by Resa Nelson
Among the garbage and hidden by its mounds were dozens of scattered bodies, picked over by gulls.
It’s my fault. Mae Lin is dead, and it’s all my fault.
When Zuri tried to take another step, she lost her footing and slid next to one body far from the others. Scrambling to get back on her feet, Zuri froze when she recognized the woman’s face.
Karen.
Her rival’s clothes had been ripped apart and left hanging like an afterthought on her lifeless form.
Despite the strange hue of the woman’s skin, Zuri touched her wrist to search for a pulse. When she felt the cold, stiff limb, Zuri dropped it with a cry.
The stench rising from Karen’s body made Zuri gag. She wanted to run and get away from the horror around her.
But failing Mae Lin in life was no excuse for failing her in death. Zuri couldn’t leave until she found Mae Lin.
Gathering all her strength, Zuri ignored the reek of the dead mixed with trash and kept searching until what she found made her heart drop. The sight of her friend’s battered and bloody face made Zuri catch her breath, along with the recognition that the clothing she wore had been ripped.
Sinking next to her, Zuri’s hand trembled as she placed her bare fingers against Mae Lin’s neck.
Although faint and cool to the touch, Mae Lin’s neck pulsed against Zuri’s fingers.
“Mae Lin!” Zuri cried out in joyful relief. She took her friend’s hand and squeezed it. “Mae Lin, I’m here. You’re safe.”
The blades of two drone taxis chopped the air as they descended toward the marina and the dump that Zuri once believed to be the Tall Ship building.
Looking up, Zuri said, “It’s Rameen and John. They’ll help us get out of here.”
A whistling sound pierced the air above.
Zuri looked up to see missiles strike the drone taxis, which exploded and fell into the water below.
CHAPTER 36
Zuri screamed.
Mae Lin’s eyes opened. “Zuri?”
Zuri tried to pick Mae Lin up in her arms but didn’t have the strength to lift her. Instead, she dragged her friend up the hill of refuse. “We have to find a place to hide.”
When they ascended to the peak of the dump, Zuri heard distant cheers. Looking up, she saw smoke rise from a streetlamp, still aimed at where the drone taxis had been in the sky.
Rameen and John are dead. The city killed them.
Grief weighed heavy, but Zuri pushed it aside. Taking the time for grief right now would get Zuri and Mae Lin killed, too. Zuri could cry later.
“Get up,” Zuri said to a barely-conscious Mae Lin. “We can hide in plain sight at my apartment. That should give us time to figure out how to get out of here.”
Mae Lin struggled to her feet and clung to Zuri as they walked.
But when they reached the street, all of the streetlamps turned to face them.
“We should be invisible,” Zuri whispered.
She then realized Mae Lin still had her identity chip, connecting her to the entire city. Their only chance of escaping meant taking that chip out of Mae Lin’s hand. But Zuri had nothing capable of getting the job done.
Keeping hold of Mae Lin, Zuri backed both of them up until she felt the uneven ground of the dump beneath her feet. Zuri cast her gaze across it until she spotted something bright and sharp. She dragged Mae Lin with her, picked up a rusty, broken steak knife, and dug into the flesh of Mae Lin’s hand until the chip fell out.
Mae Lin screamed in dismay.
The distant streetlamps stared at them.
Using one hand to keep a tight grip on Mae Lin, Zuri reached down with the other to pick up the bloody chip and hurled it toward the bridge. The chip sparkled in the sunlight as it flew over the railing and into the waters of the marina below.
In unison, the streetlamps followed the flight of the chip and focused their attention on where it splashed into the water.
Mae Lin stared in horror at her hand. “What have you done? Where is my mosaic?”
“Let’s go get it,” Zuri said, knowing she had to lie. Keeping her hold on Mae Lin, Zuri said, “This way.” She headed away from where she’d thrown Mae Lin’s chip. The sidewalk appeared to circle around the dump, and Zuri knew there were boats docked on the other side. She remembered how Donna told her that VainGlorians kept their keys in the ignition. Zuri and Mae Lin could steal a boat and get back to the mainland.
