I’d pulled my hair into a knot at the base of my neck. Neat and tidy, and less for an opponent to grab on to.
There was a knock on the door.
I took a deep breath. “Yeah?”
“It’s time,” Lore called out.
I opened the door to look up into his concerned face. He looked like he wanted to be sick.
“I’m going to be fine.” But my voice quivered, giving away my nerves.
Lore grit his teeth. “There’s still time to—"
“Are you ready?” Jaron appeared behind Lore.
Lore closed his eyes and tipped back his head. “I asked you to stay in the lounge.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t take orders from you,” Jaron said.
“It’s fine.” I wanted to just get this over with. “Let’s go.”
I brushed by Lore and followed Jaron into the lounge area of the quarters.
He stood by the exit, his attention anywhere but on me. He looked … uneasy. As if this was the last place he wanted to be.
“You’re not okay with this, are you?” Tide said.
Jaron’s expression hardened. “Braker hasn’t steered us wrong yet. He takes care of the Crimson Hand. He’s made us the largest pirate corp in the galaxy. No one can touch us, not without getting burned.” His gaze fell to me. “No one’s forcing you to do this.”
He was right. “I know. I’m ready.”
Vex was nowhere to be seen. He’d left an hour ago, claiming that he couldn’t watch me in the tunnels. That he needed air. Xavier had gone with him.
Lore and Tide had stayed, and I was grateful for that, because despite my bravado and my internal pep talk, I was scared. This was new ground for me. New foes. What if I failed? What if I wasn’t good enough.
Lore cupped my shoulders. “You can do this, Rogue. I have faith in you.”
“So do I,” Tide said. “Everything will be all right.”
Their confidence in me chased away the chill of doubt. “Yeah. I got this.”
Jaron jerked his head toward the door. “Follow me.”
With a final look at Tide and Lore, I followed Jaron out the door.
* * *
The lift took us down, way down into the depths of the building. Sublevel down.
I studied Jaron’s tense profile. “What happens now?”
“I drop you off at the mouth of the tunnel. You wait for the doors to open, and then you make a run for it.”
No schematics. No compass. No aid. They expected me to rely on my wits to get to where I needed to be. Thank God Xavier had pulled a map of the network of tunnels. Thank God I’d had several hours to study it.
It was burned into my memory because taking it with me wasn’t an option. There would be cameras down there broadcasting the show, and seeing me with a map would label me a cheater and disqualify me.
I closed my eyes and pictured the tunnels. My route was mapped in my head. The quickest route to the exit, the one they didn’t want you to find because it involved using one of the hidden access routes. I’d make sure to stumble on it and act surprised. Had to put on a show for Braker. I had to win.
The lift came to a juddering halt. The doors opened, and darkness greeted me.
“This is your stop,” Jaron said.
When I’d arrived in this lift, I’d wanted to get out as soon as possible, but now the lift was safety. I didn’t want to step into the darkness.
Jaron cleared his throat. “He’s not heartless, you know. Braker … he’s a good guy.”
Why did it sound like he was trying to convince himself?
I looked up at him. “I don’t care what he is, as long as he pays me once I win.”
I stepped out of the lift, into the square of amber light cast by it, and stood stock-still as the lift doors closed, eating up the light.
Absolute darkness surrounded me, and then red light bloomed, illuminating a steel door. The room I was in was tiny, six by six. Panic gripped me.
No. Rein it in. I was about to go into tunnels. It would be cramped, but if I kept moving, I’d be okay. This wasn’t a cell. This wasn’t Vesper.
Static assaulted my ears, and then Larcen’s voice filled the tiny space. “Patrons, now is the time. The stage has been set. The prize awaits. But who will claim it? Watch and cheer for your favorites. Place your bets and hold your breath. Let the games begin.”
The door began to open.
“Contestants, please enter the arena.”
There had to be cameras in here. The arena was watching us. How far away were the others? There were several entrances to the network beneath the Cogs. They could be anywhere.
I needed to focus on the map. On the route in my head. If I could get to the slip pipe, then I was home free. No one knew about it. I’d bypass them all and make it to the exit.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped through the door.
