Viral Nation by Grimes Shaunta

Author:Grimes, Shaunta [Grimes, Shaunta]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781101609958
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2013-07-01T16:00:00+00:00

Everyone turned out to be the twins; another girl, Emmy, who looked no older than seven or eight; her older brother, Phire, who was maybe twelve or thirteen; and Christopher, who looked old enough to be out of Foster City without having to run away.

Faced with them, Clover guessed it made sense that there were homeless children, refugees from Foster City, in Reno. Probably even more than just this half dozen. But it had never occurred to her before. She’d read books about runaways, about children living on the streets back in a time when the streets were a lot scarier than they are now. When people were allowed out at night, when the bad guys weren’t executed before their crimes could be committed.

She looked at Jude, her eyes tracing his scar. Except, it turned out, not all the bad guys were executed. And Foster City kids obviously weren’t kept track of as closely as kids from the neighborhoods, like Clover, West, and Bridget.

“How do you get your doses?” Clover pointed at Christopher. “Where do you work? How do you get your rations?”

“Clover.” West said her name under his breath. She was all too familiar with his tone.

“What? He looks old enough to work.”

West shook his head once, and she closed her mouth. But God, she wanted to know. How did Jude pass the exams with no one to teach him? How did they eat? None of them were old enough to work, except maybe Christopher, and he might or might not be old enough to get into the Bazaar to collect his own rations. Jude was sixteen like Clover—old enough to work, but he was going into the Academy instead. He was two years from being able to live, legally, without a guardian or to get into the Bazaar to pick up his own rations.

Clover and Bridget sat on either side of West at a long table in what Jude called the boiler room. Christopher sat in a chair near the open window so that he could hear and join in the conversation while keeping watch for anyone coming into the courtyard. He was a tall, broad-shouldered black boy with a lopsided smile and soft voice. He walked with a limp. Like half of his body was an inch or two shorter than the other half.

“I work, my foster father gets my rations,” Christopher said. “Would do it if the other kids got my share, but they don’t even get all of their own.”

“You don’t have to explain yourself to her.” Geena didn’t glance toward them. Her focus stayed tight on Jude. “We’re supposed to take in hoodies, right? Now we’re just hooking them in off the damn street.”

Geena and Marta both looked like they’d done everything possible to avoid looking like girls. Anything soft or pretty was hidden or destroyed. Their chopped hair and hard, black make-up around their brown eyes were the most obvious examples. They wore oversized T-shirts and baggy pants that looked like they’d never been washed.

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