Read Wasteland Wonderland - Part 1 for Free Online Page B

expected. “Thanks a bunch.” I toss him the
knife I took off the Enforcer that I shot in the neck. It’s made
from high quality forged steel. It has a serrated edge. It is well
balanced. It is worth a lot. “For your trouble,” I say.
    The Mayor picks up the knife. He studies the
blade. “You should get a move on.”
    “Why’s that?”
    “They’re coming for you.”
    “Who?”
    He stabs the knife into the hardwood desk.
“Everyone.”
     

Chapter
8
    I thought about killing the Mayor. How corrupt is he? How far gone?
I decided not to. He’d helped my brother get me out of the
underworld way back when, helped broker the deal. He even gave me a
map of the Wasteland before I was Exiled. So yeah, for this reason,
I don’t kill him.
    Maybe I’m getting soft.
    Anyway, the good Mayor said I’d find what I’m
looking for at either the Library or the Casino.
    I decide to make my way to the Great Library
of the Buried City first. I do this because the Casino is run by
some people that I’d rather not deal with right now. It’s run by
some people who probably still want me dead and buried and
Exiled.
    It’s funny, here we are at the end of the
world, the end of life on Earth, and people still want to gamble,
people still want to risk it all for the small chance of victory,
for the small chance of beating the big odds.
    People gamble with everything. Everything
from food and water, to tokens, even people’s lives. There’s a
rumor flying around that a guy lost his ticket to Wonderland a few
years ago, more than a few years ago. But then there are also the
rumors of people winning. Winning big. Winning their way into
Wonderland.
    Maybe this is why people do it.
    To win big.
    On to one of the Shuttles.
    Winning a home on one of the Arks.
    So yeah, maybe this is why people keep
gambling, keep taking their chances and risking it all. Maybe it’s
why they keep putting their lives and their family’s lives up as
collateral.
    The weird thing is, the slot machines, they
take coins, they take gold dollars and silver dollars and pounds
sterling and pennies and nickels and dimes, even though these coins
are worth more if they are melted down and made into something
useful. If I had to take a guess, I’d say that to the people who
gamble with them, the coins, they represent hope. And to the
gangsters who run the Casino, these worthless coins represent control .
    I picture myself walking in there right
now.
    I picture the fight.
    I picture all the trouble.
    I shake my head. I’m going to need some time
to prepare myself for something like that.
    So it’s off to the Library I go.
    My brother and I have used the Library as a
meeting place before. The Mayor knows this. I guess it could be a
trap, a set up. But it would be no worse a trap than the Casino
would be.
    Anyway, there’s only one way to find out. I
head for the Great Library, a building that contains the entire
history of mankind, both real and fake, biased and unbiased. Within
the pages of the books, within the dusty covers are lies and truths
and stories too fantastic to be real.
    Usually the place is full. Full of people who
want to better themselves by reading up on the terrible history of
the human race, full of people who want to escape from this world
into a fictitious world with fictitious characters.
    I once asked my brother why he reads so much,
why he spent so much time in the Library.
    “To learn everything I possibly can,” he
answered. “To reject the useless and keep the useful.”
    I said, “Bullshit. What’s the real
reason?”
    He said so he could become a better liar. “To
be a good liar, you need to know the truth of things.”
    I never understood what he meant by that, but
then again, he was always smarter than me.
    Bastard.
    I walk to the front desk and I’m surprised to
find the place isn’t entirely deserted.
    The Librarian is still here.
    Nice old lady. Runs the place by herself. Not
sure of her name. I was always better with