Exploit

Chapter One

New Beginnings -

We live in the year 2406, I read a book that stated around 400 years ago people believed the world was going to change for the better, there was going to be better technology, flying cars and robots or world peace. Well, let me reassure you, none of that has happened. My father told me there was a war that lasted 26 years that tore this country apart. We live in a city that was once called New York but is now called Brecan. Life in Brecan wasn’t always easy…but some days were better than others were. Brecan is split into four collections: Sagacious, Altruistic, Fraudulent, and Audacious. Collections are groups of people with a certain characteristic they all have in common. Smart people, the ones who valued education and knowledge were Sagacious. Altruistic, were the selfless, cared more about the wellbeing of others then themselves. Fraudulents were the distrusting, liars; a lot of them have switched collections and became a member of Audacious. There’s not that many Fraudulents left. Audacions are the warriors, the bold, the brave, the loud, the outspoken and our protectors. I was born into the Sagacious collection, I have lived 17 years in this collection and I know deep down I’m not meant to be Sagacious. The only way out of your collection is through selection. Selection is the process that takes place every two years; the leaders of each collection randomly draw two names from a bowl to go out beyond the wall for twenty-four hours. Depending on what skills they have and show and if they live, a collection will select them. The wall was built when I was six-years-old to protect the people in Brecan. The only ones aloud outside of the wall are the Audacious and the Selections. No one has ever traveled more than four miles outside of the wall, so no one knows what lies beyond that. People assume there is more life beyond the four miles but ever since the war, that’s very unlikely.

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My father, Jackson Weston was not only the leader of the Sagacions but since Sagacious people were trusted to run the government, they picked my father to become the overseer (president) of Brecan. My family was very well known and wealthy. My family could get away with almost anything if we had to which had its benefits but there people who knew that, and hated us.

Tomorrow was selection day, already. Two years had already flown by. Selection day was the one day of the year that if one of the Weston children were picked, my father could not do anything about it. He could not bend the rules; he could not save us. Part of me wishes he could but the other part of me is glad that he has no control over the selections. I have been babied for the past 17 years and I haven’t been able to explore or be free. Every time I got in trouble, my father was there to get me out of it and I hated that.

            It was dinnertime and everyone sat around the large rectangle shaped table. My mother, Mia and my father sat at the ends of the table where as my older brother, Bode and I sat on the sides. The room was silent and fell still. No one was talking, just quietly eating and keeping to themselves. The stillness in the room seemed palpable until selections became of topic.

“What if I get selected?” I blurted.

“Don’t think that way, Brynn” My mother snapped.

“Why am I not allowed?” I yelled, “What if I don’t want to be Sagacious anymore?” I snapped.

“Brynn, if I was you, I’d-“my father started. “You’d what?” I snapped. I was so mad at my dad and at myself. “You’d get rid of me?” I got out of my chair and started walking to my room; I felt a strong grip around my arm that yanked me backwards.

“You do not talk to me that way” my father yelled. All I could do was stare at him, speechless.

“Are you going to answer me?” he said sternly.

“Yeah, I don’t want to be Sagacious anymore” I said, “I don’t want to be associated with you or this collection”. That’s when I felt the sharp pain across my left cheek, the sound of the skin contact echoed throughout the room. I fell to my knees, hand on cheek and looked at the ground. I looked over at my mom at the table, standing, looking at me in shock and Bode running over and tackling our dad to the ground. Everything happened so fast, I was still in shock that my own father had slapped me.