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

some kind of vendetta against Veilorians, but also because she liked the power inflicting fear gave her. She liked seeing people cower.

I refused to give her the satisfaction.

She seemed to sense this even before I lifted my chin and met her gaze. Her lips twitched, giving her real feelings away, but she didn’t acknowledge it.

“Get her to her feet,” was all she said.

The guard to her right moved, but I didn’t take my eyes off Mayor Waters. She didn’t smile again, not even when the man grabbed my arm and jerked me to my feet, causing the plastic to dig into my wrists more than ever. Keeping the yelp of pain inside was difficult, but not impossible. Thankfully.

The mayor turned once I was up, not even waving for the guards to follow before walking out of the room.

They did follow, though, the other guard first and then the one holding me. His grip tightened around my forearm like he was afraid I might take off running, but even if I thought I could get away I wouldn’t try. My legs wouldn’t have made it, they were too shaky, but I was also afraid of what might happen to the people I loved. Afraid the mayor would punish Ione or Finn—or even Lena—so she could make an example of someone. As if the group of humans and Veilorians who’d tried to escape weren’t enough.

I wasn’t sure where they were taking me when I was led down the long, dark corridor, but I soon found myself in a wide-open room with dusty glass doors that led outside. The old turnstiles and ticket booths told me this had once been the main entrance to the stadium, but I was dragged outside before I could even try to conjure up a memory of what it had looked like.

The long disused parking lot, now bursting with new activity, stretched out in front of me. Onlookers and reporters stood waiting, and at my appearance they broke out in a roar of boos and verbal abuse. The crowd waved signs with all the usual insults scribbled on them, while hover cameras filmed the scene, broadcasting it for everyone in the city. I thought of my mother, no doubt huddled in front of the viewing screen at this very moment. Had she known I would be the person dragged from the stadium? Did she care? Was Lena with her? I prayed she wasn’t, but I knew it wouldn’t matter. Wherever my sister was, she would be staring at the image of me standing between these guards, my hands bound while I waited to discover my fate.

Ione was the person I worried about the most, although I knew watching this play out would hurt Finn as well. My cousin was pregnant and already scared, and seeing me in pain—because I was positive the mayor intended to inflict some kind of pain—wouldn’t be easy.

The guards stopped a few feet behind Mayor Waters, flanking me as she lifted her hands and motioned for the crowd to settle down. They did, but the hate and rage scorching off them didn’t lessen.

“Our city has been through a lot over the past few weeks,” the mayor said, raising her voice so it bounced off the building at our backs, “but it stops here.”

People hooted and shouted to show their support, but within seconds the sounds had died away again.

“Last night in an overwhelmingly unanimous vote, the council passed several laws that will change Veilorian and human relations from this day forward. Future marriages between Veilorians and humans have been outlawed. The humans currently living among the Veilorians are species traitors, and they have been rounded up so they can be marked as the traitors they are. We have identified them and will very soon process them, at which point they will be returned to the District where they will remain. After that happens, no human will be allowed to enter or exit the District with the exception of the guards. Any crime committed against humans by those living inside the District will be dealt with swiftly and harshly. I will stop at nothing to ensure the safety of the humans living in this city.”

Mayor Waters turned to the guards and nodded, and a second later the stadium doors were pulled open, and a group of more than a dozen humans and Veilorians was escorted out. Like me, they were bound, but their dirty, disheveled appearances told me they’d been in custody longer than I had. Much longer.

These were the people who’d tried to run, but it only took one look at the group to realize some were missing. There were no kids among them. No half-humans at all. Why? What was the mayor doing with the others and why spare them when she found their very existence so detestable?

“This group was caught outside the District,” Mayor Waters began even before the people had come to a stop. “I have every reason to believe that not only are they terrorists bent on destroying our way of life, but that they left the walls intending to do us harm. Taking their malicious intentions into consideration, I have no choice but to sentence every one of them to death.”

A gasp came from the group, followed by a few quiet sobs. The crowd of onlookers, however, celebrated the news with hoots and applause.

The mayor let the cheering go on for less than a second before turning to the guards. She nodded, and more soldiers appeared, each of them armed with a pulse rifle. The prisoners were corralled like cattle, forced to move until they were less than a foot in front of the wall, making escape impossible. They weren’t even blindfolded, and the terror in their eyes felt like it was trying to cut me in two. Five guards lined up in front of them, raising their weapons, and cries rang out from the group. I could only catch a few words over the roar of the onlookers,