My brother, not to be outdone by Tred Nier, waved at the crowd, then jumped off the side of the track. A gasp went out through the stadium, and my heart almost stopped. Was he crazy? If the fall didn’t kill him, the Removers would. You couldn’t fail at your destiny. Not in today’s society. But it was just one of his tricks. Aldan’s hands caught onto the track in the nick of time, he swung his legs, and flipped back to his starting position. Then without missing a beat, he back flipped his way through the whole seventh loop. It cost him some time, and almost gave me a mini-stroke, but Aldan was sure to get extra points for a successful trick.
The crowd was going insane. Even Laira was yelling Aldan’s name, and Laira never yelled.
“Look at him go,” Theron said. “Alright, you can stop trying to impress the ladies, Aldan. We’ve all heard the rumors that you’re off the market. But don’t worry, while Aldan may be taken, I would be more than happy to fill in for him.” A screen above the track made a quick cut to show Theron giving us all a jaunty grin.
Just what I needed. More competition.
As Aldan continued on to the last loop, Tred and Reiner headed for number six. Tred was still in the lead since the jump, but Reiner wasn’t having it. He lunged forward, clipping Tred’s board. But instead of moving aside, Tred did something surprising. He did a 180, turning to face Reiner, and started going down the up incline, gearing up for a head-on-collision with his competitor.
Reiner’s eyes filled the screen. They were petrified, and he started backing up toward the fifth loop. But unlike Tred, he wasn’t facing the track. As he came to a dip in the metal, Reiner went over the edge, ending his part in the race.
“Then there were six!” Theron called out. “Tred took out the second place frontrunner, pretty much guaranteeing him a victory. That is unless Wybalt can gain a little gusto.”
It didn’t seem likely. Wybalt and the rest were still back near the beginning of the fourth loop.
“And look at this ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Aldan Harris has completed the eighth loop and is ready for the big finish. The drop!”
I couldn’t even look at the last leg of the race without getting dizzy. It was a straight drop hundreds of feet that led into a narrow finish line. And Aldan was about to take it. Or at least I thought he was. But right as he should have gone over, he came to a quick halt and started dancing a jig.
“What is he doing?” Laira asked, giggling. People all around us were asking the same thing, including me.
“Messing with my betting pool,” Sol complained, as he scribbled on his plexi.
But Aldan didn’t stop with the dancing, he started making fishy faces at the hovercam, then plopped himself down on the track and pretended to take a nap.
The audience really started laughing. It seemed like I was the only one who wasn’t joining in, but I just didn’t understand what he was doing. Or why. The ministers would be furious.
Still, Aldan didn’t seem to care about that. The more laughter he got, the more he played it up for the hovercam. He threw in a few snores, made it seem like he was going to roll over the side of the track, stood up with his arms straight out and pretended to sleep walk.
I’d probably laugh about it too, once it was over, but I just wanted Aldan safely on the ground. I know he liked the rush, and letting Tred get closer was probably part of that, but I didn’t care. I just wanted him to hurry up and win.
Sol looked at Aldan’s screen. The numbers read six minutes thirty-two seconds. “I can’t believe this. I thought the twelve minute finish time someone guessed for Aldan was a fool’s bet, but I guess I was the fool.”
“Someone bet twelve minutes on Aldan?” That was hard to believe. “Who?”
“Someone named Noreth Nadla,” Sol said.
It all made sense now, and I burst out laughing.
“It’s not funny,” Sol grumbled. “I was supposed to make at least six hundred ostows off of this race. Even with my UV job, my family can barely cover our bills. Now I’ll be lucky if I break even.”
“Something tells me Noreth Nadla might cut you a deal,” I said.
“Yeah, right,” Sol said.
“Think about it. Noreth Nadla.”
Sol looked at me like I just stood up and yelled ‘Blanks rule’ at the top of my lungs. For a tech genius who decoded puzzles all the time, he could be really dense. “Look at it backwards,” I told him.
“No way,” he said. “Aldan Theron. They had this planned all along. The cheats. I’m keeping the money.”
