Chapter 1
The first thing she saw upon opening her eyes was a burning sky, accompanied by the smell of singed flesh. Ariadne took a deep breath as she adjusted to her surroundings. She immediately regretted it when she started choking on the air. She coughed, only stopping to spit up blood. She was weak, but she knew she couldn’t relent. Not if she wanted to see her nineteenth birthday.
She remembered her graduation. And more than that, she remembered the sedatives her teacher had administered before she accepted her diploma. She had walked right off the stage, into the white, cold room just as she had been told to do since she began Secondary school. Ariadne had begun her education at age six, started an internship at age eleven, and moved into her own house and start a regular job at fifteen. All the while, continuing her schooling until she graduated last week at age eighteen.
Ariadne still remembered the day her dad sat her down to tell her about the Populace Curb. She had been dancing in the rain with her childhood best friend, John, to celebrate their last day of freedom before beginning their new full-time jobs. She came inside soaking wet, expecting her last dinner with her father. Instead, she was greeted with her father’s solemn expression. “Princess, please sit down,” he said. And she did, immediately. Her father was rarely this serious, so she knew it must have been important. She also knew the gravity of the situation from the way he’d called her “Princess,” which he hadn’t done since she was very little.
“A letter came in the mail for you. It’s is a very serious letter and everybody gets one at some point in their life. I remember when I got mine,” he said looking grimly at the ground. “Anyway… Here’s yours,” he handed her an envelope. It was a crisp white with the emblem of her city, which was a small stick figure embedded inside a thin green circle. She opened the envelope, careful not to rip it too much, and inside she read:
Each member of our society receives a child at age twenty. And that is why each person has one parent and not the biological two that were mated to created them. The reason each adult is assigned one child is because years ago people were allowed to have as many children as they wanted, regardless of whether they could be taken care of, and our government, formerly known as the United Stated of America, began to run out of room and resources to properly sustain the abundance of life. The United States government officials decided to make a change and after a long civil war, it became law that seventy percent of our population would have to disappear for the remaining thirty percent to thrive. Every three generations, the percentage will be decreased by ten percent, until our breeding centers have control of the situation and no longer need to destroy any of our population.
Signed,
Helga Umbridge, Vice President
Helga Umbridge
Ariadne didn’t fully understand what she had read. What did they mean by “disappear” and “destroy.”
“Every year,” her father said, interrupting her thoughts, “a percentage of the graduating class is put to death. Since you are only the second generation of our new world, you only have a three in ten chance of surviving, like I did. I believe in you honey, and I know you can do it.”
He had mumbled something about being monitored, and trying her hardest, so that she could survive, but Ariadne barely heard any of it. All her life, she had been brought up to believe that this society was the definition of perfection. All of her peers believed that the government did what was best, and so had she, until now. She couldn’t believe she only three years left. 
After he had finished talking, her father had given her a ring. It had a thin silver band and a small purple stone in it. Ariadne loved the color purple because amethyst was her birthstone. Since she didn’t know anything about her birth parents, it made her feel closer to them to wear the color that represented her birth.
Ariadne’s eyes gleamed with tears, as she looked down at her right hand and recalled that horrible day. She then looked up to the sky, but it was the same dirty red color, burning along with her hopes of survival. She didn’t remember exactly how she’d gotten here, only that she had been on the run since graduation last week. She remembered narrowly escaping the administer of the drug that was going to be injected into her neck to kill her. The administer hadn’t been expecting her to run because she was supposed to be heavily sedated. But Ariadne had known what was coming, and had built up an immunity to the sedatives over the past six months. She would of been proud of herself, but it had actually been her best friend, John, who had come with the idea. Where was John? She hadn’t seen him since graduation and she was beginning to worry that he hadn’t managed to escape like she had.
She didn’t have time to wonder about John though, because right then a slim man in a bright white medical suit was running after her. Ariadne jumped to her feet, and ran off straight into the woods. She had never been this far away from home, and she had no idea where she was going. She could only hope the man chasing her was as lost as she was.
She looked up at the increasingly blinding sky and ran smack into something, or rather, someone. Her eyes widened and her mouth gaped in horror as she turned her head slowly towards the person, whom she’d narrowed down to being a male. The boy looked equally surprised, but not in horror like she did. She could barely register that it was John before he pulled her into a tight embrace.
“Ari! What are you doing here,” he asked, his beaming smile quickly turning into dread as he saw the terrified expression on her face.
“Lower your voice,” she whispered urgently at him, “There was somebody from the government chasing me and I don’t know if I lost him in the woods or not.”
