He wished he was left alone for the rest of his life; to dream and to find happiness in a world which did not exist. He imagined a place where he could go wherever he wanted and do whatever he wanted. Where he didn’t need to be afraid of dying under the King’s Rules. But no such world existed. No such world would likely ever exist.

Cory had to wake up. The Bell rang; that thick, haunting pound, echoing throughout the emptiness of the Sector. It was the sound he wished he didn’t have to hear every morning. He prayed to whatever God was out there that he didn’t need to listen to the damned thing anymore. Waking up was the worst, he’d say. But then again, there were so many worse things to do throughout the day. Maybe it was time for him to accept that everything was terrible and nothing would ever get better. Nothing had changed since he entered the world sixteen years ago. Everyone would always have the same room, and the same family, and the same everything. The only thing that was different about everyone’s bedrooms were the different soldiers that’d come in the mornings to escort them to the Working Stations.

CONFIDENTIAL NOTES
For approved members of the King’s Order and Way of Living.

NAME OF PERSON
Cory Wilson (of Sector B, #5730)

DETAILS ON PERSON
- He has been alive for Sixteen years.
- His birthday is October 4th.
- He is a male, with brown hair and blue eyes.
- He is 5’10”, and weighs 150 lbs.
- He has faced four Warnings in his life.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES: Cory is a well-behaved child who does his best to do the right thing. Although, it’s alarming how he’d always question the system as a Five year old. It is extremely unusual behavior. I suggest taking him to a Correction Facility if he continues to act this way.

Sectors are giant complexes full of Living Spaces, Work Stations, and more buildings that are registered under the King’s Order. There were many other Sectors, but each one was far away from each other, to prevent People from getting into another Sector. Something Cory would always be curious of and wonder, is how people are elected to become members of the King’s Order. He suspected it was something that’d happen when you became an Adult, or maybe your records were good enough, that they’d come and elect you at any point in time. It was something that wasn’t taught in School. He always wondered why, but never with his lips. Only in his head.

Cory observed the soldier that was standing in his doorway. Dark skin and blue eyes was all he got to see. Everything else about the man was covered in ballistic body armor, which every soldier was required to wear. “Are you Sector B, #5730?”

“Why don’t you just call me Cory?” he groaned, sitting up in bed. The soldier took a step closer. This was a Warning that Cory had “back-talked” the soldier. He did not look amused,

“Get up and out of bed. Start getting dressed.” He nodded toward Cory’s closet, “I’m supposed to remind you that it’s the King’s birthday today.”

Cory was troubled by this. It couldn’t be true; the King’s birthday was tomorrow, on July 4th, he thought. Every King’s birthday was on July 4th. He would have questioned the soldier, but then again, this would likely cause the soldier to take another step closer; questioning soldiers at all resulted in a Warning. So Cory did nothing else but do as he was told. He got out of his pajama clothes, and into his Wednesday uniform. The soldier then escorted him downstairs and into the living room section of his Living Space. His Mother and Father were likely already out at the A.W.G. (Adult Working Stations). Cory thought to himself in the meanwhile; everybody’s kid’s bedroom was the same, and every adult’s bedroom was the same. Houses were exact duplicates of one another. It was weird. Nobody got anything more or anything less, whether you were fat, skinny, tall, short, or had a disability. But you’d never see anyone with a severe disability. You were either standing and without glasses, or you were Neutralized because you aren’t allowed to be anything more, or anything less. So if you thought about it, the system wanted everyone to be the same, too. This was the King’s Way. With every King, comes his own set of rules. Or at least that’s what School taught Cory. All Kings are supposed to rule however they want. But every King in history rules the same way as the one before him. Only small things would change. The design of buildings; the uniform design; how clean the water might’ve tasted. But the Law never changed. They were just as cruel as ever. Disobey too much, and be Neutralized. Have a disability, and be Neutralized. Do something a soldier simply didn’t like? You’d be Neutralized. It was always a ruthless system that didn’t allow any nonsense or jokes. Cory suspected that’d never change. It hadn’t for such a long time.