* * *
Ten minutes in. No attack. Good. I moved fast, silent. The tunnels were wide enough for three bodies in places, and in others, they were barely wide enough for one. My route was blinking in my mind.
Another fifteen minutes and I’d be at the slip access, and then I was home free. How long was this gauntlet meant to last?
It didn’t matter. It wasn’t my job to prolong it. Braker had set me up as prey, but if the others didn’t find me, it wasn’t my fault. We had a deal, and he’d have to pay up or look like a renegade.
I ducked to avoid a thick pipe jutting out of the wall. It had been hidden in shadow. Boot falls echoed toward me. Someone headed this way? Shit. There was nowhere to hide, not the way I’d come and not up ahead. But the lights were dim down here with plenty of shadows. The pipe …
It would have to do. I grabbed it and hauled myself up onto it, lying flush against it.
The boot falls grew louder, and a figure appeared below me. Pincer guy.
He paused for a moment a few feet away from the pipe.
Don’t look up. Don’t look up.
A clatter echoed throughout the tunnels, and he fell into a crouch, growled, and then shot off toward the sound.
Long seconds ticked by, and when I was sure he wasn’t coming back this way, I lowered myself to the ground.
Ten more minutes. I could be safe in ten more minutes. Fewer if I ran.
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
There was no time to think, only to react. What were these creatures. A flash of fang, a scrape of claws, matted fur, and way too many legs. Not arachnids, not rats, but a combination of the two. They were fast, rabid. Blood coated my arm where one had cut me. It burned and throbbed. The fucking creature better not have infected me with a toxin.
Blur guy was whizzing in and out of the fray, trying to get to the exit across the chamber, no doubt, but the creatures were many, and they were fast too. Not blur fast, but fast enough to block his exit. He could have attacked me, knocked me down and left me to be devoured, but he obviously wasn’t thinking straight. Self-preservation could do that to you.
Fuck you, twin dude, you’re stuck here with me.
I needed a weapon. I needed something to attack the creatures with, aside from my fists. I needed the berserker. But that bitch only came out when I was raging, but right now I was running for my life, scared. True, she usually left me unconscious, but what choice did I have? If I didn’t do something, I’d run out of juice and these creatures would rip me to shreds. It was either summon the berserker, kill the creatures and hope for the best, or keep running around and eventually run out of fight.
It had to be the berserker, and for that I needed to get angry.
An idea bloomed in my mind.
I leapt out of the way of a maw of teeth, rolled under the belly of another ratspider, and then came up in time to smash a fist into the side of a third one’s head.
My attack only slowed them down, but nothing kept them down. They were like cockroaches, indestructible.
“Hey blur guy, you want to get out of this alive?”
“You have a plan.” His voice came from my left.
“Yeah, hit me.”
“What?”
I could see him zipping about in the periphery of my vision, but I needed to keep my eyes on the creatures trying to eat me.
“Hit me. Now.”
“With pleasure.” Something slammed into the side of my head, knocking me off balance. A creature’s talon caught my shoulder, leaving a searing, burning track in its wave.
Another block to my cheek, this one a fist.
The world grew dark and then the berserker opened her eyes.
Finally.
Heat erupted from my core, rushing through my body and bringing a crimson haze with it, and then my body wasn’t my own. It belonged to her. It belonged to the hunt. It belonged to the primal beast.
Flesh tore and bones snapped, eerie screams filled my ears and blood coated my hands. I moved through the chamber like a tornado, destroying everything in my path until there was nothing but silence.
The crimson haze retreated, and darkness edged my vision. My knees trembled and I buckled, grabbing the wall for support, smearing blood across the metallic surface. Around me was a graveyard of body parts.
The berserker had done her thing. I needed a minute, just a minute to recharge. I couldn’t let unconsciousness take me, not now. Not here.
“Impressive,” Twin guy’s voice said.
He was still here? “Why didn’t you leave while you had the chance?”
“And give up my paycheck?” He tutted. “Not likely.”
“I could have torn you to shreds.” I looked up at his face, fighting the darkness that wanted to take me under. “She could have killed you.”
“But you didn’t. Your mistake.” He stepped closer, peering at me through close-set eyes. “It’s gone now. Your eyes aren’t yellow anymore. You’re out of juice now, aren’t you?”
