Joshua sat on his bed softly strumming a guitar. Down the hall he heard someone laughing loudly. He sighed and put the guitar down. He walked to the door and pressed the button for it to open.
The door made a soft whooshing sound as it opened. Joshua left the room and walked down the hall toward the laughter. He quickly found the source. A short, dark haired man was mercilessly tickling a tall, blond boy. The boy was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes. When Joshua entered the room both young men paused and looked at him, then resumed as if they had no interruption.
“You know, you guys are making enough noise I can hear you down at my room. You keep it up and we’ll be locked in for sure.” Joshua picked up a book that was lying on the bed. He sat down and read the synopsis on the back cover.
“Why must you bring your negativity to our playpen Josh?” The dark haired man stopped tickling the boy. “Get off the floor Justin, daddy said that we can’t play anymore.”
“Well, I for one, don’t want to be locked in my room Christopher. If that means I spoil you and Jup’s fun, then so be it. You don’t have to be a prick.” Josh put the book down on the bed and stood. “You guys wanna go get dinner with me?”
“Sure, just let me get my shoes on.” Justin hurriedly put his shoes on. He didn’t want the two older men to leave without him. He was already in an area that was above his age bracket.
The trio walked through the corridors, occasionally calling out a greeting to someone. They came to a sliding door and each scanned the barcode that was permanently tatooed to his wrist. The machine beeped three times, once for each boy, and just like that the heavy glass doors slid open. The three walked in and looked around. If they didn’t attract too much attention, Justin could stay with the older two, otherwise he would be sent over to the 16 -19 section. Josh and Chris belonged to the 20 - 29 age group, Josh being 22 and Chris being 24. Justin was only 16. It was his first year as a breeder.
Josh gently nudged him and began moving toward the long stainless steel counter. The man behind it looked like he would much rather be somewhere else. It was a thought echoed by every man in the room.
The three boys got their food and nonchalantly edged toward an empty table. They claimed it as their own and Justin immediately sat down and began eating, his head down. The other two copied him. The trio ate quickly, wanting to get out of the dining area as soon as possible.
When they finished, they rose and took their trays to the conveyor belt. Chris and Justin sat their trays down and started walking away. Sensing his friends’ movement, Josh quickly sat his down and rushed to catch up. They walked down the same corridor as before, just going the opposite direction. They passed by Chris’ room and went into Joshua’s.
Josh sat down on his bed and picked the guitar back up. He began strumming it thoughtfully. Chris lay down across the bed with his feet hanging off the edge. Not being able to just lay around idle, Chris started making up silly lyrics to the tune Josh was playing. Justin lay down on the throw rug on the floor. He grabbed a notebook and pen he found in the floor, flipped to a blank page and began to doodle.
“So tomorrow’s Friday.” Josh shook his head sadly. “I really don’t Friday to get here.” He put the guitar down and lay back beside Chris.
“Hey now Josh, don’t get depressed. Let’s get our game on. It’s Thursday so that means it’s, drum roll please, Scrabble night!” Chris whipped the Scrabble game out from under Josh’s bed, just barely missing Josh’s head. Josh glared.
Justin stood up and the other two made room for him on the bed. They got the game set up andthey began to play, just like every other Thursday. Around 9:30, Justin ran to the dining room and got them all pudding cups, just like every Thursday. Around 11:00 pm, Chris and Justin bid Josh good night and went back to their respective rooms, just like every night. And at 12:00 am, the heavy glass doors slid shut, the locking mechanism hissing loudly, and the lights dimmed automatically, just like every other night of Josh’s life.
With his room dark, Josh put down the book that he had picked up when the others left. He sighed heavily and crawled into his bed, pulling the covers up around his neck. Humming so it wouldn’t be so quiet, Josh wondered what it was like Before. He wasn’t stupid, he read books. He knew that at one time, men did roam free, just like women. What he didn’t know, was why men were now locked in breeding facilities. Women checked them out just like library books. Every Friday women from all over would come to the facility and look them over like cattle. Deciding which lucky man would accompany them home for the night, weekend or week.
He hated Fridays. He didn’t want to have to take care of a baby. Chris was 24 and had already had two children. Unfortunately they were both female, so they were taken from him just as soon as the doctors pulled them out of his womb. Josh couldn’t imagine what that would even feel like, a child growing inside him for 9 months, then someone, some stranger, taking the child away from him. He assumed that it would be horrible. He supposed that he was just lucky, having no children yet. When he did, he thought that he would like to keep them, whether or not they were male or female.
He remembered reading a book a long time ago about, well he wasn’t sure what it was about. He did remember, though, that in the book it was the women who had the children. The men planted their seed in the woman, through the sex act of course, and then 9 months later, the woman had the baby. Not now, it was all the man. The man and woman did the sex act and the woman fertilized the man. Nine months later a baby was born.
Joshua sighed and rolled toward the wall. What he wouldn’t give to have a window in his room. That like so many other things, was forbidden. The facility was actually underground so a window actually would have done him no good whatsoever. He sighed again and willed himself to go to sleep. He knew from experience that the next day was going to be long. He would probably be chosen quickly, he generally was. He was a handsome man, bordering on pretty with his delicate features. His large, aristocratic nose kept his face from being completely feminine. He dark hair fell in curls. Messy curls, but curls nonetheless. The most striking thing about Joshua was his eyes. They were an odd silver blue color. Women loved his eyes.
Josh sighed again and glanced over his shoulder at the alarm clock. It was 1:23 in the morning and he had to get up early. Women would be there to look at him at 8:00 am and he had to be ready. They would want the sex act. Oh, how Josh hated the sex act.
