History Literature / SantaOlivia

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The story begins in Santa Olivia, a small town on the border of Texas and Mexico, sometime in the not-too-distant future. An epidemic hits the world, and Mexico worse than most. A general, Santa Anna, called ''El Segundo'' by most, starts causing ruckus in order to get aid from the United States. Things get out of hand, some explosions are had, and when the dust has cleared, a barrier zone is created to keep Mexico out. Santa Olivia, along with a couple other towns here and there, happens to fall in the barrier zone, and so the inhabitants are given a choice. They can either stay, and forfeit their citizenship, or figure out some way to move themselves into the States. Most, being too poor to move, or too rooted in the town, decide to stay. An outpost is built next to the town, and in exchange for supplies and necessities, the town folk provide menial labor, restaurants, bars, and human interaction for the soldiers. One of these particular interactions is boxing. See, the local general doesn't like many things, but he happens to absolutely ''love'' boxing, and brings in various champions for the townsfolk to compete against. He even made a standing offer: any townsfolk who actually won a match would be granted passage out of the outpost and into the States, along with one other person of their choosing.

The child, named Loup, turns out to be different like Martin is. Which is a problem, because the government would love to get their hands on her, and she's not terribly good at hiding.

* DisappearedDad: Tommy's father was killed by one of the bombs supposedly set by El Segundo while he was a baby.

* ParentalAbandonment: Loup's father had to flee and hide out in Mexico prior to her birth, being a GMO, and died due to their shorter lifespan, thus she didn't meet him. Her mother Carmen dies later in her childhood.

* BuxomIsBetter: Pilar is mentioned more than once as having a large bust, which gets her lots of attention and she generally enjoys flaunting it (though not always, as her pervy uncle was also attracted by this).

* TheCasanova: Christophe, Loup's cousin (vaguely) and guide in Mexico during ''Saints Astray''. He is a shameless flirt, and cheerfully admits to playing the field, even though [[UncannyValley the field is limited.]]

* JustFriends: Loup pairs up with Mack for a brief time, while Pilar is ignoring her. She even has sex for the first time with him. They can't overcome the UncannyValley however, and separate remaining friends.

* OneTrueLove: Its mentioned that when [=GMOs=] do find mates, it's usually for life. Unfortunately for them, [[UncannyValley their strange intensity and physical feel]] keeps most away, and only a very rare few people have an [[AmazonChaser opposite reaction]].

* UnskilledButStrong: Ron Johnson, a soldier [[spoiler: and [=GMO=] ]] who has some boxing training, but relies on pure strength to win. [[spoiler: Loup doesn't have his massive build, but [[WeakButSkilled trains hard daily and absorbs every boxing technique Floyd can give her.]] It's enough. Loup calls him on this later, and he admits it was a mistake.]]

* InconvenientAttraction: Pilar treats Loup as this - she has plans to marry into the Salamancas, and their instant instinctual chemistry frustrates her, even as she finds excuses to take it a little further. [[spoiler: UpToEleven once Tommy dies and Loup starts boxing training, as she really doesn't want to risk her heart on a martyr.]]

* SkunkStripe: Pilar is mentioned to have a natural streak of blonde in her otherwise brunette hair.

* MixedAncestry: Loup has a Latina mother and Black father (who was also a [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke GMO]]). Her older half-brother had a White father.

* DisappearedDad:
** Tommy's father was killed by one of the bombs supposedly set by El Segundo while he was a baby.
** Loup's father Martin had to leave before she was born as he'd been a fugitive. Unfortunately, he dies before she can meet him.

* DisappearedDad: Tommy's father was killed by one of the bombs supposedly set by El Segundo while he was a baby.

* DisappearedDad: Tommy's father was killed by one of the bombs supposedly set by El Segundo while he was a baby. Loup's father had to flee and hide out in Mexico prior to her birth, being a GMO, and died due to their shorter lifespan, thus she didn't meet him.

* MissingMom: Loup's mother dies in her childhood.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Miguel Garza, believe it or not.

* SuperStrength: Loup is also two or three times stronger than the average human.

* ArtMajorBiology: Martin says [=GMOs=] (genetically modified organism) like him were created by mixing human and wolf DNA.

* BiTheWay: Loup and Pilar fall for each other. Hard.

* AbusiveParents: All over the place.
** {{Averted}} with Carmen though who, while in a difficult position, loves her children dearly.
* AdultsAreUseless: At least the townsfolk are, due to a complete lack of power when dealing with the military.
** Though one could argue that this might be different if they hadn't had the virus to deal with at the same time.

* ColdBloodedTorture: [[spoiler: Loup is subjected to multiple deprivation techniques while the military holds her captive. At first, its all to get the names of those who helped her play Santa Olivia. Later, during a break where they try to turn Loup with comfort instead, they admit Loup represents a great excuse to just keep torturing her endlessly to find out what would break a fearless [=GMO=].]]

* DecoyProtagonist: The first couple of chapters follow Carmen. The story is quite definitely about Loup.
** Same goes for Tommy, after the focus goes to him.

* OneTrueLove: Its mentioned that when [=GMOs=] do find mates, its usually for life. Unfortunately for them, [[UncannyValley their strange intensity and physical feel]] keeps most away, and only a very rare few people have an [[AmazonChaser opposite reaction]].

A sequel, ''Saints Astray'' was released in fall 2011.