Earth 2606 AD

Okay, thought Amaryah who was sitting on a dilapidated stone chair on level one as she looked at persons going about their daily lives. She had enough money for one ration a day for a week, maybe she could find another job before then. She scoffed at her own optimistic inner voice. There were only engineering and grease monkey jobs available, everything else had been taken over by androids and robots, and she couldn't even be a pleasurer. She was sure robots did it best and had no desire to enter into that field just yet but still added it to her mental list just in case it became a necessity when she was starving. Because she would be starving, eventually.

She looked at the mothers hustling around in their long, tattered duster coats, holding tightly onto the tiny hands of children who were old enough to know they'd been born into the wrong level and would have to work hard for the rest of their lives while those of levels five and up benefited from their labor. A sorrowful wail drifted up from across the street and people darted away from the noise and into parlors or businesses to flee. Amaryah realized what it meant when the sharp cloying stench of sickness and death reached her, and she saw the cleansers gliding toward the housing container that had emitted the wail.

The cleansers were shaped like men, with two arms and two legs, but that was where the similarities ended. Their arms and legs ended in a mechanically enhanced bulky limb that had a dull silver sheen to it, accentuated by red wiring, the arms having needle like fingers and feet being boot shaped. The male human body that these enhancements were added too was almost skeletal and wiry in appearance, with the ribs easily countable and hexagonal implants visible through the skin along the spine of the bot. The head of the robot was completely metallic, in the shape of a blunt hammer head. At the back was a cylindrical protrusion that acted as the sensor of the robot, no eyes or ears needed. The disconcerting "head" was attached to the neck area with tubes and wires that formed an intertwined system that kept the robot's humanoid body alive.

Amaryah watched in mute horror as the two cleansers converged on the home and dragged a slumped man into the streets, a woman screaming hysterically, her face distorted in anguish held onto the man's leg in a vice like grip. The woman's terror washed over her, coating her mouth in a metallic flavor that reminded her of blood. Amaryah silently hoped that the woman would let go, the cleansers were not capable of mercy and would kill her in order to remove the man, especially on the lower levels of the dome. Their one purpose was to remove the unwanted of society, this was only supposed to include the sick, but the lower levels knew the cleansers removed those even without any illness signs and once a person was removed they never came back. Amaryah suspected that death would be the least of the worries of someone who was taken, she knew there were worse things than death that the government was more than capable of.

She ran into a nearby parlor pushing out the feelings of the woman that had invaded her mind, she really hated when she was able to read and feel the emotions of people, it was nothing more than a burden. When the cleansers left with the man in tow and the woman who was now slumped between them, life returned to the streets with people casting worried glances in the direction of the raided container. They'd all become accustomed to the life of fear and constant guarding.

Amaryah breathed out sharply and gripped her beer tightly, she needed to find a way to make credit or else she'd starve to death or get picked up by a cleanser. She'd rather the former. She walked back to the elevator that took her down to the base level where she and other dirt-poor persons lived, even lower than the "unwanted" in level one. Her steps echoed as she jogged through the poorly lit pathways that lead to her diminutive home-container. Once there, she eased out of her overalls and chucked them in a corner - they'd never be used again - and stood naked in front of her mottled mirror that her mother had left behind. She was losing weight. Her body was petite, lined with wiry muscle due to her hard work in the plant. Sighing she let down her hair and was surprised when it hung past her shoulder blades -with hardly enough time to look in the mirror before and after work due to exhaustion this was the first time in months. Her loosely coiled deep rust colored hair - a gift from her mother - complimented her bronze skin and Amaryah knew if she wasn't scarred and didn't have two weirdly different colored eyes, she'd at least be considered pleasing to look at. Her gaze settled on her face, the scars that ran across it, one from her chin to just over her top lip on the left side and two others, much more jagged and violent under the left pale grey eye, the eye that unsettled everyone with its unexpectedness. She traced them with her fingers, one of the scars was longer, it had narrowly missed her eye but bisected her left eyebrow.

Her eyes became heavy as she remembered trying to fight off the needle-sharp fingers of the cleanser the day it'd come for her mother, how she'd tried and failed, how her mother pushed her away and went willingly, leaving her alone in level three with no way to take care of herself or maintain the middle-class level credit. She'd had to drop out of engineering school in her last year and scramble to find any available job in that plant, but of course, it still hadn't been enough. She quickly wiped herself down using one of her water rations with a soft cloth, and pulled on black leggings, her work boots, and a loose black sweater. Climbing over her broken container door she went to the assembly area, the one place in the base level that wasn't completely broken down and destroyed. Others were already gathered but she steered clear of them, she was not a social person, found it to be a bit of drain on her soul really and avoided it at all costs. Her life was complicated enough, and she couldn't afford to trust those who were just as hungry and desperate as her. She found a smooth enough brick and sat on it and carefully began peeling her dinner ration which consisted of the same cardboard looking cubes.

