Kaeli Townes

In Ash and Dust

She didn’t have a name, a secret to society. Her parents had given birth to her at home, then were discovered and killed when they had her brother. She was lying in a hidden room in their basement, where she had been for 5 years when it happened. No one was allowed to have children anymore; embryos were fertilized in clinics when the need arose. Overpopulation had been far too big a problem for far too long a time. Exterminations were common to anyone breaking a law-jail no longer existed.