The King’s Way is a system that has been used since the year 1776 and was established on July 4th. If it had been a system for so long, why would Cory ever question it? He’d remember a dream he had, many years ago. He dreamt that the fences that surrounded his Sector had been destroyed, and bunches of Soldiers began to bombard Living Spaces with bullets, and throw out Warning after Warning until they found an excuse to Neutralize them on the spot. Cory, in his dream, survived the ambush, and evacuated past the demolished fence, and out into the Emptiness. It ended with Cory entering a place filled with something called “trees”, and the floor was made of “grass”. Both of these were only things he’d find described in the Fantasy Books at School. He remembered those moments out in the “forest”. It was purely silent, except for the sound of something quick and sharp entering his ears over and over again. It must’ve been coming from the weird flying creatures in the trees. The dream ended with him getting lost and not being able to find his way back out.

Sometimes he’d have dreams similar to that. Ambush. Escape. Find a forest and explore it. He would find himself wishing trees and grass existed. All that was outside his home was mud, dirt, Living Spaces, and dark grey smoke entering the sky above them. Exploring the forest sounded like a lot more fun than what he’d been doing for sixteen years.

The “Rounding Line” is a long line of Teens who all step out of their homes at the same time in their Neighborhood. Everybody steps out at 5:10 AM (ten minutes after Wake Up). Where you would find a road in a street, there is only a dirt path. All the Teens step in the center of the path, and make an extra long line. There was a Rounding Line for Children, Teens, Adults, and Elderly. For the first three categories, it was always the same thing; walk in line until you reach your assigned Working Station. But for the Elderly, you only walk into the line once. You enter the Elderly line when you reach the age of sixty-five years old.

You only enter it once because that’s when you’re labeled as an Outdated. Then they put you away.

He entered the Rounding Line for today. Usually, his friend Nicholas was always right behind him, so they could whisper-talk on their way to the Working Station they were assigned to, but he wasn’t there in Line. Nicholas truly was Cory’s best friend. Even in a world where it was hard to get to know other people and find time to talk with one another or find the will to do it anyway, Cory and Nicholas managed to befriend one another. One reason why people hated to make friends was that they’d become Neutralized as soon as you’d meet them, making it not worth the effort of making a friend. But as far as Cory knew, Nicholas was a well-behaved kid who wasn’t close to being Neutralized, and Nicholas didn’t see Cory ever being Neutralized either. They were both going to make it to the end, they’d tell each other until they became Outdated.

What Cory found so nice about Nicholas was his ability to make any bad situation a less-saddening one. He’d do this via a joke he’d come up with on the spot. Cory could be shaken up or upset about injuring himself during Work or doing a poor job, Nicholas would come up to him and make things seem not-so-bad. One of Cory’s favorite examples was when he’d been given a Warning for talking back at a Soldier, even after being requested not to speak. Cory did not feel he deserved the Warning at the time; this made him sad for the rest of the day. During a 10-Minute Break, Nicholas approached Cory and told him this:

“I’m gonna be King someday,” Nicholas said to Cory.

This made Cory laugh, “Will you now?”

“Yes,” Nicholas nodded.

“It’s going to be very difficult to become one after they read your record,” Cory said.
Nicholas shook his head, “I’m going to be the King whether they like it or not.”

To become King, you had to be a man, first of all. Second, you needed to be White. Nobody knew why these were the requirements. However, so it’s told, this is the way it’s always been. Nicholas fulfilled both of these requirements. The third requirement was that you needed a perfect record; no Warnings in the entirety of your childhood. You’d then be Nominated to become a King. After that, it was up to the former King to choose who would take his place. Which lucky man would take the Throne, the Crown, and the “Key”.

Nicholas did not have anything close to a perfect record, and Cory didn’t need to read it to know it was true. He told Nicholas, “I don’t think so, my friend.”