The assembly area was a flat, circular hall that lay in the center of the maze of pathways that made up the basement level. The hall was littered with debris and the remnants of the once bustling shopping plaza that persons from all walks of life used years ago. A time long before Amayah existed. A loud chime echoed through the dome signaling update time; a large ring of data floated into the center of the dome barely discernible from the base level, but Amaryah knew what it was saying. A reminder to all those lucky enough to exist within the dome due to the contributions made by their ancestors- that it was greed and selfishness that lead to World War 3 and the radioactive fallout that now poisoned the outside skies and earth leading to no trees or animals left behind. A reminder that the cleanser bots were present to help and that a sick person could be reported for a reward credit. Amaryah rolled her eyes at that, cleanser bots were killers they didn't help anyone, if her mother had been helped, she would have come back. She squeezed some of her water ration onto the remaining cube for moisture. The data ring continued to drone on about the new procedures developed by the government and how lucky everyone was to be here and to be at peace with the three other domes located across the globe.

The usual whispers of her neighbors filtered over to her as she slowly ate her last full ration, she savored every awful bite, grimacing as she heard the familiar talk that seemed to perpetuate the base level. She supposed it was only right since it was the talk of the helpless, some believed in the conspiracies that said there'd been sightings of lights outside the dome.

What a pile of crap! Who the heck could survive in radiation and dust storms? Who was brave or stupid enough to even check to see what was happening outside? The government assured the citizens with each broadcast that radiation levels were continuously monitored and were still too high for safe human habitation in the outside world. There were workers who'd been sent into the contaminated areas to collect materials for the building of some robots. It was absolutely what caused the high sickness rate among plant workers, but no one spoke of it, not if you didn't want to be cleansed. Amaryah's mother had been one of those workers and she'd known what it meant but couldn't do anything but follow orders so that she could take care of her and her daughter. Amaryah knew mother had had no choice and so the anger she'd felt at her abandonment had faded into a dull ache of loneliness as she'd grown up and was also forced to make life threatening decisions.

She rolled her shoulders and pushed the thoughts away, and instead pondered on whether there was a possibility of survival outside the dome with a better life, eventually coming to the conclusion that all of the whisperers were fools for believing that there was anything other than a painful death waiting on the outside. There were some who even took an unknown passageway out but had never returned, further adding fuel to the rumors. Amaryah startled when someone dropped onto a bent-up crate beside her, she looked over to see the dark brown hair and cocky smile of Gabe.

"Hey," he rubbed her leg, she squinted her eyes and stared at his hand," I heard about what happened today."

"Mhmm" she said around a mouthful of crumbly protein cube.

Gabe tightened his grip under her death stare, "What can I do to help?"

Amaryah peered into his face and felt a wave of lust and possessiveness wash over her from him. She'd always been able to know how a person felt if she tried hard enough, she regretted trying now, especially since a rising feeling of nausea pushed at her from the intensity of ownership and entitlement that he felt towards her.

Springing to her feet she threw over her shoulder, "Nothing, there's nothing you can do to help." Walking away briskly she groaned as she heard Gabe catching up to her, they were in a quieter area now, harder to avoid him.

"You sure you don't want to take me up on my offer?" He said, eyes trained on her lips, he took a step closer.

"No, I'm not getting married, not now, not ever," she moved away from him and tried to quicken her pace.

Honestly, why'd she ever had sex with this guy? How the hell did she miss the warning signs of his possessive streak before? At least she'd ended their meetups a few weeks ago but that had seemed to only cause Gabe to be more interested in her.

His eyebrows lowered, expression darkening. He grabbed her arm spinning her around to face him," What are you going to do then?" his grip tightening as he pushed her against a wall, "Do you know how lucky you are, that I want you?"

Amaryah's eyes widened and darted around the crumbling alleyway, there was no one around. Fear and anger coated her tongue with a bitter taste, "I told you not to touch me!"

Gabe smirked, his eyes glittered with mirth, "Well there's nobody around now, right Mya?"

"Don't fucking call me that!" She yanked her hand hard, but Gabe's grip held, his fingers dug into her soft flesh -it had begun to hurt. She started to struggle, but to no avail as he pressed his full weight on her squeezing her against the rusting galvanize door of a container.

