Alex Reynard
The Library
Alex Reynard's Online Books
--Chapter Five--
When class ended, a few kids stayed behind to stare in awe at the magnificent anti-death machine. One girl even asked if she could test it by having it heal a bruise she'd gotten the day before. Vera was happy to let her. Though she had to pause to tell Tycho where Jared would likely be. The gerbil thanked her and scurried off.
Cody wandered out of the building with his head swirling. He had a lot to think about.
He spent his free hour simply wandering around the camp. It was a nice warm day and the weather helped calm him. He watched the other kids running around. In just a single day, a large portion of the fear he'd seen in their eyes had gone. He could still sense a lot of skepticism. But anyone who had seen that Rejuvenator in action was forced to rethink this place.
That included Cody. The Preds, his enemy, had a technology that could change the entire world. And that changed Cody's situation. Now it wasn't simply a matter of getting out of here and having the Prey army scorch this place to a stain after rescuing the hostages. He had to mention the Rejuvenators too. It didn't matter that a fox was its inventor. Cody thought of all the Prey lives it could save.
'This is too much for me to handle,' he thought. 'There's only one of me.'
He walked past a cluster of trees where dandelions bloomed wildly. His sneakers made pebbles skitter out of the way as he walked.
'But... I have to.'
*****
At noon, Cody looked up when a chime echoed through the air. For the first time, he noticed a towering pole in the exact center of camp. It had four loudspeakers at the top, arranged like flower petals. 'So that's where the music came from this morning.'
The chime obviously meant lunch, so Cody headed for the cafeteria.
On the way, he was still looking up at the speaker-pole when he noticed something nearly hidden by the trees. It looked like a tollbooth in the air. He squinted. It was an observation tower. Bleached and paintless with age.
He thought about asking a Pred what it was, but then reconsidered. He would go explore it himself. If he was lucky enough that A) it was inside the wiredome, and B) it was climbable in some way, then it might prove very useful to him. He could view the entire camp from up there. And as he looked around, he realized the tower had a direct line of sight to that gate he'd noticed earlier. Well, that certainly settled it. Cody knew where he'd be heading after second class.
In the cafeteria, he again observed how his classmates were behaving. Frank and Yolanda were talking rather intensely. Jayden was staring at the ceiling and lip-synching to some song in his head. Chloe was trying to get Hydra to stand still so she could draw on her shirt with a marker. It looked like she was adding a necklace.
Cody grabbed a tray. As he looked around for Kenny, he saw Tycho walk in with Jared Ravensfire. Both were talking a mile a minute with wildly excited grins. They were both about to get in the third lunchline, but then the gerbil spotted Cody. He asked Jared to give him a moment and started walking over. His intention was clear: head off a conflict before it started.
Cody kept his face blank.
"I don't want to hear it, St. John," Tycho started. "I know how you feel about Mason and Scott, and if that's how you feel about me; fine. But I don't want to-"
"Actually..." Cody said softly.
"Actually what?"
Cody's eyes were calmer than Tycho had seen them before. "Actually, I understand."
Tycho eyed him suspiciously. "Oh really?"
"Yeah," Cody said. "Mason and Scott are fuckin' Predlovers. They joined up the second they could, and that's why I call them traitors, because they are. You didn't join until they gave you a reason to. I get it."
The gerbil blinked. "That's... more reasonable than I would've given you credit for."
Cody shrugged. "I'm in a good mood." Then he poked Tycho lightly in the shoulder. "You just promise me something, okay? You find out if that thing is a hoax. If anyone can confirm that it really works, it's you."
He laughed. "I intend to. I fully intend to. And if it is a fake, you bet your ass I'll be just as pissed as you'd be."
Cody nodded.
Tycho took a step away. "Allright then. So no bad blood between us?"
"None." Cody shook his head. "Go eat lunch."
"Okay," Tycho said, and walked back over to Mr. Ravensfire.
Cody jumped a little when Kenny suddenly spoke from behind him. "That's not how I expected things to go between you two."
The chipmunk shrugged. "Me either."
