Chapter 1
By the time I realized this, the security officers had already silently entered the quarters Isabelle and I shared.
There were eight of them.
Dressed in black uniforms, they stood in the dim light.
Young, lethal, and cold.
They stood in silence for a moment, then two of them headed towards Isabelle’s room and mine, respectively.
I nervously pretended to be asleep, hoping they were just on a routine patrol.
But a nagging feeling told me they were here for Isabelle and me to get pregnant.
This morning, during my medical examination, I’d overheard the doctors talking:
“Their physical conditions are exceptional. The base hasn’t seen bodies this good in twenty years.
“We’ve also screened eight men with high genetic compatibility.
“If all goes well, there will be new lives this time next year.
“Heaven, after all, has finally shown us mercy.”
There were a few other women undergoing examinations with me that day, so I didn’t immediately realize they were talking about Isabelle and and me.
After the check-up, we were sent to this high tower—the only place in the base with a view of the outside world.
On the table, besides our daily beef, milk, and bread, there were two rare apples.
These were luxuries reserved for the base’s upper echelons.
Commoners struggled to survive on meager grains like corn and sweet potatoes.
Isabelle and I, though classified as commoners after our arrival, frequently received these precious foods.
I knew the base strictly enforced its post-apocalyptic distribution system: you got what you put in.
If we received something precious, we would surely have to give something precious in return.
Isabelle and I had nothing.
Only our bodies.
Isabelle, as usual, picked up her milk, standing by the window, gazing at the vast, desolate landscape outside.
She stood in the sunlight, her skin fair, gentle, and lovely, as pure as an angel.
I, meanwhile, stared at the food, my stomach churning with unease.
Isabelle looked at me, puzzled. “What’s wrong?”
I told her what the doctors had said. “This place is too strange. We need to find a way back to our original world, fast.”
She fell silent.
After a long moment, she softly asked, “Chloe, isn’t this place good?”
I was baffled.
What was good about it?
The apocalypse had lasted for a century, the ecology was imbalanced, the climate extreme, food was scarce, and the walking dead roamed everywhere…
This place was a living hell.
But she continued, “Here, we don’t worry about food or clothes, we don’t worry about finding work, no mortgages to pay, no one bullies us, everyone cares for us and looks after us.
“For me, this place… is paradise.”
I shook my head. “There’s no kindness without a root or a price.
“Women are scarce here. Our price might be our bodies, our fertility.”
Isabelle gathered her wind-blown hair. “But Chloe, in our old world, we still had to dedicate our bodies and fertility, didn’t we?”