Charged

by G. P. Ching

  Pope collapses, head and feet rebounding slightly from the impact. There’s a murmur in the crowd.

  “Ace wins,” Red Coat says. “In record time. A personal best.”

  Korwin holds up one hand and turns in a circle, pausing to meet Alpha’s eyes with a menacing stare. The message in that look seems to say, You touch her and you’re next. But when I glance at Alpha, his response isn’t fear. Instead, his silence speaks, Challenge accepted.

  24

  The match between Brady/Boulder and Merciless gives new meaning to the term brutal. The purple giant rises to an early advantage, his long limbs landing kicks to Brady’s head, side, and crotch. There’s blood as noses crack and knuckles split. But like his namesake, the rogue firefighter seems to feel no pain, even when Merciless’s purple skin strikes an open wound on Brady’s cheek. Likewise, several attempts of the purple man to spit his poison into the larger man’s wounds fall short.

  Eventually, Merciless slows, exhausted from the constant attack of the stone man in front of him. He jabs, and Brady entraps his arm with a circular block. The larger man steps back, using the weight of his hips to yank Merciless off balance, drives a knee into his abdomen and delivers a blow with the heel of his palm to the man’s throat.

  The combination move floods my head with images. David stands in front of me. “This is mixed martial arts, Lydia. A favorite of the Green Republic militia. Aim for the elbow with your block. Over the top. Lock your opponent’s arm under yours and pull. You want his weight to work to your advantage.” I can feel my limbs going through the motions, my palm pressing into David’s throat for practice. Brady definitely trained with the Greens. Why is he here? Did they kick him out, or did he leave?

  In the ring, the men are not practicing. Merciless lies twitching on the concrete and then stops moving, eyes staring into the distance. He’s dead, I’m sure of it. Red Coat pronounces Brady the winner as a swarm of Shadow clan members remove the body of their fallen comrade. There is no cheering this time, and a woman with purple skin and a white dress weeps by the fighter’s side. It takes forever for them to usher her and the man’s body from the kennel, and by that time, I’m a mess from crying for her loss.

  “Don’t waste your tears,” Sting says, handing a handkerchief to Bella and another one to me. “I met the man. He was intolerable.”

  I wipe under my eyes and brace myself as Korwin enters the ring with Brady. “Here we go,” Jake says.

  Alpha steeples his fingers.

  “With fifteen thousand units riding on this, Ace better win or we are all in for a cold winter.” Sting glances toward Alpha before grabbing the bottle of wine and pouring another glass.

  Fifteen thousand. Last I’d heard, it was only ten thousand. A small fortune. My stomach clenches.

  When Alpha offers me more wine, I decline, but turning allows me to see that Alpha is still staring at me and the look on his face is possessive. Just the feel of his eyes on my skin makes me pray for a quick fight. His predatory manner makes me want to flee. I have to get out of here.

  Red Coat garners the attention of the crowd with three loud claps into the microphone. The kennel plunges into silence. “Our final match. New contender, Boulder of the Knights vs. reigning champion, Ace of the Red Dogs. Fighters square off!”

  Korwin faces Brady and again I am distraught at my love’s relatively small size. The bar is lowered into place. “Begin!”

  Once again, Brady holds back. Korwin is faster and no doubt the massive man’s strategy will be to wear him out. But Korwin doesn’t take the bait. He circles the big man, fists raised.

  “Lydia, speak with me privately,” Alpha says in a low, gravelly voice.

  Brady throws the first punch and Korwin easily avoids it. I turn halfway around to glance at Alpha. “Of course,” I say softly. “After the fight.” I turn back in time to see both of Korwin’s feet land on Brady’s chest. The big man doesn’t even flinch and lands a blow to Korwin’s jaw before he can regain his fighting stance.

  “Now,” Alpha says.

  Even Sting and Jake seem disturbed. “The woman should be able to watch the outcome of her keeper,” Jake says.

  “More importantly, Ace ain’t gonna fight as well if she ain’t here cheerin’ him on,” Sting says.