*****
Cody loaded up on fruit again, wondering if he was gonna start shitting rainbows tonight or tomorrow. He also decided to try some individually-wrapped pastry things. Not bad.
After lunch it was back to the classroom; same building as the night before. Another lesson with the fox woman.
As the students filed in, Vera was scampering to and fro, checking her notes on her desk as well as fiddling with the electronic blackboard. To Cody's surprise, Jayden was helping her. And that smile on his face... Cody winced. The mouse could not possibly have a crush on her. Sick.
Cody looked over at Michelle. Her red armband stuck out like a beacon. Surprisingly, Hydra was still allowing the hedgehog to sit in her presence. Cody was sure the bunnygirl would have cast her out for being a genus-traitor. Worse still, Michelle's friend Britney was eyeing the armband with barely veiled envy.
'Dominoes,' Cody thought.
Vera shifted from foot to foot as she waited for the classroom to fill. Finally Frank ran in. "I was, (pant) jogging, (pant) sorry."
"Nothing to be sorry for; you just made it in time," she said cheerfully. "That looks like everyone, so let's get started. Michelle?"
The hedgehog's head popped up.
Vera brought out a cardboard box. "Would you please pass these out to everyone?"
"Yes, Miss Vera," Michelle said, hopping out of her seat and taking the box. She seemed quite pleased to be obeying.
The vixen addressed the rest of the class. "While Michelle takes care of that, let me explain a bit of what we're going to be discussing today. Also, this class might run overtime, so don't be surprised. We're going to be talking about Predators and Prey. We're going to be talking about propaganda, from both sides. We're going to be talking about what you've been taught, and what the truth is."
Cody drew his mental drawbridge and started readying the flaming catapults. He'd been waiting for this. He'd expected them to start cramming their agenda down everyone's throats much earlier, but this was crafty as hell. Soften the Preys up a bit. Give them a day to get acclimated, give them food and a bed, show them a scientific miracle to wow them. Then when they were receptive, when their little minds were nice and open, pour in the bleach and start scrubbing.
"I'm going to say some things that I'm sure you'll disagree with," Vera continued. "I'm not asking you to blindly trust my words. But I will ask, please, if you disagree, to make sure you know WHY you disagree. This is crucial. It's so easy to defend your beliefs reflexively and get angry instead of thinking."
She put her hands down on the desk. "So I'm asking you, when that happens, to take a second and really look at your reasons for disagreeing. It's easy to believe something because you want to believe it. But you can't make two and two equal eight, even if you wish with all your heart for it to be eight. If you object to anything I say, check your beliefs to see what they're anchored to. Are they anchored to facts? If so, where did you learn them from? From a teacher? From television? If you don't even remember, that can be a bad sign."
She gave them all an apologetic smile. "Don't feel bad though if you catch yourself holding onto a baseless belief. We all think this way. Pred or Prey, our brains all tend to prioritize pride over facts."
Vera let everyone digest that for a moment. She watched Michelle winding her way around the room, being careful as always not to accidentally poke someone with her little spines. "Finished yet?"
"Almost!" she handed the last of the little white pill-like objects to Jake and Dinah, then skipped down the stairs and back to her seat.
"Thank you very much, Michelle."
The girl beamed.
Vera looked around the room, noticing all the students who were fiddling with their plastic ovals. "Now, you're no doubt wondering what those little doodads are. I brought them in because I'm going to ask you a few questions about how you feel about Preds, and the war, and I want you to be able to answer anonymously. You'll be able to say what you truly believe without feeling pressured by anyone.
"Behind me you'll see a graph. When I ask a question, just push 'yes' or 'no' on your clicker. Your answers will show up on the board. You can hide your clicker under your desk or in your hands if you want to be absolutely sure no one knows what you picked."
Each clicker had a raised Y or N on either side. As the kids tried them out, a purr of multiple soft clicks filled the air, like someone walking on rice.
"Let's try it out now," Vera said. "Everyone please click 'yes'."