“Come on, I’ve been out here since graduation. I have a fort. I move every couple days, though. I’ve been looking for you ever since I escaped. I started to believe that you hadn’t made it,” he said.
Just then, there was a rustling in the foliage to their right. John whirled Ariadne to a tree on their left before she could even gasp in surprise. She risked a glance out from behind the tree, and saw a flash of a white medical suit run past them. She flattened herself back against the tree and told John they were in the clear.
“Good. Maybe I should’ve led with this, but there was a guard chasing me too,” he responded.
“You just now decided to tell me that there are guards closing in on us from every direction,” she spat at him.
“Not from every direction, just two. And since one of them has already passed us, there is only one closing in on us. We can get to my hideout without them catching us. C’mon,” John said as he grabbed Ariadne’s hand. She wanted to tell him that she was perfectly capable of following him without being held onto like a little girl, but decided now probably wasn’t the best time to assert herself as an independent feminist. Ariadne remembered sitting in class learning the definition of “feminism.” It was a term that not many people used anymore, because all laws supported women’s rights and had for a long time now. As soon as her teacher told them what a feminist was, Ariadne turned around to John and said, “I’m one of those.” He had just smiled one of his I-know-you-are smiles.
“So, what do you think of my place?” John asked.
“Wow. Um… where is it?”
“Exactly! They’ll never find us here,” John said as he moved a piece of bark off a nearby tree. Ariadne ducked under the door and into the hollow tree trunk behind John. It was mostly empty and obviously not a permanent settlement, but there was a pile of ragged sheets and other blanket-like things that John must have found while on the run. On the opposite side of the room was a backpack that she assumed was filled with food and water. She went over to the blanket to get a closer look at where John had been living, while she’d been sleeping in ditches. As soon as she sat on the blankets, she collapsed into a deep slumber
Chapter 2
Ariadne woke to the sound of John rummaging through his bag of food. “Sorry I woke you,” he said, “Since you’re up though, would you like some breakfast?”
Breakfast, she thought. The closest thing she’d had to a meal in the past week was a few bites off a rather scraggly squirrel. “Sure,” she said, salivating at the thought of any food that she didn’t have to catch with her bare hands.
“I have a package of astronaut food and a bunny I caught and cooked yesterday.” She immediately opted for the space food. It reminded her that there was a real civilization and not just this world of dirt and destruction she’d been living in lately. She broke off a piece of the styrofoam-like food and placed it in her mouth. It dissolved on her tongue, disappearing far more quickly than she would have liked. “Hey, you’re doing it again,” he said. She looked down to find that she was twisting her ring around and around on her finger, a nervous habit that she hadn’t even noticed until John had pointed it out.
“Oh. Yeah, something about being on the run from the government, which is trying to have me killed, makes me a little nervous, I don’t know about you.” He grinned and they returned to stuffing themselves with the little food they had.
After shoving half the contents of the package into her mouth, she paused between bites to ask, “Where did you get this anyway. I haven’t exactly found a general store in the woods.”
“Hid it under my graduation robes,” he replied. His voice was so muffled from the dead rabbit he was cramming into mouth, that she normally wouldn’t have been able to understand him, but this was John, and they could always understand each other, no matter what.
After breakfast, they went outside to begin their journey further away from the city. The sky was still burning a deep shade of crimson, and she supposed it would be until they were caught. The sky glowed different colors for different emergencies. A red sky meant runaways were on the loose. Ariadne had been taught to believe that runaways were dangerous and needed to be caught and punished. Now that she knew the truth, she wasn’t eating up these lies like most of her peers. Although the sky was still burning, the smell of singed and rotting flesh had died down. That meant most of the graduates that had tried to escape like her and John had already been killed or were hiding too well to be found and burned to death, which was the punishment for breaking major laws. A punishment she was hoping to avoid.

After traveling for hours and barely stopping to drink water, John said, “Why don’t we make camp somewhere for the night. It’s getting late.” Ariadne nodded her agreement and they set up a sheet over some trees as a makeshift tent. They were in a clearing between patches of forest and needed to be careful to avoid capture.
Ariadne made a makeshift animal trap and set it up a few yards from their campsite, hoping to catch something that would fill her aching stomach. It was rumbling so loudly, she feared it would give her away to any passerby hoping to be rewarded for catching a dangerous criminal like herself. Once she was satisfied with her trap, she returned to the clearing. She sat on the familiar pile of blankets that John had set out. He walked over to her, handing her a canteen filled with water before sitting beside her. John was talking about how they could escape and go somewhere they would be free, but Ariadne didn’t even know if such a place existed. In school, they had been taught that anything outside of the city limits was unsafe, and that no one was to go beyond the gate. She remembered sitting in history, learning about her ancestors’ past. Ariadne hadn’t been paying attention until she heard her teacher say, “If any one of you goes outside of the city gates, you will be considered a runaway. And our city officials find all runaways and burn them to the ground. You are never, for any reason, to leave this city.”
