During the Second Civil War, a new U.S. political party called the Family Protection Movement established The Divide, which separates Normal people from those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. Seventeen-year old Serenity Blackwater lives in the normal Midwestern town of Mapleville, but she is not normal. She hacks into an illegal gay chat room and meets Dawn, a lesbian who lives in a gay community less than a mile away. Serenity discovers normal people can bribe their way inside the walls and decides to go, both to meet Dawn and check out what may be her future home. Dawn is even more beautiful than Serenity hoped, and the two soon become a couple. But Serenity only has a few months before she must take the Normal Verification Test, and then she’ll be separated from her family forever. So she joins the Human Equality Organization, an underground group working to end The Divide. Dawn thinks the rebellion is too dangerous, and since Dawn’s ex-girlfriend Malaki is also a member, Serenity doesn’t tell Dawn about her involvement. Serenity reveals to the HEO that her parents are leading a campaign to organize attacks on all Gay Communities. With her help, the HEO creates Project Jericho, in which all Gay Communities walls will implode at once. But after too many delays, and when Dawn discovers Serenity has been spending more time with Malaki than her, Serenity knows she has to start the revolution herself. She heads to D.C. to contact a group of senators secretly against The Divide ... or straight into a trap set by the Family Protection Movement.

Uprising

“Here’s 500 West,” I said. The country road I turned on was full of potholes and cracks. After about a mile we came to a fenced-in orchard. A gap in the fence was easy to spot even in the dark. I drove through it, and after we were concealed by trees I turned off the bike and my headlight. Malaki jumped off the bike after I did, both of us breathing fast.


I flipped up my facemask but left the helmet on; for some reason I felt safer that way. I wheeled the motorcycle forward in the dark looking for the rendezvous point. Malaki helped me steer around ruts and bumps as our eyes adjusted to the moonlight.


Two figures glided toward us between the trees.


With a deep breath, I looked at Malaki and nodded. Slowly we faced forward, clenched our left hands into fists, and put them over our hearts: the sign of the rebellion.


Chapter 43