Years ago, the human race fell into nuclear war, destroying most of the earth and killing anyone who hadn't found shelter. For those who were lucky enough to be found, they ended up staying here in this underground compound. I've never seen the outside; most of us here never have, unless you work for the Board. The Board makes decisions for us, and they make sure we survive. We always seem to have enough food, water, and other basic necessities.
The Board consists of 4 people, my father being one of them. My mom helps him out with all the work. She would always joke and say, "If he had to do it on his own, we would be dead by now." The social standing of my parents causes everyone my age, and sometimes even younger, to look at me as little miss goody-two-shoes.
The Board also made the test. It picks out children known in the compound as "risks." Risks are adolescents that won't follow the rules or are deemed a danger to the compound. The Board fears them because they are unpredictable, so they banish them to the Outlands.
The Outlands are where the people who survived the nuclear attack reside. Basically, the Outlands is considered everywhere but here. My father used to tell me stories of the Outlands, and the mutated creatures that inhabit it. He said the people who prowl out there are bad, brutal, and uncivilized. He would tell me, looking at me with a fierce look, "You could never survive out there, nor would want you to."
It's not that he didn't think I was strong. Its just to survive out there you would have to fight for every meal and risk dying at every turn. A life of constant struggle in the Outlands. That kind of struggle is unknown to us here in the compound. Here, if you even think about hurting a fly, you may as well pack your stuff and leave.
Sixteen years I've lived here, and I've been graciously ignorant with the reasons of the many enforced regulations. However, now things are changing. I feel myself growing more and more distant from this kind of life. To the compound and the Board in here change is a death sentence.
