by Brian Olsen
“I’m asking both of you to go,” Astrith said. She sighed and rubbed her temple. “I don’t need anyone to watch my back, not right now, anyway. Do you two have to fight about everything?”
“Sorry,” they both said at once.
“We’ll go check everything out, Astrith,” Ryoh added.
As the two passed, the taller boy stuck out his hand. “Doric. Sorry about jumping on you like that. You took us by surprise.”
I shook his hand, trying not to wince at his grip. “No problem. Good to meet you, Doric.”
He nodded and walked past Ryoh, who hesitated for a moment, seemingly unsure if he should similarly apologize to me. He shot a glance at Astrith and decided to go with a sheepish nod, then followed after the taller young man.
“So which one’s your boyfriend?” I asked.
“What?” Astrith looked genuinely confused by my question. “Oh, no. No. Doric and I are from the same County, he’s always looked out for me. And I just met Ryoh a few weeks ago, after the Opening Ceremonies. He’s from a wealthier County but we were paired up for a lot of the Trials and got to know each other pretty well. But no, there’s nothing...I mean, this isn’t exactly the time and place for that.”
“I’m not sure they agree.”
She grimaced. “We can keep talking about my love life or I can explain why everyone’s going to be dead in a few days.”
I have always been easily distracted by gossip. “Right, sorry. I’m starting to piece some things together, I think. This is some kind of contest? Only the strong survive, that sort of thing?”
She sat down in the grass and stretched out her legs. “Yes. We call it the Utopia Gauntlet. There are three Challenges in as many days. We don’t know exactly what form they’ll take, although we know what they’ve been in the past. The Gauntlet happens every three years and it’s shown on the Broadcast to every County. Compulsory viewing. Traditionally, there’s only one winner. Everyone else...”
I sat down next to her. We were facing the city. “I think I’ve seen this movie.”
“What?”
“Forget it. If only one survives, why do you do it? Are you drafted?”
“No, we volunteer.” She looked up at the sky. “I don’t know how life is Over the Sea, but things in Oosa are bad. Since the Collapse, resources are scarce. Some Counties are better off than others, but nobody’s got enough. People starve. Kill and steal for a little food and water. We work and work and get next to nothing for our labor.” She looked back at the city. “It all goes there. That’s Hedon, the capital city of Oosa.”
“Looks like a nice place.”
“It is, from what I’ve seen on the Broadcast. It’s perfection.”
“You’ve never been?”
“No one goes to Hedon, unless they’re conscripted into the Soldiery. County denizens like us never leave their home County. Except every three years.”
“Ah.” I watched the sun glint off one of the towers in the distance. “So a chance at a better life, that’s the prize? You get to live in utopia?”
She nodded. “For the winner and their whole family. Everybody gets whisked off, their County citizenship stripped away forever for the life of a Hedonite.”
I was going to ask why the citizens of Hedon weren’t Hedonists, but I decided it would just take us off-track. “You and your friend Doric both volunteered, even though only one of you can survive?”
She turned to me, tearing up a fistful of grass, a fierce grin on her face. “That’s the thing. It doesn’t have to be just one. Officially, anyone who makes it through the Gauntlet is a winner. But it’s been generations since there’s been more than one. The Broadcasters manipulate the final Challenge if it looks like that’ll happen – probably to keep too many County denizens from dirtying up their paradise.” She pounded the ground. “Everyone knows that only one person ever survives, so inevitably the Contestants turn on one another. But it doesn’t have to be like that! If we work together, we can all make it through!”
I raised my hands in mock-surrender. “Hey, ease up on the hard sell. I’m all for everybody surviving.”
She exhaled a short, sharp laugh. “Sorry. I’m glad to hear that, though. I’ve got most of the group convinced, but not all.”
“Let me guess. Trinna?”
“She says she’s on-board, but I’m not so sure. And some others. Everyone likes the idea of it, but when push comes to shove...when we’re in that last Challenge and it looks like it’s everyone for themselves...well.”
“So why did you join? Just to mess with the people in charge? Screw up their game?”
She was quiet for a long minute. She stared at the city.
“Yes,” she said at last. “To mess with the people in charge. To mess with the people who watch. To mess with the people who get fat off our misery.” She turned to me. “I’m going to bring down that gleaming city. I’m going to see the Assemblyperson Prime and her whole damn Assembly turned out into the streets of my County to beg for scraps of food, like my...” She swallowed. “Like so many have to.”
“Wow. And they say teenagers lack ambition.”
“I want a better life for everybody’s family, not just mine. Past Contestants have always talked like they’re going to fight for change, but once they’re Hedonites we never hear another word about it. Not me. Not us. Not this time.”
I nudged her foot with mine. “Don’t get me wrong, I love a good revolution. But aren’t you taking kind of a big risk, telling me this? I know I’m on your side, but you don’t.”