  Bella and Bailey glance with frantic eyes in my direction. They’re worried, but I don’t fully understand why. There’s something going on, a feeling in the air that is beyond my social experience. While Sting and Jake argue with Alpha behind me, Sophie turns her head and whispers in my ear, “He means to take you while Ace is distracted with the fight.”

  “Take me.” The realization comes like a splash of cold water. He means to rape me, while Korwin isn’t here to defend me. My eyes widen.

  “Don’t let him get you alone.”

  I straighten in my chair and turn back to the fight. The two men are pounding on each other, bodies close and fists flying. There’s sweat and blood and a tooth that sprays from Brady’s mouth into the crowd.

  “Lydia, come with me. Now!” Alpha demands.

  I don’t move.

  And then his hand is in my hair and the chair topples as my body falls to the floor. I yelp in pain, but no one does anything as he drags me from the platform. I have to crawl to keep him from pulling my hair out. His thick arm catches me around the waist and he throws my struggling form over his shoulder.

  “Please,” I mouth to Sting, but he simply frowns and turns away.

  Alpha takes me to a cell down the hall from the viewing area and closes the door. When he drops me on my feet, I scramble against the wall.

  “Let me go, Alpha. Ace won’t fight as well without me there. You don’t want him to lose with that many units on the line.”

  “Humph.” Alpha paces in front of me, a wild animal toying with its prey. “Stop with the sweet-and-innocent act. I know who you are.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You may not recognize me, but I recognize you, girlie. I remember the day Hambone brought you here, about a year ago, and I remember what you did to those six men.”

  I tremble against the wall, shaking my head.

  “Oh, I wasn’t touching you. I was watching, just beyond the circle. Funny, when you electrocuted those guys, they couldn’t remember a thing. But I remember. You’re a scamper and you’ve been in the deadzone before.”

  “No. You’ve confused me with someone else,” I insist.

  “I don’t think I have.” He steps in closer, close enough for me to smell the alcohol on his breath. “I did some research, Lydia Lane. You and your boyfriend, Korwin—oh, I know his name, too—have secrets. Secrets worth a hell of a lot more than fifteen thousand units.”

  My heart leaps into my throat. All I can do is shake my head.

  “Here’s the deal, sweetheart. I’ll keep your secret and I’ll protect you.” He traces my collarbone with the pads of his fingers. “But I want something in return.” His hands go to his waist and he unfastens his belt. He moves to kiss me, and I turn my face away. An iron hand clamps around my jaw and throat and he slams my head into the concrete wall.

  I raise my hands between us, placing them over his heart. I’m not strong enough to push him away. The feel of his lower body pressing into mine through my dress makes my stomach turn.

  “Are you the only one who knows?” I rasp through his grip.

  “Yeah. And as long as you perform, it will stay that way.” He grinds into me.

  He’s too close. Thirteen ways to kill him flash through my brain—David’s ways. The level of hatred I feel for Alpha is all consuming. Not just because of what he’s trying to do to me, but because of what he’s done to Sophie. I can’t take a moment more of this. I snap.

  “Do you know what it says about this in the Bible?” I say in a low and even voice.

  “The Bible? No.” He snorts and buries his lips in the side of my neck.

  “It says the wages of sin is death.” I ignite the tingle at the
back of my brain and send my power into his body. It’s easy, a muscle that has ached to be used. He stiffens and trembles, tries to pull away, but the electricity binds us together. I grip his throat. Blue lightning reflects in his eyes. His tongue extends from his mouth and his pupils roll back in his head. His arms smoke, filling the room with the scent of burning hair.

  Fueled by my anger, it’s difficult to cut my power off, but my desire is to disable, not kill. I’m not a killer. With a shove, I knock his body to the floor and store the tingle back where it belongs. Two black circles are burnt into the flesh of his chest where my hands had been. I push him with my foot, then check that his heart is still beating. Just barely.

  I brush my hand off on my dress, and for some reason, I picture the wolf from the woods. It’s as if she’s standing beside me, hunched over Alpha’s body. This ghost wolf feels no remorse. She walks with a swagger. She does not downplay that her teeth are sharp and her claws could slice through bone. A wolf is not apologetic about being a wolf.

