Counteract: A YA Dystopian Thriller

     The United States had slumped into a prolonged recession during the first three decades of the twenty-first century, and different terrorist groups took advantage of the nation’s preoccupation with its economic woes, relentlessly attacking stadiums, shopping malls, airports, and high-rise office buildings. In desperation, the president ordered the creation of the Office of Civilian Safety and Defense in 2019. The OCSD immediately implemented a quadrant marshal system to increase security, and the nation was re-platted into a grid of two-square mile quadrants, with marshals assigned to do everything possible to safeguard homes and citizens from small, localized attacks. Often this included monitoring the activities of the people they were there to protect. But it was a small price to pay for everyone’s safety.