“They wouldn’t rip you off. They’re not like that.” I couldn’t help but get defensive. Aldan and Theron would never cheat someone. Sure, they like to joke around, but they always did the right thing in the end. “They were just being funny.”
And Aldan certainly had the crowd in stitches now. He was egging Tred on, ushering him in, like it was a bullfight, and Tred was the bull. They were just steps before the drop, but Aldan didn’t seem to care. He knew what would happen. We all did.
Tred came to a screeching halt, lining up behind Aldan. A destiny was a destiny. Aldan was destined to win, and no one would dare take that from him. Even if that meant every racer had to wait around all day until my brother felt like going down the drop.
“Wait, ladies and gentleman, what’s this?” Theron called out. “It looks like Aldan Harris and Tred Nier are doing the... cancan!”
Although Tred looked a little confused, he still participated in Aldan’s kick line. Pretty soon the two were jumping around, arm in arm, kicking to the claps of the crowd. They were so absorbed that they barely noticed Wybalt and Analise.
I got a weird feeling in my stomach. “Aldan,” I shouted out. “Aldan.” My voice was drowned out by the crowd.
The other racers were getting close, and they didn’t look like they were stopping.
“Aldan,” I screamed again, but this time I wasn’t alone.
Theron’s voice pierced through the laughter and cheers. It was filled with panic. “Aldan, go! They can’t stop. Now.”
Everything got silent. Aldan watched, the crowd watched, I watched as Wybalt Morley dove off the side of the track to avoid taking the final drop of the race. But right on his tail was Analise Chorter. She tried to dive over the side too, but didn’t have enough strength to fight the magnetic pull of the track. With his free hand, the one not wrapped around Aldan’s shoulder, Tred tried to grab hold of Analise. But it was too late. She had worked up speed and had momentum on her side. Stopping was a science. One that Analise didn’t have the skill or build for. And just like that, she took the drop and won the race.
“No,” I screamed.
My brother didn’t fulfill his destiny.
“No. NO. NO.”
The sirens started blaring, drowning out my cries. Both were meant for Aldan.
The wail of the destiny siren blasted through the arena. I’d only heard the sirens a few times in my life, and they’d never been in my own zone. I sat frozen with the horrible knowledge of what was about to unfold, unable to rip my eyes from Aldan, who still teetered on the edge of the finish line.
To my left, Mrs. Harris’s screams eclipsed the siren. She pushed past me blindly, reaching for one minster, then another. “Please, it was a mistake. He’s just a boy.” She finally collapsed at Bastin’s grandfather’s feet. “Minister Worthington, I’m begging you. It was an accident. He’s a good boy. He deserves a pardon. Please.”
Behind me, Aya’s mother ushered her away. I took some comfort in knowing the little girl wouldn’t witness the next few minutes. I wished I had a mother to do the same for me.
Below chaos swept through the crowds. The laughter and applause from moments before had been replaced by pandemonium. Screams and cries floated up into the Box, pushing at my growing panic.
“Madden.” I heard my name slip through the chaos. Link shook my arm. “Madden, you can do something. Please. You can’t let this happen. You’ll be a minister soon. You can stop this.”
I co
uldn’t answer. I’d somehow lost my voice.
Out on the loop track Aldan had dropped to a crouch. His hair hung over his eyes, hiding his expression from the cameras. I frantically went through the list of pardons that might work.
“Madden,” Link said again, his grip tightening on me. “Madden, they’ll remove him. Please.”
“Link, I—there’s nothing, I, I—the law is clear,” I stammered. There was nothing I could do. It was my job to defend the system from attack, no matter the cost. I’d felt the weight of my own destiny for my entire life, but I’d never felt strangled by it until now.
The opening chords of the national pledge started then.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
I didn’t know if Link heard me, but his hand went slack, and fell away from mine. Around us, the crowd’s panic increased. Aldan’s name was screamed over and over again, but even those voices couldn’t mute the words. I’d started every school day with them for fourteen years, and couldn’t help but follow along in my head.
