Prolog
I held the door with all the strength I had. None of them would get in. If they did, everything was over. Then they had won and we had lost.
Outside, I heard women crying, the men stood quietly beside them, unsure. No one knew what to do.
The military pounded hard on the locked door. I pushed my shoulder against it, each hit made the walls shake. I repeated quietly to myself: If they get in, it's over. Then it’s over for me.
Adrian showed up at my side, and shortly after came his friend Vincent. Together, we held the door. Hit after hit.
Then a deafening crash.
The door gave in. We were thrown backwards and fell to the floor. Before we could stand up, we were surrounded. The soldiers stood over us, guns pointed at our heads. They grabbed us and pulled us out to the street, out into the daylight, in front of everyone else, women and men.
"Choose your man!" one of the soldiers shouted at me.
I looked at Adrian, my fiancé since I was seventeen, and then at Vincent. I had only known him for a year, as he had lived abroad most of his life.
"You have to choose!" The soldier’s voice was sharp.
I looked between them. Vincent was Adrian’s childhood friend. They had known each other since birth. Their mothers had been inseparable.
The law said I had to choose. But it never said how many.
I stood up slowly. "Both of them."
A wave of whispers and shocked gasps spread through the crowd. The women stared at me. The men whispered to each other.
Adrian looked surprised at first, but then gave a small smile. Vincent looked at me silently, I couldn’t read his face. Maybe he was shocked too.
"You have to choose one..." the soldier began, but was interrupted by another.
"Nothing in the law says she can only choose one man," he said. "But she must give the country a double quota, ten children in ten years."
My heart was pounding so hard I thought everyone could hear it.
What had I just done?
