• PROLOGUE
    November 16th, 2074

    I can remember how it all started, but not why. I can remember the first time I saw the tall temporary fences they brought in to keep us in the city while the walls were in progress, and I remember my first thoughts, even at the age of seven, of prison.
    I have very few memories of before the fences, but those that I do have are very clear, like they happened only yesterday. My oldest memory, from one year before they came with the fences, is the day they took away my father. It was the second week in January, and I was sat at the window of our small house, watching the thick snowflakes tumble past, when I saw two tall men, wrapped in overcoats, walking towards our door with identical grim expressions. I looked from them to my father, who had also noticed them. He looked over to my mother, who was entertaining my younger brother, Philip, in the corner, and quickly ran over to the door, fumbling as he pulled the bolt across. He then beckoned me from my place at the window and ran to the back door. My mother looked up, confused. In answer to her unasked question he jerked his head over to the window, and she followed his gaze. When she saw the men coming up the path to the door, her eyes grew wide, and she suddenly scooped up my brother, then raced over to the back door, which my father had already opened.
    The men were at the front door, trying to open it. My father pushed me out into the cold night air, and my mother followed with my brother in her arms. I turned around and looked questioningly up at my father, but he had already turned and ran back to the door. A gap appeared between the door and the frame, and a face emerged in the space. My father threw his shoulder against the wood, shouting back to us, “Go!” My mother looked uncertain, but he insisted. “Now!” He seemed fearful, but adamant, so my mother pulled me away from the door, out into the dark wasteland behind the house. I heard a shout and turned, just managing to glimpse one of the men swing a club through the air. I pulled away from my mother and started to run back to the house, shouting out for my father, but my mother managed to catch up with me and dragged me away. I could hear more shouts, and thuds and crashes, but resigned to let my mother drag me into the gloom.