  The door opens and the angry din of a worked-up crowd filters into the room around me.

  “Lydia!” Bella gasps, gaze darting between Alpha and me. “Holy crap. Did you kill him?” Her words aren’t accusatory but full of hope. She does not rush to his aid.

  I stand from my squat. “No. He’s alive.” The wolf is gone, dissolved to wherever ghosts go. “What’s going on?” I ask when another wave of hollering comes from below.

  “Ace. He’s down and not getting up.” Bella’s eyes search mine. “I thought you’d want to know.”

  I sprint back to the viewing area. Sure enough, Korwin is flat on the concrete, bloody and bruised. Brady is working the crowd. Half of the patrons are cheering his name, the other half pleading with Ace to get up. The man in the red coat is open mouthed. He seems reluctant to pronounce Brady the winner.

  “Ace saw when Alpha took you. He got distracted and Boulder got the upper hand.” Bella shakes her head.

  Brady approaches Korwin’s body. Is he still breathing? I grip the railing, a loud buzz growing between my ears.

  “Lydia?” Sophie asks.

  I turn to her and catch a glimpse of my arm. I’m glowing, bright as a star. “I’m sorry,” I say. Sorry for making your lives more complicated. Sorry, that after this, things will change for you. Just sorry. I kick off my shoes and launch myself over the railing.

  It’s a fifteen-foot drop, but the spark protects me. I land on my feet between Brady and Korwin. Brady recoils and then grins smugly. I lower my hand to Korwin’s throat while the crowd watches silently. As soon as I make contact, I know he’s alive because power is drawn from me. Korwin’s body knows what it needs. The juice flows until he stirs beneath my hand.

  “Lydia?” he mumbles.

  Brady pulls a small metal device from the material of his shorts and plugs it into his ear. He recites a string of numbers, pauses, then recites them again.

  “We’ve got to get out of here,” Korwin says.

  “I’ll protect you,” I say.

  He scrambles to his feet and drags me toward the cage door. “They’re coordinates. He’s transmitting our coordinates.” With a solid kick to the chain lock, he breaks the door open. We rush from the cage.

  Brady calls from behind us, “Stop. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”

  25

  “So that’s what happened to Brady,” Korwin says, as we push our way through the crowd. “Do you think he was the Liberty Party mole?”

  “Who else could it be? Looks like he’s still working for the Greens.”

  Mobs of people block every exit. “Which way?” Korwin shakes his head.

  “I need my pack,” I say. “I have something that can help us.”

  “No time. They’ll be here in minutes.”

  I drop his hand. “Then I’ll be faster. It could be our only hope.” I bolt up the stairs to Korwin’s apartment and grab the backpack David gave me. The sound of approaching sirens makes my hands shake.

  “I hope whatever is in there is worth it,” Korwin says. He gathers his own pack from under the bed.

  “How long have you been packed?”

  “Since I promised we would run.”

  We break from the room and run for the stairs. Green officers charge the front doors and the crowd panics.

  Bella spots us from the second floor landing and rushes to my side. “You can’t let them find me,” she begs. Her eyes are wild with fear. “You don’t understand. My father—”

  “Over,” Korwin yells, motioning to the stair rail.

  A sea of people bustle below. “You take Bella,” I call. I plant my hand and kick over the top. A woman screams as I barely miss her and knock aside a man in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  “Sorry,” I say. He swears and lunges toward me, but Korwin lands by my side with Bella in his arms. He drops her, wide eyed, onto her feet and pushes the stunned man aside. “Come on!” He drags me toward the tunnel to the slaughterhouse.

  “Not that way,” Bella says. “The passageway is completely congested. I tried.”

  “We need another way,” I say.

  He pauses. “A window. Is there one in the kitchen?”

  Bella shakes her head. “Bars. This was a prison. You won’t be able to get out that way.” She turns a circle, the crowd flowing around us.

