Zeroed - Dystopian Fiction for kids

ZEROED

Every three years, the district posts the assessments at dawn.

By noon, the board is full of names. Some marked green. Some marked red.

Red means seventy-two hours.

Nix Varen has never questioned the system. The rules are precise, dependable, necessary. He followed them. He passed. He did everything right.

He was supposed to be safe.

Then a red marker appears beside his nine-year-old sister's name.

Seventy-two hours is not enough time to challenge a system built to be unquestioned. Not enou...