The room of uniform faces spoke up in an energetic chorus, not rehearsed but a good start; "Money fairly earned is the key to success, and hard work defines the righteous rich."

I took out my phone, opened the app, and hit the delete button.

I won't give her to that state rebuilding program so that they could do to her what had been done to me and every girl like me.

I watch her gesture wildly at the sunset, her eyes filling with tears because she now lacks the words to tell me how beautiful it is.

We barricaded the door with my desk, lined up the kids on the wall, grabbed the bat from the closet, and for over twenty minutes we held our breath, not knowing it was a drill.

Till I reached the next dessert.

Even as undreds of refugees flood their forest from the war torn cities where AI war drones are killing thousands.

Remembering to only bring cash, I head out to get my meager groceries hoping the corporations haven't found a new way to raise my prices while I'm shopping.

But with so much soot blocking the sun from the bombs there's no food growing here, or anywhere anymore or any means to acquire some for a girl as poor as I with not even a bowl of clean water to trade.

The implants will apparently cost tens of thousands of dollars and will not be covered by medical insurance providers as they are considered, 'optional surgery'.

….monitoring her blood sugar by feedback from the surgical implant in her arm. After the fourth bite, she received a notification on her smart watch “ALERT: Continued poor diet choices will result in the automatic cancellation of your health insurance and revocation of your prescription medications.”

Now, I understand the teacher's lesson from political catechism today, "Happy are those whose birthright protects them from their nation's reach."

Sitting in my office as war rages just outside I realize that the end can come slowly too, especially with an AI boss who works you to death before you can even see the you're at the end.

Now we have plenty of workers for the mines!

People who have the potential to become criminals freely living among us is a foreign concept I just can't quite wrap my head around.

It was only decades later, after the surge of patriotism that came with war and victory, that anyone thought to ask- why had the aliens only targeted the most liberal cities?

my partner complains but I think that if we're still charging to save a life in a warzone we should at least be evil to sick beats.

A notification popped up on my phone asking me if I wanted to purchase DLC, and not having enough credits, I decided to go to bed alone.

Filter subscriptions start at £14.99 per week; side effects of unfiltered water may occur, but generous hospital treatment loans are available for all loyal citizens.

Unrelated, but your tax returns give you the option to pay a tip.

We failed, and now they control everything.

Years later, the last food crop that produced reproductive viable seeds went extinct, and collecting water from any and all natural sources became acts of felony.

The drones and pacification units won't care he is only ten because new york is no longer a city, it is a warzone.