He palmed her breast under her sweater, painfully pinching her nipple between his fingers. She bucked wildly against him trying to create space so she could run. Gabe's hot breath was on her neck as he then tried to tug her pants down. Amaryah's mind was a swirling mess of panic and fear as she realized what he planned to do and just how strong he was, she knew screaming would not bring any help in the base level especially since she had no friends there.

STOP, STOP, STOP!! she screamed internally, stumbling as Gabe's hands and body jerked away. She gripped her torn sweater and looked up to see Gabe's blank and staring face, his gaze was fixed on the wall behind her.

She ran down the alleyway, wheezing, clutching her twisting stomach as she made her way home, hot tears streamed down her face. She blindly gripped her mother's mirror for support and cried out as it fell from her grasp, shattering, effectively erasing the only reminder she'd had of better days. Her chest squeezed and her sobs built in intensity. Feeling her way over to her makeshift sleeping area that was a giant pile of cloth and sheets, she laid down and gently rubbed at her upset and dully aching stomach. She took large gulps of air and tried to control the cries that wrenched from her chest, they made her midsection hurt more. Hopelessness rose through her as she fell asleep to thoughts of her mother and the yawning feeling of loneliness that pressed down on her- she wanted it all to end.

Amaryah's eyes pained as she opened them, they were swollen and puffy from yesterday's tears. Struggling to get up she froze as the smell of cloying sickness and death permeated the air – Cleansers. She sprang from her bed and gathered her rations into a rugged backpack she'd kept for emergency situations; it filled quickly with everything she owned, which aside from the rations was just a hair and toothbrush, a photo of her mother, a few t-shirts and underwear.

She bolted from her container, once cleansers found a dwelling in the base level it was no longer safe, living arrangements must always change to avoid detection. Amaryah stopped short when she heard the whirring of the cleanser's breathing, it was too close for it to be a coincidence, it was coming for her, she didn't share this block with anyone else. Someone had ratted her out. She gritted her teeth as Gabe flashed into her mind, he was an asshole but was he capable of this? Sending her to death or worse? Probably. She moved not entirely knowing where she was going but made sure that it was away from the whirring sound. Pain flashed through her like lightening as she tried to quicken her pace and she doubled over to retch on the wall of what used to be a garage. The sound of her retching echoed -it made way too much noise- and despite the pain she ran through the labyrinth of alleys, descending deeper into the base level of the dome. The only light was provided by the upper-level signs that filtered down, pale and weak at best. Amaryah's eyes had adjusted though, so she was able to see the outlines of the skeletons of machinery scattered across the floor.

Her heart raced as she stumbled forward towards the dirt tunnels that led to different underground points of the dome, deciding she'd take the one that led to the heart of level one and beg someone to hide her, she pushed herself onward. The cleanser hissed. She'd been spotted, and cleansers always hunted their prey relentlessly. She was in so much trouble. Fuck. Amaryah pumped her arms and legs as she took a sharp right disappearing into a darker tunnel, she had no idea where it led to. She was in full on panic mode, looking back she saw the cleanser hunch down on all fours and bound towards her at an alarming rate. Stifling a scream, she pushed herself harder, pulling down any machinery that she could reach onto the trail she'd left behind, hoping it would slow her pursuer. The tunnels smelt earthy with a sour edge- mud and decay- adrenaline pumped through her erasing her abdominal pain and nausea, up ahead there was a sharp decline in the floor of the tunnel. Flapping her arms, she tried to stop but her momentum pushed her over the edge.

The ground reached up to swallow her whole and she fell into a smaller tunnel, screaming and trying to get a grip on something to stop her from descending into an unknown area. The fall stopped abruptly with Amaryah grunting as her buttocks slammed onto the rocky ground. She tried to unfold her legs, clawing at the roughhewn walls. She cried out as her head scraped the top of the cavern - she couldn't stand. A familiar whirring sound came close and Amaryah fell to the ground and crawled. She crawled vigorously through the cavernous tunnel ahead of her -hard black stones cut into her skin- she gritted her teeth to keep from whimpering and to stop her harsh breathing from carrying down the tunnel back to the cleanser. Pushing and burrowing into a dug-out area Amaryah was slapped with an electrical burning smell.

She slowly got to her knees, her eyes gaping at what was before her. When she stood, she was greeted with a blackened overhead sky decorated by thunderous grey clouds.

She'd been chased to the outside of the dome.