Authors: Cameron Jace
The crowd is going wilder and wilder.
“When we first invented the iAm, no one understood its purpose,” Xitler says. “The world wondered and questioned our sanity. They questioned how we could possibly benefit from tracking every teenager’s behavior, everyday life, health, food, thoughts, and mood swings.” Xitler makes a grumpy face, stressing on the ‘mood swings’ phrase. Everyone knows that teens’ mood swings are the worst. “It seemed like an irrational idea; a waste of energy and money in a nation that rose up from the ashes after the Great Disease.”
No one knows why it’s called the Great Disease. It’s just another word for the apocalypse.
“I am proud to announce,” says Prophet Xitler, “that the percentage of Monsters—”
Suddenly, the crowd starts protesting in a low and scary tone. “Boooooo!”
I am surprised Ariadna and Timmy are booing as well. I wonder how Eva feels about this.
Prophet Xitler gestures for the crowd to calm down. “The percentage of Monsters this year is estimated to be only ten percent of our teens. The first year we started the Ranking system, the Monsters were about sixty-five percent.” He pauses as his eyes scan us slowly. “We plan to have no Monsters in Faya in the coming years. Then we shall teach the world that they can have no Monsters too; that we can live in a world of peace without rebels or terrorists.” Again, the crowd applauds. “Imagine a society without Monsters!” Prophet Xitler’s voice tunes into a higher pitch.
“Yeah!” The crowd is in tune with him.
“Many years from now, the Burning Man nation will be…” Prophet Xitler takes his time to finish the sentence as if he is confident of hitting the jackpot. I see him reach for a glass of water, take a sip from it, then wipe his mouth.
Don’t burp, please!
“— a nation of only Eights and Nines.”
This drives everyone crazy.
Ariadna is jumping. Timmy is too, and I start jumping with a fake smile on my face. Sadly, the Utopian idea itself will drive the nation to hate Monsters more, and give them better excuses and motivation to kill them.
Again, what have I done? What will happen to my family when I become a Monster?
Sorry, Mom. Sorry, Dad. I have to do this. I have no choice. Besides, I vaguely remember you both wanted to kill me when I was seven. I owe Woo more than I owe you.
Faustina isn’t quite so enthusiastic about Prophet Xitler’s statement. Where, and what, will she be in a world full of Nines?
Suddenly, our iAms beep. It’s time to step in for the ranking.
Chapter 3
Grand
School
We step into a long hallway in Grand School. The sun is shining through a skylight above and the full-length windows on the right. A cafeteria is visible at the end of the hall. Black metal doors, leading to the interviewing rooms, are on the left. Ten doors.
Twenty-four thousand sixteen-year-olds will be ranked today.
A small flying object that looks like a single human eye with a trailing optic nerve floats in the air above us. Those are the latest surveillance cameras, invented by the Summit. They are actual human eyes of dead Monsters from previous games, regenerated and turned into biotech cameras. Monster organs are used in scientific experimentation – if the organ still functions after their death. Each surveillance eye is called an iSee.
I am not disturbed by the iSees. Sometimes I see them in the grocery store or the parks in Eve. We treat them like flies — you can wave them away, and the iSees will leave but they’ll usually come back later.
Other than broadcasting and spying, the iSees do check barcodes and fingerprints, and can identify your iAm. They can do a biometric identity check on your eyes if necessary, which is taking a picture of your retinas to confirm your identity.
Ariadna jumps and screams when we see ourselves on the iScreen. They call us the city of Eve candidates. We cheer louder and louder for our school.
Another teacher comes out of one of the rooms and explains that we will be ranked ten students at a time. The ranking is done in a weird way. Each student opens one of the ten doors and enters a cylindrical room where he connects his iAm to a plug in the wall. Within seconds, you are notified of you rank. If you get ranked, the door opens again, allowing you to go back out and brag to your friends about your rank while another student enters after you.
If the iAm ranks you as a Monster, the door behind you doesn’t open and the cylindrical room acts as an elevator sending you down to the Playa to die.
The teacher calls the first ten names. Faustina and Eva are on the list.
Eva nods at me before she grabs for the door handle
.
She looks happy, having had fun at
the ceremony. I nod back, trying hard not to utter a word. This is my last chance to expose myself. Once she enters, I am as good as dead.
I smile back at her. She thinks I am pitiful. She has no idea that her life is going to change for the better. As for me, as scared as I am, I am determined to enter the show and find Woo.
Sam decides to go to the cafeteria. Ariadna follows him. Timmy throws me a suspicious look. Poor Timmy thinks Sam is flirting with Ariadna. Ariadna and Sam, behind Faustina’s back? What a joke.
I continue watching the events on the screen, with my back to the students.
Suddenly, everything goes quiet in the hallway as if the world behind me has disappeared. Everyone stops talking. Silence floods my surroundings.
I look behind me and see why everyone’s so silent. It’s Leo. He is walking amongst
the students again.
