This was written on my phone. Words with * on either side are italicized.

Also, I did not go back through and edit so I'm sorry if there are misspelling and things.

My feet drag across the floor my head hanging low. I don't need to watch where I'm going. The brick-like shackles binding our feet together have built in hover technology. It's not like it's light enough to see, anyway.

My hands are bound, though not with the high tech shackles on my feet. Several layers of rope cut into my wrists instead. Probably to save on energy. The skin is red and raw from three days ago when I refused to accept my fate. I've learned my lesson.

When my mother volunteered me to be killed I wasn't surprised. When my siblings agreed, I wasn't surprised. When my father looked at me with regretting eyes, turning to my quivering form, and latching the Death Collar around my throat, *willingly*, marking me for death, I was surprised.

My father and I were close, or as close as was safe for him. In a house of enemies, he was my greatest ally. When my mother refused to put me in the fancy private school my siblings attended, my father was able to put me in a local public school. When my mother "forgot" to feed me and sent me to bed, my father brought up a plate. My entire life has been one of neglect, he made me feel special. And the looks that we shared, like we both held a secret we would take to the grave, those looks were what pushed me forward. The knowledge that my mother was being defied and that I was surviving, despite her best attempts.

Only now? I really would take our secret to the grave. Now? She got her wish.

All my life I've been shunned. Pushed to the side. It's because of my defect. My eyes. While the rest of the colony has eyes of green and brown, mine are silver. A shining silver that reflect the light. As a child I used to love my eyes. I soon grew ashamed of them.

Teachers always blamed me for things that weren't even close to my fault. My peers ignored me, gave me dirty looks, and threatened to fix me by cutting out my eyes. Doctors were at a loss, telling my parents there was no hope. Even thought colored contacts my silver shinned through.

I was abnormal. A mistake. A defect. I was a problem.

Which is why, when the Capital announced that the population was too high, and one person from every household must choose one member to be killed, my family immediately chose me.

My father fought for me, of course. But if he continued to fight for me, he would be chosen instead. He wasn't a main provider. Mom made most of our money. And with one shared look, I told him to stop. To let me be chosen. I told him that this was better. To me, it was better to die a quick death than live a life without my only sheild. That didn't make the look in his eyes any less heartbreaking, nor the fact that he went along with it any less surprising.

And now I'm here. Walking single file in a line of people just like me. Marked for death.

Before we entered the labyrinth of underground halls leading to the arena, I noticed others. Some were children. The babies had to be carried by the scouts that accompanied us. A few adults as well. Some stood tall, as if they had chosen to be here. Probably sacrificed themself for their family. But others looked more like me. Scared. Cowering. Finally coming to terms with the fact that we had been chosen, and we were going to die.

I noticed a few other Sils (that's what we call those with silver eyes) in the crowd of marked people. The fact that we were all born with the same defect was slightly shocking, but the fact that we were all chosen was not.

I recognized all of them. Five in total, not including me. The closest to the front was Arcus. He was 19. He'd been living with his parents all his life. In the Colony, you were expected to move out at 18 and become a successful member of society. But with his defect, and his overall low IQ in general, he didn't get far. His parents let him stay, but the drain in supplies has to affect them greatly. They weren't exactly a wealthy family. Even without the defect, it's no surprise Arcus was chosen.

Milligan was right after him. He was a nervous kid. Around my age. With glasses and freckles. He was sort of a loner like me. But he was at least smart. It feels like Milligan took most of Arcus's braincells. If he wasn't marked down simply because of his defect, Milligan would have had the highest grades in the school. He also had the backbone of a jellyfish. Constant bullying made him squeemish and scared. I could only imagine what he was going through now.

Next was Kayston. He had made it to adulthood. Was a successful member of society, all things considering. There's only so much you can do when you have silver eyes. He found a woman who didn't care of the restraints, and he married her. They have two kids. Fest and Kade. Cute children. Neither of them inherited the defect, luckily. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that Kayston had sacrificed himself for his family.

A little farther behind me was Quill. About a year older than me. Quill lived his life best he could, and became the Colony miscreant in the process. He left home at a young age and proceeded to live somewhere in the woods surrounding us, stealing food and money whenever he could. He often vandelized certain areas as well. Yet no scout ever caught him. When his family heard the news, they hunted him down and collared him. While he and I were never friends, Quill and I share a mutual respect. I once caught him stealing from a (breif) friend and berated him for it, taking the item back. But when I found out that she had only been my friend because of a dare, I returned it to him. He and I both have a healthy love of revenge.

At the very back of the line was Maya. My best friend. We'd only been friends for a short while. Her parents homeschooled her to keep her away from other kids. She was a sheltered kid. Kind. And when her parents decided they couldn't be around her anymore and put her in public schools we became fast friends. We bonded over our mutual defect. And now I'll never see her again. Well, I might, in the afterlife I haven't decided if I believe in yet.

Finally, there's me. Chloe Wolfe. You already know about me. Loved by my father, hated by my family, ousted by society. The society that was killing to maintain a stable population.

We suddenly stopped and my eyes were met with the burn of sunlight in a dark room. A garage door was opening. It almost touched the high ceiling. When my eyes adjusted, I saw the dirt floor of the arena, including the new edition. A stage with a particularly menacing man standing stop it, holding a very large axe.

