Beneath Blood and Bone

by Madeline Sheehan

  “No! Please, no!” I screamed and continued pulling, struggling against their hold on me, but my efforts were futile, only causing them to tighten their grip. “Please, I haven’t done anything, please.”

  Laughter followed my pleas.

  I glanced up and saw her . . . Liv. She stood in the middle of the pathway, daylight shining all around her, basking her in an almost angelic glow. But her grin was anything but heavenly. I thought back to the smile I had given her and the way I’d clung to Eagle’s hand, and how in that moment I’d felt justified and smug that he was mine.

  “I’m sorry!” I screamed at her as I renewed my struggles against the hands holding me. “I’ll leave! You don’t have to do this! I’ll leave!” Tears slid down my face, hot and salty, burning trails down my cheeks. “You don’t have to do this!”

  Still grinning, Liv stepped forward and grasped my quivering chin, tilting my face up to hers. She stared into my eyes, just staring while tears blurred my vision and my teeth began to chatter.

  “But I want to do this,” she whispered, and pressed a rough kiss to my lips. It was over before it had begun, and as she pulled back, she spat in my face. Turning on her heel, she stalked down the pathway, disappearing into the waiting crowd.

  My captors pulled me forward, the crowd parting for them as they dragged me through the sea of eager, hungry faces, their cheers and screams nothing more than a blur of noise.

  It felt like ages before we were free from the press of the crowd, but once we were, and I saw what waited for me there, every hair on my body prickled to attention. I knew this place; I had been here before. The wide pit of pressed dirt, the man with the megaphone, and the giant metal cage he stood on. The cage door opened before me, and the creak of the hinges sent another wave of horror rushing through me.

  “No, no, no!” I screamed. I pulled against the hands, twisting and kicking. With no concern for my own well-being, I went wild in their grip. Growling, I snapped at them, trying to bite, to claw, anything to free myself from the fate of that cage.

  With one shove, they sent me flying forward, and I stumbled into the cage. Spinning around, I threw myself forward just as the door slammed shut in my face. I howled as I wrapped my hands around the bars, fear burning through every inch of me, branding my skin from within.

  “E!” I screamed as a sob broke free from my throat. “E!” Still gripping the metal bars of the cage door, I tried to force it open, only succeeding in making a fool of myself as the crowd screamed louder, laughing at me.

  And then my screams died in my throat. Trembling, I released the bars and backed slowly away. When I hit the rear wall of the cage, my bladder gave way, releasing urine down my quaking legs as I collapsed to the floor.

  Just like before, the biter was led through the parted crowd, held with long poles at arm’s length. Emaciated, its body stripped down to nearly nothing but skin and bone, its arms reached out for me as its soulless eyes burned holes straight through me.

  “Daddy . . .” I sniffled. “Daddy.”

  I can’t help you now. You should have listened to me.

  • • •

  Eagle

  “Don’t shoot!” Jeffers bellowed, his hands raised in supplication. His words were for the handful of guards surrounding us, their guns aimed at me.

  “They better fucking shoot me,” I gritted out as I tightened my grip on his neck. “It’s either they shoot me, or I kill you.” Raising my brow in question, I stared at him, trying desperately to ignore the terrified screams erupting from behind me. Even over the roar of the crowd I could hear her, her every cry chilling my blood, turning it to ice.

  She was in the cage. Autumn was in the goddamn cage, and Jeffers had brought me out here expecting me to . . . what? To stand here and watch as she was served up as lunch to a rotter?

  Jeffers wore a mask of utter calm. “You kill me, she still has to fight. All that will accomplish is signing your own death warrant.”

  Every inch of my body was tense to the point of snapping. I wanted to tear him limb from limb, and then use those limbs to beat to death everyone else in this place. But he was right; I couldn’t kill him. Killing him would do nothing for Autumn.

  “What the fuck do you want from me?” I spat out, and reluctantly released him. “Do you need me to beg? You want me down on my fucking knees, you motherfucker?”

