The streets were crowded with people by the time I reached Fox Park. Actually, it could barely be described as a park since it consisted solely of a five-foot by five-foot-wide square of bright green grass and a single tree, a rare commodity in any urban area. The tree was surrounded by a protective marble barrier, meant to prevent people from getting too close to it. The sun shone down on the its leaves in reminiscence to a world that once existed. A world where green covered the land masses and metal had yet to be constructed into towering buildings to accommodate the human race. But now, things were different. It was hard to find places to plant anything when the entirety of the earth was attempting to hold the cement and metal cities that were overfilled with the extensive human population.

My older sister, Olivia, walked in step with me, her gray heels in contrast with my dark brown combat boots. We probably looked odd walking towards the large line of people waiting to be fitted with our difference in appearance. Me, with my hair that was so light it was practically white and warm brown eyes, her with dark auburn hair and blue eyes. Not even just physical appearance either, since she wore a tight green dress and I was wearing ripped jeans with a black tank top.

It was hard to tell we were even related.

"You have your ID, right?" Olivia asked, her hair flipping over her right shoulder as she turned her face towards me. I could tell she was nervous by the intense look in her eyes. I was nervous, too, but neither of us would ever mention it. We were walking into something unknown, and that was bound to create fear in both of us.

"Yea," I replied, once again checking my back pocket to make sure the identification card hadn't fallen out. My fingers found the hard, plastic surface and I let out the small breath I'd been holding in. If I'd lost my ID, I wouldn't have had a way to get back home. ID's were necessary for all kinds of transportation, and for entering any populated or important buildings, including school. Since I'd taken the subway here with Olivia, it would be necessary that I had my ID for the way back. The police here could be strict, and just not having your ID on you made them nervous. If I'd lost it and had gone to the subway just to find out it wasn't on me, it was likely they would've taken me into custody, to question me about where it was.

With crime on the rise, officers were stricter than they ever had been before. I couldn't remember the last time the world had actually been okay. They told us in school that land masses used to be split up into thousands of different pieces. These pieces were called countries. After the third World War, the leaders of all of these different countries decided they needed to find a solution to war itself, and that's how New Pangaea came about. They evaporated all borders, creating one gigantic state of New Pangaea. Of course, this didn't come without a cost. Many people hated the fact that they suddenly didn't belong to their countries that they so patriotically supported. And they also hated each other. Fighting broke out between different ethnicities, leading to a domino effect ending in massive crime rates. Rates that don't seem to be going down any time soon.

"Good....," Olivia replied, suddenly distracted by the formation of multiple lines going towards the entrance. I was short compared to Olivia, but I could still make out the different sets of doors, each with a range of numbers on it. Ages. They were splitting up the Animus fitting by age. It was obvious, since the rightmost lines seemed to have the smallest children, some holding the hands of their parents and some still being carried by relatives. I watched a pregnant woman rock a small baby back and forth and it hit me that that baby would never really remember what a world without Animuses would look like.

Then, I found the line for my age group. Large black font above the door formed two numbers with a hash mark between them. The first was thirteen and the second was eighteen. At sixteen, that was my destination. Olivia would only be a few lines down in the grouping for ages twenty-one to twenty-six since she was twenty-two.

When I looked back at Olivia, her anxiety was visible. Her fingers seemed to be shaking almost imperceptibly and her bottom lip hung slightly open, like the air didn't have enough oxygen for her to breathe in. "Listen....Nova.......," Olivia said, turning her blue eyes, once more, on me. "Just do what they say...no matter what they ask you to do, you have to do it. I don't want anything bad happening to you..." Her worry was written in her eyes.

"I know. You don't have to worry about me," I replied, trying to smile at her for reassurance. Mostly reassurance for her, but partially for me. Although I tried not to show it, I was just as nervous as she was. Her worries were understandable, since the police were touchier than ever around the Animus Fitting Stations. After the president's speech, a brief announcement had been made highly recommending that everyone was fitted with an Animus before the start of the following year. They didn't really give a specific reason why they had to have an Animus before next year, but the threat was implied. And since this didn't really seem like an optional process, it was likely many people wouldn't be willing to go along with it.

I knew that I already wasn't fully willing to go along with it.

All I really knew about the Animus, was that it would diminish crime from New Pangaea. They weren't exactly specific on how it would do so, or what would happen when someone was fitted with an Animus. I was walking in blind, not knowing what was going to happen, but also knowing that I couldn't turn back and walk the other way.

"Okay....," Olivia replied, a familiar dimple appearing in her left cheek. It was a small smile, a weak attempt, but at least it was one. "I'll see you afterwards."

"See you," I answered softly as she turned around to merge into the line for her age group. I turned my back on Olivia and walked over to where many other people in my general age range stood. I recognized only a small fraction of the people from school. Schools were usually small and abundant in New Pangaea, leading to smaller classes with more individual learning. The problem with this system was that it was harder to make friends. I knew everyone else in my class, but that didn't necessarily mean I trusted them all, or liked them all enough that I would want to hang out with them outside of school. Seeing the same people for years started to get old after a while, and made it practically impossible to meet anyone you had yet to meet.

But that didn't mean I had absolutely no friends.

A quarter of the way down the line I noticed a bright golden color of hair that was unique to only one person in our grade. It was a special kind of blonde, that always seemed to be glowing, even without any light. He'd approached me two years ago, ignoring the fact that I didn't really talk to many of the other students in our grade of maybe twenty people. The reason why I hated talking to anyone was because I'd already concluded that none of them would suit my preferences of an ally. But I still remembered that day when he stopped by my locker and introduced himself as Zander Millia. I already had known that his name was Zander – it was hard not knowing everyone else's names – but I still responded by saying my own name, Nova Carlson.

He was talking to another guy in line next to him, someone I'd never really seen before. Unlike me, Zander was extremely social and enjoyed talking to anyone in his near vicinity. That would make it seem like I was just another person on his never ending list of acquaintances, but I knew otherwise. I'd learned that he didn't usually stay in touch with most of the people he talked to, and we'd been talking to each other for two years now. Zander suddenly turned around in line and noticed me not too far away. He immediately smiled and raised his hand to wave. I gave a smaller smile in return, my own form of greeting. Every time I looked at him, I couldn't help but notice his eyes and their shocking caramel color. But seconds later he was pulled back into his conversation with the other boy.

The line moved slowly. After ten minutes, I was only a couple feet away from where I started. I briefly glanced around and wondered how long some of the people in the front of the lines had been waiting to be fitted. It would take at least an hour, probably almost two, to just get into the fitting room.

In the end, it took around two and a half hours for me to make it to the door. A lady stood next to a large metal detector that reminded me of the few times I'd been in an airport. First, she ordered me to show her my ID, and I quickly pulled it out so that she could inspect it. She handed it back when she was satisfied, and I slipped it into my pocket. She waved for me to walk through the large metal structure and I followed her instructions. After a moment, the woman gave a subtle nod. I let out a breath I'd been holding before looking in front of me at a huge steel door. Apparently each of the age groups were sectioned off inside the building, because I was surrounded on either side by makeshift walls, with the door in front, and the woman with the metal detector behind me.

I was actually trapped.

There was no turning back now.