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You're absolutely right. And I have to say, and this is in all seriousness, that is one of the most moving statements I have ever heard Chicken. It is a tragedy. Well put my friend.

I was in the first week of 6th grade. The teachers had acted weird all day and finally my band teacher explained to us what happened last period. It was such a surreal feeling. Like it was a beautiful not quite autumn day, but you could feel this weird pressure in the air. A year before or so I'd begun my interest in the military, and so not only was I right in the sweet spot between child and teenager that had to grow up in the post 9/11 world, but I'd already had this kind of odd interest in warfare, so I think I kind of had this understanding of what was going on that none of my peers did. And I completely agree about that unity thing. I really miss it. I mean, there was this real sense of community, not just nationwide, but even internationally. There was a French newspaper emblazoned with the words "We Are All Americans" as it's headline, to my recollection. I mean, I think the upswing in Patriotism did tend to border on Nationalism at a certain point. But when you took away the flag waving and country singing and bumper stickers about non-running colors, I think there was this beautiful sense of people looking out for one another. I think the biggest tragedy of this decade was the loss of that feeling. How quickly it was replaced by political bullsith and division. Now we're about as divided a nation as ever (barring that whole Civil War thingy.) I could make a statement about why that sense of community was ruined, but I won't. I'm just saddened that it's gone and that it took a tragedy to bring it about.

She pounded at the wall with her pickaxe until she'd collected enough spice to fill her bucket. Dust rolled up in the air, stinging the nostrils with the lingering tingle of the gliterstim they were here to mine. It was incredible how many people became hooked on the stuff just from mining it. Five people in their cluster alone had been caught trying to smuggle some back to the bunks this year alone. It didn't seem worth it, for the punishment you received for stealing it. Lashings, if you were lucky. Sometimes if you stole too much they would shoot you on the spot simply because they couldn't trust you not to steal it again. Kind of idiotic, since they were the ones getting them hooked on it in the first place. It was a perpetual cycle. But Katri would be damned if she ever found herself doing that. Still...she wasn't sure if the affects of it were real, or imagined. They said that gliterstim stretched the ability of the mind, allowing the person taking it to have a brief spike of telepathy in the heightened mental state that it brought. Sometimes, Katri thought that she could hear what the people around her were thinking. Most of the time it was annoying. Her arms ached enough without having to listen to how everyone else's hurt too. But other times, she thought she'd hear other things...whispers in the dark, secrets, plans... "...Just drive it into her stomach, watch her die. That'll teach her..." She glanced nervously over her shoulder at the man who's thought it had been. It hadn't been aimed at her, but at the woman beside him. Maybe it was paranoia, but sometimes she swore these thoughts came true. She remembered one particular time where everyone had gone to their morning meal--err, gruel fest, to find that someone had been impaled over the serving counter. She still didn't know how some people were able to eat that day. Katri hefted her bucket, carrying it over towards the big collection bin. Of course, her new 'friend' Mr. Chase had picked up his to follow. Would he never get off her heels? She sighed, then stopped when she thought she heard something that wasn't him trying to start up a conversation again. Hadn't she? She looked around in the dark for the source of the strange noise. "Shh. Did you hear that?" "Hear what?" Ryen asked after a moment, looking around. Something passed one of the red diodes they used for light. Something big. Or at least, that's what she thought she saw. "There's something in here with us." She said, looking to him. "It has to be a--" The sound of a blood-curdling scream cut her off, then quickly dissipated into a large plopping sound that made her stomach turn. She had seen something before, and now that it wasn't eclipsed by the light, or the collection bin she could see it clearly. She wished she couldn't. The sight of the large spider impaling one of the workers with it's large poisonous stinger only served to put fear into her. Fear that it was coming towards them next.