As the kids all clicked, a pink bar on one side of the screen grew until it reached nearly the top. There was one solitary blue sliver on the other side.
Vera blinked. "Who clicked no?"
Jayden grinned. "Fffuck the system!"
Everyone laughed, even Vera. "Well, we can see it works. Now, how many of you want the war to be over soon?"
It was almost a repeat of before. The pink 'yes' bar soared high, while the blue side was maybe three clicks high.
Vera looked wholly unsurprised. "Every time I've done this, it's the same result. The politicians may go on and on about what the people want, but the majority are simply tired. They're tired of having to hate the other side, or just tired of being scared."
Cody couldn't take it. He stood up suddenly. "How do we know you're not cheating? Manipulating the numbers to get the results you want?"
She looked mildly reproachful. "You didn't wait to be called on, Mr. St. John. If you're skeptical, then how would you propose testing to make sure I'm on the level?"
Put on the spot like that, it took Cody a few seconds to think of something. He honestly didn't know if Vera would be willing to fake the results or not, but he was damned if he was going to naively trust her word.
"Allright. I've got an idea." He left his desk to stand by the blackboard. "You guys; that first column of desks," everyone looked towards him, "when I point to you, you click 'no'. Then I'll go across the room. If everything's fair, the bar on the screen should rise at exactly the same rate."
"Quite clever," Vera praised.
He pointed at her. "And you keep your hands up. Fingers spread. Kenny; watch her and see if any part of her moves, even her tail."
"Right!" Kenny shouted from the back.
Cody pointed at the first column of desks. The blue bar expanded four times, just as it should have.
Then the next column. Four more blue clicks. Then four more, and four more. It didn't matter how long Cody paused between each group and the next.
The clickers, it seemed, were legit.
Then a pink bar showed up
"Oh!" Trudy squeaked. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."
The class chuckled.
"That's allright," Vera said. Then she turned to Cody. "Are you satisfied?"
He sighed. He still didn't trust this situation, but the uneasiness was all in his gut. Partly, he was able to admit, he was afraid of what the honest answers to Vera's questions might be. "Yes," he said, and walked back to his seat, feeling humiliated.
A few students laughed under their breath at him.
Vera noticed and shushed them. "Don't feel like you've wasted anyone's time, Mr. St. John. I don't want anyone to think these answers might be faked. Hopefully, if his suspicions are laid to rest, all of yours will be too."
Cody was surprised she'd take the embarrassment off him like that. Maybe there was a chance his opponent had some honor as well. (He glanced over at Frank and she seemed quite approving of the whole situation.)
"Back to questions," Vera said.
Everyone got their clickers ready.
"I already asked how many of you want the war to end, but how many of you would like it to end tomorrow? As in, both sides declare peace and the hostilities come to an immediate end?"
There was a majority of 'yes'es, but quite a few 'no's too. Vera expected this. "It can be hard to let go of hostility. Revenge is a strong urge. It can feel deeply upsetting to imagine your enemy getting off without punishment, and this is a huge roadblock to peace. Next question. Yes or no; how many of you have felt scared of Predators before?"
Not a single speck of blue.
Vera nodded sadly. "How many of you have ever lost a family member, or someone you knew, to a Pred attack?
There were fewer 'yes'es than anyone expected. The blue bar loomed over the pink.
"How many of you know someone who was ever involved in a Pred attack, whether they were injured or killed or neither?"
The pink bar rose higher this time, but not by much.
"Now," Vera spoke, "how many of you know someone, including yourselves, who has ever killed, injured or attacked a Pred?"
The answer shocked everyone. It was almost a perfect repeat of the previous two results.
The very idea that the numbers could be anywhere near equal was unthinkable. The whole class started muttering amongst themselves.
"That can't be right," Kenny burst out.
