The Other Side of the Fence (English)

Chapter 1

As the rain stops and the sky starts to clear up, children leave their homes to play around puddles and mud. Dozens of houses piled up one next to another, grey roofs and plain white walls. Crops growing around them; Women of all ages walking on the streets. No animals, no big factories, no cars, no technology.

The water spreads across the streets reaching every single house through the canals built not too long ago. The roofs pick up the water and direct it to a filter to be collected it in the rain-catcher.

Drops keep falling from the biggest branches of the trees to the muddy ground. Barefoot children walk and jump as the last couple of drops fall down onto them dampening their almost identical plain clothes. Little girls laugh at their silly jokes as their mothers observe them. Most of them are not lucky enough to end up with a girl; lonely women stay at home or just work in the crops. They feel hopeless and gloomy by their condition, but extremely grateful for their lives.

Money is no longer a thing. After all, it could never buy a family or simple happiness. Not as the oldest ones knew it anyway. Although in some cases, it could. -It has to be that way-they repeat to themselves every day and they have to keep their thoughts in their heads. One word to anyone and they would be put to death.

"There are no men in this world, there never was."

Some of them remember the voice, but none of them is brave enough to question it. It has been like this for over 30 years and all because of human race's nature.

Little by little, country after country, the whole planet ran out of resources for the entire population that was a little over ten billion by then. There were not enough measures to maintain everyone at peace, thus, catastrophes began to unleash. Humanitarian crisis' all over the world forced lower class and even middle-class people to migrate to different countries, but no matter where they went, there was no food, no water. Nothing.

Hospitals were no longer available for everyone and new bacteria and viruses appeared.

Millions and millions of deaths were registered and yet nobody knew what was happening. Most people even believed pollution was the silent killer. No government nor high powers shared the actual problem with the public as to avoid any more revolts and desperation than there already was. Whether they wanted to admit it or not, the situation was helping with the overpopulation, so no one did anything. Some even assured it had been implemented by the own government.

The different viruses killed more than 1 billion people all over the world in 2070 along with many more deaths for diverse causes. Although the population decreased considerably, strict measures needed to be taken to prevent more violence and overpopulation. Most importantly, the few resources left had to be preserved, and people had to figure out a way to manage them intelligently. A way in which everyone could have equal resources, and perhaps leave behind the different social classes; but that never happened. Instead, they had a brilliant idea.

In an attempt to stop the violence on the streets, and desperate for their people's necessities, first world leading countries began experimenting with different techniques to maintain the population steady.

They tried to reinforce the one-child-only law, but of course, those with enough money to pay for the authorization could have more than one kid, so although it helped, the change was not significant. On top of that, there was a transportation restriction and a ridiculous inflation that automatically turned three social classes into two, there was no such thing as a middle-class. People were either incredibly poor or extremely rich.

Everybody had a limited list of needs to buy that most people couldn't even afford for the increasing prices, and that is when people started killing each other for food.

Animals dying uncontrollably on the streets, and the ones strong enough to survive were fighting humans for food, and even feeding from their flesh if they had to.

Governments along with higher-class people thought they could test their new idea in the savages that were killing each other for food, without including themselves. A plan they shared publicly and that was going to be reinforced by the majority of countries. A plan that would violate all the laws of nature and would destroy every single family.

Whether people rejected it or not, it was happening.