War Zone [h.s] //

✗ --1-- ✗

I sigh as I trudge along the heaps of leaves, the weight of my loaded back pack slowing me down. You'd think I'm used to this kind of thing but there's a difference between getting used to and tolerating.

"Oi you!" someone calls.

Instantly, my guard is up, and in a discreet manner, I slip a sharp-edged knife into my clammy hands. I spin round and find that it's Lara, one of the members of my crew. Yes, crew. And no, it's not as in ship crew or a friendship crew, but a crew of various kinds of people, having to face the reality together. Ever since the Givers overtook this whole city, all of the people have realized that resources are valuable and won't be given to us easily. So we have to fight, we have to attack, we have to exploit. To survive. Just to survive.

We never lived in such harsh conditions, believe me, before our land was overtaken, we were normal, like any other city in the world. We had Starbucks located in most areas, libraries, swimming pools, Primark's; Debenhams'; Selfridges', any high street market that is very profitable, we even had a few Mosque's and Churches.

Then our city was in pure chaos. The people of this city were not pleased with the news that our government and our system that was the norm back then was going down in flames, and that we would be receiving a new, professional government who wanted to give us nothing but the best. Of course, after a long 6 months of our people protesting; setting buildings on fire; spreading news on social media; even going to the extent of attempted murder, we gave up and we had to just be content with our doomed fate. We all bid farewells every night and we all started to live in perfect harmony, wanting to die in a manner that we were at peace with everyone.

But, that never happened and we were all surprised because, believe it or not, we liked our new government, who requested that we refer to them by the name 'Givers'. They spoiled us in such a way, we were content with everything and most people quit their jobs. They enjoyed life; they became the people they wanted to be: happy, healthy and unburdened. We all, including children and babies, received a grand sum of £2,000 a month just on our own expenses. In a year, we received £104,000. I'm sure you now understand why we loved it. People lived in such luxury, ate feasts fit for a king, exercised and achieved their body figure by hiring personal trainers from around the world. Our city had no purpose, but to live and be happy. We had to hire people from across the world, not because we simply wanted to meet new people, but because hardly anybody worked in professions. People still owned their libraries or cafes or whatever, but people of important jobs such as police, lawyers, social workers etc gave up, for their lives were stressful and now they had the chance to leave all that stress behind. This went on for about 18 months.

Then there was a drastic change. Less money was given, less resources to the extent that we only got a measly amount of £100 a month. Not a week, but a month. This was barely enough to last us for a day due to the expensive life style we were used to. Then, suddenly, buildings were demolished. Schools were broken down. Forests were not taken care of and became overgrown, trees falling everywhere, making a mess of things. Natural events like storms and hurricanes and floods happened more frequently, making our city more of a mess than before. Buildings broke down, trees crashing into the homes of innocent people, river banks rotting, plant harvest rotting. The most horrendous things imaginable happened. And this affected the humanity of our people. Starving, and scared, they would murder an innocent person for a slice of bread. They would kill for food. Kill for shelter. Kill for life. But, they killed for nothing. Because the traumatic effects of this destruction made the people go crazy. And the Giver's stopped giving.

This lasted for a long while. This destruction lasted for a year. Yes, a year. Then a group of foreigners suddenly stumbled into our city, and changed the ways which affected us forever after their sudden appearance. They devised a plan, and wrote it in a book, which is called 'Liber'. Only recently, we discovered that liber is Latin for book. The plan in basic terms, was we had to assign a leader of the whole city. Once every decade, we did this raffle. There was no prize, but you would receive a piece of paper, chosen by random, which told you which sector you're in. There were 20 sectors, and each sector was lettered by the Greek alphabet in order. So I am in Sector Alpha. Then some people after me are in Sector Beta. Sector Gamma. Sector Delta. Sector Epsilon. And onwards.