Satisfied, I jumped on top of the one I’d kicked to the ground as it was rising to all fours. Gripping it by the back of the head, I used the force of my body and slammed it into the ground. It wasn’t the biggest dweller I had ever encountered, and for that I muttered a prayer of thanks.
Again and again I cracked its face into the stone floor of the pit, my fingers aching and bloodless from the strain of my grip. My arms trembled and burned from exertion, but I kept going. The smell of toxin soaked the air as the dweller’s sensors burst against the ground.
I didn’t stop. Even when the thing ceased to move I didn’t stop. Maybe I was crazed or maybe I was just being careful. Sivo always said you could never be too careful. The careful, the cautious . . . they were the survivors.
“Look out!” This single scream stabbed my ears, rising over all other sounds. It was a male voice, deep and smooth as silk even at such decibels. I knew the voice . . . knew him. “Luna!”
Gasping, I spun around and fell onto my backside. I scrambled to get away, clawing the hard stone beneath me, my nails breaking and cracking under the pressure. The other dweller tore at the hem of my nightgown, grabbing my feet, my ankles, my calves as it worked its way up my body, sharp claws digging into me.
I resisted the urge to strike at it. One hit in the face could result in a bite. Even a drop of toxin could ruin me. Who was to say I would be as lucky or strong as Fowler and survive infection?
My legs writhed, working and kicking to get away. Suddenly there was a loud thump of feet landing in the pit with me.
“Luna!” Chasan’s boots thundered toward me just as the dweller inched its solid weight over me. They were always heavier than they looked. Thick and dense with their gummy flesh.
I turned my face sideways, whimpering as its head hovered so close. I smelled the sticky-sweet toxin. Sensors swam in front of my face, disturbing the air. I wedged my hands between us, my hands sinking into its fleshy body as I tried to shove it away. This one was bigger. I couldn’t budge it.
Suddenly I was free. The dweller was yanked off me. It released an inhuman grunt. There was a sucking wet sound as a blade penetrated doughy flesh.
The only sound was the gurgling flow of blood easing out of the dweller and onto the stone ground.
Footsteps rushed me. Hands snatched hold of my shoulders and pulled me to my feet. “Luna! Are you harmed? Luna!” Chasan shook me slightly.
I moved my head in some semblance of denial, shaking off my trance.
I smoothed trembling hands down the front of my nightgown, trying to reclaim my composure in the face of so many eyes on me. I felt all their stares, their astonishment. They didn’t know what to make of me—a girl who fell into a pit and single-handedly, without a weapon, killed a dweller. I’d shown them the girl from the Black Woods. Now they knew her.
“What are you doing here? How did you—”
“I was pushed,” I whispered past numb lips. “She pushed me.” Disbelief tinged my voice. I still could not believe that anyone would do what she had done to me. Bad people existed on the Outside. I’d met them, confronted them . . . barely survived them. Bad people out there made more sense than in here, though. Desperate situations created those people, but in here all was well and right. No one should resort to such a thing.
“She pushed you? Who?” Outrage spiked his voice.
He was furious, and I realized that Riana’s life would not be worth anything if I revealed what she had done. As terrible as she was, I did not want her death on my head, and I knew the king would react with such a punishment.
I bit my lip and shook my head. “No, nothing,” I stammered. “I just fell.”
“Fell?” He doubted me.
“That’s right,” I insisted.
“What are you even doing here?” he asked, apparently deciding not to push the point. “How did you find out about the pits?”
I shook from head to toe. From shock? Perhaps it was simply a release from all the excitement, the near scrape with being dweller food. “Please. I just want to go back to my chamber now. I am quite weary.”
His hands flexed on my arms, fingers splayed wide as though holding me together was holding him together, too. “Of course, of course. I understand. I’ll escort you.”
“No. You don’t have to. Someone else can do that.” I tried shrugging out of his grasp. I didn’t want him near me. He might have jumped in the pit to help me, but he was a part of this. He was the one who went out and hunted dwellers and brought them back here for these sick demonstrations—for the titillation of haughty and overprivileged men. He designed these sick games where people lost their lives.
“Chasan! Come here!” the king called down from his perch. He did not sound happy. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was here, because I had almost died, or because Chasan had risked himself to save me.
Chasan sighed heavily. His hands slipped from me, but he stepped closer, his breath fanning my cheek as he whispered, “We’re not finished with this.”