“Some time during the fight.”
“Does that mean anything?” Carr pushed.
She studied Nik. “Open your eyes wide for me.” She flashed a light into them examining them carefully. Then she leant back, her expression unhappy. “Your pupils are dilated.” She stared into space, her eyes deep in concentration. “Vomiting, tachycardia, drooling, dilated pupils...” she muttered to herself. “Goddammit, why don't they allow phones in here?”
“What is it?!” Carr growled.
She glared back at him, her eyes daring him to speak like that to her again.
“Sorry,” he muttered.
She looked away and rubbed her forehead. “I can't be sure.”
“Steph. I trust your judgement. Just tell me,” Nik urged in a weak voice.
She stared at him, hesitating. “You have symptoms of poisoning. I've seen it before. The only thing that's strong enough to do that to us... hemlock.”
Nik and Carr exchanged looks.
“He wouldn't do that, would he?” Carr asked in a hushed, high voice.
“I don't think he did it himself, but he's in on it,” Nik wheezed, rising to his feet. “It must have been done by someone in our Pack.”
Carr stiffened. “I'm sorry this is happening, Nik,” he whispered in a pained voice.
“It's okay.”
Carr swivelled round to face Stephanie, furious determination in his expression. “Can you get an antidote?”
“There isn't one.”
“Will it kill me?” Nik asked, holding his abdomen that felt like he was being kicked there repeatedly.
Stephanie glanced at his chest. “I think if it was intended only for that, you'd be dead already. We have a very strong immune system. You'd need a noticeable amount of it, more effectively injected straight into the blood for it to kill you. And it would. Within a few hours. When did you last eat?”
“This morning. About ten.”
“It's been nearly five hours,” Stephanie murmured.
“Wait, you think someone put it in his food?”
Stephanie tilted her head to one side, gazing at Carr. “Easiest way to do it.” She turned to Nik. “Your symptoms have been going on for how long?”
“I'd say it started... nearly two hours ago.”
Carr gave him a disapproving look.
Nik shrugged in response. “If I don't fight him, I'll end up leaving the fate of our village in the hands of the judges. Over my dead body.”
“Careful what you wish for,” Carr muttered.
Nik scowled at him then looked at Stephanie. “Is there anything that can suppress it?”
She stepped away then asked to be excused from the room. She came back just before Nik was about to be called back out again for round three, holding a handful of beads. No, Nik realized as he looked closer. They were acorns.
She poured them into Nik's open hands.
He gazed at them. “Er... thanks?”
“They contain tannic acid. I remember reading somewhere it can counteract the effects of hemlock poisoning.”
Nik ate them all in one go.
Stephanie handed him a cup of coffee. “Drink this. The stimulant should help to keep you awake and your core temperature up.”
He drank it down quickly, before being handed two more. He quickly went to the toilet before he was called back to the arena.
He breathed heavily, ignoring the fluttering in his chest, the kicking pains, the pounding headache and the sneaking urge to vomit again.
Two guards opened the door and he left. He marched up the walkway just outside the room. His bare feet slapping against the cement floor echoed through the tunnel until he reached the enormous door that separated him from the arena.
The vibrations from the roaring crowd and stamping feet went through his toes, up into his throbbing head.
He stood still, moments before the gigantic metal door groaned, cranking sideways to flood the tunnel in blinding light. Nik held his hand above his scratched, scabby face, squinting as he shielded his eyes. He then stood up straighter, put his hand back by his side, clenching his fists until they cracked.
He breathed in deeply, then out, and as he strode forward into the arena of death he muttered, “Okay. Let's get this over with.”
~Chapter 40 - Thunder~
Friday July 1st, 4:17 p.m.
The Shack
“Sorry we're late. Did we miss anything?” Alf grinned, excitement in his voice.
“Who are you?” the rugged Were with gold teeth asked in a contradictory high, posh accent.
“We're of the Deer Creek Pack. I was supposed to be here to support my Pack Leader, but my girlfriend took her time getting ready.”
Jaz smiled in embarrassment. “I said I was sorry already,” she muttered, then smiled at the Were. He studied her uncertainly. She tried not to squirm where she stood.
“Okay. They're just about to have another timeout,” the Were divulged.