But Mae Lin dug her heels in, refusing to leave. “That’s the wrong way. Why won’t you let me get my mosaic back?”
The women struggled but managed to do little more than stay in place. Only the cries from the city made them stop.
Looking down the length of the street ahead, Zuri saw a mob round a corner. She remembered what Rameen had told her about the city wanting to hang her today. “It’s too late. They found us.”
“Where is my mosaic?” Mae Lin shrieked.
Desperate to make her friend understand that their lives depended on escaping the crowd, Zuri pointed toward the water. “I threw it away. It’s the only way we can get out of here!”
Hysterical, Mae Lin stumbled toward the water. “I have to get it back! It’s my life!”
In that moment, Zuri saw herself in Mae Lin.
My mosaic is my life.
Zuri lunged toward Mae Lin, wrapping her arms around her friend’s waist.
Zuri remembered what John had told her.
You’re not made up of things.
“You’re not made up of things,” Zuri told Mae Lin. “Your true mosaic is who you are. Not what you buy. Not the things you like. Not the things you say. Your true mosaic is what you do. How you act in the world. How you treat other people.”
Mae Lin kicked Zuri away and scrambled toward the water. “Murderer! You killed Shepard Green. I won’t let you murder me, too.”
Zuri tackled Mae Lin before she could tumble into the water below. Holding her friend’s arms behind her back, Zuri pinned her to the ground.
Mae Lin screamed for help.
Wincing in pain from Mae Lin’s well-placed kick, Zuri saw the distant mob creep closer, their angry cries growinginc louder. The lamps in the streetlights turned on, placing bright yellow spotlights on the two women.
Zuri stood.
Weak and fatigued, Mae Lin hauled herself onto her feet and stumbled toward the crowd, waving her arms to get their attention.
I did this. Mae Lin said we should take our profit and stay in Aspire. I’m the one who brought Mae Lin to VainGlory. Everything that happened to her is my fault.
In desperation, and with all her strength, Zuri tripped Mae Lin, who tumbled back to the ground.
Mae Lin screamed in pain. “You broke my ankle!”
I doubt it.
“Stay put,” Zuri said. “I’m coming back for you.”
Satisfied that Mae Lin couldn’t run away, Zuri sprinted around the dump, soon circling behind it. Faced with seemingly acres of boats docked on the other side, Zuri stopped for a second, then ran down the first walkway between the rows of boats until she found one with keys in the ignition. She jumped onboard the empty boat. Starting it up with a roar, she backed it out of the slip to the best of her ability, scraping against the end of another boat protruding from its own slip.
Zuri accelerated in fits and starts as she navigated the boat alongside the same circular path she’d just run. Pulling up next to Mae Lin’s huddled figure, Zuri let the boat idle. She unfurled a rope ladder over the side, climbed down it, and hurried back onto shore.
The mob now ran toward them, gaining ground.
“Come on,” Zuri said. “Let’s find your mosaic.”
Mae Lin brightened at the mention of her mosaic.
Zuri hauled Mae Lin onto her feet and dragged her toward the boat. Mae Lin leaned on Zuri, hobbling on one leg as they waded into the water. Zuri climbed the rope ladder, pulling Mae Lin up behind her.
Ignoring the encroaching mob, Zuri heard their splashes as they entered the water from the
opposite shore. Shouting, angry people surged toward the boat.
After settling Mae Lin down on the deck, Zuri whipped the boat down the waterway, knocking away a stranger who tried to grab the ladder that Zuri had forgotten to pull back up.
As the boat escaped the outreaching hands of the people behind it, Mae Lin cried out in horror. “My mosaic! We have to find my mosaic!” She crawled to the railing and hauled herself up against it. Weeping, Mae Lin stretched her arms toward the angry mob behind them. “Fame is the name of the game,” she called out in wretched desperation.
Zuri remembered what Mae Lin had said about Zuri’s insistence on striving for fame on the day of their first success in VainGlory.
Does that matter anymore?