A Boy Named Leo
Since Woo’s death I’ve never felt as curious about someone as I am about Leo.
His lips seem relaxed now, and slightly parted. The tension in his face is gone. His hands are cuffed behind his back, but his legs are free.
Everyone is looking at him. It seems like
no one in the hallway can breathe. We watch him push one of those iSees away.
One of the boys stops him, trying to pick a fight. Leo ignores him and keeps on walking.
Somehow, I take a couple of steps forward and stand in his way. What has gotten into me? I stare at him with my chin held up high. He stops in front of me…
All I see is his face. Everything in the world around him is just gone. I feel as if there is a magnet pulling me from my chest toward him. I only see his eyes now, as if we’re both connected through some kind of an invisible tube filled with golden light, the color of the tint in his eyes. I feel dizzy. My eyes shift from his eyes to his lips, and back again. It’s too tense in here. Too hot. I feel like I need to break free from a spell.
“Are you Decca?” Leo asks in
a musical voice. Although he sounds like he wants to punch me, his voice has a certain texture; like fine wool. It has soul, as if sandpaper could sing. It’s just the kind of fine voice that makes you want to brush your cheeks against it. What’s happening to me?
“How”— I clear my throat — “do you know my name?” My voice is so low it might be only in my head.
“Don’t do this.” He says without flinching. For all his beauty he is just so rigid, as if he’s in pain but trying not to show it.
“Do what?” I grin back at him. I hate beautiful boys. They are mostly dumb, but my body betrays me and I find myself leaning forward again.
“Don’t enter the games,” He lets the words pass painfully from between his pressed teeth. “It’s a dumb thing to do.” His eyes move sideways as if he doesn’t want anyone to hear him.
My mouth is hanging open but I am speechless. How does he know? Words refuse to come out.
I feel as if I am in a dream, and someone is calling to me from the waking world. I start surfacing to the real world, reminding myself that other teens exist here with us. We’re not alone and I am not supposed to feel attracted to him like that.
Someone is calling for Leo. It’s the soldiers. He is not pleased, as if he doesn’t want the soldiers seeing him talking to a normal girl from Eve, the same way most Nines do when they talk to me. That look that says that I am a Seven and they are Nines. I could be one of their fans and they could play superstars, but we couldn’t really be friends — except Ariadna. Why is this happening? How does he know my name? How does he know about me switching the iAms? Why doesn’t he want the soldiers to see me with him?
“Stay away from me.” Leo grits his teeth. I have to tiptoe to look him in the eyes.
Suddenly you don’t want to have anything to do with me? Boys will be boys.
He feels like a monster to me
.
Ariadna says that all boys, sooner or later, turn into monsters.
I am shocked and confused. The blood returns to my once-numb hands. It’s like waking up from a beautiful dream with a twist, or even worse, a bad ending.
One of the soldiers storms in from behind Leo, and presses a button on
a remote control in his hand. Leo snaps, and something happens to his mouth again. His lips are sealed again. His cheeks are tense. He is angry but can’t do anything about it. His eyes are still fixed on mine.
The soldiers drag him back. His hair falls over his eyes again. I think he does it on purpose. He does not want to communicate or be seen.
Ariadna and Sam run back toward me. Leo is out of sight.
“What happened to you?” Ariadna holds my hands. “You look like you’ve been struck by lightning.”
“Of all the girls,” wonders Sam, “Leo is talking to you?” He checks me out all over with his cold eyes.
“Believe me,” I say. “It wasn’t flattering.”
The doors open again. Faustina comes out and says it as loud as she can. “I am a Nine!”
“No shit. I am so happy for you I am going to
explode
,” murmurs Timmy. “In fact, I am Timmy’s so-surprised lack of excitement.”
Faustina comes running toward Sam. Kiss-kiss moment. Sam is a living statue.
There are also five Fives, one Six, one Seven. One Monster. Eva comes out screaming that she is an Eight.
I was going to be an Eight!
Everyone in the hall looks at her suspiciously.
“What?” Faustina wonders. “An Eight? I am surprised she came out of the room in the first place. What’s wrong with this stupid iAm?” She claps her device against her palm as if it will answer her.
They announce the second round, calling my name.
While Eva comes running at me, wanting to hug me, I ignore her and enter the ranking room. I did it on purpose. I hope she will forgive me. Even though I am glad for her, congratulating her would be like killing myself twice.
Inside the room, there is a digital screen in front of me.
“Pick up your iAm and plug it in the wall, please,” a pre-recorded woman’s voice requests.
I do as she says, and plug my iAm with Eva’s data into the slot in the wall.
It only takes seconds before the pre-recorded voice talks back to me.
“Congratulations,” it says. “You’re a Monster.”
Congratulations?
Some sarcastic machine.
“You’ll attend the Monster Show and die in the name of the Burning Man,” the machine follows up. “We appreciate your cooperation and wish you a good death. Have a nice day… to die.”