The sun was setting. Gage was partaking in his favourite hobby: roaming around endlessly until his legs propelled him beyond the Silver gates. This was a good time of day. It was quiet and the way the red sun reflected off the jagged towers of the Silver compound made it look almost beautiful. They had retained some of the architectural glory that was lost on the whites and the blacks after the war.

The gates were open. They were always open. It was the Silver symbol for proving that they were open minded, intelligent and welcoming to all people and ideas. But open gates meant nothing when a tall wall ran around the edges of the compound and guards stood on either side. So if one were to get past the walls of their own compound, the would be met with guards and yet another wall if they tried to actually enter the Silver capital. The three cities lay trinity shaped around the undecided. The undecided being anyone under the age of eighteen who legally had not yet revealed their true nature. There the not-quite-a-compound was run by the undecided who were schooled there and given supplies provided by Silver. They were technically Silver citizens until they were 'chosen' to serve a compound, at least that's how Gage's father liked to spin it. As if by not being able to chose their fate made them somehow privileged.

It was the silver that would divide them.

Usually Gage wouldn't let himself be weighed down by thoughts of politics and a society that had been unchangeable for nearly a century. The only thing he knew of war was what they were taught in text books written by the Silvers, but war couldn't be as bad as this, he thought as the shadows of the three walls towered over him.

He crossed the dead earth between the three distinctions and entered the smaller compound of the undecided. He skirted the perimeter until he was at the other side. It wasn't like his friends didn't know where he was actually from, they just all ignored it when the uncomfortable truth. They had never asked and Gage had never provided an answer.

Ever since he was fourteen and had run away from the Silver compound and met Shea and Nix, they had been friends. So much time had passed they had just accepted that Gage didn't live with the undecides; but, they wouldn't accept him being Silver. It was a reputation that crossed walls. Although the undecides hadn't been exposed to the compounds since they were born, and even then infants were always swept away from their parents at birth, they carried the same secret resentment for the Silver compound and the priviledges they were entitled to: no fear of having their fates decided for them, constant access to necessary supplies like food and water, and last names, something that seemed to make them more human.

Gage mentioned none of this when he got together with Shea and Nix.

"Gage!"Nix was calling for him from behind. "There you are!"

He jogged up to Gage and grinned at him. "Where you been at? I searched everywhere for you."

Little reminders like he had a comlink and Nix didn't separated them every-now-and-then. Absently he shoved his hands in his jean pockets and felt for the device which was safe.

"Studying." it was a common excuse and one that avoided a lot of unwanted questions. Nix must have been convinced that Gage was pretty smart because he bought it again and again. "What`s up?" He hadn't seen Nix this excited since Shea had agreed to date him. Only after he picked on her for ages until Gage convinced her and Nix both that he was in love with her.

"There was a man from white here!" The began heading towards the district where Shea and Nix lived. There were many smaller districts throughout the small compound. There was more people living here than in Silver, but more still lived in the black and the white. "He said he escaped!"

Gage wondered if his white man and Nix's were the same. "And?"

"Aren't you missing the point?" Nix said with a slight glare. "No one ever comes here," except you, the end of the sentenced didn't need to be said out loud.

"But what was he escaping from?" Gage asked.

Nix seemed to deflate as he looked Gage up and down wondering why he had to be such a killjoy. "Maybe he was in trouble."

"But the white compound is supposed to be harmless and gentle and care for their members." Gage wasn't sure why there was an argument building in him, it's not like Nix was the culprit for the wrongs Gage was beginning to see.

"Well," his tone began to match Gage's now. "The Silvers caught him before he was able to say more. What do you think they will do to them?"

"Put him back where he came from," Gage wasn't about to wreak havoc for others, he had enough of it tearing about his mind. "And I'm sure whatever misunderstanding it was will be understood. The white are the best of the best," Gage had few reasons to embellish on lies. One of them was to protect his friends.

Shea had always dreamed of the white compound. She knew early on that was where she belonged. Nix wasn't as sure until he had fell for Shea and then it was obvious. They both dreamed of creating a life for themselves in the white compound. Gage thought whatever did lie there could wait until they were there to reveal itself. he didn't need to terrorize them with his perceptions. Maybe white really was a good place and the man escaping was crazy. But if black was evil and white was evil. It was for good reasons Gage had little faith in anyone.

"Hurry up Gage!" Nix was ahead of him and urging him forward like a happy puppy leading his master home. "Shea is making dinner!"

Shea was a terrible cook but Gage couldn't tell her this because it may have had less to do with her skills and more to do with his tastes which were better suited for the Silver luxuries even if his mind wasn't.