Taking the Knife

during winter months, but may be “called” at any time of year when food is required.
    Hunter — cannibals who have abandoned tribal ties and banded together to actively seek human flesh. The most dangerous group on the Tox , they have been known to ignore the scars of the Knowing.
    Knife, the — ritual suicide in which cannibals offer their bodies as sustenance for the rest of the tribe. Usually performed by the old or infirm, but sometimes forced upon healthy tribe members during the Hunger.
    Knowing, the — cannibals who retain certain kinds of knowledge, such as healing or locating water. They are marked by scars to keep them safe from other cannibal tribes .
    Spirit healer — someone with the ability to affect the minds of others. An art feared among the cannibal tribes, and believed “lost” to their healers.
    Sunstorm — a short period of time, more common in autumn and winter, when the atmosphere allows excess ultraviolet to reach the earth. Largely due to improperly tested herbicide use during the Botanicaust, which created gaps in the ozone layer.
    Tox , the — the cannibal name for the vast continental plains once known as the Breadbasket of America, now consumed by amarantox and other non-edible weeds.

Excerpt from Tam Linsey’s Novel,
    BOTANICAUST

    A marantox Plains
    “ Run! ”
    The girl didn ’ t know much of the Cannibal language, but she understood that word.
    In the sky, a strange flying machine had appeared, its curved, metal belly glinting in the desert sun. Twigs of desiccatedqOpove bushes trembled as the near-silent thing descended, and dust swept into the girl ’ s eyes and filled her nostrils. The woman gripping her hand lurched into a run, jerking the child off her feet and dragging her a few steps before abandoning her.
    The girl twisted to squint at the sky. A cone of flame erupted from the machine and pounded the parched ground a few steps away, engulfing shrubs and people alike. Screams, worse than when Brother Eli was butchered, cut through the fiery roar.
    As the familiar scent of burning flesh filled the air, the girl ’ s stomach cramped; she ’ d eaten to survive, but the smell made her want to cry. Hot embers settled around her, singeing her skin. She pressed her hands together like Mama used to.
    “ Jesus loves me, this I know ...” The song scratched from her throat, as dry as the dust she knelt upon, tears cooling her heated cheeks.
    Blackened cannibals lay scattered across the cracked earth, either screaming in pain, or silent in death.
    The stream of fire eased as the bird settled to the scorched soil. Several figures emerged from inside the belly of the beast.
    “Little ones to Him belong … ”
    They moved toward her.
    Angels?
    They had come from the sky. But these men were green, not cream or tan like her or the cannibals. A hazy sunlit halo surrounded the nearest man ’ s face. When he held out his hand to her, she thought of her last a dead man."
    She took his hand without hesitation.

    C onversion Laboratory
    Haldanian Protectorate
    One of the insipid overhead bulbs in the Confinement Lab had developed a mild flicker, not strong enough to demand replacement, but enough to bring on the beginnings of a headache. The smell of antiseptic and the sweat of the frightened boy strapped to the lab table didn ’ t help matters. Tula checked the monitor for the third time. The boy ’ s blood pressure spiked above one-eighty. Not ideal, but within tolerances.
    “ Okay, Jo Boy. You good. Good. ” She looked into his frantic eyes and willed him to be calm. Preparing captives for the experience of conversion was next to impossible because the Cannibal dialects were too simple and straightforward. But Jo Boy was a quick learner, and she ’ d spent the last ten days building his trust.
    Tula pulled a piece of candy from her sheer lab coat pocket, an expensive treat, but one of the best motivators when it came to teaching new converts. “ Is it okay? ” she asked the gene tech.
    He nodded his permission and bent over the screens, his bare, green skin stretching tightly over each vertebrae.
    The equally naked adolescent on the table jerked against his restraints as the IV dripped conversion fluid into his veins. “
    Ow , ow , ow . ”
    “ I know, it hurts. ” She spoke in Cannibal. Time enough for him to learn Haldanian during Integration.
    She placed her palm on his shaven head, looking for the telltale hint of yellow in his skin signifying the