Author's note: This is the sequel to 'Captured.' It is recommended, though not necessary, that you read that story first, as it provides some background.
"Val, come in here."
She was in trouble again. Not that she didn't know her parents would find out, but she had hoped she would have a short reprieve between when she got home and when the news got there. The messenger must have sprinted from the scene of her latest crime to tattle on her.
"Damn busybodies,"
she thought. Everyone in the city knew her and treated her like she was their wayward child. The looks she got from people every day, even from those she had never met said,
"We're so disappointed in you."
Even as Val thought this, she realized that it really wasn't everybody, it was mostly just the women. Many men had been giving her very different looks lately.
Valerie put on her most sullen face and went into the living room to face her parents.
"Valerie, why? Why do you need to torture that poor boy? We hear you might have broken one of his ribs this time." Evan looked exasperated.
Liv joined in from there, "He's such a sweet boy and you just keep beating the shi . . . um, crap out of him."
Valerie picked up on the tiny smile that tugged at the corners of her mom's mouth. Mom could never quite hide it, and the truth was, that was part of why Valerie did some of the things she did. Getting approval from mom's hidden inner warrior was a powerful thing. Those fleeting glimpses of pride spoke louder to Val than mom's disapproving words.
"Explain to me what Brian did to deserve a beating," Liv demanded.
"But we were just sparring, it was just for fun."
"That's not how I heard it. I heard the poor boy was on the ground and bleeding and you wouldn't stop," Evan's voice raised as he became more frustrated.
"Daddy, you don't understand. Nobody understands. Brian is so annoying. He teases me constantly. He said something mean and he wouldn't take it back. All he had to do is fucking take it back and I wouldn't have kicked the shit out of him."
"Valerie Marie, you watch your language . . . and it is totally unacceptable for you to go around kicking the crap out of all the boys. You need to have some patience. Brian teases you because he likes you. Don't you understand? Considering all the other boys are terrified of you, I would think you wouldn't try so hard to turn him away too."
Evan breathed a big sigh and continued in a softer voice, "In three days you will be of age. The boys should be vying for your hand, but that's not going to happen if they are all afraid of you."
Valerie's blood boiled. She felt a tirade building and couldn't stop it. "That's what it always comes back to! You and everyone in this fucking city can't wait for me to start making fucking babies! 'Oh Valerie's got to save the human race by making as many fucking babies as possible.' What if that's not what I want? What if I don't want to be a fucking breeding mare? I was meant to be more than that. You realize I know what those tattoos on mom's wrists mean, don't you? I am the daughter of 'Liviana the warrior', a cold-blooded killer. How can you judge me for beating up a couple of kids on the playground, when she has killed dozens of men?"
Valerie's emotions overwhelmed her and she ran to her room, slammed the door and flung herself on the bed. She buried her face in a pillow and sobbed bitterly. She knew she had stepped way out of line. She had never addressed her mom's past so directly before and she knew her words had cut deep. Mom was proud of her own physical ability and still enjoyed exercising her fighting skills, but she was deeply remorseful of the indiscriminate brutality she had committed as a member of the Black Widows.
Val wasn't sure what she wanted, but she always felt rage build in her when she thought someone else was trying to tell her what she should want. That meant a lot of anger when it seemed like everyone she met had the same vision of what she was supposed to be. It seemed like society had decided on her future before she was even born.
Three days . . . in three days she would go from being the oldest child in the world to the youngest adult in the world. The closest adult to her age that Val had ever met was her own mother, who was now 43.
For twenty years following the viral apocalypse, no children had been born to the human race. The virus had killed 80 percent of humanity and rendered the survivors sterile. A medical breakthrough made procreation possible again and may have rescued humans from extinction. Val had been the very first child born as a result of the new fertility treatments.
The jury was still out as to whether extinction of the human race had been averted, because the birthrate was still so precariously low and dropping off precipitously as most of the remaining adult women passed beyond child bearing age.
The city of Munroe was the only place in the world administering this treatment to the general public, severely limiting access to a tiny fraction of the world population. With all mechanized transportation now a distant memory, it seemed virtually guaranteed that the human race would die off everywhere except eastern North America. As it was, people flocked to the city to receive the treatment, with declining success, and the production capacity for the drugs was unable to keep up with the demand.
Several attempts to export the technology to other settlements had failed. Two factors had plagued these attempts.
The first issue was the technical challenge of producing the drugs. The manufacturing process was complicated. Once produced, the drugs were highly unstable, had a short shelf life and needed to be kept in specific conditions. That meant sophisticated lab facilities and skilled personnel were required. Building such facilities from scratch was unrealistic with the state that technology had degraded to. The only possibility was to find former medical or pharmaceutical facilities that had not been too compromised by the ravages of time and looting.