"It can," Vera said firmly. "And I can explain why. Partly it has to do with how the news reports on events. On my side of the Fence, any attacks by Prey are always a top story. The newsanchors report on them endlessly, calling the perpetrators cowardly thugs. Their reasons for attacking are never given; they are nothing but shadowy boogeymen for us to fear. Whereas most Pred attacks on Prey are shown as heroic. Then they use words like 'courageous' and 'defender' and 'protecting the community'. Whether a violent act is good or bad seems to depend entirely on the genus of the aggressor. Does this perhaps sound like a mirror of what the news is like on your side?" she smirked darkly.
A lot of the kids didn't bother watching the news, but the ones who did got goosebumps at how dead-on she was.
"The other part of the explanation is that you are all the sons and daughters of powerful people. Families of at least more than average wealth. And I'll bet none of you live within twenty miles of the borders, do you?"
No one disagreed. A few blue clicks even showed up on the blackboard.
Vera walked over to it and touched a small square in the corner. A map popped up, showing the location of all the country's Pred and Prey territories. It was like a quilt sewn by a drunkard, though with a glance anyone could see that both sides controlled approximately equal amounts of land.
"The most expensive properties, on either side of any Fence, are always in the center of the territory," she said, pointing out spots on the map. Most of the students knew this. The most famous and prosperous Prey cities were always farthest from the Fences. "Conversely, where do you think the slums are? The poorest places?"
"Near the borders," Yolanda answered.
Vera nodded. "Right. The simple fact is, as much as you have been told to be afraid, you of all Preys have the least reason to be. Let me show you some statistics."
Vera tapped the board again and a graph appeared showing the country's total population plus the total numbers of Pred/Prey acts of violence. "As you can see, the number is high. But unfortunately, this isn't very useful data because it lumps in all violence where one furson is Prey, the other Pred. It doesn't differentiate between who attacked who, and neither side is interested in accurately tracking that number.
"But here's something we can do," she said, tapping the board again. This time, a new graph showed the numbers of violent acts committed between Prey and Prey, and between Pred and Pred. Then the animated screen began adding up each years' totals and comparing them to Vera's previous graph.
"Similar, aren't they?" Vera said, though she didn't need to. Everyone could see that, with alarming consistency, the rates of inter-genus violence were roughly identical to the rates of same-on-same. "We all seem to hurt each other equally," Vera said. "I'd also like to point out that all of the numbers are decreasing year by year. Slowly but noticeably. Our leaders may shout that we're in ever-increasing danger, but every reliable statistic you can find shows the opposite. All of us are a little bit safer, decade by decade."
Frank raised her hand. "How do we know your statistics are real?"
As always, Vera did not mind skepticism. "There's a free period after class and the computer room will be open. You can do the research yourself. I recommend going directly to the Pred or Prey government websites and looking for police-gathered data. I'm not at all surprised you don't believe me, because a lot of people on both sides are paid good money to make sure the perception of the war doesn't match the reality."
"Why?" the zebra asked.
For the first time, the students saw a brief flash of hatred in Vera's eyes. "Because there's always a way to make a profit off of suffering."
The grey fox shook her head, took a breath, and looked back at the board. "Speaking of money, there's another very important set of statistics I need to point out. I've shown that Preds and Prey can be as violent to one another as they are to the other side..." She clicked rapidly through a series of slides showing Pred/Prey murders, rapes, assaults and violent property crimes; all compared to same-on-same crimes, all with similar numbers. "So Pred/Prey violence is not the society-defining crime we think it is. It is a crime, but it's hardly the most pervasive one. It's not even the most common cause of death. Far from it!" She brought up another slide. "Car crashes take more lives! Workplace accidents take more lives! And the number one killers are always diseases! Of the terrible things that could happen to you, violence, from anyone, is simply not the most of your worries."
Vera scrolled back to the map of both sides' territories. "Saddest of all is the way the violence is reported. The news makes Pred attacks, or Prey attacks, seem like something that can happen to everyone. But remember what I said about the most expensive homes and businesses being farthest from the borders?" She clicked the board again, bringing up a new graph. "This shows the number of Pred attacks on Prey per income bracket. I don't think I need to point out which way the chart tilts."
On one side, the richest Preys had an infinitesimal amount of attacks. On the opposite end, the poor's numbers went nearly off the chart. A few students gasped.
