Below the Surface

Chapter 1 - The Oasis

Castin had always been one for trouble, no matter how much the consequences would affect him. In the Carrick Capital, it was strictly forbidden for a person in one district to cross over into a different district. Castin had never cared, even though the punishment for such actions included a severe flogging, death, or being kicked out of the capitals districts, being thrown off of the island to the land below, known as the Surface, and being forced to fend for yourself. But, then again,  Castin was only a 12 year old; he didn't worry about consequences yet.

Castin always left his district, the forge district, also known as District F1, for one reasons and one reason only. A girl who lived in the district next to his, District X7 had grown quite fond of Castin, and snuck out of her own district to meet with Castin. Occasionally, she would sneak into Castin's district and spend time there. Her name was Poney and she was short with long brown hair that she always kept in a pony tail and large green eyes. She was 13 years old, and Castin thought she was a perfect match to his opposite features; he was tall with short blonde-brown hair and brown eyes and was a bit younger, but only by a year.

Poney was good with a sword, while Castin was better with a hookshot. They would always practice their skills with eachother, often pretending to be enemies that were trying to conquer each other. In the end, Castin would always let Poney win, despite her constant demands that he not give up and let her. Although Castin would drive Poney crazy, she always enjoyed having someone to spend time with. As Poney drove her sword deep into a tree trunk, Castin aimed slowly at birds that rested in tree branches.

Poney jumped at the sound of the hookshot shooting from its resting place in the handle. The rough sound of a dying bird echoed throughout the forest. The bird landed on the ground with a heavy thud. Castin laughed as he walked over to the bird, but stopped as soon as he saw Poney's expression. Her mouth was curved downwards and her eyes were wide.

"Why would you.... Why did you kill it?" Poney asked. Castin's stomach dropped. "I'm sorry. It's just.... I thought something living would be a good target for once."

Poney sighed. "Don't kill anything else, please, Castin."

Castin nodded his head and set the bird down on the ground. "It won't be wasted. I'll take it home for my mom and sister."

"What are you going to do for food?"

"I'll go down to the market and find something." Castin replied. "My mom has a grant from the capital to start working on a robot again. The capital has her on surveillance to make sure she's not planning another robot uprising."

"Like your mom would build a dangerous robot." Poney laughed. "She had trouble putting your horse to sleep when it was sick. I don't think she could ever build a robot that would kill people."

"The last time we had robots, they weren't meant to glitch out and murder everyone, but they did. It could just be an accident if my mom was to build and program a robot to wash dishes, but instead it freaks out and butchers half of the population because it glitched out." Castin said.

"Your mom is too smart to let something like that happen." Poney smiled. "Besides, she'd only do something like that for a good reason. I couldn't see her being a bad guy in a situation like that. I mean, she couldn't afford to have a robot glitch out that could kill you and your little sister."

Castin nodded and sat on the ground; laying his hookshot down next to him. Poney saw his actions and sat down next to him. "It's too bad we have to sneak put and risk death just to hang out with each other."

"Yeah, it gets stressful, but when I'm with you, that stress disappears." Castin said, wrapping an arm around Poney's shoulders. A siren began going off in the distance, the same siren that told citizens that it was almost time for the curfew.