As you know, it is currently the year 2112. Many years ago, humans realized they were running out of resources. Earth had reached its capacity limit. So what did we do? We started fighting with the idea that those who were strongest would be able to use the resources we had left. But the population of the human race was still dwindling. There was not enough food or water, and even though the numbers were falling, it was not getting any better for those left behind.

People flocked to the cities. Even as countries were fighting and bombing each other, the people were bustling to and from work. Whether it was an ammunition plant or a protein bar plant, all they cared about was making enough money to survive. Some were luckier than others and lived in the middle of the cities. The buildings gleamed, there were anti-missile and aircraft devices atop the tallest buildings, and death rarely touched the people unless it was due to some 'natural' cause. These were the 'leaders', the ones calling the shots, the ones who owned the ammunition plants, the farms, the food plants... The ones who ran the world. But even though they ran it, they knew things were spiraling out of control. The number of big cities left was dwindling. Even with food plants, people were dying from starvation, or being murdered for the food they had, in staggering numbers. The top "researchers" were trying everything they could to try and find a way to restore the human race and bring them out of the spiral, but they could not.

All hope was lost, until They arrived.

History says that They first contacted the World Federation Government with a simple message "We Can Help". After many messages were sent back and forth, delegates visiting Earth and Their space station, and finally the revelation of a type of technology that could turn rock into edible food, the World Federation Government decided that there was no price they weren't willing to pay in order to help feed the dying human race.

And this is where we come in. The price? 50 human children, between the ages of 13 and 16, every year. Originally it was agreed that there would be 10 from Asia, 10 from the Americas, 10 from Africa, 10 from Europe, and 10 from Australia. However, now where the number comes from isn't important. Each country contributes what they can.

But there was a catch. The human children could not be just any human children. They had to be, what They considered, superior. And that was the year 'scanning' began. Each city was given a simple device. Once a child was born, a single drop of blood was placed in the device. If the child was deemed 'superior', they were given a tattoo, a 'C' on the wrist, just like we have. If a mother was discovered to have kept her child from being scanned, the punishment was a lifetime of forced labor on an outskirts farm with the child being immediately given up, either to be taken to the Boarding House or to an orphanage until they were old enough to work in a plant.

Between the ages of 4 and 5, we are collected from our parents, taken from our family, and brought to our permanent home, to one of the Boarding Houses. True, some are taken early, like our Zelo who arrived at 3, or later, like Zinger-unnie who arrived at 7, but those cases are rare. From that moment on, we spend our days following the schedule the Adults, and They, give us. Wake up, exercise, breakfast, study, lunch, language study, dinner, and then 'free time' until sleep. Day, after day. No sunlight except the artificial sunlight provided in the exercise gym and entrance way, no grass except the artificial grass in the track area, no access to the outside world except the rare, tiny glimpse caught the moment the Adults open the door. Which is always unannounced these days due to the lack of Adults living in the Boarding Houses.

The first few years, I'm told we had Adults staying at the Boarding Houses 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. As the children became older, fewer Adults were left behind until finally, it was the older children looking after the younger children. There are stories of older children trying to let the younger ones out of study time, or not enforcing language or exercise time, but these occurrences were quickly stamped out. Anytime one of the Chosen was deemed to be going against the rules, they were taken away for a week. It happened to Teddy-oppa when I was four.

It was my birthday, or at least the anniversary of the date I was brought to the Boarding House. Oppa let me sleep in and did not wake me until it was time for breakfast. That afternoon, the Adults arrived. With no warning they stormed through the locked front door, armor on, masks covering their faces, and electric batons in their hands. They demanded to know where Teddy and I were and knocked down anyone who stood in their way. As soon as oppa had heard the commotion, he had picked me up and carried me to the kitchen, hiding me in one of the cupboards. I peeked out when they arrived. He... He glared at them and shouted that they weren't going to take me away. I then heard a voice from behind the masked men say I wasn't the one they were they for. I wasn't the one who had broken the rules, so I wasn't the one who had to pay. Two of the men rushed oppa, using crude, wooden batons to beat him down until he didn't move on the ground. As they picked him up to drag him away, I heard the voice again say "Remember this is what happens to those who don't obey."

A week later, Teddy-oppa was brought home. We woke up that morning to find him already in the kitchen, making breakfast, acting like nothing was wrong. But he would never talk about what happened that week he was gone, and anytime anyone spoke of rule breaking, he was quick to shoot the idea down.

Of course, that didn't stop them from taking him when he reached the right age. Sometimes a Chosen isn't taken until they reach 15, but most are taken when they are 13 or 14. Some years we wake up and they are simply gone, removed from the Boarding House silently in the dead of night, all of their belongings and personal items vanished as though they had never existed in the first place. Some years they are taken during the day, the Adults in masks storming the Boarding House, dragging them out kicking and screaming with the younger ones left to collect their items, box them up, and place them by the door before the next morning.

No one knows where they go after they leave. Don't ask me what I think happens, because I honestly do not know. We can speculate and worry and fret all day, but that won't change what is happening. It doesn't change the fact that we are in here, or the fact that one day we will be taken. Instead, we all spend each day trying to make the most of the time we have with the hopes that when we are taken, we end up in a better place than the one we're in now.