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

apes. Can you believe that?” Darla complained.
    I didn’t want to tell Darla that Darren probably believed this because the Committee for Hereditary Intelligence did a superb job downgrading his intelligence. What a horrible thing to think much less say, but I couldn’t stop myself.
    “Darla, can you come to my apartment?” I asked, as we approached her street. “I need help with my Darkling History assignment.”
    Never had a worse lie been told. I always scored in the top of the class on Darkling History exams. I had a knack for remembering obscure facts about violent uprisings and the various darkling illnesses.
    The Civil War of the 1800s was partially fought over the abolition of slavery. There were once real slaves in America. World War II was fought largely because a man named Adolf Hitler wiped out millions of people by starving and gassing them to death. The bubonic plague of the fourteenth century devastated the population to the point human life held little regard to the survivors and violence skyrocketed—sort of like the first half of the twenty-first century.
    “Sure,” Darla replied, as we continued past her block toward Cedar Street, never questioning my need for her assistance with my history assignment.
    One thing was certain: all the history they taught us in school made Atraxia appear like an enormous improvement. An achievement to be rapturously celebrated.

    My mother wasn’t home when I entered the apartment. She was probably serving her hour in the darkroom on the first floor of our building. I tried not to think of what my mother did inside Darklandia.
    Darla took a seat on the sofa and leaned her head against the grubby wall. “It’s so cool in here,” she said, closing her eyes as she savored the cool air circulating over our skin.
    I took the opportunity to sneak into the kitchen while she wasn’t looking. Aaron would be here in fifteen minutes. I had to drink my ration before he arrived and Darla didn’t know I’d skipped my noon ration. I shouldn’t worry her if I wanted any hope of convincing her to accompany Aaron and me.
    The ration plopped into my glass, heavy as lead in my fist. I gulped it down quickly and wiped the glass clean with a freshly washed rag. I slipped the glass back into the cupboard and joined Darla in the living room.
    I wanted to slip her a note the way Aaron had slipped me a note yesterday, but only government employees had access to such luxuries as loose paper.
    “Isn’t it a little early for your nightly ration?” she commented, as I took a seat next to her on the sofa.
    “I was thirsty.”
    Her smile disappeared as her eyes flashed toward the camera on the ceiling behind me, but she remained silent.
    “Aren’t you going to say something?”
    She glanced at my sec-band then her eyes swooped toward her wrist. “We should work on your homework.”
    “I can’t. I’m going somewhere and I want you to come with me. Can you please come with me? I’m going with Aaron.”
    “Aaron? The boy from the Felicity department?”
    I suddenly felt as if someone had lit a flame inside my belly and I didn’t know if it was my paranoia over the cameras or my ration being digested. A layer of sweat sprouted over my brow as the sofa swayed beneath me like a tree bough about to break. I clutched the arm of the sofa and leaned forward to steady myself, but it didn’t work. I was falling.
    “What’s wrong with you?” Darla asked, her voice sounded garbled and slow. “Sera? Are you all right?”
    My hands and feet went cold as I dropped onto my knees. The vomit showered the matted carpet like an electric blue waterfall. It would have been beautiful if it didn’t feel like liquid fire. My stomach clenched tight as a noose inside me, my eyeballs set to explode out of their sockets.
    Darla knelt at my side and held my braid to keep it from dangling forward and getting soiled by my spew. “Sera, I didn’t drink my rations today,” she said, her voice sounding