They brought back apercer the next day.
I’d just finished handing over ration bars and water to Tovis when the returning search part struggled into view.Six sytos were holding onto a huge net, each of them leaning as far from the thrashing beast inside as they could.
The rest of them eyed the beast warily, batons at the ready, as they painstakingly dragged it into the parking lot.It looked almost identical to the one that had knocked Tovis down, massive, armored, a sickly yellow, but this one had longer tusks, and was favoring its back leg.
Someone ran inside, no doubt alerting the Kwin that her newest pet had arrived.I stood beside Tovis, watching with my heart in my throat as the percer planted its feet and tossed its head.Its heavy tusks caught on the net and hurled one unlucky syto to the ground, his hands tangled in the weave.He scrambled up but couldn’t back up in time to reach safety.The percer lunged for him, catching his arm in its bony jaws and crunching right through the limb.
The syto screamed, jerking back, sans arm, and stumbled away, spurting blood everywhere.It seemed like it only took seconds for him to bleed out, he fell to his knees, then to his face.His legs twitching spastically as his body was surrounded by pooling blood.
I covered my mouth, holding back a retch at the sight.I wasn’t naive, I knew death happened before the world ended.There had always been wars, murders, nine car pile-ups that left bodies and suffering in their wake.But before all this, I’d been lucky enough to be insulated from the grim reality of things.
Bad things belonged on the news and in history books.I’d never been forced to watch it in real time, hear the sounds, smell the aftermath.Because in just a few days, I’d learned death had a smell and it haunted me.
“You can’t fight that thing,” I whispered, even though he’d survived an encounter in front of me.
Tovis bumped shoulders with me.“I’ve fought worse.The females are bigger, more violent and have an extra set of limbs that they can stab you with.Those are the ones I fought in the arena.”
I looked over at him in horror.There was something worse thanthis?
“I fought beside Vret,” he said.“But he moved so slowly, we usually just had him distract the thing while I killed it.”
“Tovis,” I breathed, unable to form words that could communicate just how much I hated this.
“Things are not as hopeless as they seem, Jessa.I swear it.”
I nodded, but I didn’t believe his pretty promises and he knew it.
The door to the strip club opened and the Kwin’s chair was carried out.She scanned the parking lot until she spotted me and I knew my time with him was up.
“I’ll-” I swallowed hard, doing my best to trust him.“I’ll bring you food tomorrow.”
It was as close to a ’good luck’ as I could manage.
15 Tovis
By the end of the day, the sytos had recreated a tiny version of the arena I’d spent half my life fighting in.They set out barrier posts in a large circle in the open ground beside the building, the invisible barrier strong enough to keep even a percer contained.As soon as it was finished, they hauled the beast inside, losing two more of their males in the process.