“Just you wait,” Nicholas replied, “I’m going to make this country a better place.”

“Say that any louder,” Cory began to whisper, “and a Soldier will hear you.”

Nicholas groaned, “I don’t care.”

“You don’t care?”

“Not anymore,” Nicholas smiled, “I’m going to take the Throne, and improve the King’s Way like no King has ever done before.”

Cory laughed, “How could it get any better?”

“All systems can improve,” Nicholas replied, “and while I’m doing my improving, I’m going to wear the Crown and show my power! Finally, I’ll figure out what the Key is for.”

Nobody knew what the Key was, not even the employees. It was a legend, overall. It was likely the Key didn't exist. However, it is told, “the Key” is the ultimate treasure a King receives upon sitting atop the Throne and being gifted the Crown. This is only spread through rumor, which is why some believe it does not exist. Cory and Nicholas did believe in the Key; they theorized it was a Key to the King’s Castle. Another theory they came up with, was that it was a physical key which serves no literal function, but was meant more as a symbol of power, similar to what the Crown does.

“You better tell me what the Key does,” Cory smiled. Nicholas smiled back,

“Of course I will. We’ll be best friends forever.”

When it came to the Rounding Line, they all had to stand there for a full minute, to make sure every Teen made it to the line on-time. The Line would move with or without you. If you didn’t make it in time, that was a Warning for you. Thankfully, this had never happened to Cory. He had only gotten four Warnings in his life. Now, where was Nicholas, Cory asked himself. “He really can’t be late again… he was late yesterday and the day before… if he’s late again, he’s gonna be-”

Cory’s train of thought was interrupted when he found Nicholas running up to the Line from his Living Space. Cory would have been more excited to see his best friend if it weren’t for the way he looked, and the way he ran. His face was redder than a cherry, and his eyes looked wet and somewhat foggy. Snot dribbled down from his nostrils, and he seemed to be salivating an unusual amount of spit in his mouth. It was obvious Nicholas was sick. But what was the kind of sickness that made your eyes look foggy, Cory wondered; he was extremely worried.

The Rounding Line began to move forward and onward to the Working Station. Cory turned his head and spoke to Nicholas, “Are you feeling okay?”

“Absolutely not,” he answered honestly. Cory was made more anxious by his response,

“What are you sick with?” he asked.

Nicholas shrugged, looking down at the floor, “I don’t know.”

Spit dripped down from his bottom lip in a thick, long line. He spat to the floor to detach it from his face. He snorted the snot back up into his nose, which made Cory cringe. He knew he was talking a lot and he’d likely get another Warning if he proceeded to talk so much, so he kept it quick,

“Are you going to be okay?” he asked Nicholas. Suddenly, Nicholas forced both his hands against his temples and grunt out in pain. He sucked in air through his tightly shut teeth and closed his eyes; clearly, he was in pain.

Nicholas whimpered out, “I feel somebody is hitting me in the head. It hurts so bad.” He said, shortly afterward, he realized that wasn’t a very direct answer to Cory’s question, “I’ll be fine. Just shut up and keep moving.” he told Cory.

CONFIDENTIAL NOTES
For approved members of the King’s Order and Way of Living.

NAME OF PERSON
Nicholas Peters (of Sector B, #5672)

DETAILS ON PERSON
- He has been alive for Fifteen years.
- His birthday is April 12th.
- He is a male, with blonde hair and blue eyes.
- He is 5’8”, and weighs 145 lbs.
- He has faced eight Warnings in his life.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES: Nicholas has had behavioral issues since he was very young. He is a nice kid and makes friends pretty well whenever he finds an opportunity. However, that’s one of his weaknesses, and it’s why he fails to get his Work done most of the time. He chats too much with his friends, and the Work Master will always complain about his behavior. It’s very disappointing. We may just have to take him to a C.F. before he reaches ten Lifetime Warnings; for the sake of him becoming a Soldier when he gets older.