Born to Die » Bellamy Blake [Book One]

01.

BORN TO DIE.

CHAPTER ONE.

        For over seventeen years Olivia Ross has lived within the solitude of her jail cell. Yes, she was allowed to leave occasionaly for certain meals like on Unity Day, but other than that, never. The reason for that, of course, would be that she's considered a convict, although that label is entirely not her fault. Liv was a criminal for the simple fact that she was born.

        For nearly one hundred years now the human race has been station in a place where no one ever thought they'd inhabit; space. They lived among the stars, outside the reach of Earth's gravitational pull inside a space ship they call the Ark. There they were able to live with all of the resources necessary after nuclear bombs sent a cloak of radiation over the planet Earth.

        Convicts, though, they lived within another ward of the Ark, far away from those who are considered innocent. Although Liv could argue for a multitude of council members being ten times more venomous then any of the teenagers here. Where Liv lives, she is surrounded by teenagers just like her, all of them under the age of eighteen. It was considered the Sky Box.

        But for most, the age of eighteen was dreaded.

        Liv, on the other hand, couldn't wait until she was eighteen. Considering that she's been living in this simple jail cell for almost eighteen years now, she couldn't wait to be rid of it. In this section of the Ark, criminals would wait until they were eighteen before they were floated. To be floated was to die; you'd be brought to a room with glass windows, the doors behind you leading into oblivion. They would then open, the person within the room being sent out into outer space, left to die.

        Olivia Ross was born to die.

        In her jail cell she lays, the bed quite stiff under her back as her blue eyes stay locked on the dull, grey ceiling above her. There was nothing for her to do anyway, so there she lays. Her two weeks were dwindling down and she knew that, the girl coming to terms with the fact that she is going to die soon. 

        At least being floated was better than being shot. That way her death would be supposedly quick and painless, she'd be dead the instant her small body flew out of the Ark. 

        The air was dry within her jail cell, as usual. Seeing as though it can't be anything like the air down on Earth, then again, it was toxic down there now. For Liv, it was a typical day, the same as everyone for over seventeen years.

        So, when the door to her jail cell opened, she was confused. She was used to being let out occasionally for a meal, but it would always be at the same times everyday. Right now was not the usual time.

        Two guards step inside Liv's jail cell, one of their deep voices ordering, "Prisoner two thirty-five, against the wall."

        Liv's eyes widened in confusion, realizing that she was going to be floated early. This was it, this was the day she would die. Her seemingly destiny finally fulfilling itself. 

        There was something about human instinct, though. Even though she had  told herself countless of times that she was ready to face death, something kicked in. The human's natural instinct to survive. A surge of adrenaline coursed though Liv's veins, the seventeen year old realizing that she's not ready to die yet and that she wants to live. That her instinct is enough to keep her fighting. 

        She sprang onto her feet, her stance threatening as though she's prepared to lunge at the guards any second now.

        "What's going on?" Liv demands, her eyebrows knitting themselves together in confusion.