thrown at them in denial. Men harassing the children, and woman protesters like pests. Others just watching, not even trying to defend them. That's the society we live in.

Being caught up in the commotion, Abigail notices a large crowd of protesters guarding the front of a small cafe. The yelling of Furrow's wanting to be let in and treated the same as humans.

Furrow's are not humans, they look like humans with animal features. They process animal traits and behave like beasts. Humans view them as pests, that should be treated as lowly as pets or slaves.

A long time ago, before the Third Reset, Furrows use to be treated the same way as humans. However, after the fallout humans saw Furrow as the cause of the Third Reset, seeing as they are unnatural to society. From then on they were treated as a lesser race, only to be looked down upon as just wild animals.