Page 23 of Harmless
Shit. This was all bad if no one came within the next two minutes.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
“That’s unfortunate,” he mused. “Because if no one is coming to our rescue, there is only one way this ends.”
More fighters entered the pit from where he came, fanning out to the sides in an orderly formation. They looked like organized units now, but I knew if a signal didn’t come from the Saint, all bets were off and everything would descend into chaos.
I spotted the Hunter, Levi, in one line of fighters, his eyes locked on us.Wait, he mouthed insistently at me.
“We have to stall for time,” I said to the Saint.
“How much time?”
I shook my head. I didn’t know if the woman would come within minutes, today, or even next week. “Just as long as possible.”
“You know that won’t work,” the Saint warned. “They’ll come in and start killing us themselves if we don’t do our jobs.”
The crowd started chanting,Fight! Fight! Fight!right then, as if on cue. Pitmasters started closing in, their electric prods crackling. Time was not a luxury we had, and we had nothing to bargain with to gain more.
“What do you say, Ghost?” the Saint pressed. “Business as usual?”
No, no. Not with all of us out here at the same time. I couldn’t bring myself to make an attempt on Santos’ life, or even the Hunter’s.
A metallic hum and series of clanking sounds caught my attention, but it was just the banks of floodlights lighting up the arena. The sky had darkened and now we, the men caught between a hard place and death, were spotlit for the world to see.
The Saint sighed as if he were only mildly disappointed, then rotated his wrists, making those blades flash. “Well, it was a convincing attempt. I’ll give you that.”
“Wait,” I hissed. “Just…spar with me. But don’t let anyone make any kills.”
“It’s too late for that.” He almost sounded apologetic. “Everyone’s got their own life to save now.”
“Wait…wait…” Torrance was rolling over now, coming painstakingly to his knees and then standing all the way up. “Rori’s coming. She wouldn’t leave us.”
“When?” I demanded. “Because we are out of time.”
“I don’t know, I…” He rubbed the side of his head, wincing like he had a concussion. “You just gotta trust her.”
The Saint made that wistful little sigh again, looked over his shoulder, then made a slicing motion across his throat to the other gladiators. Like a flipped switch, they turned on each other with every weapon they had—slicing, punching, stabbing, and bludgeoning the nearest man to death. The Hunter was backed into a corner, fighting for his life.
“No, wait!” I stepped up to the Saint, only to feel the edge of his sword on my throat.
“No hard feelings, Ghost,” he said. “It’s just survival.”
He pulled back to swing, and I went for my knives, leaning into my instincts—my distribution of weight on the sandy ground and the finely tuned muscle memory of my arms—when the floodlights shut off.
I let a knife loose just as the entire colosseum plunged into darkness. It wasn’t just the floodlights that were off, the entire canyon had lost power, from the looks of it.
The sounds of fighting ceased as everyone froze in shock. This was unprecedented. In my entire four years in this place, the resort had never fully lost power.
One small, dim light switched on near the top of the colosseum, and everyone turned to look at the source like moths to a flame. A figure stood in the announcer’s box, which was rarely used. The figure leaned down, revealing herself to be a woman with short, blonde hair wearing a leather jacket .
“All spectators are to leave now if you don’t want to get hurt,” she said into the microphone, her voice reverberating across the arena. “The gladiator fights are over. Mystic Canyon Resort is fucking closed.”
10
RORI
There was no reaction to my announcement at first, only stunned silence. The spectators sitting closest to the announcer box looked at each other with confused expressions. I made a quick hand signal to LJ, who was hidden behind a pillar a few rows down from me. He returned the signal, stepped out of his hiding place, and fired a few rounds of his automatic rifle in the air.
