“When I was fifteen, I began insemination, just like you did.” His mother whispered many hours after they had slept. “It was successful immediately. I was so excited. I had always wanted to have children, just like my mother did.” 

Eli shifted in their compartment, his legs aching him from days of laying flat on hard metal. 

“She was a little girl. I named her Arlo. When I birthed her, she was silent. She had come into this world sleeping, never to wake up.” The pain in his mother’s voice could be heard even through a whisper. 

“You know, of course. Women are given five chances to successfully reproduce. I hadn’t realized that included if your baby dies inside of you.” Raiza whispered. “My heart was aching for my lost child, and I was schedule for a second insemination once my cycle returned. The next baby lost his heartbeat halfway through, they had to induce my birth. He was so tiny. His name was Cedro.” 

It was unheard of to name babies that never breathed. But his mother was special in her own way. “Astra and Ceres both came after that. I was almost twenty and had four still births. I knew that the last chance I had would come soon. I knew that if another baby of mine didn’t take a breath, I would be… repurposed.” 

“Like me.” Eli whispered. 

“Yes, my son. Like you would have been.” Raiza took a shaky breath in. “The leaders have a lovely name for it, killing off members of the populace there isn’t use for. I was scared for my life, and more than that my heart ached for a baby. I was working at the laboratory by then, and I had a friend. He was twenty five. Past the age of insemination, but his had all been successful. You aren’t meant to know who your insemination partner is, only the scientists in your charge know. They pick certain gene markers that will make for strong members of society. But what could be wrong with two scientists inseminating. If anything it would just make for a very smart child.” 

“You know who my father is?” Eli whispered. 

“I did, yes.” Raiza said. “He died last year. He agreed to the insemination, we did it all on our own. I am shocked we didn’t get into trouble or that anyone found out.” 

A knock came and they both silenced themselves completely. If Eli’s calculations were correct, they’d be in sector five soon. They had traveled for days with barely any food or water, barely any breathing room between them. The compartment stank of sweat and bodies now. 

The hatch opened followed by the compartment. “This is where you leave.” The man said getting out of the way as they climbed out. “Forget my face, or it will be the last thing you see.” 

“I only ask the same.” His mother said, handing him another slip of credit tech. The man nodded and slammed the hatch shut. They immediately began moving, not stopping for eating, but chewing on the dried meat as they walked. His mother said nothing else for a long time. 

“The insemination was successful. She finally said. And you were born breathing. And I thought everything would be fine.” His mother said. 

“But I failed.” he whispered. It wasn’t that he felt any shame in failing the insemination. He knew logically there was nothing he could do about it. His body failed to produce fertility. 

“No, Eli…” his mother looked at him. “I failed.” She said. 

He met his mothers golden gaze that matched his own, he didn’t understand her meaning then. 

Sector five was filled to the brim with people, pushing this way and that, shoving past him with no care. There were no sky bridges to take people to and from where they needed to go. There was only the icy ground, and the huge wall looming over them. Eli had only ever seen the wall in images and read about it. It was far larger than he had anticipated. It had to reach at least four hundred meters high, spanning as far as he could see. 

He got shoved again as he followed his mother who weaved in and out of the crowds with ease. He caught up to her, grabbing at her cloak to stay close. “Why are there so many people?” 

“The sector is less controlled than the others. A lot of people are shipped here for harvesting food for the rest of the planet. It takes up over half the population alone.” his mother glanced this way and that. 

Eli turned to look behind them, seeing if they were being followed. Would they know this quickly where they were? Had they been searching for them already?

There were many outcasts surrounding the wall, all at different phases of their end of life. It stunk of decay and shit, how could these people be allowed to live this way? 

They slept under a building by the wall in shifts, one always looking out for where people were surrounding them. 

“We can find a squall to live in if we look for a while, we can stay there for a time before moving on.” his mother whispered as they ate their dried meat. 

Eli filled their water sacks at the closest depository and took three long gulps before carrying them back to his mother. She was tired, he could see it on her face. She was getting too elderly for something as exasperating as being fugitives. He’d have to find some way to care for her. 

They slept another night amongst the outcasts, no one asked questions when they were that close to the wall. No one wondered about why someone as young as Eli was amongst them it seemed. 

They began searching for abandoned warehouses and shacks on their fifth day in Sector Five. Eli had almost grown used to the smell of dying bodies surrounding him. He had grown accustomed to watching his back, seeing people’s motives as they walked. 

He glanced towards the side to see a man following them. He looked back again as two more were now there. He grabbed his mother’s arm, fear almost gripping every bone in his body. They turned down a street of building quickly, giving them only moments to run. 

“Run!” His mother yelled as they ran. They took odd turns here and there to lose the border authorities on their tale. 

“This way!” His mother screamed, shots now being fired. 

Eli could feel his heart pounding in his ears as he ducked and pulled his mother along. Why did they care so much about a single infertile boy? They couldn’t care that much about one child that they had chased them this far. 

His mother screamed as shots fired around them. He pulled them farther into the city, the wall getting larger and larger. 

“Don’t stop Eli!” His mother screamed beside him. People were parting as they raced past them, desperate for safety. 

They were finally gaining distance between them and the men when one pulled around in front of them, his shot firing, grazing Eli’s shoulder. He gasped at the pain of just the scratch of the laser as they began running a new way. He was gasping for air, his heart never beating this fast before today. 

The shot zipped past him, hitting his mother’s chest. She fell to the ground instantly, causing him to stumble. He gasped and reached for her only for a moment, she was dead. Men were closing in on him. He scrambled to his feet and began running, faster now, zipping in ways he hadn’t thought of before. The wall was getting larger in front of him and he began racing towards it, unsure what else to do. 

The outcasts were all screaming and crawling away if they could as he jumped over their bodies, running as fast as his legs could carry him. Shots were still being fired, but he kept jumping every which way to avoid them. There was a break in the wall, thirty feet up, someone had been mending it, but it was empty now with all the commotion. 

Eli raced towards the break, no longer knowing what was driving him. He should have been running into the city to get lost amongst the throngs of people, but it was almost like he was being pulled into the wall. He clung to the scaffold and began climbing up, his hands slipping where shots were being aimed. The men chasing him were still a ways back, older and less limber than he was alone.

The hole in the wall wasn’t large, but it did go deep and he was sure he could fit in it. He began crawling inside the huge wall. He sat still for a moment, listening quietly. The men were coming, struggling their way up the scaffolding. He was trapped. He had trapped himself. He would die now. 

He began pushing forward, his hands getting sliced against stone and ice getting darker and darker until all he could do was move forward as fast as he could. He could barely hear the men climbing higher. He looked back as his hands went forward into nothing. He lurched out of the wall, falling down until landing on the icy surface gasping for air just as a laser shot through the hole and into the pitch black sky.