powerful motivator. Much stronger than me.
“Look,” I said, trying again. “Dope or not… We. Don’t. Have. To. Kill. Each. Other. Don’t you get it? Why don’t you get it?” Why was I even bothering? They wouldn’t ever get it. They were prison-sick like I was, dope-sick like so many, but they weren’t champing at the bit to get out—not when you could get free dope.
I was trying to think of what else I could say, what could possibly reach the people they had once been, the people who might still be inside.
“In fact, I think I’m hungry!” A thick, heavyset woman lunged forward and knocked down a man. She jumped on him, grabbing his hair in her meaty hands, and banged his head against the concrete.
“Stop!” I pleaded. “This is what they want us to do! Stop!”
“Maybe I want to do what they want me to do!” The woman laughed, showing several dope-rotted teeth. The man beneath her had quit fighting, almost like he agreed with dying. Blood ran from his head. Finally, the woman stopped as did the horrible, mushy sound of the pounding, and she leaned over the guy’s face, checking for life. “Extra rations for me!”
The crowd had been whipped up into excitement by this gross spectacle, and now several other fights broke out that would of course be to the death.
I guess more people were extra hungry tonight.
CHAPTER 24
Overhead there was a metallic whirring sound. As I watched, a metal crane that I hadn’t seen before stretched out over the exercise area. A mass fight had broken out and no one seemed to notice the crane but me. Prisoners were shouting, crying, shrieking, cursing as they bashed one another for extra rations.
“What in the world?” I muttered, looking up. Maybe they’re building more cells. Maybe that would be the next reward—kill your bunkmate, level up to a suite.
The vidscreens in the exercise area had been playing staticky, cacophonous noise designed to get on whatever nerves we had left. Now they changed to McCallum’s blistering red face. Next to him, a list of crimes was scrolling down.
“Pay attention, you worthless vermin!” he shouted. It took a minute for the inmates to quit fighting and look at the screens. Some of them dropped what they were doing instantly; others kept going, too lost in the process of killing to break away.
“There is a traitor among you!” McCallum shouted, finally gaining everyone’s attention. “Someone even lower than the rest of you! A dirty scumbag who didn’t follow the rules! All I ever ask is that you follow the rules! Is that so much? Everyone has rules. I have rules. I follow them. Why is it so hard for you?”
The prisoners looked at one another, then slowly started edging away from me, already following the path McCallum had laid out for them. Overhead, a big metal clawlike thing scuttled out on the crane.
Why does everyone always assume that it’s me? These people barely knew me. Is it something I was born with? Suddenly, I thought of Phoenix, always asking why. Questioning the rules Fang and I had laid out for her. Okay, maybe it was something I was born with, and I’d probably passed it on, too.
I’m hardly the only rule breaker here, though… I mean, it’s a prison! It’s true I was just shouting about rebellion, but—
The metal claw zipped down a cable on its line… until it was right over my head. I don’t know why, but I didn’t run when the metal claw opened slowly. It hovered above me, mesmerizing and enchanting me. It was so perfect, so beautifully made, and operating with precision. There was something almost calming about that when everything else was hopeless. My pleas for everyone to stop fighting meant that three more people had died. What was the use of even trying anymore? The claw dropped down and closed roughly and surely around my waist. It awoke a whole new level of pain from my stapled wound. I didn’t really care. I needed to stop caring—about everything—before I lost my mind. Everybody I knew who didn’t give a shit was happy.
“What should we do when a person can’t follow the rules?” McCallum demanded. “You tell me. I’m asking you. What should we do when a person just can’t follow the rules? I’ll tell you. I’m McCallum, and I get to decide. I have to decide everything. So I’ll tell you. This person is hereby sentenced to death!”
That person was me.
CHAPTER 25
What was