  The noise level of the crowd picked up, and I spared a glance over my shoulder to find a rotter being led toward the cage. My heartbeat that was already working overtime sped up, and my furious gaze snapped back to Jeffers.

  “What do you want?” I roared.

  Jeffers didn’t respond. The useless piece of shit only continued to stand there with his sad eyes staring into mine.

  My mind raced alongside my frantically beating heart. “I’m fucking sorry!” I shouted. “Is that what you need to hear? I killed them, right? I killed them all! It was my decision to leave them alone, my decision to keep searching, to stay away longer! And it’s my fault they’re all dead, isn’t it? It’s my fault, Jeff! It’s all my fault and I’m so goddamn sorry!”

  Jeffers’s eyes went wide and his mouth moved, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. The din of the crowd, Autumn’s sharp, piercing screams, and the beating of my own racing heart overshadowed everything else.

  “Put me in that cage!” I shouted. “I deserve this, not her! Not her!”

  The sound of the cage door slamming shut jerked my attention from Jeffers, and I spun around. Shoving a guard out of my way, I started through the crowd only to find my arm captured. With a firm grip my forearm, Jeffers forcefully yanked me backward.

  “I never blamed you!” he shouted, his eyes flashing with anger. “Never! That was my family, they were my family, you were my family! It was my job to protect you!” He released my arm with an angry shove. “I failed you! Do you understand me? I fucking failed you all!”

  Another time, another place, maybe I would have been taken aback by his admission, but at the moment I didn’t care. All I cared about was Autumn.

  Balling my hand into a fist, I sent it flying into his face.

  • • •

  Autumn

  I was going to die.

  I was going to die the most horrible death at the hands of my worst fear.

  I was going to be torn apart and eaten alive.

  I was going to die . . .

  The man opening the cage door refused to look at me. His hands shook, and his eyes flitted over everything except for me. Jumping to my feet, I ran forward and slammed myself against the door.

  “Please don’t do this! Please, oh God, please help me!” I begged and sobbed, thrusting my hands through the bars. I needed to touch him, to feel his skin, to show him I was human. I needed his compassion, and I needed his mercy.

  “Back the fuck away,” he growled, and slammed his fist down on my fingers, making me yelp.

  “You have to help me,” I screamed, still reaching for him. “Please!”

  “Back the fuck away or I’ll chop those fingers off!” He finally looked at me, and even though his hands were shaking, his eyes were dead. There was no choice to be made; this was survival, and if it meant him or me, he would always choose himself.

  Releasing the bars, I wrapped my arms around my middle and backed quickly away. As I did, another man swung the biter forward at the same moment the first man pulled open the cage door.

  A flurry of movement followed when they released the biter from its leash. It lunged for them, and as a team they shoved it backward and onto its back. The cage door slammed shut, and its lock clicked into place.

  Shaking, I watched as the biter rolled to its side and reached for the cage door, still intent on attacking the men. It hadn’t realized yet, or had forgotten already, that it wasn’t alone in here.

  The crowd went wild, insane with bloodlust, screaming for my death, for the biter’s death, for any death. They wanted—no, they needed to see someone or something die, and I
finally understood why.

  In that moment of fear came a sliver of clarity. They wanted to watch me die, not because they wanted me to die, but because they craved life. Trapped behind these gates, constantly afraid, none of them were really living. They were all just waiting. My death was the affirmation they needed, a reminder that they were still alive.

  None of them would help me; I knew that now. And Eagle was gone, maybe they killed him, or maybe he—

  It didn’t matter where Eagle was. Only that I was alone in this nightmare.

  The biter stilled and lifted its face in the air, as if sniffing. Almost groggily, it turned toward me and fixed its hazy eyes on me.

  An inhuman snarl sputtered past its rotted lips and I screamed, the sound so primal and raw, shredding my throat. I screamed and I screamed, unable to stop, because this was it.

  This was where I died.

