Virtual Reality

By S.K. Allen

A world not too far in the future devastated by a Biogenetic war. Earths population goes from capacity, to only 33% of what it used to be. World governments scramble and make prohibitions aimed at saving humans from extinction. Spurring certain industries to be lucrative and highly illegal.

Seanna runs away from an abusive home and strikes out with her boyfriend Marco. Will They survive survive, or will they caught and sent to Kid Farms? Especially when the adults find out they are carrying their special cargo.

Cit was luckier than most kids. she had a mom and a dad to care for her. then one day her entire life changes. How will she survive?

Aldo is a sheltered boy determined to make something of himself. He focused on his studies and missed out on so much.

Jaz grew up with a foster mother. always wondering where she belonged. Then on her fifteenth birthday she found something that opens up her entire world.

The story of four people in a post apocalyptic era. They are all connected to each other

• Language: English
• Publisher: S.K. Allen
• Release date: Sep 24, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310062612

Book preview

On the year 2067, the year of our reckoning, was the start of the worlds most devastating drop in population since the ice age. The US war against terrorism, had waged on for over sixty years. It was this year that that terrorist factions joined forces with communist leaders against the United Nations Alliance.

The UN's attempt to unify world powers dragged on, due to the fact that the leaders could not agree on who might lead them. Meanwhile stealth dealings within the newly formed alliance produced an arsenal of biogenetical weaponry.

In an act of treason, the terrorist factions turned on the communist leaders and commandeered the weapons that they had provided. They used the weapons on their allies first. Then they turned on the US and Europe simultaneously a few days later. Three days later they attacked Africa and South America simultaneously, setting off a chain of events that they were unprepared to counter act.

Their former allies however had developed a counter agent that they had not had time to share with the terrorist factions. The communist party joined forces against them and dealt out their counter agent amongst the UN allies, but that was all too little too late.

The disease mirrored that of the Ebola Virus, where there were fevers and bleeding from every orifice. If it was open, tear ducts, ears mouth nose pores blood seeped out slowly drop-by-drop until you bled out. If you had a compromised immune system, weather it were AIDS or a cold, you died within days of contact with the biogen weapon titled Bleed-out bomb. All symbiotic diseases died away, because of the lack of tolerance to the Bleed out bomb, the total of the worlds Population dropped to 30% than what it once was.

As children are usually the more resilient group of the population, they were then the survivors of the epidemic. They were 70% of the world’s population. Most of them herded like cattle into kid farms, where there were deplorable conditions that were hardly acceptable in the times before the war. They were raised as animals and turned out to the world at eighteen. There were only a privileged few that were cared for by their parents.

The end of the Biogen War came in early 2077. It left the economy completely off balance. People were either extremely rich, or extremely poor there was hardly anyone in between. Leaving the rich to live in large metropolitan areas and the poor in rural areas of the country.

The new democratic world legislature after the Biogen War focused mainly on re-population. The laws they had passed to improve re-population had ranged from illegalizing birth control, and underage sexuality was not only discouraged, but forbidden and punishable by banishment to a reformatory.

Society is quickly thrown into chaos, where the most radical groups were the most rational and realistic thinkers. They knew that this wouldn't really work. Most of them resorted to dealing in illegal birth control, to ensure that reformatories and jails were not overwrought by kids. Kids would do what their hormones told them, it was inevitably human of them. So the radicals aided them in their quest for release. One such radical invented a program to use with Virtual Reality suits so that maybe sexual contact could be limited. But you can only do so much without actual physical contact.

The sex industry survived the war, like a plague of roaches. With as many restrictions placed upon sex, the human urge to pursue one's release became greater. It is true that forbidden fruit tastes sweeter. Especially if you are the provider of said fruit, pimps and their charges are counted among the wealthiest in society.

District of Colombia: Dec. 31, 2082

Seanna

Come on Seanna, hurry up. Marco said as he ushered me through the gray halls of The Rock Creek Park orphanage as we ran away from our miserable existence there. All of the kids had been in the dining hall having a New Years Eve party at the time. The timing was perfect, and w took our chance, no one would miss us.

The party was in full swing. We had been there briefly, to make our appearance at the beginning of the bash. We had been there to welcome a neighboring kid farm had come to celebrate with us. The house was packed, and much went unnoticed that night.

I'm coming. I whispered back. This wasn't the first time I had run away and I was terrified to get caught yet again. The last time the teaser burns had me seizing for months. Shouldn't we take Vega with us? I asked him as we exited the orphanage.

No she is too young, I paused a moment and looked at him. She'd only slow us down. He explained.

She is too young to go through all the shit I've been through Marco.

Come on Seanna, think about it. It’s going to look really weird if she came with us. It's weird enough for us to be together as it is. Besides we're already out. He said as we made our way down the street.

We heard a noise, What was that? I asked stopping dead in my tracks.

I don’t know, Marcus answered as he took my hand and pulled me with him, but I ain’t trying to find out. We ran clear to the metro station and hopped a red line as far as we could from the orphanage. Then we hopped a purple line that took us all the way to Baltimore. If all went well that would be far enough. We picked New Year's because the transportation would go all night, and it would be free. With the money we saved we could eat instead.

I sat next to Marco on the metro. As we went through the tunnels at about 200 miles per hour the Sonic Metrorail got us to Baltimore in less than twenty minutes. The only downfall to our speedy get away was that it made me queasy. I held on to my boyfriend tightly, and he held on to me. Then he kissed my cheek to reassure me that everything would be fine. With him there the train ride didn't feel quite so long. I know it sounds corny but he was all that I had, I was alone in a world where children were raised like cattle. I needed to depend on him, because I thought I wouldn’t be able to make it without him.

As we got off the train, I looked around the station and asked him, where to now?

