Page 21 of Harmless
I switched the weapon to my other arm and ran over to help Torr. The Bulldozer was giving chase now, running after my buddy and swinging wildly while Torr did his damnedest to keep out of range of that blade. Every move missed him by inches, and he was bound to get sliced if they kept at it.
What the Bulldozer had in brute strength, he lacked in speed. I came up behind him and brought the sword down across his back, hoping to slice between his vertebrae. If I had my own damn weapons, I’d know exactly where to aim. The fighter’s thin shirt sliced apart, revealing some kind of vest underneath.
“Goddamn it!” I ground my teeth against frustration and the pain in my arm. No gladiators had access to stab-proof vests. Sometimes we managed crude armor out of metal plating, but that thing could have only come directly from the pitmasters. Torr and I had sat in darkness with barely any food or water for days, and they still rigged this fight against us.
The Bulldozer only laughed when I realized what he was wearing. “What’s wrong, Butcher? Don’t want your pretty little weapon back?” He waved my machete in front of my face, mocking me.
“Take it off,” I hissed at him. “Take that fucking vest off and fight like a real man.”
“No thanks, but I’ll remember your honorable words when I’m carving your insides out.” He was holding the machete all wrong, waving it around with no finesse or respect for the weapon. “I think I’ll keep your blades too. They’re very sharp.”
“They’ll let you die too, you know,” I said. “Their gifts don’t mean anything.Youdon’t mean anything. You think working with them will get you a leg up so you’ll live longer, and maybe you will, in the short term.” Torr was creeping silently up behind the Bulldozer, so I went on talking to keep him distracted. “But they’re still using you, just like they use all of us. You’re not a favorite. You won’t be saved.”
“You sound jealous, Butcher. Want one of these for yourself?” The Bulldozer pounded a fist on his vest. “Fucking the guests and being the crowd favorite not good enough for you?”
Torr took that moment to jump, his arm around the huge gladiator’s neck and legs braced on either like he was taking a piggyback ride. He’d lost the mace at some point and held the Bulldozer’s neck in a choke hold, his wrapped arm clasping his opposite bicep to cut off the fighter’s oxygen.
Almost immediately, the Bulldozer’s face turned a bright red, his eyes widening in panic from the lack of air as he fought to get Torr off his back.
“Now, get him!” Torr yelled, clinging to the massive fighter with his full body. The Bulldozer couldn’t break the hold on his throat, so he was trying to elbow Torr in the gut.
I darted forward, aiming the sword low at the fighter’s legs. He wore leather greaves to protect his ankles and shins, so I drove the sword through his thigh. Only a grunt escaped his mouth, and I couldn’t tell if that was due to his pain tolerance or Torr’s hold. I stabbed through his other thigh, dark red blood now pouring onto the sand as if from a fountain.
My jabs were quick, and I darted back to stay out of the gladiator’s reach. “Torr, let go! He’s going down!” I hollered.
The Bulldozer began leaning backwards, like a tree falling. His face was slack, as if he was unconscious already, and quickly losing color. And Torr still did not release his choke hold.
“Torr, letgo!”
He finally did, but it wasn’t fast enough. The Bulldozer fell backward with a crash, pinning Torr beneath him.
A moment passed where everything felt still. Even the people in the audience, whom I was barely aware of, seemed to be holding their breath. Then it hit me.
Oh fucking hell, neither of them were moving.
“Torr!” I dropped the sword, ran to the Bulldozer’s hefty side and started pushing, trying to roll his dead weight off the other man. “Fuck, you better be just knocked out under there…”
I had only been shoving for a few seconds when a meaty fist snapped up, fingers clasping around my throat in a surprisingly painful hold. In an instant, my breath was gone. Stars and dark spots danced in my vision, but through them, I could see the Bulldozer’s eyes. Open and alert.
And the grimace of effort on his face as he squeezed harder was equally clear. “We all die, Butcher,” the gladiator wheezed through his broken nose and choked throat. “I’m just glad you’ll die before me.”
I clawed at his hand with the last of my flagging strength, desperate to break the hold over my airway, but there was no use. Fuck, why did I drop the sword?
My vision became mostly black, and my lungs burned. It was wholly unfair, but everything about a gladiator’s life was. I was sloppy, weak, and uncoordinated from being imprisoned. Even with two of us against one, Torr and I never stood a chance.
This was an end I expected for myself. I just hoped Rori wouldn’t be affected by my death too badly. She and Torr loved each other, but her and me? Maybe it was a good thing we never really got a chance to begin. She’d have enough to deal with, mourning the guy she’d known since childhood.
Devin would learn to move on. Nothing could mentally break that guy. Maybe he and Rori could save Hudson.
So many maybes…was my last thought before I gave in and stopped fighting to breathe.
9
DEVIN
“Let me out,” I demanded the pitmaster. “It’s supposed to be my fight against the Butcher. He’s takingmykill.”
“Step back.” The uniformed guard sneered as he slapped his electric prod against my chest, finger hovering over the trigger. “We had a last minute change in the fight. You’ll go out when it’s your damn time.”
