Alteronterrace: Ground Zero

Alex is a twelve year old kid who has lived his whole life in the split city of Alteronterrace. Split cities like Alteronterrace are separated into levels according to social standing. Split cities generally have ten to fifteen separate levels, and Alteronterrace is no exception. It is divided into thirteen levels, and depending on your social standing, life there can range from a perfect Utopia to a life worse than hell. In the upper levels of the city, crime is virtually non-existent, but the further down you go on the ladder of hierarchy, the worse things get. The bottom level is by far the worst of the thirteen. No matter the time of day, at ground level in Alteronterrace, there is no light. In addition, level one is the only level with direct access to Ground-Zero. Ground-Zero is a literal cesspool in all of the worst ways. It is not counted as a true level because its only inhabitants are criminals and those many unfortunates who do not have the money to pay the annual protection fee to the government. Ground-Zero is where the cities convicted criminals are sent. Thieves, murderers, and rapists are all inhabitants of Ground-Zero, and a single slip-up with the law could result in banishment to Ground-Zero. Alex lives on level one, and knows better than anyone the repercussions of crime. After losing his father to the pit, as it is called by anyone on level one, he is left to care for his younger brother and his alcoholic mother. But when a snitch rats him out to the Enforcers, he finds himself thrown into a punishment worse than death...