  I can see Green officers at every entrance. The masses are slowing them down but they’re close, too close. “I have an idea. Come on.” I grab Korwin’s hand and we weave in the opposite direction of the crowd, deeper into the prison and away from the exits. My bare feet slap the floor as we break out into the empty hallway and I lead Bella and Korwin to the pack leaders’ bathroom. I duck inside to the din of screams and gunfire and lock the door behind us.

  “Strange timing for a bath,” Korwin says.

  “We’re trapped,” Bella says. “If they search the place. We’re doomed.”

  “Sophie told me this room was added on by Alpha,” I say. “Recently.” I point to the fireplace. “That wasn’t there before. It’s wood burning. It has to vent outside.” I knock on the wall next to the bricks. “Drywall. Not concrete.”

  “Move,” Korwin commands.

  I’m barely out of the way before a blast of electricity blows a two-foot hole in the wall.

  “He… he just…” Bella points at Korwin, face pale. “Who the hell are you?”

  I leave her side to help kick out the space below the hole and realize I’m still barefoot. Quickly, I grab the boots from the backpack, the ones I was wearing the day I arrived, and slip them on my feet, not even bothering to untie them first.

  “Nice look,” Korwin says as he pounds on the drywall.

  I smile. “Some girls just have a knack for fashion.”

  “How did you do that?” Bella asks. “Are you scampers? Are you hiding a device? I didn’t even know a device existed that could do that.”

  “It’s better you don’t,” I tell her.

  She narrows her eyes at me and looks toward the door like she’s deciding which is worse, us or the Greens.

  Korwin climbs out the makeshift exit into an alley. “It’s clear for now, but hurry.”

  I follow. Red swirling lights color the pavement at the end of the alley. I motion to Bella. “Come on! We don’t have much time.”

  She hesitates.

  “The Greens are coming. We can’t wait for you.” I leave her and jog toward Korwin, who is opening the circular grid in the pavement that leads to the sewer.

  “Wait!” Bella whispers, following after me. She balks at the opening. Unlike Korwin and I, who have the benefit of proper shoes, she still wears the same stiletto heels she wore to watch the fight. Korwin climbs into the sewer and I pause on the ladder.

  “It’s the only way,” I say to Bella.

  She shakes her head and presses the back of her hand over her mouth. Backing away, she points toward another door across the alley. “No way. Sorry. Go ahead. Good luck to you.” />
  I close the hatch above my head and skim down the ladder into the darkness below.

  26

  I hold my breath in the darkness and listen. Red light passes over the grid. Footsteps. The clank of shoes on the manhole cover. Korwin places a finger over his lips and pulls me out of the light, deeper into the shadows.

  “We’ve got trouble,” a deep phlegmy voice says. “Hole blown in the wall on the east alley… No… Not a trace.” The feet shift. The man coughs. “Wait. There’s someone… I need backup.” The shadow disappears. Shoes slap pavement. “Hold it right there!”

  Korwin tugs me deeper into the stench and inky blackness that is the sewer. Poor Bella. If I had to guess, she is the one the officer is chasing. I pray she isn’t caught, and if she is, that she won’t give away our escape route.

  Only when we have distanced ourselves from our entrance point do I snap my elbow and ignite my hand. The blue light illuminates the dripping, dark filth around us. Somehow it smells worse once I can see it.

  “Looks about how it smells down here,” Korwin whispers, eyeing the walls of the pipe.

  “We always end up in the sewer.” I frown.

  “Question is, where should we go next?”

  “We need to find Stuart Manor.”

  Korwin shakes his head and looks like he might cry. “The Greens took Stuart Manor months ago.”

  “Exactly. They won’t expect us to go back there, and there should be a skeletal staff managing the property.”

  “A skeletal staff with guns and scramblers. We’ll never get in. More importantly, why would we want to?”

  “When I left Liberty Party headquarters, David thought you might be staying there. That’s where I was heading when Pit found me. David said there were places in the basement compound that the Greens can’t access, secret places where your father hid his research.”

  “Yes, there were, but we can’t get in. My dad used a biological key to lock down the compound. His own blood. I can’t even get in. Believe me. I tried. I thought maybe my father had given me access again, once you rescued me from CGEF, but no. That’s how I ended up with the Red Dogs. Couldn’t get in.”