Vera brought back the map. "Pred/Prey violence is not an everyday crime that anyone is equally likely to be a victim of. It is a crime of poverty." Her words trembled with restrained sadness. "In the areas around the border Fences, the poor live frightened lives and attack each other out of desperation. Then the politicians use the stories of horrific violence as proof of how evil the other side is."
Kenny's hand went up. "But you Preds eat us!!" he objected.
"Yes," Vera admitted. "And you Preys hunt us for it, and feel justified because we eat you. And so we feel justified in eating you. Clickers out, please: how many of you have parents who own some article of clothing made of Pred fur? And taxidermies count."
The number was not low.
Kenny paled.
"This is what I said earlier about revenge. It's instinctual to want the other side to suffer because they've made you suffer. But the problem is, enraged people rarely take the time to lash out at those who've truly hurt them. A Prey father loses his son, and he crosses the Fence to kill the first Pred he sees; the family of that Pred then cross the Fence to get revenge on the first Prey they see! This is what happens when we see each other as 'the enemy' instead of as people!!"
Cody was taken aback by her forcefulness. He knew he was not so radical that he couldn't admit she had a point. She was obviously trying her hardest to make both sides' violence against the other seem equally bad, which he knew was a lie. But he could accept that not every Pred on Earth was his enemy. Babies and little children, for instance. At least until they reached the age where they were taught to kill. Taught that Prey are mindless walking food, existing only to be harvested. Cody knew all about First Prey. He was waiting for just the right time to spring that knowledge on Miss Vera. Watch her sputter helplessly as her carefully constructed house of lies crashed down with one blow.
Vera pointed at the map again. "Neither side's leaders are willing to view the conflict between us as a poverty problem. It's so much easier to say the other half of society is simply evil. Then you don't have to think, just hate. The leaders are too afraid of being seen as 'soft on Prey', or in your case 'soft on Preds', to think that maybe part of the solution is to put more money into poorer areas so people aren't starving."
Yolanda's hand went up. "Starvation isn't an excuse for taking an innocent life," she said.
Vera smiled. "I agree with you 100% percent. It isn't an excuse, just an explanation. We can either focus on going with our instincts and seeking revenge, or looking at the situation dispassionately: as a problem to be solved. Until we start looking for what works to decrease violence, instead of what we wish would work, nothing is going to get better."
Vera took a second to catch her breath. She'd been getting rather worked up. "One final statistic. The most damning one. The one every Pred knows, and every Prey leader wants to keep you from seeing." Vera pointed to Yolanda. "Miss Denton, your father is currently the leader of the entire country; you should know this. Are the Predator and Prey populations roughly equal?"
The ottergirl blinked, feeling unsure about answering such an obvious question. It was like being asked if water was wet. "Well, of course."
Vera nodded, expecting her to say that. She touched the blackboard again.
"That's BULLSHIT!!" Cody immediately screamed. And he wasn't alone.
The blackboard showed a graph comparing the country's total Predator and Prey populations. The Prey outnumbered the Preds by more than a third.
Vera stood quietly and let them react. It was always like this. No one could believe it at first.
Yolanda's cheeks were burning. Either Vera was lying to her, or her own father was, and either possibility was enough to make her nearly lose her cool. "That can't be true! Just look at the map! The territories are scattered, but anyone can see they're equal!"
Vera brightened. "Miss Denton, I can't tell you how happy I am that you brought that up! You just pointed out the other Big Lie! The one every Prey knows and every Pred leader wants to keep secret! The territories are indeed equal. Parliament does everything they can to roar with outrage whenever Prey leaders move the Fences and they lose a bit of land, yet they're silent whenever they actually gain ground. Whenever my colleagues have told this to a group of Predkids, they've reacted exactly the same way you just did. 'It can't be true!' But it is."
She tapped the blackboard again. This time the map returned, but it was overlaid with a representation of population density. Everyone could see that the Pred areas were more sparsely dotted. "Pred leaders go on and on about how much the Preys outnumber us, exaggerating the numbers in any way they can. They make us think we're in danger of being swallowed up, and we have to fight back if we want to survive. You would not believe how sick I am of hearing the phrase 'thin the herd'!" She restrained herself from spitting in disgust.
