When Cinder looked up, the blank screen stared back at her. Her mind, still stirring in vivid, saturated technicolor, had trouble adjusting to the drab, washed out look of Silicon City’s silver, snow, and glass.
The Clout tickers to either side registered in the five hundred thousands, to Cinder’s dismay. She didn’t have enough to bail Nasser out of jail, not by a long shot. She lifted the helmet off her head and dizziness overtook her instantly.
The crowd moved with palpable energy, roaring with a life of its own. They were upset, startled, excited—but Cinder couldn’t figure out why.
An announcement blasted from the sky, from the ground, from everywhere around them, in surround sound.
“The victor, in a rare defeat, with one million seven hundred thousand two hundred twenty three Clout is A4GAF8BD5LKG23!”
An angry roar filled the streets, paired with cries of amazement, disbelief. The tenor of the crowd-sourced music had changed; what once was the excitement and promise of an old favorite against a newcomer, had now become a battle of melodies, neither taking the backseat, both crescendoing to a full fortissimo. The melodies clashed and banged against each other, like siblings screaming.
Cinder’s Clout ticker started increasing again, this time more rapidly than before. On the other side, her opponent’s ticker drained of its wealth, like a timed bomb waiting to go off. Kaiser stared at his ticker, his face contorting with fury.
Answers to Cinder’s questions flew through her mind—not only was this the nineteenth most profitable smash ever recorded, it was also a death smash—one in which one opponent’s character kills another opponent’s character permanently. There had only been three others in the history of smashes. And Cinder, the amateur, had killed her opponent’s character, an extremely popular and well-loved character, a fixture of the smashes. That might explain the disgusted look on her opponent’s face. What was worse though, is that while normally, competitors could keep their earnings regardless of whether they had won, a death smash meant the winner took all. Cinder had met her goal to get over one million Clout, but she had pissed off her opponent in the process.
A chant rang out from the masses. “En-core! En-core! En-core!” Cinder had no idea what they meant, or what social protocol dictated she do. Should she put the helmet back on? Could she even create those images again, when they had been Nahum’s to begin with? She didn’t think she could handle it, didn’t think she could go back into the smash, didn’t think she could relive Nahum’s last images, when she was still so far away from saving him.
She clutched her chest, fighting back an overwhelming urge to cry. The smash had exhausted her last resources of energy. Between not sleeping, getting a new body and mind, and losing nearly everything she cared about, she didn’t know how much longer she could keep fighting like this. She was running on pure emotion, but that emotion quickly dissipated, leaving her nothing but emptiness and taking with it her will to keep going.
A familiar voice called out to her. “Ima!” Vaughn shouted. She gave him a quick glance, hyperaware of his use of her old, dead name. He gestured for her to join him, off the stage, out of the spotlight. Behind him, Ember stood with her arms crossed over her chest. She looked afraid, terror in her eyes, like Cinder had done something horribly wrong.
Cinder felt a chill zip through her skin, down to her bones. Her dizziness weakened her knees and her ability to keep her eyes open. Then, she felt it—something sharp hit her back, slicing through her clothing, grazing her skin.
Within seconds, several more objects hurled toward her. A cup of hot liquid hit her arm, bursting and searing her skin. Kaiser stormed toward her, joined by several strangers who had climbed the stage. They weren’t coming over to congratulate her. Her opponent looked like he could rip her apart with his teeth.
She felt her knees weaken, giving out, collapsing her to the ground.
A strong pair of arms caught her, just before the entire world turned black.
Note from the Author: This book is the first in the Socialpunk Trilogy. It's available for free in ebook format via all major retailers, including Amazon, B&N, iTunes, Kobo, and Smashwords. The second and third books in the trilogy will not be posted on Wattpad, but you can get information about them via http://monicaleonelle.com/free-novels/
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Socialpunk (Socialpunk #1)
Teen Fiction"This book would be good for those that enjoyed the Hunger Games!” ~ Cover 2 Cover Blog "When I read the first page, I did not anticipate that I would be finishing the book that night, but I did. I had to. I didn’t care that I was up until 3:00AM."...
