SWAB (A Young Adult Dystopian Novel) (15 page)

Derrick held the door open and slipped in behind me. “Careful about how you talk,” he said in a low growl. “I heard you and Nathan back there, and I wouldn’t be surprised if half the colony did as well.”

My cheeks flushed.
And I was trying so hard to focus.
“I’m sure the colony won’t take well to a mutinous new recruit,” he continued. “They are all about ‘devotion to the queen.’” He pointed to a large mural painted on one side of the vast room we had entered. It was of a grand woman. She had short, curly, brown hair that was slightly graying at the roots, sharp green eyes, and thin lips with five white spikes sticking out of her cheeks. The painting commanded respect. I did a double take on her eyes. They had only two irises.
Emerald.
Out of the several dozen scarb I had seen so far, none of them had fewer than three.
Except for me.

But then my thoughts were distracted by the bustle of the room. Scarb went in and out chaotically. Five doors arranged in a semi-circle opened up into the room, with five corresponding walkways leading down to the main floor where goods were loaded and unloaded onto massive shelves filled with crates and boxes of all shapes and sizes. It was like being in a massive warehouse.

“Excuse me,” a gruff voice said behind me. I turned just before being barreled into by a large black scarb carrying a box five times his size on his shoulders. It was labeled “Leaves” in hasty writing.

The black scarb stomped down the walkway and disappeared behind the first row of shelves. Ten more like him moved up and down with boxes.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Derrick said.

“Yeah.”

“They want me to work here,” he said, softer.

“Really?” I looked over to him. “Why?”

He flexed his biceps. “All those years of hauling hay, I guess.” I laughed, and he did, too. “These are the workers,” he explained. “They’re in charge of bringing shipments in and taking them out.”

I watched three scarb pull a large flatbed trailer full of crates and barrels up the steep walkway.

“Where do they take them?” I asked.

“Other colonies,” he answered.

That struck me as odd. “Why? Don’t they fight other colonies?”

“Saki told me that they do at times,” Derrick said as we made our way down toward the main floor. “Their treaties are fragile things, but just like human civilizations, the scarb population is too vast to sustain itself without some exportation and importation of goods. Thus, the treaties. One bad shipment, though, and boom, all hell breaks loose.”

“Forced cooperation,” I muttered as a smaller scarb hauled in a box labeled “Cheetos.” Scarb colonies seemed so volatile, I could only imagine a war starting because of stale chips.

Derrick started laughing. “What’s so funny,” I asked him.

“Your war,” he said. “Over Cheetos.”

“You heard that?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied. “You’ve really got to try to conceal your thoughts.”

“I’m
trying,
” I gritted my teeth as we followed our little group past the rows of shelves.

He chuckled. I didn’t find it amusing. “I’ll teach you after we eat.”

We passed about ten more rows of towering shelves, and then the room lost its warehouse feel completely. I felt like we’d just stepped into a five-class restaurant as my boots clicked against the alabaster marble floor. Round, four-person tables with gold and ivory tablecloths filled the dining hall. Scarb sat around the elegant tables eating and talking softly to one another. Several tall waiters with white aprons tied about their waists and napkins draped over their arms walked through the tables, carrying silver platters of food. A solo violinist played his instrument from the far right corner of the room, using two tendrils that protruded from his chin instead of fingers. The tune was melancholy and haunting but seemed to complement the atmosphere. I’d never been in a place so formal or fancy except for one time when my grandmother had taken us out for Italian for my father’s birthday.

“I can’t wait to dig into a hot plate of divish,” Gray said, licking his lips with his purplish tongue.

“Me, too,” Nathan agreed and then turned to me. “It’s this dish they make here, with apricot nectar, hibiscus leaves, and pureed cinnamon bark.”

It sounded totally disgusting to me.

“You’re going to love it,” he added. As we passed the first tables, all the scarb sitting around them stopped eating and talking. One black male even dropped his spoon. The silence spread like frost through the room. Saki slowed our pace, but we kept walking. As I turned from right to left, I noticed that most of the scarb’s eyes were on me.

“What’s going on?” I tried to whisper to Nathan, feeling nervous.
Did I do something wrong?
Why was it I always felt I had a target on my back, even when I’d become one of my enemies? It seemed I was doomed never to fit in anywhere.

