Yesterday is a loss, today is a mistake, and tomorrow is a world of gloom and loneliness. Step into a future of economic decline, constant looming wars, and civil decay. Piper Shay is a low-level factory worker in one of the remaining metropolitan cities of the United States. She dreams of a better day, a nation not threatened with nuclear catastrophe nor one dominated by the Market. The Love Market is the last viable means for any civilian to make it rich, however, it’s not for any citizen. The Market is a one-stop shop for all things of the flesh. But as society becomes all the more engrossed with this new commodity, more devious acts are being carried out.
The Love Market: Chapter One
Across the plethora of public speakers, on every television channel, interrupting phone frequencies to patch through every device and infect all forms of network functioning, the message began. It would be the final indignation of a society that had long ago collapsed and staggered on without knowing. This would be the final block to fall,…
The Love Market: Chapter Two
“Last year, I think it must have been because it was near my birthday before this one; they said I was old enough to be cut. Peter fought them on it, said I was too young, another year wouldn’t hurt, and they agreed to put it off until my next birthday. I asked why he…
The Love Market: Chapter Three
“I didn’t know much about what he meant by work then, and what I did know was hardly more than whispers and secretive glances. There were times I saw things on the screens that were similar to what I’ve come to understand to be this work. And when the visitors would come, and they would…
The Love Market: Chapter Four
“Visitors only came for a few reasons, and some might stay longer depending on what they came for. There were days I would be sad and cry until I was so exhausted I couldn’t stay awake, and there were visitors. When I received new toys, things that I didn’t understand but would have to use…
The Love Market: Chapter Five
“A base is where all the men and women who work for our army live. The work they do isn’t like what I have to do or what I’d have to do there. But, mister… Peter says that someone should be over there and will need to be there to help them in the way…
The Love Market: Chapter Six
“I learned about storms from the screens, and I wish I hadn’t because I saw how they hurt people, killed people, made people sad, and struggle to keep living. Peter says we’re lucky to live away from where bad storms happen anymore. I asked if maybe the cyclones would figure out where we were and…
The Love Market: Chapter Seven
“There used to be some others who lived in the House, and Peter would bring them to my room to play. These playmates were there when the visitors were too, but I didn’t notice that very often. And these playmates, a bit older than me, left the House during my last birthday. They were old…
The Love Market: Chapter Eight
“I told Peter about the cyclones and what I thought of them, and he told me again that it didn’t work like that and that when the time came, it would be safe for me to leave the House. But I told him the same thing I would have told him any other time before…
The Love Market: Chapter Nine
The map, showing what was left of connecting lines running through the states, was recent, printed just that year by some other factory likely closed indefinitely now, but was nonetheless out of date. From snippets of news Piper had gotten from those passing through looking for work, at least another quarter of the major cities…
The Love Market: (Part Two) Chapter 10
“It is my solemn promise to you, as your president, I will do all with the power of my office to further liberate the Markets. No longer will any person be off-limits or available only under extreme restrictions. My opposition would have you believe that their call for more public use terminals is the best…
The Love Market: Chapter 11
The message was clear, the threat an accusation that would not require the slightest detail to be taken by the news, and Lars’ stomach was in knots. It wasn’t the first time he had read over the email, and it wouldn’t be his last. He had kept it from Beth, not sure how she would…
The Love Market: Chapter 12
Before his next public appearance, the news broke and nearly shattered Bethany’s composure as she read through the article. Lars listened only in part as he prepared his speech, figuring the only thing that might shock him would be the depths of the deception. He could already hear the headlines of hypocrisy and turning a…
The Love Market: Chapter 13
The final debate was the circus act that Lars and Beth had feared it would be, and with Bridgette in the hospital and the open slot for vice-president beneath Lawrence such a hot topic, it was made all the worse. To his chagrin, Lawrence found that neither the Red nor Blue parties wanted to attack…
The Love Market: Chapter 14
Fourteen percent. After it was all calculated, for one reason or another, the Gray Party had only garnered fourteen percent of the vote. Ellit walked away with forty-four, and Juliet just shy of the mark with forty-three. The nine-millimeter bullet that had ripped its way through flesh and lodged itself in the bone stung less…
The Love Market: (Part 3) Chapter Fifteen
“I guess I always wanted a child, but no one does that anymore. I thought, I guess when I was younger, I thought it was because no one wanted to grow up like me, clutching my stuffed pup so tight no one could tell I was trying to stop breathing, but I don’t think it’s…
The Love Market: Chapter Sixteen
Where Piper felt most of her life that she was being discriminated against in the worst of ways, she found it played out in the military, with her ending up with little more than busy tasks that simply required a body. For that matter, she was put in charge of minding the three ex-Marketers stationed…
The Love Market: Chapter Seventeen
It took several minutes for Piper to disentangle herself as well as Sequoia from the wreckage of the truck. There was a fleeting moment where she had attempted to drag the others from the vehicle, but the notion seemed superfluous. Rose wasn’t moving anymore, and Mika’s head hung at an odd angle. Monroe had let…
The Love Market: Epilogue
The days of thunder and towering fire passed, but not without the slow chugging on of time in the face of such bedlam. Once it was finally played out, the nation went from a writhing snake rife with parasites and disease into a patchwork of cities that were bleeding out. Still, a sense of centralized…
Trazor 
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