The boat sped from one marina through another. Angry sirens echoed among the skyscrapers. The streetlamps scattered throughout the city cast thick searchlight beams that crossed in reckless abandon, searching in desperation for what the city’s security system could no longer detect.
Zuri ignored the throbbing pain in her stomach from where her friend had kicked her.
“I’m sorry I forgot you,” Zuri said before she realized the roar of the boat’s engine would make it impossible for Mae Lin to hear her words. Zuri glanced back to see Mae Lin sink her head into her hands and sob.
Zuri focused on navigating the narrow and maze-like lanes of the marina and the tiny resident islands surrounding it.
“We’ll be home soon,” Zuri shouted.
“Home,” Mae Lin moaned. She struggled to her knees and reached weakly over the rail toward a nearby boardwalk.
Something sparkled in one of the wandering searchlights far beyond it, capturing Zuri’s attention.
She recognized a herd of crystal deer sauntering through the Carnival of Animals park. The searchlight penetrated the creatures, casting huge prisms of light throughout the park and high into the air and across the cityscape, like a benediction of rainbows.
The beauty of the light tugged at Zuri, making her remember how wonderful she’d felt in VainGlory. How everything she’d dreamed of during the past ten years had finally come true. How all her hard work had finally paid off. How she’d earned and deserved all the success and attention and wealth.
“Home,” Mae Lin shouted above the noisy boat. She looked at Zuri with tears streaking her face. “I want to go home!”
Faint music wafted through the city, singing like mythological sirens luring sailors into the depths of the sea.
Rameen had been right about Milan and Shepard Green. They weren’t real. Zuri remembered the mob that had chased her through the city and how she’d hidden inside a fountain to escape them. She thought about Karen’s dead body and how Mae Lin had been left for dead.
And yet, the city’s beautiful song and majestic sights wrapped around her with such grandeur that she let those thoughts drift away like an outgoing tide.
The boat took a sharp turn and hugged the boardwalk as it wrapped around the harbor, heading back toward the bullseye where Zuri had first landed in VainGlory.
Now, the hundreds of vibrant fountains in the water park came into view, streams of water dancing to the rhythm of the city’s serenade.
Zuri stared at the fountains, torn between the wonder of their beauty and her memory of hiding inside one.
But all the fountains stopped working, and their streams fell nosily. Moments later, pale green fog emerged from the fountains instead of water, creating a blanket of air that spread into the marina.
Zuri gave into her impulse to turn her head and sniff at an approaching arm of the green fog. She let the heady scent of jasmine wrap around her.
Zuri eased her foot off of the accelerator, and the boat slowed to drift in the marina.
Mae Lin shouted, “Come with me!” She made a feeble attempt to stand, but her legs betrayed her and buckled. She collapsed on deck.
Zuri wanted to shake some sense into her friend but couldn’t force herself to move. Why couldn’t she? She wanted to help Mae Lin.
But I don’t want to help Mae Lin. I want to go with her.
It would be so easy to dive into the water, so warm and pleasant. It wouldn’t take long to swim through the harbor and climb up on shore. The fountains would greet them, along with the animated flowers and crystal animals. Everything would be fine.
Zuri wanted her life to go back to the way it used to be.
Her life was perfect in VainGlory. She needed it to be perfect again.
Mae Lin managed to pull her body to lean against the rail and balanced on one leg. She looked ready to jump into the water before the distance between the boat and the shore became too great.
Zuri wanted to dive into the warmth of the sea. She wanted to ignore everything she’d seen and experienced during her last few days in VainGlory.
She wanted to pretend nothing was wrong. She didn’t care if the city might kill her or Mae Lin. At least, they’d die in a place where they’d been deliriously happy.
A mechanical voice blared like a loudspeaker. “Criminal offense!”
The searchlights turned and swept toward Zuri’s stolen boat.
“I didn’t mean to steal anything,” Zuri shouted over the racket of the idling engine. “I’m not leaving. I want to stay!”
But the searchlights swept over Zuri and closer to where the marina opened into the sea. The beams of light cut through the water, clear and clean.
