The Future Was Now

Book excerpt: In a future world ravaged by ecological devastation, a remnant of humanity survives--safe and with every need met--under the watchful, calculating eye of the State. Gabriel is the best Contract Enforcer the State has ever created, trained from childhood to efficiently identify and eliminate threats to society's vital balance and ensure every citizen adheres to their Social Contract. Asa has spent his life in one of the State's carefully planned farming communities, but he yearns for something more. The day after his twenty-first birthday, he sets out for the metropolis of Horizon--but compliance with his Social Contract turns out to be more complicated than he could have imagined. He soon meets the girl of his dreams, Eve, an outsider in Horizon who has learned to survive for years using her guile and beauty. When an unexpected tragedy forces Asa and Eve to go on the run, Gabriel is determined to track them down and deliver the State's justice. Their joined paths will take them into the Waste, farther away from the State's seemingly omnipresent gaze than any of them have ever been. The truths they uncover will force them to reexamine everything they know.