AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What do we have to do to earn these?” Trevor asked.
“You’ve provided enough entertainment value for today.”
“You find us amusing?” I said.
“In your kingdom, all humans are only worth as much as the blood in their veins. It allows for no individuality. The truth is, not all humans are the same. Some are kin. Some are friends, some food, some foe. We don’t discriminate, until they prove themselves on their own merits, and discover their true value. Entertainment is our real currency, and the strip is a meritocracy. People learn a skill or a trade. We value creativity, novelty. We pay well for it.”
“But that’s unfair,” he continued, leading us towards the exit, the shadows on his pale face distorted by the flourescent bulbs above, “because life distributes skill and talent unequally, so we add an element of chance. Games of luck. Very risky, few winners, mostly losers. Sometimes, the losers compete. Pooling all their resources, for the chance to become an immortal, one of the teeth. A last hurrah. Some spend years training for their chance, preferring an inglorious, quick death in the arena, rather than a slow and painful deterioration, as their mortality slips away quietly.”
“That’s barbaric,” I said.
“Is it? Life and death is natural. I’m sure you know, nature can be cruel. Those slagpaw that attacked your friend, blinded and enraged. Not through vengeance or hatred. She was nothing to them. They hunted her for their own biological imperatives, driven by conditions and factors they can no longer remember. You can’t blame them for being what they are.”
“In contrast, King Richard’s system was meant to be fair. All things equal, as far as possible. But all that means is, nobody ever really gets what they want. It’s a compromise without winners; because for someone to win, someone else has to lose. The only way to do that fairly is to gamble, leaving it up to chance.”
“And that’s what you do here? Gamble with people’s lives?”
“Mostly. But I’ll let someone else give you the tour, or feel free to explore on your own. In the meantime, think about what you have to trade. As I said earlier, there are plenty of ways to earn a living here. Some slow and safe. Some fast and dangerous. But as a warning, don’t steal, or take what isn’t yours. Let chance and fortune steer your fate. But remember, long term, the house always wins.”
We passed through three sets of sliding automatic doors, the glass dark, before stepping out into a morning sun so blinding I had to shield my eyes. My headache renewed with a vengeance, and the disorientation spread through my body like a tremor.
“That guy talks a lot, and says almost nothing,” Trevor grumbled, shielding his eyes against the light.
I looked around for Gemma, but apparently we were to be left unchaperoned from now on. I felt a rising anxiety, peering down the now-empty strip, which looked so different from the night before. A handful of workers were sweeping up the sidewalks, hosing down stretches of asphalt, or collecting garbage from the public bins and carrying it away in trucks. But the buildings were closed and chained shut, the lights off, the music silent. The daylight allowed us to see the cracks and decay, especially of the buildings in the distance, which were practically falling over. If I hadn’t known any better, I might have thought this was just another ancient ruin.
Without all the people, I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to find our way back to our lodgings, so I let Trevor take the lead. Luckily our building wasn’t actually that far away, now that the streets were clear.
What had we learned from Augustine? Not much. But we appeared to be safe, for the moment, and maybe that was enough. The fridge had been restocked in our absence and the bed was made with fresh linens. Someone had even left us little chocolates on the pillows.
I removed the foil and let the bittersweetness linger on my tongue, then grabbed a plastic bottle of water and gulped down half of it. We ate the rest of our food, and took a nap until evening. This time, sleep came easily. A heavy stupor filled my whole body, until it felt like I was sinking through the mattress. Whatever dreams I had, faded as I awakened later into the dimness of evening.
No one met us downstairs this time, but we waited a few minutes by the entrance anyway, just observing the activity. The city transformed at night, with a thousand glittering lights, grungy electronic music and noise bursting from every building, the streets packed with pedestrians.
There were a handful of cars and bikes, but they seemed to cruise by slowly in loops. Small three-wheeled vehicles drove passengers down from one end of the strip to the other, but it seemed foolish to waste fuel on such a trivial task. We made it to one end of the glowing settlement in less than twenty minutes, stopping at food booths for little parcels of fried meat and vegetables, wrapped in dough and bottles of fizzy drinks. Trevor discovered a green bottle containing chilled beer, and bought three of them to take away with him.
At some point, we found Luke, and then Trevor excused himself to turn in early. Something was going on with him; it had been awkward since I tried to kiss him in our hotel room. I wondered if he was passing me off to Luke, because he didn’t want me to be out here alone, but preferred to be alone himself. I knew he’d probably just sit on a curb somewhere, listening to music and finishing his beers so he could pass out later, and I didn’t judge him for it. We all had to handle our grief in our own way.
After having slept well, I was actually eager to check out more of the town. I felt like Augustine had given me a test or challenge of some kind, but I didn’t understand what I was supposed to do. I imagined it would be like negotiating with the compounds; offering something of value in exchange for favors. But it was clear our elite host wouldn’t be satisfied with promises, and we had nothing to give after being rescued from Denvato.
Luke’s face was lit up from one side with neon pink and blue lights, that made his dark eyes glow almost like one of the elites. I realized we hadn’t spent much time alone together, even though he’d been one of my most constant companions since escaping from the citadel.
The dark stubble on his chin nearly hid the bruise on his cheek. I thought it was from the battle at first, but it looked too fresh. Maybe making him roommates with Camina hadn’t been the best idea. He saw me staring and looked away, touching the side of his face reflexively.
“She’s still going through the worst of it,” he said. “After the first time she lashed out, I’ve been trying to give her space.”
“Have you ever seen anything like this?” I asked, changing the subject to something less charged.
“Not like this,” he said. “Though when the havocs talked about the future, or about how life used to be like—with people walking around in the open, unafraid—I always pictured something like this. It’s almost like the blood wars, the ash, like none of it ever happened.”
“But it’s also sort of like one of the compounds,” I said. “I mean, there are elite here too. Not hiding away in their walled city. Living amongst them. Maybe that’s why they can make all this noise without fear of the mutids.”
It was hard to keep track of time with the various venues fighting for my attention; it was a maze of recreational opportunities—from casinos to dance halls to fancy stage plays with singing and dancing. Each new door or curtain revealed an intricacy of experience that went beyond all my knowledge and expectation. It felt surreal, like a place out of time.
Luke was better with the money; after seeing him barter and get change I realized Trevor and I had probably overpaid for everything the night before. We traded some of our chips for shiny tokens to put into the machines, pulling a lever until the symbols matched up, hoping to recoup our losses.
I sat next to an old woman with pink glasses, curly gray hair, a salted margarita, a bucket of silver tokens, and an ashtray. Putting in one coin after the other, until her bucket was nearly empty—then she’d hit a winner and the machine gave her nearly, but not all, of her money back.
Dealers were playing card games in front of a stage with a singer and a small band. Not far was a private buffet for high-rollers. At first I’d thought Augustine had given us too much, but I was surprised how quickly our stash of coins dwindled.
