By the time I notice the shift in his expression, it’s too late. He pushes me so hard that I fly across the room, crashing onto thefloor and sliding until I hit the glass wall. I grimace in pain, my shoulder throbbing. Every bone in my body shakes.
Finn takes a step toward me, then stops and looks away. At least one of us is smart enough to control himself. Hector crouches next to me, looking more amused than angry. I hope it means he’s not about to smash my face.
“I apologize for not being in touch. I didn’t want you to fight Isaac so soon, but our enemies are moving faster than expected, so I need my champion to be ready.”
“Then use the giant. I’m never going to fight for you, Hector.” I stop myself from looking at Finn and saying,Not even for him.He would never forgive me if I fought against our own people.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Hector strokes my cheek. “I brought you here today because it’s high time for honesty.” He helps me up, and my pain quickly fades as if I hadn’t just been thrown across the room.
“Follow me,” he says, walking toward the door. “Both of you.”
*
The future is apparently down in the sewers in a remote part of the city.
We need to pass through a heavily guarded entrance before we reach a metal door that leads down to a flight of stairs. It doesn’t smell as bad as I thought it would, but the air is damp and unpleasant.
“Is this the only sewer system you have?” Finn asks as the three of us walk through a wide tunnel. Dim lights on both sides illuminate our way, stretching our shadows across the walls.
“No,” Hector says. “This one was built a few years before the war, mostly to be used as a bunker. But war came faster than expected, and they never got to finish the work. Still, whatever they built is enough for my needs.”
“And what are those needs?” I ask.
Hector pats my back. “Soon.”
I begin to hear flowing water up ahead, and there’s a faint green glow at the end of the long tunnel. It grows brighter as the air turns colder, until we finally reach a massive dome-like space. I try to remain calm at the sight of hundreds of lizard men below us. Water spills down from outflows surrounding the round floor, and some of the lizard men swim in it.
“Are you keeping all of them here?” Finn asks, shivering next to me. I squeeze his hand, hoping he knows that any attack against him will have to go through me.
“They have enough space to walk around, and the strongest ones get to leave for other activities.”
“Like attacking settlements?” Finn asks in a tight voice.
“For example.”
The lizard men look up at us. At first glance, they all seem similar, but some are bigger than others with subtle differences between their features.
“How do you feed them all?” I ask.
“They can go on for weeks without food. Most of the time, they’re in a state of hibernation, but my arrival stirred them up. Let’s continue.”
We walk down a narrow flight of stairs and face the most terrifying creatures I’ve ever seen, despite facing them before in my nightmares. Their musky and earthy scent makes me dizzy.Their narrow pupils follow us as we walk among them. They bow their heads at Hector, who touches them briefly like a holy man.
We have enough room to walk, but I still put my hands on Finn’s shoulders as he walks in front of me. When we finally pass all the lizard men, we enter another dim tunnel where the air is less damp.
“How did you get so many of them?” Finn asks Hector.
“Oh, I’m sure you’ve figured it out by now.”
Finn stops walking, making us stop as well. There is no fear in his eyes as he glares at Hector. “Are these people?”
“They used to be, and now they’re so much more.”
Finn rubs his face. “Raiders?”
“Only a few.”
“You’ve been bringing people here from the settlements you conquered,” I say, reminded of my conversation with Elijah. I’ve seen every imaginable horror during my time as a Defender, but I can’t wrap my head around people being turned into these monsters.