The other issue was one of security. The majority of the world beyond the city walls of Munroe remained lawless and barbaric, which made starting up any new settlement risky. Any fledgling settlement was a target for violent marauders. One that promised to contain miracle drugs and fertile women was a particularly attractive target.
The origin of the fertility treatments was actually a settlement 500 miles to the north. Davisville had been a closed and secretive settlement ruled by an oppressive regime. Evan and Liv had led a daring exodus from Davisville that brought the treatment to the abandoned pharmaceutical plant that ultimately formed the basis of the settlement of Munroe. Val had grown up hearing the legends of her parents' heroics during that exodus.
Rumors were that Davisville had later collapsed due to an internal revolt and subsequent waves of marauders. The fate of the few children that had been born to that settlement was unknown.
What nobody in Munroe knew was whether the children born of the treatment would need the same medical assistance when it became their turn to procreate. Most of the scientific community believed that it would not be necessary, but no one had proven it yet. This was the key factor in determining whether the human race would truly recover.
Thus it was that the entire Munroe settlement was eagerly awaiting the coming of age of Val and the other children. Val would be the first to reach the legal age of 18. Six other children had been born in the same year, the next oldest being Brian, who was born three months after Val.
Val heard a knock on her bedroom door.
"Go away," she said without much conviction.
"Honey, we need to talk," came Liv's reply.
Val didn't answer, but a few moments later, she heard the bedroom door open and felt the mattress move as her mother sat down beside her. Val didn't trust herself to look at her mother yet.
"I'm sorry, Mom. I shouldn't have said those things."
"Val, you know I am not proud of the horrible things I did as a gang member," Liv said in a choked up voice.
Val turned to look at her mother in surprise; she had never seen her mother cry. Liv was the toughest person she knew.
"I couldn't quite tell from your outburst if you condemn me or envy me for my dark past."
"I don't know, mom, maybe a little of both. It's not like I want to go out and kill people, but I want to do things with my life besides just making babies. "
"You understand that coming of age just means you can make your own choices. No one can force you to be a mother until you are ready. That's the reason those laws were enacted; to protect your rights. Early on, there were people who advocated that you children be forced to breed as soon as you were biologically able 'for the good of the human race.' Thank god cooler heads prevailed."
Val contemplated this a moment, then said, "Mom, I want to see the world. I want some adventure and excitement."
"Valerie, look at me." Val looked her in the eye and recognized her mother was deeply troubled.
"This is really important. The world outside this city is brutal. If you leave this city you will likely be dead within a week. You say you want adventure, but you don't realize what you are wishing for. I'm begging you, don't do anything stupid."
After sulking in her room a few hours, Val came back out and announced she was going for a walk.
"Gonna go beat someone else up?" called Connor from his bedroom.
"Shut up or you'll be next," shot back Val.
"Val, don't threaten your brother . . . and Connor, stop provoking your sister." Evan knew even as he said it that his parental demands would go unheeded. He had repeated them much too often for them to have any effect.
Valerie headed down the street and out of the neighborhood. She turned toward the beach. She always found the sound of crashing surf and the smell of the salt air to be soothing.
Her route took her past a corner saloon. On this warm June evening, the patrons had spilled out onto the outdoor patio. She ignored the catcalls that came her way as she passed. She had gotten used to them. Still, when she stole a glance back and realized two men had left the bar and were now tailing her at a distance, she began to get annoyed. Perhaps this walk was a bad idea.
Val reached the beach and walked out onto the jetty. She sat on a large boulder and watched the surf crashing in. Further out on the jetty, a man was fishing. She saw him glance back at her and do a double-take. He slowly began working back toward her.
The other two men who had tailed her from the bar wandered along the beach, trying to act nonchalant as they each planned their next move. Val felt the anger that never seemed too far from the surface rising in her. She knew exactly what was happening and was sick of it.
When Val had just entered her teens, she reveled in the attention she received from so many men in the settlement. They all seemed so protective and friendly. It wasn't till she was about 16 that she started to realize some of that attention was not entirely innocent. Given how watched over and important the children in the settlement were, no man would dare violate the laws that had been established and actually try to touch her, but that didn't entirely eliminate their attention.
With none of the boys reaching the age of consent until three months after her, up until recently Val had assumed she had until then to worry about warding off advances of serious suitors. In the past few months, a great many older men had made it clear that they intended to vie for her affections the moment she was no longer forbidden fruit. The way they saw it, they had a three month window of opportunity before the boys her age could even be part of the competition.