“I don’t know,” he said as we headed to the back of the room. “They probably think you’re hot.”

Maybe.
I thought.
Or maybe they want to take my head off.

Saki stopped and asked a female waiter for a larger table to accommodate all of us. She disappeared through two white double doors, swinging her dreadlock braid behind her. The room came back to life, and only a few eyes still shot over at me. Moments later, the waiter returned with two muscular scarbs carrying a long table. She set it with delicately painted china plates, silver spoons and crystal champagne glasses.

“Is this where you always eat?” I asked as I took a seat between Nathan and Derrick, as far away from the stares as I could. I wondered if all this finery was for some kind of special occasion.

“Three times a day.” Nathan grinned and eagerly opened his menu. I did the same, grateful for something to hide behind, and read its contents:

Deviled eggplant with wild mushrooms.

Honey nectar and pecan soup

Fresh rye seed and wheat stalk salad

Rominash and hashed celery

Mango nectar, cranberry, and salted willow leaf

Divish on bamboo stalks

Grilled spinach wraps

There were several items I couldn’t even pronounce, let alone guess what they were like: hibalkingqk, joswvinx, and dropped fia soup. No descriptions were offered.

“Can’t I just get chicken strips or something?” I muttered, turning the menu upside down to maybe understand it better.

“Just go with the divish,” Nathan told me. “Trust me. Besides, we’re vegetarians now anyway.”

“Vegetarians?”

“Yeah, that means we only eat plants,” Nathan said like I was stupid. “But don’t worry, it’s good.”

So, when the dread-lock waitress returned to take our order that’s what I told her.
Did she hold her eyes on me just a little longer than she did the others
?
Maybe it was my eyes. Maybe having only two irises pinned you as some kind of freak. When she left, I took a moment to observe the others at the table with me.
What makes me so different
?
Officer Reynolds picked a leaf out of Mrs. Weatherstone’s turquoise streaked hair. They laughed about something. Travis and little Jorge talked with Saki about some kind of field training they were going to that afternoon. Nathan and Gray took turns picking fake berries off the floral centerpiece on our table and throwing them at the backs of the scarb at our neighboring table. They were trying to see who could throw the most without getting caught.

“That’s eight,” I heard Nathan argue with his friend. Gray chucked another berry, and it landed in a fat lady’s soup. She turned and scowled at the boys, her mandibles clicking.

“You lose,” Nathan laughed. “And you made need to make a run for it if that heifer decides to get out of her chair and chase your sorry butt.”

I rolled my eyes and turned to my right. Derrick stared at me, navy blue eyes bright with laughter. I jumped.

“Easy, soldier,” he said with a hint of amusement on his lips.
Why do I have the feeling he knows something?

Saki suddenly broke into my thoughts. “How are you liking Fiskar?” She sipped her water.

“It’s… very different,” I answered as honestly as I could. Really, it was a lot better than I had thought it would be, but it still didn’t feel quite right. Like how everyone looked at me like I might have a bomb attached to my back. I didn’t feel comfortable here, and unlike Nathan and some of the others, I didn’t know if I’d
ever
feel comfortable here. I was scarb now; that much I had to deal with. But that didn’t mean I had to just accept everything I was handed. I still had my choice, and I still had people I loved and cared about. I leaned my elbows onto the table. “Saki, do you know a red-haired scarb that belongs to this colony? She’s a flier.”

Saki blinked her violet eyes and said with a sigh, “I’m afraid I spend too much time in the labs. I’m not much of a social butterfly and don’t know many of the others.” She pursed her lips. “I really don’t know. Why, dear?”

“She’s the one who captured me,” I answered. “And she took my friend.” The entire table fell silent and turned to us.

Saki’s lips twitched and she seemed to stiffen. “Do you want revenge?” It was a dangerous question.

“No,” I answered carefully. “Only information.”

“I’ll let you know if I see her,” Saki said, twitching her eyebrows. The waiter returned with a silver platter. “Oh good, our nectar is here.”

Everyone around the table seemed to relax. Glasses of spinning golden liquid
were set before us. Saki slowly sipped hers, but Nathan downed his in one gulp.