He shrugged, I don't know. then he wrapped a strong arm around me. He was 16, and 6 feet tall. He was muscular, because that's how you had to be when you lead our lives. Foster homes and kid farms are good instruments in making rough individuals. Marco was Puerto Rican, with nice olive skin and wavy black hair. He was amazing, and perfect. Marco exhaled in a sigh. He looked confused. I really haven't thought about it beyond getting out of there. We'll make it up as we go I guess.

I followed him towards the waterfront of the Baltimore Harbor. The skyline was lit like a million Christmas lights. There were a few yachts lined up at the harbor. I wished that I had been able to ride on one of them.

The building of the Baltimore Harbor Aquarium had been redone after the war. One of the tanks, the whale tank had been made of heavy glass. And the animals could be seen from the outside of the building. It is a good gimmick. It kind of made me want to go inside and look at them.

Hungry? Marcus whispered the question breaking into my thoughts.

No. Lets save our money. We're gonna need it later. Besides we are one of the lucky ones that got to eat dinner tonight. I said being practical, while wishing silently for one of those pricey McDonald's cheeseburgers.

I just want to make sure you guys are OK. You and the baby are my priority right now. He said as we sat on the bench at the harbor.

Baby, I thought. I was a 13-year-old orphan with no money, couldn't get a job for another two years, and I was going to be a mother. Not to mention that teen sexual activity is totally illegal, so I had been hiding the baby's existence in the first place. But even worst than the sexual act, was the act of abortion. It is now considered murder because of gross under population.

So there is an epidemic of orphans because of the BioGen War in the mid to late '70s, like Marco and I, and also from young girls that are being used as prostitutes and subsequently end up abandoning their child at the hospital.

Truth is I didn't know whose baby it was. The Headmaster of the orphanage, an unattractive degenerate, had been molesting some of the younger girls and I in his care. He was a social zero, and flew way below the radar when it came to women. He didn’t know how to talk to them, so I doubt he had ever been in a relationship. So whenever he felt the urge, he turned to his little girls. As long as we hadn't started our period, he would freely use us. I guess he figured he couldn't get us pregnant that way.

I never even have a chance to have my first period. Although it could have been Marco's baby and that is the reason I was really keeping my pregnancy a secret. I had committed a crime, which wasn't really a crime. It was just a very bad choice for me in my situation. But Marco and I were determined to make this family work without government intervention.

I shivered slightly in the winter chill. My thin Gore-Tex jacket was oddly doing nothing to help me stay warm this winter. Come on, let’s find somewhere to stay." Marco said wrapping his arms around me.

We found a Y downtown Baltimore. Which pointed us towards a hostel. They only had two beds left and they couldn't give them to us because they were in the same room. Not that either of us minded sharing, much but seeing as that was against the rules, they couldn't give it to us. We pled with them, and eventually convinced them to allow one of us to sleep in the lobby.

Grateful enough Marco helped with my bags. We went into this tiny room with two twin beds. I sighed with relief when I finally got to sit on the bed. I took off my shoes and jacket, and then laid out on the bed. My back was killing me I'm going to go take a shower. Marco said to me. I nodded in response and started to drift off to sleep.

I was almost asleep when I felt Marco climb into my twin bed. He kissed my neck and pressed his half-naked body against me. This sent shivers up my spine.

What are you doing you are going to get us in trouble. You need to go to the lobby

Are you comfortable? He asked softly.

I'm just tired. I answer, but I guess I'll go shower too. I might feel better like that. I got out of bed and headed toward the showers. As I showered the pain in my back intensified and radiated towards my belly. By the time I finished my body was letting loose of it's own fluids. I guess my water broke because the pain only got worse.

Somehow, I don't remember how, I made it back to the room. I know I didn't make a sound because I was afraid that if the hostel's managers knew I was pregnant they would call the authorities and Marco and I would be on a train straight for the reformatory. I quickly got dressed and headed out for the lobby. I woke Marco up, he was so groggy, that he totally panicked when I told him I was in labor. Wait, don't freak we don't need to panic right now let's just go.

He grabbed our bags and I walked slowly dripping as I went along. We wandered around town for around an hour. Only took so long because we had to sit and rest when I had a contraction. It's too early Seanna, it's just too early. Marco kept mumbling.

I concentrated on breathing and tried not to snap at him the way I really wanted to. Finally we saw a hospital sign and headed straight to Johns Hopkins Hospital. Everything else was a blur because as soon as I knew we were in the hospital I passed out.

As I was coming to, I heard a voice talking to me. Just wait until I get you back to Rock Creek. I hoped that it wasn't who in my heart I knew it was. The Headmaster had found me. I kept my eyes closed; I didn't want to see him. I could hear the monitors starting to beep incessantly. I guess it alerted him of my waking state. I was still pregnant, I could feel the baby move.

I listened for Marco. Your little boyfriend is gone, he left you here because you were slowing him down. He continued brushing the hair out of my face. He ran his hand down my neck on my chest and he cupped one of my breasts. My heart rate increased to the point of panic. Tachycardia brought my nurse to my aid. She had walked in as his hand made it's way further down my body and I began to fight him off.

We need you to step outside sir." The nurse said as she pushed him out. Security had alerted as the nurses in the electronic ward had seen everything from the cameras and had been on their way to the room as well.

Why? What's wrong? He asks with fake concern.

Just go. she answered with a growl. Security walked in as she said that and wrestled him out of the room. She sat with me a while and soothed me. I wondered if that was what it was like to have a mother. I guess it worked, because my heart rate slowed and I was stabilized.

As the nurse turned to leave I called, Why am I still here?

She turned towards me and said. " You have only been here for thirty minutes. These things take time. We prepped you for a c- section. The stress from running away propelled labor, though I