“Unsavory Row” is the fourth story in Gleanings. It was written by Neal Shusterman.
Plot[]
Kila Whitlock, the sister of Kohl Whitlock, is an unsavory. She has just released a bag full of poisonous snakes into the Authority Interface office, rendering six people deadish, and getting her unsavory status bumped up to Hellion. She is offered a job in the old District of Columbia, and takes it. She meets her "podmates", Sterox, Maw, Thrash, and Slinko. After a week, she is taken to Unsavory Row, she decides to go to Gallery de Basch, where you smash works of art. Slinko suggests the nickname Killa for her, but Maw says she has to earn it. The conservator of the gallery tells her that the world is overflowing with artists that make nothing but replica works of art, so she is told that she is actually providing a service. When she gets home, she questions Maw about what made her an Apocalyte. Maw tells her that she was once a scythe apprentice, but lost her scythehood to one vote, Scythe Chandler's. She then tells Kila that later, she tricked the scythe into self-gleaning after she made him fall in love with her, but tells him it's all false. Her status was then bumped up to Apocalyte. Kila finds a supposed Thunderhead cerebral node, and they plan to destroy it. They succeed in blowing it up, but then Kila sees a stack that is still blinking. she pushes it over and finds three tiny batteries in it. Not enough to power a real one. She then realizes it's all fake, and tells Maw this. She stabs Maw in the gut with a piece of a blown-up stack, to make it more real. It ends with Maw telling her she would make a great Apocalyte one day.
Characters[]
Appeared[]
- Kila Whitlock
- Gooley
- Thunderhead
- Shayla
- Sterox
- Maw
- Thrash
- Slinko
- The conservator
- Workers of AWFul Clubs
- Peace officers and Cloudtechs at Cerebral Node 207
Mentioned[]
- Kohl Whitlock
- Rowan Damisch (Scythe Lucifer)
- Scythe Faraday
- Zach
- Regina Sisk
- Useless
- Scythe Curie
- Kila and Kohl's parents
- Scythe Chandler
Trivia[]
- The story is named after Unsavory Row, a street lined with AWFul Clubs that appears in the story.
- The story is set mainly in the old District of Columbia.