Story Notes

They had been lied to. Their entire lives, they had been lied to. From their first day in school, the genetically designed inhabitants who lived Under the Hill in the City had been brainwashed into believing whatever they were told.

Not only could they not step even a millimetre closer than six metres from the Boundary that separated them from Over the Hill, but they knew they were the only civilization left, both surviving and thriving in the face of hardship.

What they didn’t know was that they had been designed at City Infant not by their parents, but by those determined to perfect the designing of wonderfully compliant, completely obedient beings.

Occasionally, though, there was a glitch in the system, and the infertile designed ‘Unders’ found themselves pregnant with a ‘natural’ birth. Usually, a natural had at least one natural parent, born without the tell-tale birthmark between their eyebrows, which had to be either drawn or tattooed on secretly for protection.

Of course, these naturals weren’t compliant, nor were they obedient. And this made them dangerous.

Summary

‘The City survives, and the City thrives’, as everyone knows. This may be true for those living ‘Over the Hill’, but for those ‘Under the Hill’, like Denzin and Chimma, that is nothing but a cruel joke. One day, Chimma calls him out of the rain, only for Denzin to drag her into his own personal storm. Both of them are then plunged into a vortex neither can escape. But escape they must, if there remains any hope of rescuing those they love. Meanwhile, in dark corners of the City, marauders roam the streets, along with whispers of a prophecy determined to hunt them down.

Genre: Young Adult,Scifi

Author: Heidi Goodchild

Status: Complete

Chapters: 56

Rating: 5.0 (1 review)

Age Rating: 16+

Prologue (And Map of The City)

Gladys Dea hobbled home through the streets of the City. Her cane clicked as it struck the smoothness of the paving beneath her. A little song was singing away in her heart. All those years of waiting. Of hoping. Of seeing the need, and knowing the promise, but not understanding how on earth the two matched up.

Until today.

A sudden gust caught her hair, sending fine wisps of grey to form a cloud around her head. Another storm was on its way. But even that could not douse the sparking embers within her. The storm she had been awaiting had become more than just a whisp at last. Its thunderhead was at last building strength on the horizon. And this storm she would not be consigned to merely watch through her window – this one her aged feet would dance in!

Oh, she was glad that the Sick had gone in time for her to see it come to pass. Exactly how Senda was going to bring her into the picture had yet to be seen. But it wasn’t her job to insert herself. Only to respond when it happened.

For they had found each other.

And the story was about to begin.