The slow, guttural crank of an engine started, a misfire filled the room with a boom before it started once more. Overhead lights came to life with a slow surge, and then ebbed, only to burn bright and fill the room with a haunted yellow glow.
“It’s how we do things around here,” Miles stated, staring down at me.
Miriam gave a sneer and then sauntered past. I tracked their footsteps. I tracked their breaths. Kenya light and fast…too fast, and even though I sat here, welded to this moment by hate and misery, all I could hear was my father.
Keep your breaths steady, Harlow. Fear will try to take you—don’t let it take you.
It was a fight. Only a fight, and yet my breaths deepened, burning all the way down deep.
“We have nothing you want,” I shoved from the chair to stand and was met by the thick meaty fist of the brute.
The blow smashed the center of my chest, but it wasn’t designed to hurt, only hamper.
“Let me go.”
Thick rivulets of crimson blood seeped from underneath each of his nostrils. I stared at this life-force weeping away, and then raised my gaze to meet his eyes. “Move, or I’ll make you move.”
“Let her go, Hunter. Let her watch how we do things ’round here,” Miles muttered.
The beast stepped backwards, leaving me to shove forward and climb to my feet once more.
“I always hated you,” Miriam spat as she stepped inside.
A male moved forward, closing the gate behind her. Others filled the space, cramming the chairs, grasping the rusted mesh of the steel cage, and watched the two women inside.
“Why fight?” I wrenched my gaze to their leader. “Why do this?”
Something wasn’t right…this was more than the plague, than the water or food. There was a sickening tang in the air…a cruel, undercurrent of sorrow and horror entwined like long-lost lovers.
It was evil here…and evil hides within the shadows of us all.
The air was charged with excitement. A deep rumble echoed from outside. The bitter scent of ozone was carried on the wind. Energy crackled, but it wasn’t out there that was the danger. It was in here, amongst these barbarians.
“Because this is who we are…this is what we do. We’re all lost,” he said, and stared into the cage. “Until we find ourselves…in there.”
A soft grunt was followed by a murmur from the crowd. I yanked my gaze to the sound, finding Kenya stumbling backwards, and out of reach.
“Fucking bitch!” Miriam snarled and clawed the air as she lunged forward. She stumbled and hit the cage wall. Her fingers speared through the metal gaps, while she sucked in hard breaths and turned toward Kenya. “You know who killed him…know who killed my Brendan. Say it…say it!”
Her screams rebounded.
Kenya shook her head. Her words were muffled by the drone of the generator. I strained to listen to the words, but her mumbled words never reached my ears.
Miriam stilled, swaying on her feet for a second. She lowered her head, let out a sudden cry of anguish and then dropped to her knees. Kenya circled to the side, reaching out with a tender touch and then lowered herself beside the weeping young woman.
“I’m so sorry.” I caught the words on Kenya’s lips.
With a fierce battle cry, Miriam lunged and punched Kenya in the stomach. The blow was hard enough to shock, but not hurt. Kenya stuttered, swinging her fists to the side in an attempt to block. But there was no blocking, no saving…no saving anyone as Miriam hunkered, and then pounced once more.
The jabs were quick, fierce, driving Kenya backwards until she hit the cage on the other side. Kenya jabbed a fist at the bitch’s face, making her duck. But the lab technician was no fighter…she spent her days saving…
Saving stray people like me…
She couldn’t hurt, not like that.
The crowd erupted with vicious cheers. Some stood on their feet, their filthy faces a sickening mask of excitement and lust.
Blood lust.
Hate lust.
Kenya gave a pathetic mewl, drawing my gaze. Blood spread out from the front of her chest, spreading out like it was ripped by the fisted blows. I took a step forward, and this time the brute let me go.
“Kenya?” I called her name, but she stared down at her stomach, the bright crimson stain was spreading all over her chest. My body wasn’t my own anymore. I fought with everything I had to turn my head and stare at Miriam’s hand.
The small sharp plastic shiv stuck out from her fist. The point was slick, shining with fresh blood. I shoved forward, scrambling for the cage door before a male yanked his head toward my movement and lunged.
“Let her go,” Miles commanded.
I never waited, only yanked the latch and heaved open the door. Metal howled, but it was a scream inside my head…No! The yellow lights overhead dulled, only to surge once more. The bulbs brightened. Kenya’s blood was neon in the hard glow. I crossed the floor, taking one quick look at the blade in Miriam’s hand before I dropped to my knees.
“Kenya…Kenya, look at me.”
She never moved, only stared at a mark on the floor one foot in front of her. I grasped her fingers and eased them aside. Fresh blood leaked from her belly. I speared my fingers between the gaps in her shirt and yanked.
Buttons popped, stitching ripped. The gaping, jagged wounds wept. I smashed my hand across the mess, but there was no stopping the bulge that spilled from her skin, and no stopping the life that was dying in her eyes. “I need a doctor, or a nurse!”
There was no rush, no flurry of panic. I wrenched my gaze to their leader, finding his gaze to scream. “Get me a goddamn doctor!”
“There are no doctors,” he answered and glanced at the woman crumbled against the cage. “There are no nurses, no second chances. There’s only death…”
Movement came in the corner of my eye. The savage bitch lunged, driving that thin shard through the air for my face.
Instinct drove me. I shoved to my feet, hands out, slapping the blow when it came. Get on the outside, Dad’s voice filled me. Always on the outside, Harlow. Never let them trap you. The blow came again, tiny spear carving through the air for my eyes.
“Fucking bitch!” Miriam snarled and swung. She circled, leaning back on her haunches only to spring forward like a damn cat.
The howl of the cage door pierced the air. But I couldn’t look, I couldn’t take my eyes from this feral little beast as she came once more.
“You know who’s killing us,” she snarled. “You and your fucking friends know everything. Tell us…tell us now and this will all be done.”
The crowd closed in as the movement rushed. The blow was a blur coming at my right as Miriam came from my left. I swung, blocked…my focus on the blade and not on the fist. Faces from the crowd outside rushed as the blow landed. My head snapped to the side, pain flared, hot and white…blinding for a second as I fell.
The dull boom ripped through my head. They came for me, swinging tight fists filled with honed plastic and steel. The crowd roared, screaming and laughing, as the girl to the left jabbed the air at my belly and Miriam came for my face.
Her nails bit, clawing my cheek before I wrenched my head away.
“Fight! Fight! Fight…her!” The roar was deafening.