Opening scene

“Why did you have to say that? I told you if we do this your way then we’re both going to be sent away.” Lorna was trying to catch her breath as each word left her lips.

“They never send two people away. It’s only one a day. They are not stupid” Brian took a deep breath trying to calm his rapid heartbeat. “They stick to the rules. They want us to live in fear, to have structure and strict rules.”

Brian was always rebelling. He was sick of following the rules. His attitude got him into trouble more times than you could count on your fingers. But thanks to his excellent, mind-twisting communication skills, he constantly managed to talk his way out of every situation. Not this one though. It was different. Lorna questioning his decisions was not unusual for him. Seeing genuine fear in her eyes however, was terrifyingly new. She had always trusted him, since the first time they met when he was only 7. Today they should be celebrating his 31^st birthday but instead they are hiding out in the basement of an abandoned house that once belonged to his beloved grandparents.

At the age of 31, with no children of his own, he qualified as ‘High Risk Expiry Human’. If he had actually produced any children, it would automatically upgrade him into the ‘Very High Risk Expiry Human’ category. There are too many people living on this planet now. The fast growing of the population has to be controlled. When he met Lorna for the first time back in 2019, everything was much easier. None of this 1-Human per day rule existed or even thought about.