Born Bad (31 page)

After a while, Rajah got one too. Then he got another one. He was the leader again.

The next time we were in a fan and we saw a bum, four Game Boys blasted him at the same time.

Merlin said we had to have new Rules again.

The burns started to hide, deeper in the tunnels.

We got off the Conveyor and walked right into a fan of Music Boys. They all had their boom boxes. The leader, Mohawk, he had his on his shoulder. He had three yellow X's on it. Rajah asked him what they meant. He pointed to Rajah's sleeve. Same thing, he said.

That's how we knew. Everybody was doing it.

In the Sex Tunnel, we saw the leader of the Dancing Girls, Charm. She had four red slashes on the thigh of her shiny black Dorban pants. It looked like lipstick, but we knew by then.

The Dancing Girls all carry razors. The one I got that night told me they don't have to blast burns in front of the others. They use their razors, take a piece of the bum back to show the score.

I told Merlin, and we changed the Rules again.

We didn't video so much after a while. In the Sex Tunnels, it wasn't so much how you styled anymore—it was your marks. The crews split up. People worked alone. It was easier that way…the burns would run if they saw a crew coming.

I was the leader. Not just the Game Boys' leader, everyone. I had the most marks.

They all hunted burns. The Deaf Boys, the Muscle Boys, even the Love Boys…the ones who sell in the Sex Tunnels.

Everyone wanted to know my secret. I didn't tell them. But what I did, I just went deeper into the tunnels. At first, the Medical Tunnel was the best. All the burns have to go there, sooner or later. I used to take fingers, they were the easiest. But Merlin said it was
too
easy…you could take more than one finger from a bum, and we wouldn't be able to tell…it wasn't easy to keep count, like with the Arcade.

Ears were the easiest.

Sometimes we hunted in packs. "There's one of them," the scout would whisper, and we'd get close and do him. But when we started to have arguments over the ears, everyone decided to work alone.

Like the burns.

Soon the burns would run if they saw a crew jacket. That made some of the Game Boys feel good, but I saw they were dumb.

The burns couldn't go into the Safety Tunnels where most of the old ones stay. You have to have tokens to stay there. Burns don't have tokens—they can't get them. They can't even sell their blood.

I went deeper into the open tunnels. And I left my jacket at home.

After a while, I could tell when a bum was close, even without looking.

Sometimes I went in so deep, I didn't come out for a week.

But I always had the ears, I was always the leader. The Book Boys kept score. They write on the walls. Every day, something new. With spray cans, they tell the story. That's how we would know if someone got put Outside—it would be on the walls.

When I went deep, I looked like a bum now. Smelled like one. I always carried a paper bag with a bottle of wine in it. And my blaster. And a knife, for taking trophies.

One time, I heard footsteps. People coming. The Cricket Boys, running toward me, holding their bats high over their heads. If I had my jacket, they wouldn't bother me. I could have told them the truth—they wouldn't hurt a Game Boy. But I didn't want them to know my secret, so I ran.

I ran hard, them chasing me, screaming. I heard a whisper–hiss: "In here!" I ducked into a side tunnel. A bum was hiding there. He pushed me down, under a pile of garbage. The Cricket Boys ran on by.

"They're everywhere now," the bum said. "They're trying to kill us all." He looked like a bum all right, but he didn't have any wine. I offered him some of mine.

"Thanks," I told him.

He took a drink. "We have to stick together," he said.

I took his ears.

I pretty much live in the tunnels now. But when I come back, I am the leader. It's on the walls. In the Sex Tunnels, I have my pick. They all know me.

Everybody hunts now. I get spotted a lot by different crews, but they can never catch me. I know the deep tunnels better than anyone.

I used to pop Zoners when I went out, but now I don't need them. Rush–rush–rush. More marks. I'm the best of them all now. I don't need Zoners.

I was lying down with my back against the wall, having a cigarette, when I heard someone call out, "There's one of them!"

It didn't even make me nervous. I got up slow, peeked around the corner to see who was coming. I could always slip away.

They came closer. I couldn't make out their jackets.

Time to run for the deep tunnels. They were real close, charging at me hard.

I took one more look.

It was a crew of burns.

This is complicated. I know it is complicated. But I have to make a record, so I will try. These Agencies, they were part of the Rulers. Not like the Rulers down here. Outside, before the Terror, the Rulers went back and forth. I mean, the Rulers changed—different ones all the time. Not like down here. Outside, the Rulers had many, many smaller Rulers. Little Rulers. They were called Agencies.

One Agency would be for health. It would rule everything about health. Another Agency would be for war. It would rule the wars.

We don't have wars anymore. We have Warlocks, but that's just a name that sounds the same. Down here, the Warlocks are potioners—they make stuff you can drink. The stuff lets you see the Outside. You can go Outside in your head if the potions work.

They don't work for everyone. I bought a potion once. When I was very sad. It cost me one hundred credits. Open credits, too—the kind you can use in any of the Tunnels. I wanted to see Outside, so I could see the Agency—the Agency that protected the children.

But I never saw it, not really. What I saw, it was like a big blob, spawning. Spawning little blobs. Like what women do, to make babies.

I asked a Messenger what it meant, my vision. Messengers don't really know anything. What they do, you ask them a question, and they find the answer. It costs credits to do that. The Messenger said she could find one of the Sages. So I could get an answer. The Book Boys, they don't answer your questions—they just write stuff on the walls. If the stuff is the answer to one of your questions, then you know. But you can never be sure.

I get very confused sometimes. I mean, I used to get confused. Before I started my work.

