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

“Hey, you’re ruining her golden moment,” Dawn says with a grin.


I try to run her over with my wheelchair, but she dodges me and laughs.


He shrugs. “Sorry, ma’am, but this way no satellites or passing government vehicles will be able to ID you.”


I nod. “I’m not in the mood to visit any Detainment Centers for at least another month or so, anyway.”


As Dawn groans, the soldier gives the salute of the resistance, left fist over his heart, and walks away.


I shake my head in amazement. “I wonder how many people are really on our side.”


“More than I thought,” Dawn says. “Everyone was just afraid to do anything about it…except you.”


I roll back over to the windows and look out at the brown-tinted world. “Why does everything have to be so hard?”


Dawn rests her hand on my shoulder. “I was so mad at you,” she whispers.


“You’re not the only one,” I reply with a nod.


Chapter 61