Read Online Darklandia by T.S. Welti - Free Book Online

humanity’s favorite distraction from reality: alcohol. In 2037, to conserve water, the American government outlawed the production and consumption of alcoholic beverages. That’s when everything exploded.”
    “Alcohol? What is that?”
    “It’s something people used to drink. Some people drank too much of it, but the point is it was made mostly of water. The drought made it impossible to continue production of alcohol, which is why it was prohibited.”
    “Did it taste like water? Did it have nutrients? Why did people like it so much?”
    He appeared slightly exasperated by my many questions. “It relaxes you. It makes you feel happy.”
    “So it is like rations?”
    “Sort of, but not really. May I continue?”
    “Of course. Sorry.”
    I didn’t realize we were walking until we were near the opposite corner of the South Pool, approaching a Guardian Angel.
    “The crime rate shot through the stratosphere,” Aaron continued. “People who normally spent their nights at home with a few drinks suddenly had nothing to do. Nothing to fill the empty hours. Nothing to kill the pain of living with hardly any water or hope.
    “Then, in 2039, a wealthy entrepreneur by the name of Peter Frost saw the potential in the hostility caused by the prohibition. He built a virtual amusement park where people could go to escape reality. Darklandia was a world where people could punch their boss in the nose, cheat on their wives, rob banks, and even murder people. The dirtier the deeds, the more points you scored and the more levels you conquered. The more levels you conquered, the longer you got to stay inside the pod. People traveled from all over the world to visit Darklandia. It was the new Disneyland, without water.”
    He was speaking so many filter words I didn’t want to hear: wives, murder, dirty. But I thought I was beginning to understand.
    “Are you saying the end of human suffering began with an amusement park ?”
    “I’m saying the end of human suffering is a myth.”
    “But everyone’s happy.”
    “You think that just because a person doesn’t question the way the system works that means they agree with it? And if they do agree that must mean they’re happy? Are you happy?”
    I suddenly had a vision of bleak little orchestras playing inside the minds of people all over New York City, all over Atraxia. Sad operas with no soprano to sing the stories behind the haunting melodies. Human beings locked in a state of complacency through the use of nutritional rations.
    “What does this have to do with Darklandia? Darklandia helped everyone. It’s the rations that turned everyone into zombies. And what does this have to do with me? Yes, I made a mistake, but I can still fix it. If I drink my rations and serve my hours, eventually they’ll forget what I did. Won’t they?”
    “Sera, they watched your father for over a year. I’m not saying they’re coming for you tomorrow or next week, but one of these days your sec-band is going to flash red and you’re not going to have someone to bail you out a second time because there won’t be a second evaluation.”
    “I don’t understand why everyone is so afraid of being purified. If they cut out a piece of my brain to turn me into a zombie, I won’t care because I’ll be a zombie. If they rapture me, I won’t care because I won’t exist anymore.”
    Aaron shook his head looking almost disgusted with my words. “That’s exactly what they taught you to think, even down to the use of the word rapture ,” he said, glancing over my shoulder at something or someone. “There’s something you need to see.” He raised his hand and waved at someone behind me. “Hey, Hark! Nice night, isn’t it?”
    I whipped my head around and found an angel waving at Aaron, as if it wasn’t almost curfew.
    “How do you get away with that?” I whispered.
    “I work for them,” he said. “And I’m asking you to work for me. I’m offering to save your life and in exchange