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

treason and are hereby sentenced to death,” the man with the gray hair said, raising his voice so it could be heard over the roar of the crowd.

A guard stepped forward, an old-fashioned gun in hand, and pressed it against the temple of the man on the left. A crack followed a second later, and the man went down, his body a lifeless heap as the guard moved to the next prisoner. My father.

“No.” I turned away.

Mayor Waters didn’t tell me to look, but she didn’t stop the recording either, and a second later another crack filled the room, this one seemingly louder and closer. My body jerked, and even though I hadn’t seen it, I could picture my father crumpling to the ground the way the other man had. The way Arch had. The way I would later today.

The recording cut off, but I didn’t open my eyes.

“I’m sure you’ve been told by this point, but for the sake of justice, I’m going to repeat it,” the mayor said. “Ava Mendoza, you have been found guilty of treason. You are a traitor both to your city and to your species and must therefore be made an example of.” She paused. “Look at me.”

I lifted my chin, forcing my eyes open but refusing to release the barrage of tears currently clogging my throat.

“At ten o’clock, the humans and Veilorians who fled the District will be punished, and then your sentence will be carried out. Both will be broadcast live, not just to the entire city, but also to the District and the prisoners in this stadium. Do you understand?”

I swallowed, and unable to find my voice, nodded.

“Good.”

The mayor turned to leave, but I stopped her by saying, “What about the other prisoners you dragged out of the District tonight? The humans and half-humans?”

The mayor turned back to face me. “The human traitors will be punished as well. The halflings will be catalogued and chipped so we can keep track of them.”

Keep track of them.

That was how they knew about the group that had tried to escape the District. The chips all humans had been implanted with.

I’d been around five when I got mine. I remembered standing in a line with dozens of other people, my mother holding my hand and grumbling about how long it was taking. My father hadn’t been gone long, and I still hadn’t accepted that he wasn’t coming back, and I could recall searching the sea of faces for him.

The implantation of the chips had done away with all physical money and had streamlined everything in the city. Since then, we’d used the chips to pay for things, to get compensation for jobs and receive government aid, and even to clock in and out of work. They held our medical history as well as the criminal records of anyone who fit that profile. They controlled everything in our lives, but it had never occurred to me that the government would be able to use them to track us. It should have, though.

I was still thinking about the chip when Mayor Waters turned to the door. “Things in this city are going to change. Starting today.”

When it clicked shut, once again leaving me alone, my entire body jerked.

Chapter Twenty-Six

I had no idea what time it was when the mayor left me—four o’clock in the morning, at least—but I knew the guards wouldn’t come back until they were ready to proceed with the next step in my torture. The hours of waiting to find out my fate, alone and cold in a dank, uncomfortable room with nothing but a chair, would no doubt be the longest of my life.

My hands were still secured, and the plastic ties had started to dig into my wrists. Every move increased my discomfort, and to make matters worse, I soon found it difficult to keep my eyes open. When fighting the exhaustion did no good, I moved to the floor where I curled up, trying to ignore the cobwebs in the corners that warned of creepy crawlies hidden by the shadows.

The cold, hard cement and the throbbing in my wrists made it nearly impossible to get comfortable, but I was too tired to keep sleep completely at bay. I would drift off, sinking toward unconsciousness only to jerk awake when the plastic cut deeper into my wrists. The throbbing was nearly unbearable now, and I knew without seeing the damage that the ties would soon break the skin. If they hadn’t already.

Even worse than the pain and discomfort, however, was the way my mind refused to shut down. It replayed Arch’s death before switching to the image of my father kneeling in that same place all those years ago. The echo of the gunshot that killed him replayed itself over and over again in my head, sticking with me even when I managed to doze off. I thought of Ione, alone and scared, of her watching as I was put to death, and of my sister and how I’d never get to say goodbye to her now. Never get to explain what had happened or apologize for letting her down.

Of course, I wasn’t even sure they were going to kill me. Torture was another very real possibility, and something I wouldn’t put past Veronica Waters. She’d do whatever it took to make a real example of me.

By the time they finally came, I was more than ready to get on with the next part even if it meant death. I couldn’t stand being alone with the ghosts anymore.

The door groaned as it was pushed open, and I shifted to a sitting position with great effort, keeping to my little corner of the room while I waited to see what would happen next. Mayor Waters walked in, two guards behind her. She wore a grim expression that as usual didn’t match the gleam of triumph in her eyes. She was enjoying this, and not just because she had