Zoey Is Too Drunk for This Dystopia (Zoey Ashe #3)

by Jason Pargin

“So how’s the vigilante business?” “That’s not my full-time job,” replied DeeDee, “it’s more of a community service. The cops in this city barely show up and when they do, they seem to pick what calls to respond to based on what’s easiest. Private security only protects those who can afford it. You said the costume is scary, but I’d make it scarier if I could. I can’t be everywhere but if I show up in these dudes’ nightmares, I don’t have to be.” Zoey said, “She protects the sex workers.” DeeDee shrugged. “I try to be there for anybody who works off the books and doesn’t feel like they can go to the cops, or won’t get a response if they do. In this city, yeah, it’s the sex workers most often. A lot of the other off-the-books laborers, the big gruff construction workers, they look out for each other, I suppose. This is really good, by the way, I’d ask for the recipe but fortunately I was able to memorize it.” If she was being honest, Zoey had spent the days after DeeDee recovered from the surgery waiting to hear about some prominent local lowlife having been punched so hard that his lungs landed on a rooftop several blocks away. Most of the augmentation applications had come from individuals with a specific score they wanted to settle; DeeDee, however, had always insisted that it was simply about correcting an imbalance. A lawless society was one in which women were destined to be prey unless they huddled under the umbrella of protection offered by some strong man whom they...