The Mainland

Chapter 1

"Yeah, it says it right here. Marley, read this. Before the floods came they were predicting something like this. They called it global warming," said Winter.

"What does warming have to do with the entire earth being flooded?" I answered.

"I don't know." She paused. "Wait, it says right here that there was something called the Arctic Circle. It was all ice. Maybe when it melted, the floods started."

"Maybe it just rained a lot you morons," Pat muttered.

"Rain comes from evaporated water, moron," Winter retorted, mimicking his voice perfectly.

"Excuse me children, this is a library. Please lower your voices," ordered a chubby lady who was sitting nearby.

"Yes ma'am," we replied in unison. It was a tradition on the main land to treat adults with the uttermost respect, but almost everyone our age knew that the adults were all going slightly insane, and we could be as sarcastic as we liked without them noticing.

"Why does it matter how the floods started anyways?" asked Red.

"I guess it doesn't," Winter whispered, "can we just go back to the America?"

"Yeah, it's getting late. Why did you want to come to the library again?" I asked Red.

"I need this." He held up a thin book with a picture of a wave on it. There was some sort of red weed in the water. "Red flood this year."

It had been twelve years since the last red flood, but the experts had been predicting this for months. When flood season came, the waters would be filled with a semi toxic weed from the ocean floor. We hadn't seen a red flood since we were young, and none of us new how to handle it. To make it even worse, we lived in the America, which was the lowest section of the mainland. Every year, when the floods came, we'd have to stay up through full nights just to keep from drowning. Our one-roomed home would flood up to the tops of our bunk beds, and sometimes higher.

"What are we going to do, Red?" Pat asked, nudging Red's side.

"I don't know. That's why I'm taking this book."

"But... We aren't allowed to take the books. Only the adults are," I stated.

"I know."

Red started making his way toward the door. Winter and Pat stood up and I followed. The chubby lady who had reprimanded us moments before was now eyeing us suspiciously.

"Have a nice day, ma'am." Red nodded respectfully at the librarian who was sitting at a large desk by the exit. She forced a smile in return. Red had the book tucked between his shirt and his side. I was silently praying that it wouldn't fall. If anyone below the age of thirty took a book from the library without a note from an elder, they were taken from their home and made to live in the Siberia. I had heard talk about the Siberia before. It had been described as being locked in a freezer and forced to do work for the government.

When we escaped the library, we were suddenly surrounded by darkness. It hadn't been so dark before we had gone into the library. I could see clouds above our heads in the darkness; flood season was coming.

The America was in total darkness when we returned. It was after curfew, but the patrollers didn't pay much attention to us. Nobody really paid much attention to people from the America. It was the poor side of the mainland, and nobody wanted to help.

Thankfully, we had Red. Red was clever. He knew how to win the hearts of rich officials and gain food and money for our group. He really was the leader. We all followed his direction, which was strange because he was the same age of the rest of us. But Winter, Pat, and I all held him in a high place of respect because of his bravery. He had grown up without parents, like the rest of us, but the unique thing about him was that he was never taken in. I had been taken in by Tabitha, who was now our neighbor. She raised me from the time I was 7.