Well Ariadne had already left the city and she hadn’t been burned to the ground yet. But something about how sure Mrs. Swanson had been that criminals were always punished scared her. She valued her life above all else, and that was why she’d run away in the first place, but running away could have been just as dangerous as what was in that shot she was supposed to have been injected with.
“Hey, Ari. Anybody there?” John said.
“Oh. Sorry, I was just thinking about that time Mrs. Swanson scared the h--- out of us over running away from the city. You know the whole ‘leave and you’ll die speech’.”
“Yeah, I think that was the only class that I actually listened to a word she said,” replied John with a grim expression on his face. “Uh, Ari,” he said, pointing to her finger.
“Yeah?”
She looked down and there was a pale light shining off her ring. She gently touched the stone and it was so hot, Ariadne thought she was going to catch fire. She felt as if her whole body was being electrified. She smelled burning flesh, knowing that this time it was her own. Ariadne closed her eyes, but when she reopened them, all she could see was a red wall blurring her vision. From what felt like universes away, she heard John calling her name, but when Ariadne opened her mouth to respond, no words came out.
Suddenly everything was still. Ariadne no longer felt as if she had been struck by lightning and the burning sensation of fire went out of her. Ariadne looked down to see the purple stone of her ring thudding against the dirt ground. The stone cracked open, and inside was a small note. On the note was an address.
Chapter 3
Ariadne and John arrived at the address, after traveling for three days straight. It was a small hut on the outskirts of the forest. Ariadne walked up to the door, leaving John a few feet behind, and knocked. A tall man with a graying beard answered the door. Once Ariadne looked past the unfamiliar sideburns and the beard, she realized it was her father. Her normally clean shaven, rule following, government supporting father.
Ariadne’s father walked into the quaint living room of the hut and handed Ariadne and John mugs of tea. She could smell the mint tea leaves her father had used as long as she could remember. They reminded her of growing up with her dad, and him always being there to catch her when she fell. Even now, when she was running for her life, he had come to save her. She took a long sip and the felt the warm water roll through her body.
“Ari, I see you figured out the little gift I gave you,” her father said as he sat down. His familiar smile filled Ariadne with a sense of warmth.
“Dad, thank you so much. It's so good to see you. I missed you.”
“I missed you too Honey, but you can't stay here.”
“What? I thought you sent me here as a sort of safe house,” Ariadne responded, her voice shaking.
“I wish you could stay here, but it's just not safe. I'm going to restock your supplies while you're here, but you're going to have to go first thing in the morning.”
“Excuse me Sir, but where are we going to go,” asked John. Ariadne had forgotten he was even there, she had been so caught up in seeing her father. But he made a good point.
“I have a map for you,” her father said, as he pulled a folded piece of paper out and smoothed it on the table. “There are safe houses here, here, and here,” he said pointing to various places on the map. “Once you arrive at this last one, you will be out of the state borders. I know you don't know anything outside of our city, but there is a world out there. Even other governments and modern civilizations. Once you get out, they won't be able to catch and kill you because you won't be within their jurisdiction anymore.”
Ariadne didn't know what to say. She was realizing for the first time that her father was her home and he always had been. They’d only ever had each other and she couldn’t believe she was losing the one thing she thought she’d always have. She'd imagined she would get to come back and live a normal life with her father someday, but that was naive and she knew it. If Ariadne wanted to survive, this was her only chance. She had to take it, not only for herself, but for John as well. He'd risked everything for her and they need to get out of this together. “Thanks Dad,” was all she could squeak out. And she really did mean it, she just couldn't help but feel sorry for herself. She wasn't going to see her father ever again and she couldn't bring herself to say goodbye now.

Epilogue
Ariadne looked up at the deep blue sky, soaking in the whispy white clouds and the lightness of it all. She was laying on the grass outside of her and John’s cabin. They had gotten to this last safe house six days ago, and they had learned that it actually belonged to Ariadne. Her father had bought it years ago and put the deed in her name, so that if she ever needed to escape, she would have somewhere to go. Ariadne and John had met with some her father’s friends and had jobs to start in the morning. But for right now, they just layed in the grass pointing out strangely shaped clouds like they had when they were children. Ariadne soaked in the peaceful calm. This was her life now, and it was a good one. One that she couldn’t believe she’d be lucky enough to live in.