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

Malaki and I cheer, but Dawn remains silent. The car flies even higher as powder and debris shoot into the sky. The gigantic stone walls have turned to gravel, and the gates look like metal twigs.


“You did it!” I say, looking from Malaki to Sol.


“Not just here, but in all the Midwestern communities, and most of the Northeast and Southeast,” Sol says triumphantly.


Dawn shakes her head. “Nothing is ever going to be the same.”


“That’s a good thing.” Finally Malaki pulls out her ear buds and collapses into a seat.


I lean against Dad again, and Dawn sits across from me, her eyes unreadable.


“How many people were down there?” I ask.


Mal holds out a scarred arm. “According to our Lifestyle Chips, all of us.”


Sol turns. “We realized that to tear down the walls and stay inside was ridiculous. But of course, the government can track our every move. So when we began evacuating, we had to remove Lifestyle Chips from everyone.”


Chapter 58