Ninetynine

The next century is still a year away, but 2099 remains. It is a time when the world's population is fully relegated to colonies within tall walls, walls built by the omnipotent Appalachia Company. Life has been so for over 40 years.

2099 begins for Duncan Cuddeyer with a trip to Chicago Colony, the destination for his new job. He's transplanted before, but from the start the air feels different in Chicago. People are louder, harder, more leery, and more desperate than ever. Duncan has seen dissonance in the past, but not at this level. His allegiance has always been to the Appalachia Company, whose home colony is also his home.

Seeing and feeling the heightened tension, Duncan secures a spot to become a Guardian Angel, the 'protectors' of the Appalachia Company and, with his mother a Colonel within the unit, a family tradition. But Meta, a rogue faction from overseas, sets off on destroying everything the all-powerful Appalachia Company has made in the world, and Duncan's plans are sharply thrown to the ground.

What follows is a long and dark chasm of blurry loyalty, mistrust, matricidal thoughts, and the shoddy piecing together of a question that only gets longer through each failed answer. It becomes Duncan's world in which to live and die. In 2099, every lie has a reason, but every truth has a shadow.