Cody admired how good a speaker she was, but he forced himself not to listen. Those statistics could be faked oh so easily. And if the Preds could rig the camp's computers to not send outgoing messages, they could rig them to redirect certain searches to mock-up pages. 'Lo and behold, the fox's statistics are true! The Preds must be right about everything!' Cody would not be fooled so easily.
Vera had been keeping an eye on Cody, plus Kenny and a few other of the more quiet holdouts. Watching their expressions for disbelieving sneers. "Again, I understand if some of you don't believe me," she said. "I'm your 'enemy', and I'm telling you that everything your parents, leaders and teachers have told you is a pack of lies."
'At least you're honest about that,' Cody thought.
"But I'm also saying that I've been lied to as well. By my teachers, by my leaders, and even by my parents. Not because any of them are evil people, but because they are simply carrying on a lie that began long ago. If something is 'common knowledge', we tend to hold tight to it, no matter how poisonous it really is.
"I hope I'm conveying that I don't think Prey are the 'bad guys' and we Preds are the 'good guys'. There are good people on both sides of the Fence. Mostly good people. But there are also liars and killers on both sides too, and some of them have far too much money and power." Vera wisely did not point out that some of the people she was referring to were undoubtedly parents of those in her audience.
"Please get your clickers ready again," she requested.
The room was tense. Everyone was uncomfortable. No one likes having their beliefs challenged, and even less so when the challenger's arguments could not easily be ignored. The students held their little plastic pills in sweaty hands.
Vera looked down at the floor and spoke softly. "I want you to answer the following questions without any concern given to what I might think. Remember, this is all anonymous. You won't hurt my feelings."
A few eyebrows were raised.
"How many of you have been taught that Predators all smell bad?"
The pink yes bar easily won out over the blue.
"How many of you have been taught that Predators are naturally less intelligent?"
Again, pink was higher.
"How many of you have been taught that Predators are more aggressive than Prey, even towards each other?"
Again, pink was higher.
"How many of you have been taught that Predators can't run their half of the country? That they can't handle businesses or leadership?"
Again, pink was higher.
"How many of you have been taught that a Predator will take a Prey's life as easily as swatting a fly?"
And again, pink was higher.
Vera had not looked at the board, because she knew what the results would be. What the results always were. "On the other side of the camp, my colleagues ask similar questions of the Predator children. They ask if they've been taught that Prey are fat, stupid, lazy, unable to make decisions for themselves-"
Cody slammed his fist down on his desk. "THAT'S NOT TRUE!"
Vera's head snapped towards him immediately. "No, it isn't. Those are ugly, ugly stereotypes. Every bit as ugly as the ones you have all been taught about my kind. But when you're never given the opportunity to meet someone from the other side, and you're fed a constant stream of slurs against them, it's easy to believe those slurs. It's all you have."
A wave of shame rippled through the room.
"Again," Vera said, and her voice cracked with emotion, "there are no 'good guys' and 'bad guys'. It is only two groups who both teach their children that the people on the other side of the Fence are inferior. Something less than alive. Something it's okay to kill..." Vera shuddered, and had to brace herself against the edge of her desk.
Yolanda Denton got up out of her seat and hugged her gently.
The entire class was silent. Cody's mind spoke up, 'That's a hell of a performance, Miss Vera.'
But he was ashamed of the thought as soon as it entered his head. It was easy to believe his opponent was simply lying. But she probably did believe everything she'd said. Her tears were probably real. It didn't mean she was right though.
Cody already knew both sides demonized the other. He knew the Preds were people too. People who felt and believed just as strongly as he did. But people who were still nevertheless a threat. And until that changed, they were all his enemy. He had not decided that. They had.
As Vera dried her eyes on her sleeve and Yolanda tenderly patted her teacher's arm, Cody rose, and calmly deployed his most devastating attack.
