When I was 16, I left the confinement of the small mountain town of Branvier, and headed to the outlands. But before I can tell what happened after, there must be a before.
Branvier is surrounded by supposedly impassable mountains. It is a domed structure with the sun always shining, even though outside it’s winter year-round. To the back of the dome is the air-filter, which keeps our air clean. I still have no idea where our food comes from. A large government building where they checked for mutations sits in the directs center of our society. Things like wings or gills were out of ordinary. The government threw them out hoping they would die. We all believed they did and we were all afraid that our own children would have defects of their own. On a normal day, we have a routinely check for mutations, other than that we are free to do as we see fit, except leave the “safety” of the dome. At 16, everyone is assigned a partner, mine a sickly white boy with greasy black hair. I hated him.
The rest of the world has been demolished by war fare. Winter had taken residence and some people were hardly identifiable because of their mutations.
So I left, and no one tried to stop me. The cold was what shocked me the most, like it was trying to suffocate me. I ran fast, hard, and far. Until I couldn’t catch my breath any longer. That’s where they found me, the mutants, the survivors of the Nuclear Fallout.  One with extravagant wings and two with gills, though there is no water nearby. The leader, the one with wings, was called Blank, and the other two simply just called the Twins.
Then, the Branvier officials came to find me. They said that I was essential for the survival of the city and that I needed to return. Only one official of the eight that ran the city came. The other seven were waiting for me when I was to be taken back to the city, but that never happened. According to them I had broken one of their ten rules.
These rules, along with our government, a type of monarchy with officials instead of a king or queen, contributed to my hatred of this place. The rules were simple:
Don’t break curfew
Don’t miss an examination
Don’t try to hide your mutation
Do not speak of the outside
Do not leave the city
No contact with people of the opposite gender(before 16 years of age)
No contact with the outside
No relations with those besides your partner(after 16 years of age)
No art, music, literature, or other recreational items without permission from the official in charge of recreation
Only eight officials at a time
I had broken almost all of them. I’d broken curfew a couple times but I didn’t think anyone had noticed. I missed an examination, the day of my birthday. I hid my mutation, I had wings that were starting to grow under my shoulder blades, hence why I skipped examinations. My friends and I spoke of the outside all the time. I left the city. One of my best friends had been a boy, even before age 16. I had snuck out near the air filters when I was twelve. I hid books in my bedroom behind the painting. 
All of these rules are meant to ensure compliance. They only cause dis-ease to me. One day there might be an end to the grandeur of Branvier, but today is not that day. A day shall come where I will be free. A day shall come where all mutations are considered human. I eagerly await that glorious day. Until then, I wait, I hide just as the rest of them do. The Survivors of the Nuclear Fallout and I fell asleep on the run. The flashing lights passed right over us as did the officials themselves.
In the morning we set off without eating, something I had never done before, but  I decided that it would be a good idea to keep my mouth shut. We trekked along the mountains at the outer edge of the dome, we could see into the dome but they couldn’t see us.
“Where are we going?” I said breathlessly.
“We have a camp. A two days walk from here. Keep your head up and you’ll breathe better,” Blank said. I was starting to see where he’d gotten that name. His facial expressions never changed. He always had a straight face with stone cold blue-grey eyes. His wings stuck out from his shoulders just as mine were starting to. They were black with streaks of bright blue running from tip to tip. He kept them close to his back. He had yet to open them to their full length. Last night he dried them in the firelight after falling in the snow.
“How many of you are there?” I asked one of the gilled Twins. It was impossible to tell them apart, they looked exactly the same, and sounded alike.
“Not to many, they throw us out here to die, and most of us do. Blank found us only a few days after we were thrown out. At camp about 550 of us reside. But a lot of them come and go. Blank is in charge and he provides us with food and fresh water. He takes the night watch every night. I’ve never seen him sleep,” one of the twins responded. Blank tensed when his name was spoken. He whirled around and looked at me.
“Why were you thrown?” He said.
I began to shake. For years I had hid my mutation and now someone was actually asking me to show them. “I wasn’t thrown. I ran away.”
His face didn’t change but the Twins both gasped and hid their mouths behind their hands.
“That’s impossible. The only way out is through the chute,” Blank said in his stone cold voice.
I didn’t want to argue with him so I stayed silent. Blank kept walking and we followed.
Night was falling. The stars shone brightly like diamonds in the sky. We never saw anything like this in the dome. We only saw the fake stars, the ones that never moved.
Blank plopped down and rested his arms behind his head. I sat down away from them. One twin started to make a fire and the other was pulling things to eat out of a bag.
“I’m going to go scout around. You two know what to do. Don’t let it get away,” Blank said. He stood up and extended his wings. They were fourteen feet of black like the night with blue like the sky, the fake sky. The sky that was an aquamarine color. The dome sky. They were beautiful and I couldn’t help but stare at them. He took a running start and flapped his wings then took off. I wasn’t even mad that he’d called me an “it”. I’d finally seen him fly.
“Are you hungry?” Food Twin asked. I looked at him and saw that he had a bag of mixed something I’d never seen before.
“Sure,” I said.
“Come get it,” the Twin said. He set the bag on the ground and continued to rummage around in his bag. He had his head covered.
I reached over to take a handful of whatever was in the back and was tackled by the Fire Twin. He had come flying out of nowhere. He pinned me to the ground.
“Hey! What are you doing?” I shrieked. His hand covered my mouth.
“If you want to survive, then I suggest you shut your mouth, before I shut it permanently,” he said.
The other twin was at the fire but I couldn’t see what he was doing. Then I felt a burning sensation in my back. I bit my lip to keep from screaming and drew blood.
“Alright boys that’s enough,” A voice said. Blank was back. “Let her up.”
The pressure released as the twins obeyed his order. The burning was gone, but the stinging that was left behind did not.
“You had a tracker on you. That’s how you were able to get out. That’s how they were going to kill us. I knew I couldn’t trust you. You were sent here to kill us,” his voice didn't change and nor did his facial expression. I was starting to believe that he was incapable of emotion.
“Get out of here. You don’t belong with us. You never should have come,” Blank said.
One of the twins placed something shiny in his hand. It glistened in the firelight. He weighed whatever it was and then pointed it at me. It was a gun. I’d only ever seen one of them before, it was what they used to kill my father.
“Get out of here and you will live. Stay and you will die. The choice is yours,” he continued.
I looked behind my back and saw my wings. They looked blood red in the light provided. I stretched them out and suppressed a wince. “I’m one of you.”
Blank didn’t lower the gun. He kept it aimed straight and steady at my heart.
“You said you ran away, not kicked out,” Blank reminded me.
“Yes. I did run away. I hid my mutation. It was very difficult but I did it,” I said with a surprisingly calm voice.
Blank finally lowered the gun and tossed it back to one of the twins. He stored it safely in their bag. He walked over to me and looked at my wings. I stiffened under his gaze.
“You’re the only one who has been like me. Have you ever used them?” He asked.
“No, I don’t know how,” I admitted hanging my head.
“You’ll have to figure it out on your own. No one was there to help me,” he said and walked back towards the fire.
I stayed where I was slowly putting my wings back against my spine. They hurt like crazy but I couldn’t let them see that. I’d showed to many weakness as it was.
“Tomorrow we will reach camp. Be ready.” Blank said as he bit into something juicy. It ran down his chin and to the collar of his shirt. “Tomorrow you learn.”