Nice Day to Die
Authors: Cameron Jace
This book was previously published as
‘I AM ALIVE: a dystopian novel’
This an episodic release of the I Am Alive series where
each book in the series is divided into three Episodes.
If you have read the earlier version ( full book ) and wish to
read the first Episode in book 2, then you’re looking for:
Girl with Golden Eyes ( I Am Alive Book 2 Episode 1 )
which is available on Amazon.com now
NICE DAY TO DIE
I Am Alive Series
Episode 1
by
Cameron Jace
Copyright © Akmal Eldin Farouk Ali Shebl 2012.
All Rights Reserved
US Copyright Registration Number
TX 7-525-458
ISBN-13: 978-1475076509
ISBN-10: 1475076509
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Edited by R J Locksley, Susan Hocking, and Danielle Littig
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the internet or any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To the many friends and family who have helped me to write this book, I would like to express my sincerest thanks. This book has been a labor of love for so many awesome readers I met randomly on the internet. Please forgive me if I forget thanks someone. Thanks to my beta readers: Danielle, Susan, Amanda, Wendy, Scarlett, and Locksley, and those who read the firs book, loved and tolerated it while it was unedited at the time. To all my readers online, who offered so much encouragement and enthusiasm, THANK YOU for the gift of your time and attention. To my family, for their encouragement and faith.
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware
of what they're going through”
~ From David Bowie's ‘Changes’
“Readers of Battle Royale (by Koushun Takami), The Running Man, or The Long Walk (those latter two by some guy named Bachman) will quickly realize they have visited these TV badlands [ meaning Hunger Games ] before.”
~
Stephen King’s review of the Hunger Games
Author’s note:
The Stephen King quote above explains that the plot device of children fighting on live TV in the arena is not exclusive to the Hunger Games books. In fact, it was originally invented in Battle Royale ( book and film ) written by Koushun Takami 1999, who has honorably mentioned having borrowed the idea from several Stephen King novels before. I Am Alive uses that plot device as well.
Table of Contents
“Every girl dies – not every girl really lives.”
~ Decca Tenderstone
A Nice Day to Die
I am going to surprise you. You have no idea…
Every time the bus hits a patch of uneven pavement, it jostles me from side to side, even though I am holding on to the overhead railing while on my tiptoes. Faustina, the school’s queen bee, laughs at me, while checking out her fingernails. She calls me a dork under her breath. She is predicted to become a Nine today and Nines are always mean to me.
I live in a world where every teen is ranked on a scale from five to nine. Nines are the luckiest, and are the highest rank in our nation. Fives are the lowest rank allowed. I have been told that I would make a perfect Seven.
The bus stops in front of my school, Cubberley High. I wait for the Nines and Eights to get out first. Nines are usually the most beautiful. Eights are the most elegant. Predicted Sevens like me have to wait in line. At least I get to get up before the Sixes and the Fives.
I stumble over a boy’s shoes, but my friend Ariadna catches me by grabbing my arm. Ariadna is a predicted Nine. If she hadn’t been my neighbor since we were kids in Eve, our home city, we would never have been friends. I don’t have any other friends who are predicted Nines or Eights.
“Pull your chin up and walk with grace, princess,” she whispers in my ear, before slapping me lightly on the butt as I straighten up my posture. I wish I had her wit and confidence.
“I am so worried,” I say, walking toward the school’s entrance. “Why can’t I just attend the celebration and get ranked?”
“Don’t worry. It’s just a test before the Ranking Ceremony. They recheck our names and data in the system to make sure we haven’t cheated in any way,” Ariadna explains. “You’ll do all right. It’s fun. Enjoy the moment and look around you. Lotsa cute boys in here.” She high-fives other students as we walk toward the school’s entrance. Nobody greets me though.
Today is Ranking Day, when every sixteen-year-old in our nation gets a number that shapes the rest of their lives.
We’re on our way to attend that last checkup in our local school, then we’ll be heading to the big ceremony in Grand School where the events will be broadcast live on TV like every year.
I pull out a chocolate bar from my pocket to eat it and melt my fears. It’s wrapped in a flame-colored cover, and is labeled: Flambury, the best chocolate bar in Faya.
Faya is the name of our nation.
“Stop that.” Ariadna yanks the chocolate bar out of my hands. “Candy messes with your sugar levels, and it could show up in the test. Why would you want to do such a thing before the test?”
“You’re right.” I shrug my shoulders.
“You’re lucky you’re slim and tiny like you are, even though you eat those chocolates,” she remarks. “Besides, you’ve already had your 500 grams of breakfast today, right?”
“It’s only 300 grams,” I mumble. “I‘m a pre-Seven. I get less than pre-Nines like you.” The amount and quality of food you’re allowed to eat depends on your rank.
“Cheer up,” says Ariadna. “I have a feeling you’ll make an Eight.”
“You think so?” I bounce on my toes with enthusiasm. “We’d be living in a real utopia if that happens today.”
In the middle of my virtual utopia, I sense an impending apocalypse. My mom’s voice wanders into my head.
Don’t expect too much. You’ll be a Seven like your mother.
“I know, Mom. I am a Seven,” I mutter, looking ahead at the school’s entrance.
One of the Gatekeepers stops the students at the main door before entering the school. Gatekeepers protect schools and buildings. They don’t have guns though, only knives and electric cattle prods.
“Everyone show their iPhones on their way in, please,” the Gatekeeper demands.
The students laugh at his request.
“It’s called the iAm, old man,” Faustina says, flashing her pink iAm device at him. “You sound like a hundred-year-old. Fives are so dumb. There is no such thing
as
an iPhone or smartphone anymore.”
“Or Blackberry,” Sam Shades, a pre-Nine and Faustina’s boyfriend, says coldly while shaking his head. “What were those guys thinking?” he adds. “Stupid names for an old stupid civilization.”
I don’t like the way Faustina and Sam make fun of the Gatekeeper. He’s a Five. Fives are blue-collar workers. They almost have no other choice. They’re the majority of our nation, washing toilets, guarding doors, cleaning streets, building with bare hands, and waiting tables.
But Faustina is right about the iAm…
The iAm is a device that is a little bigger than my small palms. It has a touch screen that connects us to the internet, and it collects data from our body and brain twenty-four-seven. It analyzes, calculates, and posts frequent results concerning our health and habits, which is a process called Self-Quantifying. Additionally, it predicts future behaviors, skills, and impulses. Sometimes, it suggests our romantic interest and matches us with someone for life. Not all results are visible to the iAm’s owner. Only the government, known as the Summit, can access all of these results. It used to be written
the Submit
, with a silent B, but that was recently changed.