31
Pepper’s voice is angelic. I can imagine the words like fireflies dancing around the hazy heat from the fire in the middle of the circle. Leo has a broad smile on his face. Every surviving day down here, he starts to show more of his soul and become more human. Pepper’s voice is better than chocolates. Woodsy is using a tree branch for percussion. I am clapping, and Bellona is dancing, military-style.
Pepper decides not to sing I Am Alive, Leo’s banned song. Instead she sings another tune of his. It’s called: Sometimes.
There was a time when life seemed so hard
I thought that I was alone
No one to cry to and no one to run to
And no place to call home
So I said it’s ok now
Run away, I thought I can escape
But only now I realize
I’ve got to stick to my fate
I sneak a glance at Leo as Pepper sings the words. What’s your story Leo, really? I mean, how did this killing machine write such beautiful lyrics, and such a lovely tune?
Pepper continues:
Sometime you get it right
Sometimes you get it wrong
Sometimes you got to give it all you got
And just fight for your rights
I remember the song now. I caught Woo singing it once. It was his third favorite. His first was called “Follow the Sun” by the Beatles.
“The hell with the banning,” says Bellona, still dancing. “Down here we can do whatever we want.”
Down here we are actually free to do what we want. I believe Leo. The Playa was designed to be a much better place, but Prophet Xitler flipped the coin to its ugly side.
A tingle of euphoria in my spine urges me to turn my iAm on. Leo gives me that look again.
“Turn yours on, everyone,” I say. “Let them hear us dance and sing. Let the world hear your banned song.”
“I like that!” Bellona turns on her iAm, and transmits the song to an international feed: a function that allows you to send your song anonymously to the world, to whoever is interested. Still, this doesn’t allow you to call or contact anyone outside. It shows an instant chart of how many people are listening, voting, and commenting. It’s illegal to stream a song that is banned, but we are illegal teens, anyway. What does one more illegal thing matter? So be it. The beauty of the international feed function is that once the song plays, there is nothing illegal about hearing it or commenting on it. The blame is only on the sender.
Blame it on the Monsters. The song is online.
“Right here from Dizny Battlefieldz…” Woodsy mimics a radio host’s attitude, talking to a stone instead of a microphone. He is mimicking Timmy a little. “We have an exclusive stream of the number-one song in Faya: I Am Alive.”
Ten listeners in a few seconds.
More fireflies gather around the fire, with flickering colors. I hear movement in the forest. Animals, I guess. Even if it was the girl who keeps hiding from me, I wouldn’t mind.
A squirrel suddenly passes through, jumping over the fire, and escapes to the other side. And we thought there were no animals in here. There definitely are, but I guess there is something that scares them.
We have one thousand listeners, and over three hundred comments.
Leo grabs my hands all of the sudden, pulls me up, and we start to dance. His big hands are on my back, and his legs move swiftly. I am a horrible dancer. He is a master. Our eyes meet in the flickering light, and I see through them. Just like the stars I used to tell Woo about. Although it feels confusing, remembering Woo while in the hands of Leo, I convince myself that I haven’t found Woo yet.
I see the child behind Leo’s eyes for the first time. The one you could imagine splashing water at you while swimming in the ocean, riding a motorcycle for fun, sleeping deeply, and holding someone he loves next to him, instead of a rifle.
“Twenty thousand listeners, in only a couple of minutes.” Bellona can’t help herself. She stands between me and Leo, dancing with us. “We should stream our own live show.”
Pepper signals for me to check the listeners count for the song we’ve just streamed. My iAm says eighty-seven thousand listeners, over thirty thousand likes, and two thousand comments.
“They recorded the live version we just sang, and are rotating it on Zootube,” Pepper notices. The song is spreading through the network.
“What can I say,” says Leo, with his eccentric smile on his face. “I was a superstar once.”
“Does that mean we have fans?” asks Vern.
I feel like a light bulb is shimmering above my head. Do we have fans? Isn’t it time to use this in our favor? Since when do outranked have fans?
“Interesting point,” says Woodsy. “Those fans are Fives, Sixes, Sevens, hopefully Eights and Nines. And they are fans of the Monsters.”