“Might as well tell them to bring a pitcher,” Gray said, burping as he finished his. Golden juice ran into his spiky goatee.

“Try it,” Nathan urged me, seeing that my glass was the only one untouched.

I didn’t want to try it. I didn’t want anything to do with being a scarb for the moment. Looking through the golden liquid, the china plates, the fake flowers and even Saki’s chin all looked fat and coated in amber.
The world gone strange.

“Well, if you’re not going to drink yours, I will,” Nathan said and reached for my glass.

“No way.”I snatched it and downed the entire glass before he could even blink.

The liquid ran smoothly down my throat and left my tongue sweet and tingly, like mint and honey. It instantly warmed my stomach, which I hadn’t realized was clenched in knots. The muscles of my arms started to relax and my mind calmed.

“Good, isn’t it?” Nathan raised his eyebrows.

I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of admitting that it was, but when he wasn’t looking, I sneaked some from his glass each time the waiter refilled it. I couldn’t believe how famished I was.
Has my stomach turned into some kind of bottomless pit?

When the food came, I hardly noticed how beautifully it was arranged on the plate with little leaves and flowers. I was shoving it into my mouth too fast. The divish was delicious, a tangy explosion of exotic spices. After three plates of that, I went for a dish of wildberry and spring leaf salad. I even tried the asparagus and acorn soup. With each bite, I felt my body gaining strength and energy. My head felt light and giddy. I drank more honey nectar than I thought my body could hold.

Nathan and Gray had a contest to see who could balance a walnut on the tip of their spoon the longest. I joined in, but Officer Reynolds beat us all. His booming laughter echoed in my ears like a gong. More musicians joined the lone violinist, and they picked up the beat with a lively Scottish-sounding tune. Saki got up after about our sixth course and tapped her feet to the fast beat. We dug into sweetened cherries and wild thistle cream. I wiped some of the white cream off Nathan’s chin. He told me I had some on my face, too.

Hours must have passed, but it felt like only a few moments. The lights began to dim and beeswax candles were lit. I found myself laughing at something Derrick had said about how bad the food on the island was compared to this. Saki stood again, and I realized we were the last ones left in the dining hall. “Well, so much for training this afternoon,” she giggled with her familiar ringing laugh. “We will have to do better tomorrow, but oh, well. That’s the scarb way. Work hard, play harder.”

A deep thumping sound vibrated the floor like a car bass turned up too loudly.

“Ah, I almost forgot. The Rand is going on tonight,” Saki said with a glint in her eye.

“The Rand?” I repeated.

“Yes,” she clasped her hands and squealed. “Anyone feel like seeing how scarb really like to have fun?”

My body felt energetic, and my mind deliciously content. “Of course, we do,” I cheered.

Nathan took my hand and spun me around to the pounding beat.

“Let’s go, then!” Saki laughed. “It’s time you really felt like scarb.”

Chapter Fifteen
      
      

The Rand

A pulsing
thud
,
thud
,
thud
vibrated the halls as we followed Saki out of the dining hall and down a narrow passageway. “We’re going to the subterranean level,” she told us, tying her blue and black hair up into a sloppy bun. “It’s the lowest point of the colony, and I’m sure it’s unlike anything you’ve seen before.”

She was right. The smooth, tiled floors gave way to simple concrete as the hall steepened. The bottom of it ended in an open black mouth, like the opening of a cave. Blue and green lights flashed out of it, and speakers throbbed with strange, loud music.

“The music is inspired by Origin,” Saki said, smearing lipstick the same shade of purple as her eyes onto her lips. She offered it to me, but I shook my head. Mrs. Weatherstone, however, put it on.

We stepped through the entrance. It took me a moment for my eyes to adjust. I saw everything at first through the flashes of light that came from strobe lights set high above into the earthy ceiling. Stalactites and stalagmites rose above and below like broken teeth. The ground was of raw earth and stone. Scarb were everywhere. The huge space was packed with them. An orange female spun in circles with two friends past us, whipping my face with her hair. Hundreds of scarb danced to the bizarre—but strangely hypnotic—music. Fliers dove and flipped in the air. Scarb dancing below; scarb dancing above.