I’d thought he’d have run, saved his skin; either that, or the berserker would have done her thing. A heavy weight settled on my chest because there was no way I could fight him off, not right now.
“Fuck you, blur boy.”
He attacked. My head ricocheted off the ground, and before I could get my bearings his weight fell on me and his hands wrapped around my neck.
“Night night, pretty,” he said.
I couldn’t breathe.
My eyes burned as I clawed at his hands and bucked, trying to get him off, but it was futile. He had me. He had me good. The darkness called to me, welcoming me. Rest, it said. Be at peace now. The pressure in my head built. Vex’s face came to mind, Xavier, Tide, and Lore. They were waiting for me. They were waiting to start a life with me.
I couldn’t die.
No. Not like this. Not today.
Gathering the ebbing vestiges of my strength, I slammed a fist into the side of his head. His grip loosened enough for me to grab his wrist and twist.
There was a sharp snap.
He screamed and I was free, rolling onto my side and then scrambling to my feet. A wave of dizziness assaulted me. I needed to act fast.
He had to die.
I’d only ever killed to defend myself, to survive.
This would be no different.
I slammed into him, taking him down hard and claiming his throat with my hands. His body vibrated as he tried to blur, to slip out of my grip.
“I’m sorry.” I squeezed with everything I had left. He could heal fast, so this had to be an endgame injury.
He stopped moving. Stopped breathing.
My stomach quivered, and heat burned the back of my eyes as I climbed off his dead body. This was who I was.
This was what I needed to be for now.
A murderer.
19
Marick
My heart is pounding too fast as I watch Rogue climb off the body of the man she’s just killed. Excitement writhes in my belly and grips my balls.
She’s magnificent and she’s mine. I need to get her out. I need to get her away.
I need her.
There are no options, though. I must wait for this pathetic game to be over, hope that she wins, and find a way to get close enough to take her.
The vial with the sedative burns a hole in my pocket, and the capped syringe sits in another one. The drug will knock her out instantly.
Vartin, my little spy, has shown me exactly where the exit tunnel will lead the winner, and a VIP band hugs my wrist. It will be busy, manic. A crush of bodies wanting to congratulate the winner, the survivor, and then will come the explosion—courtesy of my eager, money-hungry assistant.
I spot him now on the other side of the arena. He nods in my direction.
A diversion that will lead to my victory.
All Rogue needs to do until then is survive.
My gaze snags on something blue … Athions … Her fucking Athions. Where the fuck are they going?
20
XAVIER
The docking bay is monitored from a tower. We can see it from the walkway that leads to the bays. There are no guards here because once th
e ships are docked, you need a code to get back on board. A code that is allocated by the tower.
Luckily for us, we have that code.
Getting on board will be easy. Accessing the ship’s systems may not be so simple.
It’s a pirate ship, and from what I’ve heard, their systems are a bitch to hack. Hacking is my forte, but even I have to admit, the arena system was a bitch to get into. The ships will be worse.
But I never shirked from a challenge.
“Xavier?” Tide says softly. “You sure you can do this?”
“No. But we have no choice. I have to.”
He nods curtly and then begins striding down the walkway as if we belong there. Is anyone watching? Cameras? Probably, but we have the code. Lore and I follow Tide.
“Look relaxed,” Lore says.
“I am relaxed.”
The ship rises to our left, an obsidian monolith, sleek and deadly, but we can’t touch it. A blue shimmer lies beneath us, and the ship—a force field, the security barrier. Tide stops at the panel rising out of the ground. He has the code memorized and taps it in.
A second passes, and my heart almost stops because what if he got it wrong? What if Braker applied for a change of code?
But then, with a fizz, the barrier comes down.
Tide and I exchange triumphant glances. Phase one down.
Now, to get into the ship. This is where my hacker skills are going to come into use. The panel attached to the docking bay is sealed, but the pen laser I carry cuts away the barrier easily. The code required here is alphanumeric. There’s no way we’ll figure it out. I pop the panel and get to work on the wires.
Two minutes later, the doors are opening.
Unease skitters up my spine.
“Is it meant to be this easy?” Lore says softly.
Survivor: Survivor’s Heart book 3: Planet Athion Page 7