Leo poses like a body builder, showing off his six-pack — it’s a four-pack, actually. Pepper and Woodsy pose behind him. Vern crawls between them, as if they are taking glamour shots. The skaters laugh, and continue gorging on canned food. They barely nod their heads to the music, as if dancing will strip them of their soldier identities. Can’t they see their leader, Bellona, dancing like a duck?
I take a photo of all of them, gathered and posing, with my iAm.
Pepper keeps dancing, spreading her hands to the night sky. “I am so happy,” she says. “Shouldn’t they send us more flowers from the sky or something?”
“Come on, Timmy,” I say in my iAm and look up at the midnight sky. “I know you can hear us.”
“Come on,” Bellona says. “A little Artificial Skyyyyy.” She knots her face and squeaks her voice, imitating Timmy. I laugh hysterically at this. “Send us some dandelions down here from your artificial sky.”
“Where is an artificial sky when you need one?” Leo mutters.
“Come on, Timmy,” I insist.
“No can do,” Timmy joins in on the iAm. “We don’t have Artificial Sky where you are. I could drop a bomb on you though. We have those.” He sounds sleepy. I think we woke him up.
“Noooo!” we all scream, and continue dancing.
“I thought so,” Timmy says. “Can I please get some sleep now?” He yawns. “I have to kill me some Monsters tomorrow,” he says, and hangs up.
Suddenly, I get a phone call. How is that possible? Everyone stops in their tracks.
I check the caller’s ID. It’s Ariadna.
“Ariadna?” I pick up before cautious Leo stops me.
“Hey.” Ariadna sounds worried, but she sounds happy to talk to me too. “How are you, girlie?”
“Ariadna?” I say. “Where have you been?”
“Celebrating, you know. Being a Nine is such a responsibility.” She sounds like she’s mocking herself. “My family is truly happy. We’re moving to a new house in the Boulevard. My sister is getting a scholarship for a ballet school — and a new boyfriend. Everyone rises and shines.”
I shrug, not knowing if I should be happy for her, being in the situation I am in. But come on. She is super lovely. I am happy for her. None of this is her fault.
“So listen,” says Ariadna. “I know I have not been there for you for the last two days. They threatened me to revoke my rank if I did something stupid—”
“Like calling me now?” I cut in. “That’s very stupid of you, Ariadna. They’ll track you.”
“I know,” she sighs. “I am calling through something called an iCoder, sold by the Monsters-to-be in the poorer neighborhoods. A new device the Breakfast Club is trying to spread out to people. I was told I had only a minute, before the Summit can track me. But I had to hear your voice, Decca.”
“Oh. Ariadna. That’s so—”
“I had to hear your voice before—”
“Before what, Ariadna?”
“Listen,” she says. I wonder how much is left of the minute. “My sister’s new boyfriend turned out to be from Eliza Day’s family. Eliza day is the only woman in Faya who sometimes speaks on Xitler’s behalf when they need to see a face instead of a voice. You must have seen her before. He told her an hour ago that Prophet Xitler announced in a secret meeting that this year’s games was the most profitable, but they also spent ridiculous amounts of money, like on Artificial Sky. They can’t spend more money on the games. Besides, a lot of viewers are starting to have a sweet spot for you guys. This never happened during the games before. The Summit won’t let that affect the show.”
“Ouch,” I say. “I guess that means that the banned song we uploaded now is going to get them that much madder.”
“Definitely.”
“So?”
“So tomorrow…” Ariadna pauses. “They’re planning to finish you off. Literally. The game will be brutal, and unfair. They won’t abide by the rules. They don’t want anyone to win. It just can’t happen. If someone wins, the system will be compromised. Tomorrow, Carnivore and two other genetically manipulated tigers will be out to kill you. I have to go, Decca. Take care.”
“I understand,” I say, letting my hand freefall with the iAm in it, exchanging looks with the others. I remember that I want to say good-bye to Ariadna, so I pull the iAm up again. “Thank you, Ariadna,” I say, but she is already gone. None of them heard the phone call yet. How am I going to pass on the ugly news?
“Don’t tell me,” says Leo. “There is free ice-cream tomorrow before the game.” Leo looks like he was expecting this. What else do you know, Leo?
I stick out my tongue at Leo. How can he be so calm? Anyone seeing the horror on my face knows I have bad news.
“Ice cream?” Vern asks Leo. “All of us?”