"Why don't you tell us about First Prey, Miss Vera?"
Her head slowly rose, and in her eyes he saw lightning bolts of unimaginable hurt and fury.
He kept his face still, but inside he smiled. 'Checkmate.'
Other students turned to look at her. What was First Prey? Why was their talkative teacher suddenly so silent?
Kenny knew what First Prey was. Cody had told him. He relished his friend's attack and savored Vera's squirming.
The grey fox stared for a moment at the horrible boy who had so skillfully cut her at her weakest. A part of her hated that smug look on his face, but another part of her could not help but respect the accuracy of his attack. "Go back to your seat, Miss Denton. And thank you," she whispered.
Yola nodded to her teacher and sat down.
Vera straightened up. She sniffed and wiped a last tear from her eye. "First Prey..."
She stood by the desk, bracing herself against it with both hands. "Mr. St. John has just pointed out the dirtiest of Predkind's dirty secrets. It's something that, if more Preys knew of it, or regarded it as more than an urban legend, it would escalate the war into an unimaginable bloodbath. With good reason."
The students fidgeted uncomfortably, dreading whatever it was she was about to say.
"First Prey is a ritual. It is kept secret from Preys. When a little Pred boy or girl comes of age, sometimes as young as eight though rarely older than sixteen, their family will capture a Prey child..."
There were gasps of horror already.
"...and bind them so they can't move. Traditionally, to a tree. The young Pred is surrounded by their entire family. They are given a weapon..."
"No," Chloe-Sophia choked out.
Vera's voice trembled. "Then, with their entire family chanting encouragement, they must prove their worth as a Predator, and kill."
"You fucking monster," Kenny said.
Vera looked up at him, eyes blazing. "You think I'm not ashamed, Mr. Loughtner? You think I don't know exactly how evil and sick and twisted this ritual is? Something so unspeakable it sounds like it could only be a stereotype: 'Did you hear? Preds make their children kill the children of their enemies!' It sounds like something that could only happen in the most backwards, fundamentalist, lunatic parts of the country. But it happens in homes all across the Predzone. Every kind of family. It's insidious. It's a virus infecting my people."
The vixen drew herself to her full height, standing in judgment for her entire genus. "First Prey is a depraved and monstrous tradition that everyone in the GPA is committed to eradicating. It is horrifyingly cruel to the Prey children who are captured. This is undeniable. But it is also horrifyingly cruel to Pred children as well."
From somewhere in the back she heard a snort of disbelief.
"No? Imagine it's you then," she snapped. "Imagine you're a Pred and you have been raised to believe that there is one special day that will make you truly and forever a part of your family. A day when you can make everyone you love proud of you. You are told this again and again and AGAIN! And when the day comes, your family surrounds you. Every eye is on you. You cannot imagine the pressure. And then they bring out a child. A child no different from your own friends you play with after school or in the park. A child who is gagged and tied, struggling in terror. But you have been taught since birth that this child's species makes them less of a child. Less deserving of life than you. It is no different than picking fruit off a tree, your family tells you. And then they put a knife in your hands. And they chant. 'Make us proud. Make us proud. Kill it, kill it, kill it...' And you are forced to choose between the love of your family, and your own innate knowledge of right and wrong."
She paused, breathing so hard she was trembling. "Tell me, in that situation, that you'd make the right choice."
No one said a word to her. Not even Cody.
"That's why I called it a virus. Because it infects each new generation with the sickness of the past. It uses a family's love to force good-hearted children to commit acts of unforgivable evil. It keeps children from growing up and speaking out against the belief that Prey deserve to die. I told you that Pred and Prey violence is roughly equal, and it's true, but the belief is still there, even when it isn't acted upon. And thankfully, thankfully, the statistics show that the number of First Prey rituals has been declining for years. But it's not gone yet. It's still not seen as wholly unacceptable. Most Preds, even ones who won't participate in it, still see it as simply a choice. They won't condemn their neighbors who still practice it; they just look away and close their eyes."
"Miss Vera?" Yolanda spoke up.