Anyway, the Messenger said she found one of the Sages. In a secret Tunnel, away from the Charted Zone. Nobody is allowed outside of the Charted Zone. The Rulers do not permit that. But everyone knows that some people go there anyway. Not Outside…nobody does that. Just out of the Charted Zone.

You can buy and sell a lot of things outside the Charted Zone, if you can find the places. It's called the Black Market—I guess that's because there are no overhead lights there, only little ones.

I know this is taking a long time. I'm sorry. Making a record is hard. I have to explain everything. They say there is a way to get things Outside. Not people, but things. That's why I need to make this record. For Outside. If there is anyone there. We don't know. I wouldn't have to explain things if I made this record for here. But if anyone from here finds my record, they will tell the Rulers.

I want my record to go Outside. I don't want to go there myself. So I have to make sure nobody finds my record before it's ready.

The Messenger, she told me what the Sage said. The Sage said that Agencies before the Terror were very, very big. And they gave birth. There would be like a super Agency, and it would have many, many littler Agencies coming from it.

It was a big, big Agency that gave birth to the Agency that protected children.

I wonder if it worked. If it really protected the children. That is called a Judgment Question. Asking if there was an Agency, that is a Truth Question. A Truth Question costs a hundred credits. But a Judgment Question, that costs a thousand. A thousand credits. Actually, it is three thousand, because a Judgment Question has to be asked three times. Each time to a different Sage.

I would never have that many credits.

I cannot bear the crying of a child—that thin, bitter sadness that tells me the child already knows the future. That crying is a prayer, I think. But there is no God down here. Just the Rulers.

I cannot bear it. Every time I hear it, I have to stop it.

I was a Charter when I was younger. The Rulers say we have to chart all the tunnels. When a tunnel is charted, the Rulers give it a name, so it has a purpose. Once the tunnel has a name, it's in the Charted Zone. Some of them have always been here, like the Sex Tunnels. Some are pretty new, like the Sanitation Tunnels. That's where the Conveyor takes people who have died.

A Charter makes a record. And he gives the record to the Rulers, so whatever the Charter finds can go into the Charted Zone. I am not going to give this record to the Rulers—I know what they would do.

When I was younger, before I became wise, I thought I could stop the crying by taking the heart that was closed. If I took the heart, the crying would stop.

When I would take a heart, the Conveyor would take what was left.

But I could never be sure. Not certain–sure. The Settlers would always come and take the child after I took the closed heart—the Settlers work the Hydro–Farms. That's where they send criminals too, the Hydro–Farms. I couldn't tell what they did with the children when they took them.

I went there once, to look for one of the children. But I couldn't find him—the Hydro–Farms are so big. And they would get new names there too. The Rulers call this Adoption.

The Info–Board would always tell it—the hearts I took. Sometimes I would see a picture on the Info–Board. One of the Enforcers would be holding the child and the child would be crying.

But I would never know. I could never really be sure that it was a different crying after I took the heart. I tried and I tried, but you can't listen to the Info–Boards—all they show is pictures.

I couldn't really tell.

I had to be sure. So I stopped taking hearts. Now I take the children.

I never take little–little babies. If they can't talk, they can't tell me the truth.

After I take them, I ask them. I ask them myself. If they stop crying when I am nice to them, then I know.

Then I go back and take the hearts that were closed to them. Sometimes it's only one heart—sometimes it's both. Both parents.

But if they don't stop crying even when I'm nice, I work very hard. Sometimes they cry because they are good–sad, not bitter–sad. Because they miss their parents.

I always bring those children back. If they have a home, I bring them back.

The other children, I keep with me. After I take the closed hearts, I keep the children.

I keep them in a tunnel outside the Charted Zone. I found it a long time ago. I never reported it, so the Rulers don't know it's there.

Sometimes, another Charter comes close, The rats always warn me. They start squeaking—they get very excited. They are excited because they will have food. Special food, not the food I always give them. If the Enforcers would find a body, they would take it away. That's what they do with the parents when I take their hearts. I can't let the Enforcers find a body, so I give the Charters to the rats.

Charters are out a long time. Sometimes years. They are supposed to leave a trail, but they don't always do that. I am careful to take them early, out on the perimeter. The rats live on the perimeter—I don't allow them to live close to us.

I move through the tunnels. I don't need a map. That's why they picked me in the first place. They gave me a test when I was a child. After they took me away. I can find my way always, even in the dark. The tunnels outside the Charted Zone, they never have any light.

I keep all the children. The older children take care of the littler ones. When any of our children cry, it is for good reason. And we can always, always fix it. So they are never sad.

This is a Tunnel of Love.

It's safe where I take them. Nobody ever comes here. Even when I am not around, the dogs would stop them. The children love the dogs. The dogs love the children. The children feed the dogs. The dogs protect the children. If the rats get too close, the dogs fix them too.

When the first children get old enough, I will teach them to do what I do. Some will be Charters, but Charters for us, not the Rulers. Some will be Enforcers, but Enforcers for us, not the Rulers.

The closed hearts will never stop making children cry—there will always be children for us.

We will live forever. Even after I am gone, the children will take the closed hearts.

Someday, there will be many of us.

And then the Rulers will meet us.

That was a long time ago—nobody knows exactly how long. The Book Boys write what happens on the walls, but the writing doesn't always stay there. They have different colors for different places—silver for the dark walls and red for the light ones. Blue is what they use on Forever stuff. You don't see so much of the blue, but it goes on all the walls. It stays there too.

The Guardians protect what the Book Boys write on the walls. They protect the truth. The Guardians are a mixed crew—every way mixed. Most crews have only Boys or Girls. Some of them even have only one skin/shade band— the Turf crews are the strictest for that.