Page 1 of Falling Double: The Mating Grounds

Prologue

The scientists never expected to lose ninety percent of the population to a massive illness, but that’s exactly what happened 215 years ago. The continent had been teeming with life, communities and free will and then within a single year, people were crowding into each of the zone’s capital cities to share resources and avoid living and dying alone in the scattered ghost towns left behind. People were scared shitless and worried about humanity's survival, so to assuage those fears, the zones came up with a new system.

That system is known as the Mating Grounds.

The Mating Grounds are how humanity has survived with so few people left, and avoided inbreeding or extinction—the inevitable outcomes if birth rates dip too low. Every five years, a male and female in their peak reproductive years (aged 18-25) are selected from each zone and sent to the Cria Zone for semi-arranged pairings to help spread their genetic material between the distant cities. The only rules in the Cria Zone?

You have one year to find a partner of your choosing before one is assigned to you.

Offspring are expected from each pairing.

You must choose a partner from another zone.

The ruling zone sends four eligible citizens, instead of two, during their period in power.

Beyond the Cria Zone mandates, each zone handles eligibility and “love pairings” as they see fit. Between the most and least populous zones the policies can vary greatly based on eligible citizen population numbers.

The Cria Zone, where the Mating Grounds take place, is centrally located on the continent, in the high mountains, in order to be accessible to and supplied by all zones. The Chosen journey there after being selected and live in a secure compound for the duration of the year until the mating ceremony, when established pairings are announced and any unattached Chosen are assigned mates. After the mating ceremony, the pairings journey back to the inhabited zones according to the female’s origin.

Chapter 1

Day of The Choosing

Parker

You would think today is a national holiday to celebrate my parents, as they have devoted themselves entirely to the preparations all week. As former Chosen themselves, they are required to attend all the Choosings; although, they wouldn’t miss this year even if they weren’t, given that I’m eligible. I can’t tell if they are nervous or excited. Either way, they have looked like chickens with their heads cut off, running around on the governor's errands the past few days.

We finally leave the house and walk together toward Caral’s main square for the ceremony. Mother, dressed to the nines, continuously fidgets with my clothes as we walk the whole three blocks to Caral's main square for the ceremony.

“Mom, even if I’m somehow Chosen, I’m not arriving at the Mating Grounds in this sweater. Calm down! Everyone will think you rigged it if you keep primping me!”

“You know very well I can’t ‘rig it,’ Parker. That’s not funny in the slightest! You know how important this Choosing is for the zone.”

Right, as the ruling zone this cycle, we are sending double the amount of Chosen. And receiving double the amount of Chosen at the end of the Mating Grounds. Two guaranteed births for the zone. Everyone’s been ecstatic since our gender ratios have been screwy the last few cycles.

Case in point—there are currently seven eligible males for Kedua Zone, but only two females.

That singular fact is my personal nightmare fuel and has been for a while. Reason being, my best friend, Imani, and her twin sister are the two eligible females and will be Chosen by default. Which is the worst-case scenario for me as I’ve been in love with Imani since we were about four. Me, being the idiot that I am, never managed to tell her how I feel and get myself out of the friend zone to pair off with her before the ceremony. So now I’m well and truly fucked, and she’s lost to me forever.

Dominique

Everyone’s gathering now in the square, and since there are just the two of us, my twin sister and I aren’t even waiting with the other eligible citizens. We are over to the side of the stage, the Chosen by default.

---