We remember one man’s refusal of destiny.
I closed my eyes, doing my best to breathe. This couldn’t be happening. Not to someone I actually knew. Not like this.
We remember the aftermath. The sick, the helpless, the fallen.
Please, I thought. Please let someone do something. It can’t be me. I don’t know how to stop this.
We remember our seven billion brothers and sisters taken by the Event.
I swallowed, willing away the hysteria that was threatening to overtake me.
We remember our pledge to the system.
The drums and cymbals grew louder as the anthem reached the climax.
We remember that those who deny their personal destiny do so at our peril.
Aldan stood from his crouch, squaring his shoulders off and facing the camera.
We remember that to not work within the system is to work against us all.
As the last note trailed off, Aldan opened his mouth, and the entire stadium went quiet, waiting to hear what he would say. “I–” he began. The removal squad acted before he could finish his thought. A dull pop punched through the crowd’s silence.
The front of Aldan’s shirt disintegrated into a perfect circle where the “1” had been stitched, and a bright red flow of blood gushed from his heart. His legs collapsed, and he fell to the loop track. As convulsions ripped through his body, Mrs. Harris’s high-pitched scream rang in my ears.
Bastin stood and motioned for me to come with him. Brine stood at his side, ready to escort us from the Box. I rose to my feet sluggishly and walked toward them in a daze.
“We need to get out of here,” Bas said. “The lower rings are trampling each other to get out.”
I nodded, still too shocked to form any comprehensible words, and let him lead me to the lift.
As I walked away, I could hear Link comforting his mother. I wanted to press my palms over my ears. I wanted to press rewind and somehow fix what had happened. More than anything, I wanted to run to Link. I knew I couldn’t have done any more than delay Aldan’s execution, but I would do anything to ease the pain I heard in his voice.
Instead I watched him from the back of the Box as we waited for the lift. He helped his mother up from the floor, where she still quietly sobbed, and guided her back to her seat. His father clasped her hand as Link returned her to her seat. Instead of joining them, he stalked back to the ministers.
“How could you?” he said, his voice slick with emotion. “It was just a joke. A stupid joke.”
Bas’s grandfather replied, a note of warning in his tone. “A joke that denied destiny. It’s not your place to question the ministry, boy.”
“You just killed my brother,” Link spat back, his voice getting louder. “I’ll question whatever I want.” He paused, glaring over the Box, eyes pausing to meet mine.
I gave a slight shake of my head. Had he lost his mind? This was the ministry he was talking to.
“You know the real joke? Us. Every single one of us, sitting in the Box because someone decided our destinies were more important than the people down below. This system is broken.”
“Link, stop it,” I yelled. I couldn’t let him do this. He obviously wasn’t in his right mind, but the ministry wouldn’t know that—or care.
His gaze pressed into me, and I took a half step back from the sheer strength of it. “They killed Aldan for not winning a race, Madden. Do you think the system is working?”
I was mute. No one questioned the system. It was unthinkable to do so in front of the ministry. I gasped as Link yanked off his wrist tracker and flung it to the ground.
“I renounce the system,” he said. “And I renounce all of you too.”
“Arrest him,” Minister Worthington said.
In seconds the Destiny Keepers who had blended into the Box’s background circled Link.
Minister Worthington stood and brushed off his hands as though they’d somehow been soiled by the conversation. “Perhaps the holding cells will help remind you of your obligations.”
Mrs. Harris’s wails began anew as the lift doors opened behind me. Bas took me by my elbow and escorted me in. The last thing I saw as the doors shut was a stun stick being punched into Link’s shoulder, and him falling to the ground.
“Dax!”
I heard Laira calling my name as I ran through the mob of people, but there was no stopping. I had to get to Aldan. I pushed my way past the crowds, sometimes going up just to go down, but always moving. If I could just get to my brother then I would… I couldn’t fill in the rest of the thought. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered, other than being at Aldan’s side.
