Happy Deathday

The Problem...the Earth's ozone layer is set to be destroyed by a gamma ray explosion from a distant star. In one mighty blast, the Earth will be engulfed by the relentless searing heat of the Sun.

The Solution...build a vast underground structure, a breeding colony, to save the Human Race from extinction to accommodate 6,570 young men and women...the Chosen.

The Hope...that one day the Chosen will rise up, from the depths, to the surface and set about re-populating the Earth. But not today...never today.

Jonathan and Sarah have had their eighteen years in the Colony and their Deathdays are fast approaching. One is born every day; one dies every day. That is the way of the Colony. Like Jonathan, Sarah has successfully completed her breeding programme, a soulless clinical procedure and is ready to re-join the Colony and prepare for her Deathday - a time of celebration when, the contribution each colonist has made to its mission, is fulfilled. It's a moment of glory, a moment of recognition, a moment of...sacrifice. It's all they have. This is your destiny. That's what they've always been told.

But when Jonathan, a model colonist, loses a week's supply of his Supplement...the Supplement he believes contains only vitamins and minerals, he starts to realise that he's been dead for years...walking the corridors of the City in a drug-induced haze of compliance. Without its influence, Jonathan begins to experience all the signs of puberty. He starts noticing things that he's never noticed before, in particular Sarah. With his body no longer under his control, Jonathan struggles with his attraction to her and his growing sexual awareness.

He also notices Zack, a Security Response Unit officer and two things become apparent. One... that Zack, and an ever-increasing number of SRU officers, are becoming a threat to the Colony. And two...Zack has designs on Sarah. Fuelled by love, jealousy and the hormones his body's been denied for years, Jonathan takes him on. But his biggest enemy is not Zack, it's time itself. And time is running out...fast.

SOMETIMES YOUR DESTINY IS NOT ENOUGH

'Logan's Run meets Lord of the Flies' in this dystopian debut told from a compelling dual perspective. The story continues in Resurrection (Happy Deathday 2)