Chapter Five

 I found that, as a male, I had quite a bit more freedom.  After the labor laws had been eradicated, there were no restrictions on how many hours children could work and no one really checked anyway.  Employers didn't have to provide health insurance, so it was relatively easy to get a job working and doing odd jobs on a farm and not worry about them checking background too much.  Farmers didn't have a ton of security cameras like the factories or other jobs; I didn't have to worry about having to get a photo ID and facial recognition technology giving me away.  

We didn't even have social security numbers anymore; social security had been eliminated.   After the mass deportations, everyone had to carry an ID card proving that were a citizen.   It was supposed to work better and prevent identity theft, but it was easy enough to buy papers for what you needed, no questions asked, if you knew where to look.  You could trade things in the underground market;  if you had a skill that someone could use.  I was pretty good at art, so I painted a few pictures that may or may not have been forgeries, that would probably be used in some kind of shady deal, but I didn't ask, nor did I care.  The only people who could  afford expensive artwork now, were those in control, and their families.  The rest of us had lived in poverty, barely making enough to put food on the table.  I don't know why they were so worried about carrying identification; no one here now wasn't a Citizen. No one was trying to get IN anymore; people were trying to get OUT.  Now that I had papers saying I was Darrin Pope, age 17,  and male, I was able to work and earn money and the farmer let me sleep in the loft.   It was common for workers with jobs like this to move around alot, as people hoped to find a better area to live.   I just wanted to keep heading North, to Canada.  But transient people were tolerated, as long as they worked and weren't a "burden" to the country.   Workers got food as well, so I didn't have to worry about eating.  So no one paid much attention to me when I started working, and didn't ask to many questions.  People had learned that it was best not to know too much if people came asking questions  That was fine by me.   When people DID start asking questios, I was vague or made things up.  And then I'd move on.  People who asked too many questions were dangerous.  When I had enough money to buy some supplies, first thing I did buy was a tent and a sleeping bag.  I'd work for a few paychecks, and then I'd move on again.  I was basically hiding in plain sight, but I had to be constantly on guard, and staying in the same place for too long was dangerous.  

Technically, I should have been in school, but there were night classes that teenagers who had to work could go to.   Mostly now, since no one could afford even trade school, one's employer would pay for the education and those who signed the contract to be employed were indentured for five years, to pay for the schooling.  Once the schooling was paid for, the job paid a little better, but there was no such thing as school loans anymore; only work arrangement.  

After the leader had taken over, those who had student loans had half their wages garnished, until it was paid off.  And that was if they were lucky.   If they were unlucky, a company could buy their loan, and then the person would owe that company, and if they couldn't pay it back, they would have to work for that company until it was paid off.   

I was glad I didn't have to worry about that.   Most girls weren't even allowed to go to college; we were usually married by then.  Home economics was a required course in school now for girls before they completed their studies, in fact that was the only course that the government had considered a priority for female students.  

What would have been more useful, would have been wilderness survival.  Good thing I watched that Survival Guy on t.v. who called himself the Lone Wolf and showed us how to do things like melt snow for drinking water and how to build a shelter out of tree branches and moss and start a fire without matches,   and how to catch fish.  I'd need that where I was going.  Preparing and serving a five-course dinner, not so much. 

Anyway, I needed supplies to survive in the wilderness; money was still the easiest way to get that.  And there were lots of places that had no problem hiring a teenage  boy to work, and they paid under the table.  Lots of teenagers worked now, to help put food on the table or just keep a roof over their families' heads.   Some jobs provided on site medical for simple things or work accidents, but I didn't dare go to a doctor, because I couldn't risk my secret getting out. I wished I could get prenatal care, but that was impossible ; I would be detained and reported faster than I could blink.  There was no such thing as private medical information now, the government had access to everything, especially anything related to women and reproductive health.  Once I got to Canada, then I could get help; at least that was my plan.  If I didn't make it, and had the baby out in the wildernerness, well, then, that would really suck, but I'd figure it out.   I'd HAVE to figure it out.  Our survival depended on it.  And once my child was safely across the border, I had to figure out how to rescue my brother.    I wondered if the outside world had any idea of how bad it was now.