I Am Alive Read Free Page A

survive, you escape being a Monster. It’s pure entertainment that draws tons of money to the Summit. The show is broadcast worldwide, and the games are just sick. No one ever survived the Monster Show, not even Woo.
    “You never know. Maybe Eva is special, and could be the first ever to survive the Monster Show and get ranked.” Mrs. Delacroix chuckles mockingly.
    “How do you expect anyone to survive the crazy games and deadly puzzles in the Monster Show? It’s impossible. Besides, if someone survives the games, how are they going to live among us? Everyone will still humiliate them.”
    “Yeah. And that’s the fun of it,” Mrs. Delacroix nods, as if both of us share a secret. “The Monster has to die,” she whispers.
    “Do you know what’s going to happen to her parents?” I wonder.
    “If they were Eights or Nines, they might have to only move to poorer suburbs. It’s all up to the Summit. Sadly, Eva’s parents are both Fives. They’ll be downgraded to Monsters. The Summit hates when they turn older people into Monsters.”
    “Why?”
    “Older Monsters are not fun to watch on TV. They’re slow, and lack motivation. It makes the show dull and boring. Do you know that Eva’s younger brother might be a Six? If I were her parents, I would have killed her years ago, and saved the family.” She smirks at her reflection in the monitor.
    I start to feel uneasy being alone in the room with her. What if I turn out to be a Monster? Will she kill me on the spot, here in this room? I suddenly think of my family, but I know they will be fine. My younger brother Jack is a pre-Nine. He is the first in our family. We’re all usually Sixes and Sevens. Anything you want to share with me, Mom? I promise I won’t tell dad.
    “The Monster has to die,” Mrs. Delacroix lets out a long sigh, as she checks my name on the computer.
    “Is something wrong with my name?” I ask.
    “Not at all,” she says. “You’re ready to go. I think you will be surprised with your rank today, Decca. Let me just write your name in the system.” She started typing and licking her lips. “Don’t you wish all Monsters would just die? I can’t wait for the day we turn into a Monster-free nation.” She says nonchalantly.
    I don’t comment. My eyes are fixed on hers. I can’t help but feel disgusted by her. Now that I know I am safe, I try and look for a human soul behind her eyes. I can’t stop imagining her killing her children.
    “You have a big chance of becoming an Eight today.” Mrs. Delacroix looks happily at me. “You’re still a Seven though. Your score is very close to an Eight. Who knows? Maybe the iAm changes its mind.”
    I am not pleased with her news. I keep staring at her. “How did it feel, Mrs. Delacroix?” I say slowly, my voice is unusually low and colorless.
    “Excuse me?”
    “How did it feel killing your children?” I feel a beast rising in me.
    “How dare you ask me about—” She doesn’t complete her sentence, as she notices the sudden, dark change in my personality.
    I jump over the table, and shock her with the electric cattle prod that I stole from the Gatekeeper outside. She buzzes like a fly, but I catch her before she falls to the floor. “Don’t you dare fall asleep on me,” I kick her. “I swear if you don’t do what I say, I’ll buzz you to death.”
    “Okay. Okay,” she obeys, drooling uncontrollably. “What do you want?”
    “I want you to switch the results on this iAm with mine,” I demand as I show her Eva’s iAm, which I stole in the middle of the fight outside. “Now!”
    “But that is impossible,” she says, looking at me as if I have turned into a ghost. She wonders if I am the same girl she was talking to seconds ago. “The iAm is connected to a small receptor in your brain, right under your ear. It’s the size of a grain of rice. It can’t be removed, and I can’t change the results.”
    “Don’t bullshit me,” I growl. “That receptor only gathers