Page 33 of Survivor
I broke into a jog.
I made it several meters and rounded the corner. Darkness rushed at me and then pain exploded across my face.
I hit the ground hard but was up quick, body in a defensive stance. What the fuck? The darkness shifted to my left. I whirled and punched but too late; a blow glanced off my temple, sending me reeling.
Shit. What was that?
Laughter echoed off the tunnel walls. I shook my head to clear it. Wait, the tunnel was too wide. This was a circular chamber and it hadn’t been on the map. What the fuck?
A man stood a few meters away, slender, fair-haired with a lean face. Not pincer guy, not the blob or leather face…One of the twins? The details on the twins had said they were fast and agile, but this guy moved so fast he was a shadowy blur. How the hell would I take him down?
“Pretty,” he said. “Not for long.”
Then he rushed me in a blur. I moved just in time to avoid a body slam, but he caught my thigh, knocking me off balance.
I staggered, losing momentum, and then his arm was around my waist, dragging me to his chest, while his other arm pressed to my neck, cutting off my air supply. I stamped down on the top of his foot.
He let out a sharp yelp and I was free, spinning to face him, body dropping into defensive mode.
“Feisty thing, aren’t you?” he said. “But a word of advice. I heal super quick.” He rotated his foot. “See? All better.” His body blurred at the edges. He was going to attack again.
Fuck.
The chamber began to vibrate and then a metallic whirring sound filled the room.
We both froze.
The walls were moving…panels sliding up to reveal holes. Huge dark holes.
“What the fuck?” twin guy said.
The scrape and patter of feet drifted into the room from all sides, like a wave of sound, like…
I locked gazes with my opponent. “Something’s coming.”
17
LARCEN
Huge furry bodies erupt out of the holes in the chamber—red eyes and razor teeth aimed at Rogue and the Kargon male.
Below us in the pit a hush has fallen on the crowd as they watch the live-action stream on the halo screens hovering above them.
This is the first surprise. Because the gauntlet is more than a run to the finish line. Rogue isn’t the only prey. They all are.
My gaze slips to Braker, so stoic and calm, watching the action on screen. But the white knuckles of the hand that grip his glass give him away.
I note the ticking pulse at his jaw. “Do you think she’ll live?”
“I’m banking on it. Everyone has bet against her surviving. She lives, the house wins.”
“And that’s the only reason you want her to live?”
Braker is silent, his attention on the image of Rogue as she ducks and dives to avoid the mutated creatures that want her flesh.
She is a fighter all right. I really hope she survives.
18
