The Dregs

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Home.

By far the most flattering title I can give to the ruined city that has housed me all my life. The streets I walk down aren't really paths at all but areas where the rubble has been worn down over the years from people walking across it. The buildings are damaged beyond repair. Some burnt, some blown up, and some that have damage caused by who knows what. And there really is no telling considering how all this damage, all of it, was caused by the war, long before I was born.

A little history lesson for those who haven't been Paying attention to life

Forty-something years ago the world (well really a bunch of scientists collaborating from within its many governmental bodies) discovered a gene abnormality present in a small portion of the population. This gene would later be named Cipher. Sound familiar, doesn't it! Over the course of the next decade a race to unearth the secrets held within the gene began. Many believed that it held the key to the next step in human evolution. That it would unlock latent abilities. Where those lunatics wrong? No, but we sure wish they were.

Soon an injection was developed and successfully spread across the world (Don't ask me how I wasn't born at this time and they don't teach us much). As many developed abilities, the world reveled in the wonder of it all. We even took to calling them Evers as if they had hopped out of some fairy tale. And for a very short time, everything was perfect. Anything seemed possible, and if events had stuck to the narrative of a comic book nerd's wet dream the story would have ended there. Sadly a few things deterred our happy ending. The first was jealous. Jealousy to the point of cruelty caused by the fact that only a small subset of people where granted powers. The second came in the form of an answer to a question we hadn't thought to ask. What happens when there are no heroes. When there are just a whole bunch of ordinary people with powers with a few of the world's monsters thrown in for kicks?

As the years went by tensions rose higher and a perfect storm was created. When an Ever went on a nearly unstoppable rampage, killing thousands all hell broke loose. The world had seen what an Ever could do if they were rubbed the wrong way and we were scared. And out of this place of fear came the biggest mistake humanity ever made. We stupidly tried to police the problem. Foolishly believing that stricter rules would keep us safe. It did not for some Evers to get fed up with their situation and revolt, and it was easy for them to appeal to the rest of their people. Would you not be mad at those that had te=reated you poorly all because of petty jealousy. Because they wanted what you had. That's when the war started. Can you guess the outcome? Bet you can. Oh, come on you aren't even trying. I mean what are guns and tanks in comparison to a human nuclear weapon?

Well after our swift defeat, the Evers "mercifully" allowed ordinary humans like me to live in places that were horribly damaged. Humanity, the former top of the foodchain reduced to the Dregs of society. I find it hilarious that we once thought that some natural disaster would be our undoing. In the end, the only thing that they got right is that our doom would be caused by our own stupidity. These events gave way to the neverending nightmare that is our new reality. You know how I described the Evers as a quote on quote "small subset" of the population. Well, that is no longer true. They now make up a whopping thirty-eight percent of the planet. While we are still the majority that doesn't mean much. We are packed in like sardines in tumbling cities, working terrible jobs for no pay, with no sign of hope at the end of the tunnel.

It's a tradition that every child be tested for the Cipher gene after the sixth grade. If the gene is found within a child they have whisked away to the "paradise" of one of the Ever provinces. To bad the Ever's don't take enough of an interest in us to update their testing records. For instance, my school was so small that we never got tested. In fact, none of the testers have ever graced the halls of Liberty High. Many sent their child there to evade testing. The school was infamous for being where you send your kids if you want a guarantee that your family wouldn't be ripped apart. Being an Ever may be a better life, but at what cost. You betray everyone and everything you have ever loved for your own self-gain. Ignoring the little people's look down from your ivory tower.

THAT WAS JUST DOWNRIGHT CHEERY WASN'T IT?

I know that little spiel seemed a bit like I'm bemoaning, but I'm really not one to complain. I mean I'm seventeen and work a pretty nice job by my people's standards. It pays enough to keep food on the table. I started working at Valentine's when I was twelve, which is pretty normal, but since I've been able to keep the same job all this time my job has become like a second home.

It is with these happy thoughts that I arrived at the shop.

"Hey, Bobby," I called out to the old man at the desk. 

 I had known Bobby for quite some time and he is like the grandpa I never had. He even gets all riled up at the Christmas parties and starts talking about "the good old days." He is exactly how I imagine my own grandfather being if he was still alive.

I heard him say "Morning Ms. Sterling. How are the folks?" on my way to the back room.

I made sure to yell out a "Just Fine," before disappearing behind the iron double doors.

"The lab" as I like to call it is a little tinker shop. Everyone who worked here had the same job. To assemble the devices on our roster for the day according to the blueprints given to us by Valentine himself. I always did my work on time, but sneakily made extra of some things to sell on the side. I mischievously put on my headphones as I set to work. I felt myself get lost in the voice of Gerard Way as I tinkered. In what seemed like moments, an alarm at my desk interrupted the chorus of Teenagers, signaling that I was done for the day. I sat up, stretched, and looked at the clock. I had been working for hours. If I don't leave now I'm gonna be late for lunch with my friends. I quickly begin to stuff some of my extras from the day into my bookbag and set off into the grimy streets of the city as I head to the underground.

A little short I know. I'll try to make later chapters longer. This is my first work on Wattpad so I hope you enjoy it! 🤗