“I have a good feeling about you. I trust my gut. Besides...” She nodded toward the city. “It doesn’t matter. They know. There have been cameras and microphones pointed at us every second since we started the Trials. There was no way to recruit my fellow Contestants without letting the Broadcasters know.”
She stood up and dusted herself off, then reached out a hand to me. I took it and let her pull me to my feet.
“Anyway, it’s good Broadcast material, all this talk of revolution,” she said. “Happens every Gauntlet. And why should they worry? We’re just a bunch of teenagers, what can we do?”
She squeezed my hand.
“I guess deep down,” she continued, “I know it’s pointless. I have to try, even if it’ll probably come to nothing.”
She squeezed my hand again.
She broke away and headed back towards the metal huts. “Let’s get some food, and some rest. The first Challenge probably won’t start until the morning, but you never know. They shake things up sometimes.”
I nodded. “Be right there.”
I looked at the city again, all shining silver and glass, and thought about what she said. Both with her words, and with her hand.
They were more than just a bunch of teenagers. There was something she couldn’t tell me with the people from the city listening in, but there was more to this rebellion than just a handful of angry kids.
“All right, then,” I said. “Let’s change the world.”
***
Want to see what happens next? You can download The Dystopia Spell right now and keep reading!
Also by Brian Olsen
THE DYSTOPIA SPELL
Are your swashbuckling pirates battling killer robots?
Is a masked slasher lurking in your cozy mystery?
Does your space opera have too little space and too much opera?
When genres collide, Jed is there to pick up the pieces...and have a whole lot of fun in the process.
Jed Ryland is an agent of the Crossroads, always on watch for incompatible universes smashing together. This time out, a dystopian society where teens are forced to battle for their lives is invaded by monsters from a sword-and-sorcery fantasy realm.
Jed’s mission: keep the teens alive, repel the invasion, topple the oppressive government, locate the artifact pulling the worlds together, and prevent the utter destruction of both universes.
Piece of cake.
Avail
able now from Amazon.com.
Also by Brian Olsen
THE FUTURE NEXT DOOR
A contemporary urban science fiction comedic thriller series in four parts.
Alan, Caitlin, Mark and Dakota are four ordinary twentysomethings making their way in New York City – they’re just trying to have a little fun, pay the bills, and maybe figure out what to do with their lives. But an encounter with a murderous megacorporation begins a journey into a world of danger. The future’s come early for these four friends – can they survive mind-controlled office drones, deadly amusement parks, and tears in the fabric of space and time, while still managing to find love, chase their dreams, and save the world?
The entire series is available now from all major ebook retailers.
Book One: Alan Lennox and the Temp Job of Doom
Book Two: Caitlin Ross and the Commute from Hell
Book Three: Mark Park and the Flume of Destiny
Book Four: Dakota Bell and the Wastes of Time
The Complete Series: The Future Next Door
Also by Brian Olsen
THIS IS WHAT HE SHOULD HAVE SAID
A fun short story about shyness and regret.
Bradford worries constantly that any new people he meets will find him boring. By and large, his fears are justified. When his co-workers invite him to a casual night out at a bar, Bradford finds making conversation to be as painful as ever. Will he realize how much his life of solitude is costing him before it’s too late?
Available now from Amazon.com.
Also by Brian Olsen
THE UNNATURAL HAUNTING OF MRS. BEVERLY SNOW
Beverly Snow lives a quiet life in rural Maine. The widowed grandmother spends her evenings baking, watching television, and writing letters of complaint to network executives about the immorality of modern American culture. One cold autumn night, Beverly’s serenity is shattered by two unwelcome visitors – the spirits of a dead gay couple, haunting her home in a most unnatural way. Beverly is forced to get up close and personal with the very same sinners she publicly decries, but she may find the biggest sin under her roof is not what she thinks...
This 15,000 word novelette is a spooky, sexy, somewhat strange gay ghost story.
Available now from Amazon.com.
About the Author
Brian Olsen is a science-fiction writer from New York City. He is the author of The Future Next Door, a contemporary urban science-fiction comedic thriller series, and Multiverse Mashup, a series of genre-bending adventure novels. He’s also written a number of short stories in less complicated genres, as well as numerous plays and sketches for the stage. He has an MFA from the Actors Studio, so if you need someone to cry on cue, just ask. Visit www.brianolsenbooks.com for more information.
Acknowledgments
I’d like to extend my thanks to Michael Allen and Michael Slaven for their editing support on How to Kill a Vampire in Outer Space, Mike Stop Continues for the title suggestion, and my writer’s group – Mike Stop Continues, Álvaro Galván, and David Pietrandrea – for their wisdom and encouragement.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either created by the author or used fictitiously.
Cover by Álvaro Galván at Striking Book Covers. Visit strikingbookcovers.com.
How to Kill a Vampire in Outer Space.
Copyright © 2017 Brian Olsen. All rights reserved.