“I can’t believe he’s dead,” one girl wailed as I flew past. I wanted to stop. Scream at her. Shake her until it wasn’t true. But I couldn’t stop. I had to get to Aldan, whatever the cost. I ran endlessly, through the crowd’s tears and shouts, past the zone fights breaking out, past the people rushing to any exit available, up and down and around until I reached the loop perimeter.
I slipped past security onto the grass under the course. Destiny Keepers had already brought Aldan’s body down from the upper track, and I sprinted after them as fast as I could.
“Let him go,” I screamed, flinging myself toward one of the Keepers.
He pushed me back, knocking me to the ground. I didn’t care. I got up, the tears now falling thick enough to blur my vision, and lunged again. This time someone grabbed my arm and pulled me back.
“No,” I yelled. “Let me go.” I swung wildly. I had to get to my brother. Every second put me further away from him.
Arms circled around me, pulling me tighter. I kicked as hard as I could.
“Dax, stop,” a voice said.
The arms released me and I spun to find Theron. “We have to get to him,” I said, a sob stopping further words. It didn’t matter. I didn’t need to talk. I just needed to get to Aldan. I turned, frantic to reach him.
Theron grabbed my hand. “Dax, you can’t,” he said. “Those are Keepers. They’ll just as soon remove you.” Theron’s face tightened, and he pulled me toward him tightly. “You’re not going anywhere. He wouldn’t want you running after him.”
I tried to push away from Theron, but he wouldn’t let me go. “I have to get to Aldan,” I said, swallowing down my sobs before they could surface. “I can’t let them take him. I can’t, Theron. They’ll do something to him. They’ll…”
Theron pulled me closer and spoke softly in my ear. “There’s nothing they can do to him now that matters. He’s gone, Dax. And I’m not going to let you get yourself in trouble too.”
I stopped struggling and let Theron hold me. My brother was dead. It couldn’t be true, it just couldn’t. Because if Aldan was gone… my thoughts came to a screeching halt. I couldn’t process anything past that thought. Aldan couldn’t be gone. We’d sat at our kitchen table three hours before, laughing.
Other fans had joined us on the field. Their murmurs and cries
mingled to create the soundtrack to my thoughts. Why? It was the only coherent question I could ask, and it pounded through my mind. Why had my brother done this? I remembered back to our earlier conversation. I would never forgive myself if his pause at the finish line had been because of me.
The Destiny Keepers—the Removers—stopped to cover Aldan’s body with an ash-colored sheet. It was a final insult to his status, and I clutched onto Theron tighter as I saw Aldan’s arm fall down from the sheet. It dangled, rocking back and forth. A pale circle around his arm gleamed against the tanned skin on either side. I held my arm to my chest, circling my hand around the purple cuff hidden under the sleeve. Had he known this would happen, I wondered, when he’d given it to me?
Next to us I heard a girl’s whisper. “He wasn’t supposed to do that.”
I looked over at her. Brown curls framed her face. Shock still gripped her features.
“No,” Theron agreed. I could feel his body shaking next to mine. “He wasn’t. This is all my fault.”
“It was his plan,” the girl said. “Not yours.”
“But I was the one who laughed when he told me. I was the one who placed a bet in our names.”
I wanted to tell Theron that he couldn’t have known what the end result would be, but I couldn’t speak through my sobs.
Across the field, the Keepers once again began their steady walk. The sight forced me to find my voice. “Where are they taking him?”
“I’m not sure,” Theron said. He paused, his own voice choking. “I’m not sure where Removals are taken.”
“They can’t have him, Theron,” the girl to my left said. Her tone was fierce, and I looked at her again, trying to place her from Aldan’s friends. I’d never seen her before.
“Dax,” I heard my name from the crowd. Strom, Pel, and Kai ran over to us. The face paint that had written Aldan’s number was smeared over their cheeks, but still legible, and I couldn’t stop the tears this time from pouring down my face. Strom pulled me to him and I buried my face in his shoulder. “Strom, why?” I asked. “I don’t understand. Did you know he was going to do that?”
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