She blinked, as if waking from a dream. For a second there she'd forgotten she even had students. "Yes?"
She did not ask the question out of malice, but a simple need to know. "What was your First Prey like?"
Vera laughed sadly. "I didn't have one."
"What?" several kids blurted.
The grey fox took a deep breath and thought, 'I'm going to need a lozenge after this. Thank you, Mr. St. John, for making this class so much more interesting...' She took herself back into her memories and tried to decide where to start.
"First Prey is typically more widespread among the poorer cities, the ones near the border. Not to say that's the only place it happens mind you, it's just more likely there. I grew up in one of those poor cities. At my school, even though all of us lived in the same area, the poorer your family was, the more of a target for ridicule you were. For anyone who wanted to look tough, the best way was to brag about your family's hunting prowess, and how much you were looking forward to your First Prey.
"My father loved me. He knew the other kids teased me because of him, and that a First Prey ritual would bring us honor in the community. I wanted it. I wasn't thinking about anyone but myself, I admit it. I only cared about wanting to go to school with something I could brag about for once. I was sick of being one of the kids who was teased and mocked for not sufficiently proving that my family was a pack of killers."
Cody got a sudden, very unpleasant flash to when he was younger, when he and his friends would gang up on the boys who weren't manly enough to suit the social order. Cody remembered punching and throwing sand at boys he called 'faggots'. He remembered calling Scott Quint that word just days ago. And he suddenly felt very sick down in his soul.
Vera smiled sadly. "My father had the best intentions, but he ended up dooming me," she said. "He had tried several nights in a row to make it past the Fence and go hunting. But he was overweight, and a bit of a coward, and simply too tender-hearted to possibly succeed. So he did what he thought was the next best thing. You've probably never heard of a 'kid-roast' before, but it's a slab of nonev beef or pork shaped like a Preykid. For families too poor or too weak to capture a real child for First Prey. The one my father brought home was shaped like a bunny. It even had olives for eyes." She laughed through her tears.
"When I saw it, I called him horrible names and kicked over the kitchen table and locked myself in my room. At school, everybody knew that if your parents brought home a kid-roast, it was even worse than not having a First Prey at all. It meant your family was the lowest of the low. It proved they were unworthy Preds who couldn't kill. My father had doomed my social status. I knew my classmates would find out, and somehow they did, and they humiliated me endlessly."
She sniffed again. "A few weeks later, I decided to do what my father couldn't. At night, I snuck out of the house and headed for the Fence. As you can guess, we didn't live far away. As I was looking for a way through or over, a Prey border guard spotted me. He shouted and I ran. I realize now that he probably only meant to chase me away. But I panicked. I double-backed and ran at him. He pulled his gun. I grabbed for it, and I squeezed his hand, and it went off in his face."
Some of the students were crying now.
Vera continued, numbly. "He died so quickly, I didn't even realize it. I saw his face for only a moment, and it was the most awful... I'd never..." She took a moment to compose herself. "I ran away. I ran as hard as I could and I never looked back. It was nothing like what I'd been told killing a Prey would be like. I felt hollow. I felt like I'd scooped out everything that made me a decent furson and thrown it in the sewer. I couldn't imagine anything but the kind of furson that guard might have been. He might have had a wife or children. I thought of my father. I remembered the nights I'd worry about him not coming home, and he was just a store clerk. I had taken someone away from the people who loved him.
"And the sickest irony was, I had done it for honor. To have something to brag about at school. The stupidest, pettiest reason imaginable. And now... I couldn't tell anyone. Who in my class would believe me? They'd think I was lying to sound tough. When that's what most of them were doing. I had done it for real, and they'd never know."
Vera brushed a hand through her hair. "When I found out about the Great Predator Army, I joined up immediately. Not because I wanted to destroy Prey society, but because I wanted to destroy my own."
She blinked, cleared her throat, and stretched her arms. No one said a word. The classroom was deafeningly quiet.
Vera turned and looked directly into Cody St. John's eyes.
"Does that answer your question?"
*****