  • • •

  Eagle

  It was Jeffers who’d taught me how to fight. He’d taught me how to throw a solid and just punch, and how to throw a sucker punch as well. He’d taught me how to fight fair and how to fight dirty, and that my defensive maneuvers would be what would make or break me. He’d also taught me to never, ever, under any circumstances take my eyes off my opponent’s hands.

  I was doing that now, watching Jeffers’s hands. The guards encircling us had given us ample room, preventing the crowd from intervening, as well as keeping me from getting to Autumn.

  The way Jeffers just stood there, as if waiting for me to come at him, full of rage and sloppy punches that would allow him to take me down easily, it reminded me of the first time I’d actually taken him down. Inside his garage, just seconds after I’d told him I was going to marry his sister, he’d set down his beer and gotten to his feet.

  “No one who can’t get through me is marrying my sister.”

  It had made sense to me. We’d grown up in a rough and tough blue-collar world, and fighting was just one of the many ways we blew off steam. Jeffers was also the closest thing Jenny had to a father. Their own father had split when they were young, leaving their mother to work double shifts just to keep the bills paid, and Jeffers to pick up the responsibility his father had fled from.

  I’d wanted Jenny, and so I’d taken him down.

  I wanted Autumn, and if I had to take him down again to get her, I would.

  “Don’t shoot him,” Jeffers reminded his guards, a hint of caution in his tone.

  “And what if he kills you?” The uncertain shout came from behind me, but my eyes remained on Jeffers hands.

  “He won’t.” Jeffers’s voice was certain, but his twitching fingers told a different story.

  “I will,” I growled.

  “You won’t.”

  Autumn would be dead within minutes if I didn’t reach her. And then what? What else did I have left to lose? I would kill him if I had to.

  I lunged.

  • • •

  Autumn

  The crowd, the shouts and screams, all the noise receded until it had all but vanished, leaving behind only the biter and me. The creature lurched forward and I staggered back, screaming as my back bumped the bars of the cage. Unfazed by my distress, it continued shambling toward me.

  Black drool trailed from its mouth as it snapped its teeth, and its gurgling growls grew in intensity. A realization hit me and my screams died in my throat, because there was no point. This wasn’t a person, someone who might listen to reason. It was a monster with only one thing on its mind—my flesh. Everything that I was, it would take from me, just as those very same things had been taken from it.

  Cowering, I stared at the chunk of missing flesh at its throat, at the bite that took its life. Life had once pumped and thrummed through its body; it used to live, but now it didn’t. I swallowed hard, refusing to let the same thing happen to me. I was more than this small, weak body.

  I was strong. And damn it, I was sturdy.

  “I am sturdy,” I whispered, and straightened to my full height, refusing to cower any longer. “I am fucking sturdy!”

  It was nearly on top of me now, close enough that I could kick it. When I launched my leg out in front of me, my foot connected with its knee with an audible crack. It stumbled backward but didn’t fall, and I used the moment to my advantage, darting out of my corner and circling around it. It whipped its head around, following me with its sunken eyes as it reached out for me, its arms flailing, its bony fingers forever reaching.

  Unexpectedly it lunged, its fingers finding purchase on my baggy T-shirt. Panting and stricken with fear, I slapped at its arms as it staggered closer. Baring its broken and rotten teeth, it tried to pull me closer, but I hit it harder. In a moment of blind panic, I started screaming again, pushing and pulling, kicking and hitting, desperate to be free, and my T-short tore in the process.

  With one hard shove and a twist of my body, I spiraled free from its clutches and went sprawling across the space to its left, before smashing into the bars of the cage. My breath caught and tears burned behind my eyes as pain ricocheted up and down my arm and hip.

  But there was no time to dwell on it; the biter was already coming for me again and there was nowhere to run or hide. Even dead it had strength, and though that strength should be no match for a living human being, it was. These creatures had no boundaries, no limits, and they didn’t feel pain. In fact, they didn’t feel anything at all. How could you defeat a monster with no weaknesses?