The lights landed on two men swimming in from the sea and toward Zuri.
She recognized them at once. Zuri waved at them. “Rameen! John! You’re alive!”
The mechanical voice blasted again. “Criminal offense. Charged with criminal trespass. Found guilty. Death sentence to be executed immediately.”
Death sentence?
The water between the boat and the swimming men churned and bubbled. In dismay, Zuri ran to the rail and looked down into the clear water to see a large cage at the bottom of its depths. The cage door raised, and a shark swam out of it.
As if her life were flashing before her eyes, Zuri remembered the beauty of VainGlory and everything she’d experienced inside its limits. She still wanted to go back.
Instead, she raced to the wheel and slammed on the accelerator. Before the shark could surface, Zuri reached the swimming men, guiding the boat so that the rope ladder she’d forgotten to pull up now faced them. “Hurry!” she shouted. “There’s a shark!”
Their faces drawn with exhaustion, Rameen and John plowed through the water.
Zuri rifled through the boat, looking for a gun or harpoon or some other kind of weapon. Her only luck came when she found a flare gun. She hurried to the rail, searching for the shark.
Rameen reached the rope ladder first, grunting as he hauled himself up and flung his body on board. Immediately, he turned, ready to help John.
The water bubbled and churned around the boat, making it difficult for Zuri to see below the surface. “John!” she shouted. “Hurry!”
Head down, John slapped his arms through the water, drawing near.
Zuri saw something large and dark beneath him. She took aim with the flare gun, hands trembling.
As John reached toward the ladder, the shark’s jaws broke through the surface of the water, aiming toward his legs.
Screaming in terror, Zuri fired at the animal’s open mouth, where the flare exploded moments later.
Rameen grabbed John’s outreached hand and helped him up on board.
John winced. “It got me.”
Horrified, Zuri watched blood bloom beneath a tear in John’s pant leg.
Rameen peeled off his soaked shirt and wrapped it tightly about John’s injured leg. “I’ve got this,” he told Zuri. “Get us out of here.”
Looking back, Zuri saw Mae Lin crumpled on the deck. Wondering if she’d died, Zuri sighed in relief at the sight of the fall and rise of her friend’s chest.
Taking the wheel again, Zuri gunned the boat through the last stretch of the marina and into the open sea
. The boat escaped the perfume of the city. The scent of brine filled Zuri’s nose like smelling salts, shocking her back to her senses.
She glanced back at VainGlory as it shrank in the distance, framed by walls of water kicked up by the speeding boat. The city continued to sing, refusing to give up on the women. The pale green fog hung over it in low-lying clouds. The bright white search beams now cut through that fog, illuminating the magnificent skyline like clusters of beckoning phantoms.
Zuri focused on the distant shore of the mainland ahead, trying to ignore the raw and ravenous craving for VainGlory and hoped for a day when she would be free of it.
Author’s Note
Although this is a work of fiction, it is based on fact.
While researching this novel, I took online courses, read nonfiction books, re-read classic novels, revisited film footage I’d taken at museum exhibits, and watched documentaries. I highly recommend the following sources:
The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr. This book was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
The Social Dilemma. This NetFlix documentary is about the way companies use social media and how their decisions and actions impact us without our knowledge.
The bubble dress and other outfits in this novel are inspired by real fashion in a past exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. I’m including the links below where you can see photos and videos of these real fashions on YouTube.
The bubble dress (worn by Zuri and designed by Mae Lin) was inspired by the CuteCircuit’s MFA Dress (2016) by Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz. You can see a photo of the dress here. You can see a YouTube video of the dress here. You can see a 3-minute video to see more outfits by CuteCircuit and where Rosella and Genz talk about how they designed their fabric and how it works, click here.
The red coat (worn by Karen) with a life of its own was inspired by the Possessed Dress (2015) by Hussein Chalayan. You can see a YouTube video of this dress here.
The porcupine dress (worn by Karen) was inspired by the Incertitudes Shirt and Shorts (2013) by Ying Gao. You can see a YouTube video of this shirt and shorts here.