The hover technology keeps us in lines and brings us to stand in line, awaiting our deaths by decapitation. I hear the whine of feedback and look up at the mayor's box. Mayor Willenham stands with a microphone in his hand, his face projected on a giant screen. "Ladies and gentlemen!" He starts out with a charasmstic smile. His thinning grey hair is combed over and his green eyes shine with glee. "Welcome to the first ever Thinning! Cutting down the population, so to speak," he jokes.

The crowd laughs out of obligation. I'm sure most people in the stands are excited to witness this, actually. They may turn their heads when someone they recognize approaches the chopping block, but otherwise they are all feuled by the same sadistic excitement.

"Now I won't bore you with a boring speech. I know you only came here for one thing. *Blood*," he grins.

The crowd cheers and whoops. People in line are finally starting to realize just how desperate their situation is. Finally starting to realize they are scheduled to die. They start struggling, pulling against their ropes and kicking their legs. It's hopeless. I just stsnd still.

I know it's no use trying to find my father in this crowd, but that doesn't stop me from trying. I fail. I can't find anyone I recognize in this crowd of faces.

"Now let us begin. Wallack!" The mayor says.

The man in the black cloak looks up at him. Mayor Willenham gives an evil grin for all to see on the screen. "Begin the killing."

The first scream echos out not a minute later.

Wallack doesn't even let the first woman get to the block. She walks up the stairs and her head flies off with a quick swing of the blade. Men in hazmat suits come to throw the body and the head into a pile together. They don't bother cleaning the blood.

As the people walk up one by one, more voices rise from the rest of the line. Shouting, pleading, bargaining. The desperation is thick in the air. I don't bother. I know it makes no difference.

Finally Arcus is brought up to the block. He looks around nervously, his elbows and back hunched as his hover takes him. Wallack pushes him to his knees and arranges his head to rest on the block. "look, man, can you just make it quick? Cause I don't want you hacking away and-"

He's cut off by the clunk of metal on metal. His head rolls clean off and his prices are out with the others.

The first silver is dead.

They'll finally be rid of us soon.

Next is Milligan, who was right behind Arcus. He struggles against the scouts escorting him. He cries and begs. His glasses fall to the floor and one of the scouts step on them. When he finally gets the the block, he is thrown on his knees he struggles as Wallack tries to push his head down, actually managing to push against him.

Suddenly, with one ear splitting scream, a black of golden light shoots from him in all directions.

The screen shuts off. The shackles on our ankles fall, and we fall with them. Wallack and the scouts are so shocked that the forget about Milligan and he scampers off, where to I have no idea. My eyes land in the movement in the body pile as Arcus's head reattaches itself and he sits up, dizzy and disoriented. A loud scream erupts from the crowd of people watching us. Scouts storm the arena to handle the escaped prisoners. I stand and look around frantically for Maya. I can't find her anywhere. My eyes catch on Quill as he somehow disappears into thin air. And right near him, I see Kayston looking around frantically as his body starts to fade, looking like a grainy screen. His eyes are scanning the crowd, probably trying to find his family before whatever this is happens. His eyes are helpless. He tries to run. Suddenly, what's left of him is sucked into a nearby shadow cast by the stage.

I'm the only Sil left. Unless Maya is here somewhere. Scouts have their spears ready, poking at the prisoners and trying to get them all back in their shackles. Some have escaped through the way we came through. There aren't any Scouts guarding it. All of them are trying to restrict the chaos.

The crowd is getting restless. Many families are trying to hoist their chosen family member up into the stands to save them. I don't expect my family to do that. Even if my dad wanted to, my mother wouldn't let him. I'm on my own.

So far the Scouts have been ignoring me. Or not noticing me. While others around me are scrambling, trying to find an escape, I am frozen. What is happening? What was it that came from Milligan? Where did Quill and Kayston disappear to? How did Arcus's head reattach itself? And *where is Maya*?

I shake my head. I can't think about that. I have to live if I ever want to find out, and I'm not going to do that by standing here and being an easy target.

Most of our hands are still bound. I guess this is why they use two different bindings. In case one of the prisoners suddenly have a burst of electricity expelled from them, disabling the feet bindings. Oddly specific, but let's go with it.

I figure my best bet is the open entrance. There aren't many guards surrounding it, and I'm small. I could probably slip past them.

I make my way towards the entrance, running as fast as I can while also watching to make sure that I don't trip.

Suddenly, I hear, "Chloe!" From behind me.

Whip around just in time to see Wallack raising his blade to me, wild desperation consuming his eyes. A scream erupts from my throat, and suddenly, I feel a tightness in my chest. You know when you tye dye a shirt and you lay it out, and then pinch the center and twist? That's what it felt like. My vision went black for a split second, when I regained it, I was several feet away from Wallack who was still in mid swing. I met eyes with a girl across the arena from me. Maya. I tried to run to her, but I felt my arm grabbed.

The person spun me around to face them. Wallack was looking at me with a hunger. A hunger for death. I never understood why the Mayor kept him. He was obviously deranged, and once he got a taste of killing? It was hard to make him stop.

I felt the twisting again, and I scrunched up my eyes to try to push away the feeling. Only this time when I opened them, I was surrounded by trees. When I turned around, I saw the edge of the forrest. I saw the arena. I heard the screams. I knew Maya was back there..I knew the other prisoners were back there. But I couldn't go back. I had to trust that whatever happened to the other Sils, happened to Maya as well. But for now? I had to get to safety. I turned back around and my eyes were met with the darkness of the forest.

I took a deep breath, and started walking.