  Sobbing, I swiped at my eyes, wiping away the tears and sweat that were blinding me. The creature was nearly on top of me again, growling and reaching for me. It took one last step, closing the remaining distance between us, and like an electrical shock to my heart, the finality of the situation hit me. This was it . . .

  This. Was. It.

  • • •

  Eagle

  My hands were wrapped around Jeffers’s throat, and his were around mine as we crashed to the ground. I squeezed tighter, feeling his windpipe constrict beneath my grip. His bloodshot eyes bulged, and his face turned an unhealthy shade of red.

  I stared down into his eyes, both wanting him dead and hating myself for wanting it. He was all I had left, everything that remained of Jenny and my kids. Jeffers was my last remaining anchor to my past, and once he was gone, everything would be gone.

  My body trembled with indecision. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t kill him. I loved him.

  And then I heard it, another scream that was undeniably Autumn, and my uncertainty turned once again to rage.

  Jeffers was my past, but Autumn was my future.

  Rearing beneath me, Jeffers released my throat and sent one fist into my ribs and the other into my skull. My chest seized and my head snapped back, but I held fast to his throat.

  “Stop him! Stop him, you fucking idiots!” The shrill screaming belonged to Liv. I would recognize her hellish voice anywhere.

  Realizing I had only precious seconds left before one of the guards decided to listen to her, I put everything I had into crushing Jeffers’s neck.

  Seconds later, I felt a tug on my shirt and a weight on my back, and then all at once hands were grabbing at my beard and clawing at my face.

  “Let him go!” Liv screamed.

  I bucked, trying to dislodge her, an action that forced me to lessen my grip on Jeffers. Beneath me, he took a gasping breath and started swinging. His fist connected with my jaw, causing my head to swivel sideways. Choking on the blood that flooded my mouth, I rolled off him, coughing and gagging.

  “I’ll kill you!” Liv hissed in my ear, still holding tight to my back.

  Grunting, I swung my arm back and my elbow connected with her ribs, sending her flying backward. I got to my knees and scanned the circle of guards around us, finding them all looking wary and uncertain. Jeffers was still beside me, struggling to sit up, while Liv lay just a few feet away, holding her stomach as she glared at me.

  “Adler.” Jeffers gasped. “It has to go down like this.” Wheezing, h
e sat back on his haunches and swallowed hard. Blood trickled down his face from various cuts.

  Spitting out a wad of blood-tinged spit, I shook my head. “Yeah, it does.”

  “These are the rules,” he continued, “the fucking rules. Rules you helped make.”

  “Kill him!” Liv shrieked. “Jeffers, you kill him now!”

  Jeffers attempted to laugh but could only manage a throaty growl. For a moment, he just stared at Liv. “You wouldn’t miss him?” he asked, sarcasm tightening his broken voice. “You wouldn’t miss fucking him?”

  Liv’s jaw went slack and her eyes widened as they darted between Jeffers and me. “No,” she gasped. “No, Jeffers—”

  “Shut up!” I roared, and jumped to my feet. My hands clenched into fists, I loomed over her and her mouth snapped shut.

  “Get her out of the cage,” I demanded, turning to Jeffers.

  Struggling to get to his feet, Jeffers took a fighting stance and shook his head. “No.”

  Nostrils flaring, I dove across the small space between us and slammed my fist into his face as our bodies came crashing together. I threw punch after punch, between dodging and ducking his fists. We were evenly matched, but I had one advantage.

  I didn’t care anymore. I didn’t give a single fuck. There was only one way that this was going to end.

  One of us was going to die.

  • • •

  Autumn

  As the biter continued toward me, I thought back to the time that a different biter had stumbled upon my cave, how it had clawed and scratched, desperate to climb inside and get to me. I’d sat vigil in the dark, rocking back and forth, hoping and praying that it would eventually give up and go away. But as time passed, it only increased its attempts.

  For two days I’d waited for the biter to leave, until I was so hungry and thirsty, I’d had no choice but finally crawl from my corner and come up with a plan.