false cadences (my actual nanowrimo)

On March 15, 2069, Kathica Perlman woke up in her plain white living compartment. If she had a choice in the matter, she would’ve painted the walls and put up posters and drawings. Neon green polka dots would look epic. Sadly, though, the Authorities would consider them “frivolous” and send her on some dangerous suicide mission into a war zone, and Kathica treasured her life too much to risk death in exchange for polka-dotted walls.

The Authorities were so strict because everyone was fighting. World War VII was taking place, and one of the powerful nuclear bombs had killed Kathica’s brother, Walter, a few years ago. She still missed him and would’ve left flowers at his grave, except every garden in her city Etherios had been destroyed in the war. And in addition to fighting each other, the countries of Earth were being assaulted by alien armies, unlike any of the friendly and intelligent microbes the astronauts had encountered earlier.

Kathica changed from her sleeping clothes into her Uniform, a tight gray jumpsuit that was made of the most cost-effective material. She hated the Uniform because it choked her, suppressing the pores on her golden-brown skin. And gray just wasn’t her color. It was the color everyone had to wear, because it was apparently the most efficient to make the Uniforms in, so she tried not to mind too much.

After picking up her small computer, she opened her compartment’s door and stepped out, surveying the war-torn city. It was a good thing that the compartments were bulletproof and bomb-proof and had extremely strong padlocks on their doors. If they didn’t, she’d be dead by now. However, if the Authorities were to ever come to her door, she had to unlock it and politely let them in. And Kathica Perlman didn’t do many things politely, but she also didn’t want to die like Walter.

The shuttle to school stopped in front of her house. She got on, sitting next to her sort-of friend Evangeline. They rode in silence, which was fine. Kathica didn’t have anything worth talking about to this girl whose father was actually one of the Authorities. Evangeline didn’t brag about it, unlike many of the other Authorities’ children did, so that was why Kathica liked her more than the others. Her own parents were military tacticians and engineers, not as brag-worthy.