I climb the fence again and almost lose my balance when I push my head over the top and see Lake crawling slowly towards it. His head is down and I can see his arms shaking under the weight of his own body. Jumping back down into the compound I land a short distance from the gate. The effect is instant and I realise the gas must be heavier than air, pooling in the compound without dissipating. I gag on my first breath, trying to resist the urge to cough as I make my way over to Lake.
Reaching for his arm, I pull him towards the gate. He looks relieved to see me but I can hear his raspy breath from his fluid-filled lungs, and when I try to take his hand he can’t seem to close it around mine. I smile at him, not wanting him to see how frightened I am that he’ll die in here because I can’t get him over the gate. I push away some of the dead bodies from beneath the gate so we can get closer, and when I look up towards the top of the gate to see how far I have to get him, I see Neve peering down at me. I smile inwardly; she must have come looking for me when I jumped into the compound.
“You need to try and stand, rest your hands on the gate,” I instruct Lake.
He tries but his legs shake and I have to pull him most of the way. Once he’s standing tall enough, I run round to the back of him and bend down so that my head is between his legs. I’m racked by another fit of coughing, but ignore it the best I can and start to stand up, walking my hands up the gate until I’m upright and I feel the weight lessen as Neve helps to pull him over the other side.
Suddenly I realise that I don’t have a way out until Neve reappears. When she does I run at the gate, through the dying bodies on the floor, knowing that I’ll only have the strength to do this for a short while. I leap, catching her hand in mine and pain tears through my arm when she pulls. At the top I don’t have time to steady myself and fly over headfirst, landing next to Lake in a heap. He’s lying flat on his back, staring out towards the rising sun.
I lean in and kiss his blue tinted lips. “I love you,” I whisper. “We made it; we’re free.”
Epilogue
In the coming weeks we learned just how big our loss had been. Over three thousand people perished that night, including Redd and Dave, whose lifeless bodies Lake had already found in the pipes when he went to warn them. The news hit Neve hard because of her on-again and off-again relationship with Dave. She felt like she never really got the chance to tell him how she felt about him.
With regards to our discovery, the researchers realised something was awry when they went to inspect the compound later that day and found almost a thousand bedraggled people strewn across the countryside. Apparently they attempted to conduct a clean-up operation, but with Alana’s help this attracted the attention of the media and by the end of that first day we saw helicopters flying over the compound.
The military forces cut the lock off the gate and the world got their first glimpse into hell. The worst injured were airlifted to hospital, and the rest of us were rounded up into the back of the trucks and driven to hospital. Children without parents clung to anyone that they recognised from the compound, not able to understand what was happening, and none of us knew what to expect. As the truck drove us away from the compound, for the first time in our lives, I saw them starting to remove the dead, lining them up like pawns on a chessboard.
That’s all we were, strategic sacrifices.
I was released from the hospital after an examination and having the cuts on the palms of my hands sutured. We were transferred into a halfway house with the other ex-compound members, which was oddly comforting. Lake had to stay in the hospital for treatment to his badly damaged lungs caused by long exposure to the gas, but he joined us as soon as he was able to.
Although much of the physical damage from that night healed over time, the mental scars did not. Every night the halfway house reverberated with cries and moans as people relived their memories of that night in their nightmares. Initially I was relieved that Lake and I had made it out together, just like we said we would. But over time it became clear that the Lake I pushed over the gate was not the same one who’d told me that he loved me in the basement of the governor’s building. I often found him staring blankly out of the window without seeing, walking back through his memories. He never said it but I know that his biggest regret was leaving Redd.
Almost a year later the researchers behind the experiment were taken to trial over the inhumane conditions that we were forced to live in and the murder of over three thousand innocent people. Despite feeling so isolated, it was revealed that the location of the compound was only fifty miles from the nearest town, but nobody claimed to know about its existence. Several of the governors, including Selwyn, from within the compound were also put on trial, but released as they were deemed to have suffered enough already.
The full details about the purpose of the compound were also released. The aim was to test whether the world’s population had reached the tipping point and the consequences of exceeding this. However, I chose to avoid knowing the details as much as possible, wanting instead to move on with my life. Throughout it all the head researcher, the one who’d trained Grant, remained indignant about the usefulness of the data they’d collected. He insisted that it provided a critical insight for the rest of the world about the dangerous effects of overpopulation if they don’t manage their population size. But I think that he’s wrong. I think that our survival is testament to the resilience of the human spirit, the strength of friendship and the power of compassion.
The mouse experiment
Utopia was based on a hypothetical human version of a series of experiments conducted by John Calhoun. Calhoun conducted research on population density and its effect on behaviour. In his overpopulation experiments using mice and rats he provided sufficient food and bedding to support a much higher population than the colony ever reached because society always collapsed. Calhoun speculated that this would also be the fate of humanity.
So far the human population has grown exponentially, and by the year 2100 it’s predicted to be 11.2 billion. However, this growth rate is unlikely to be sustained for a variety of reasons, one of which will be space. Ethical constraints mean that Calhoun’s experiments can never been carried out using human subjects, but in the coming years we’ll see whether his predictions come true.
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About the author
Carla Eatherington is a final year PhD student studying psychology. She has a particular interest in animal and human behaviour, which has informed her latest novel, Utopia. You can find out more about Utopia and future releases by following her on twitter (@dystopicworlds), Wordpress (carlaeatherington.wordpress.com) and on Facebook at Carla Eatherington (@CarlaEatherington) or Utopia: Carla Eatherington (@UtopiaCarlaEatherington). Carla is also passionate about travelling the world and immersing herself in different cultures, but currently lives on a boat in the beautiful English countryside with her two cats.
Competition
Submit a piece of fanart or fanfiction to Utopia’s Facebook page for a chance to win £50. The winner will be announced in due course.
Acknowledgements
I’d like to take this time to express my gratitude to my very talented mentors MB and PP, as well as all the amazing writers I’ve met at Central College Nottingham. Thanks for all the help and encouragement; this book couldn’t have happened without you.
I also want to extend a special thanks to GR for taking the time to provide detailed feedback on my first draft. I learned so much from that — thank you.
And finally, thanks to my father for discussing the idea with me when it was still in its infancy, and convincing me
that it could be a book.
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