Zombie Zero by J.K. Norry Page B

child is male, and a single mother decides to have the doctor cut him, that is about the most extreme example of genital mutilation we see in our country.”
    “That’s absurd,” Elayna said. “Muslim men have their daughters mutilated at birth, and it’s way worse. They do it so she isn’t as sensitive to sexual pleasure, and to give the man greater sexual pleasure.”
    “Sweetie,” Mallory said. “Those are the exact same reasons people have for mutilating little boys. The head of the penis is no longer protected by the foreskin, making it less sensitive. The decreased sensitivity leads to prolonged sexual pleasure for his presumably female partner.”
    Elayna crinkled her nose. “What about cleanliness?”
    “Turn the argument around,” Mallory said to his daughter, for the nine-thousandth time in her life. “Do you pull back your clitoral hood when you empty your bladder, like an uncircumcised man can pull back his foreskin, or do you just smear urine around with paper after?”
    “Dad!” Elayna flushed. “If you must know, I use wet wipes. I clean myself very thoroughly no matter what call of nature I’m responding to. I use them after sex, too. Hot steamy sex with-”
    “With condoms,” Mallory finished for her. “I hope. I’m just glad you kids are talking about these things, and exploring different angles of different issues without compunction. It gives me hope.”
    “You’re all missing the point of why you’re even arguing about this.”
    All eyes turned to Todd, the only one who had already cleaned his plate. He took a drink of water, and went on.
    “Muslims don’t all circumcise their girls, although most of them do circumcise their boys,” he said. “It’s just been pegged to their religion as part of our war on them. There are plenty of parts of the world where the practices are much worse, but we aren’t trying to confiscate any natural resources in those parts of the world yet. The media is serving the government, as it should. Rather than dehumanize the enemy to our soldiers, we look for any opportunity to dehumanize them in the eyes of our entire population. They suppress women; we give women special rights and privileges, like a polite society should. It’s a no-brainer to use this to our advantage. Killing is not as wrong as oppressing women, according to the court of American public opinion. So let’s get ‘em!”
    They were all quiet, thinking. After a moment Todd spoke up.
    “Hey Professor Mallory,” he said, breaking the silence. “That was great. Thank you. Got any dessert?”

Chapter 5
    Deep in the earth, under a large international airport, was an intricate network of passages. The steel-reinforced concrete walls were two feet thick and lined with lead. The hallways bustled with activity, both military and civilian. Some brought fresh food stores in or expired food stores out; others moved pallets of toilet paper and paper towels, toothbrushes and soap. Everyone had a job to do, and everyone was bent to it; everyone except Melissa. She came here with her father, against regulations, to sit in his office and use the facility’s lightning-fast wi-fi to keep up on her public profiles and electronic journal. He ignored her in the most welcoming way every day until lunch, when they would eat together and talk about the drought aboveground and the developments he was making in fruit and vegetable farming underground. It was the most peaceful part of the day for both of them. In another international airport, far from here…
     
    “Rogers! Todd Rogers!”
    The voice hailed them, urgency driving the pitch and volume up as it called out again.
    “Todd Rogers!”
    The others watched Todd turn slowly away from the sound, until his back was to the speaker as he approached. They were in line, trapped by the people waiting in front of them and behind them. Thick red ropes held the line straight on either side. Maya, Elayna, Allen and Mallory all turned toward the man as