Species Traitor: A Science Fiction Dystopian Novel by Kate Mary (universal ebook reader .TXT) 📗

they would cut me in half. Hover cameras flew over us, filming our exodus, and I could imagine people like my mother at home, watching with glee as the filth living in the District finally got their due.

I didn’t have a clue where we were being led or how long it would take to get there. The city was over seventy miles across, but it was crowded, and I couldn’t think of a single facility big enough for the hundreds of people being ushered from the District.

“Where are we going?” I asked Brentwood after maybe ten minutes of walking.

“The stadium,” was his only response.

The stadium—a dilapidated structure on the outskirts of the city that hadn’t been used in years—was maybe two miles away from the District. I’d never been inside, but I had vague memories of watching one of the last games held there on our viewing screen when I was young. Shortly after that, the teams’ owners had gone bankrupt one by one until eventually sporting events had become a thing of the past. I couldn’t even remember what the game had been called or what the objective had been, I only knew the stadium hadn’t been used for anything since. The last time I’d seen it, the walls had looked on the verge of crumbling.

No more, though. When the giant structure came into view, I realized just how busy Mayor Waters had been since her election. The stadium was lit up, large spotlights illuminating not just the entrance, but shining down on the interior as well. A fenced area had been erected around a large entrance at the side, the chain link ten feet high and topped with barbed wire, and guards armed with pulse rifles were everywhere. Some stood at the entrance to the cage, others beside the stadium doors, while still more were busy separating the crowd. Once through the chain link, people were processed and sent down one of two corridors. Half-humans no matter their age to the left, while humans were made to go right.

The people born inside the District weren’t chipped, so all they had to endure before being forced into the stadium was a quick search to make sure they weren’t armed. Humans, however, were scanned first. I watched as personal information flashed across a screen mounted on the fence. Names, birthdates, and any other pertinent information was on display for everyone to see, but I soon realized that wasn’t the reason they were being scanned. Before the humans were sent on, the guards added a new bit of personal information to their profiles.

SPECIES TRAITOR

I watched the words flash across the screen in bright red letters over and over again as people were ushered through, my focus half on the screen and half on the humans being scanned. Ione was nowhere in sight, and I was desperate to find her, but still she eluded me.

Brentwood stayed by my side until I’d reached the front of the crowd and it was my turn to be scanned. The guard holding the scanner pressed it against my hand, over the chip that had been implanted nearly twenty years ago, and a beep followed. My gaze flicked to the screen as my picture appeared. My name, age, and last known address were next to it. The words species traitor didn’t need to be added to my profile, because they were already there. Something else was as well, something I hadn’t expected but probably should have. Under the red letters announcing I was an enemy of the state were three other words.

WANTED FOR TREASON

“Treason,” I said, my gaze moving to Brentwood. “What does that mean?”

“I told you, Ava. Mayor Waters needs someone to make an example of.”

Before I could ask anything else, the guard who’d scanned my chip barked at Brentwood, “Keep the line moving.”

The guard took my arm, leading me after the group of humans shuffling down the chain link tunnel and into the stadium.

The crowd engulfed us once again, surrounding us in a sea of sobbing, terrified people who, like me, didn’t know what was going to happen next. We entered the door leading into the building and were met by a wave of blackness, the sounds of shuffling footsteps and cries echoing off the invisible walls surrounding us. Two turns, and an opening appeared, the darkness giving way to light that grew brighter the closer we got. One by one, the people in front of me poured out of the dark hall and stumbled into the wide-open space of the stadium. The humans on one side, the half-Veilorians on the other, with nothing but a chain link fence separating us.

On both sides, people were standing at the fence trying to comfort their loved ones. Children sobbed as they clung to the metal barrier, while mothers or fathers whispered soothing words. Almost everyone on the other side was younger than fifteen, but here and there an older half-human was visible, Finn among them.

He stood a head above nearly everyone else, making it easy to spot him, and when our eyes met, he rushed to the fence. I tried to go, too, but Brentwood was still holding me, and when he began to pull me in the opposite direction, I suddenly understood why he hadn’t released me.

“This way, Ava,” he said, tugging on my arm.

Finn stood in front of me, his eyes wide as he watched me being pulled away.

“Wait.” I tore my gaze from him, focusing on Brentwood. “Please. Just let me say goodbye.”

The soldier frowned as he looked from me to Finn. Then he glanced around. There were few guards inside the fence—a testament to how unlikely escape would be—and as if realizing no one was around to witness the act, he released me.

“Make it quick.”

I rushed to the fence.

My hands were still tied, as were Finn’s, and more than ever I wished they weren’t. I wanted to touch him one last time, even if it was through the metal. Wanted to feel his