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

by Jason Pargin

Axol looked to Zoey. “Will here, and the other guys in suits, they all meet at your office?” “What? Uh, yeah. I mean, it’s at my house.” “And if they ask for something to eat or drink, from your wet bar or what have you, do you charge ’em for it?” “You know she doesn’t,” interjected Will wearily. “Because everybody involved is rich enough that you don’t have to worry about them abusing it, right? So we give away free stuff based on how much you don’t need it. Interesting.”

Apparently when you’re rich, true self-pity is the one luxury you can’t afford.

You think soldiers in a trench don’t get bored? I have veteran friends who say that’s the worst part. There’s stuff happening all around you that demands your attention but it’s not your stuff. You didn’t create it, you don’t control it. That’s what real boredom is, this hollow feeling of not living with your own purpose.

You could build a Utopia right here on earth, Zoey thought, as long as the inhabitants were rich enough and surrounded by a tall enough fence.

No, Zoey, Budd died to the most powerful weapon in the known universe: a compelling lie. Don’t ever underestimate it. That is the dragon that sits atop the mountain, the one that threatens to burn the world.”

Instead, she turned at the door and said, “I’m curious about something. My mother is kind and supportive but has been poor her whole life. My father was a ruthless shark but created thousands of jobs and single-handedly altered the economy of an entire state. They came together under circumstances involving extremely questionable morality and consent. In your perfect society, I already know I wouldn’t exist. But which parent would you have prevented from breeding?”