“Now, for the second surprise…” I can practically feel the glee in Hector’s voice, and it tightens my stomach. “Take a step forward and wave to the crowd… Defender!”
I can hear nothing but my own rapid heartbeat, as if the whole arena is holding its breath.
Someone nudges me forward. I force my legs to move and take a shaky step. My hand weighs a ton when I raise it to wave to the crowd. Thousands of people reply with an outburst of boos, loud enough to vibrate through my bones. I can pretend all I want that I’m not affected, but the humiliation cuts deep.
Hector calls,“Begin!”and I can once more focus on surviving.
We stand as a group, yet I feel painfully alone in this. By the way the other team members glare at me, it’s not hard to guess who their main target is going to be.
I can’t let them make the first move.
Before I can second-guess myself, I break into a run, straight toward the rival team. They watch me in confusion, likely sensing a trap. I almost reach them when I take a sharp turn to the right, my body’s on fire and every bruise pulsing.
Despite their wariness, it’s hard to pass up a chance to reduce the numbers of your rival team, especially when a Defender’s neck is on the line. Like I hoped, some of them start to chase me. From the corner of my eye, I catch the rest of my team closing the distance, not willing to be one man short so early in the game. When the two behind me realize they’re not going to catch me on time, they stop their pursuit. Expecting that, I sharply turn around and become the chaser. I reach the slower one and tackle him to the ground. Without armor, it’s painfully easy to kill him, but I can’t bring myself to do so for the enjoyment of Raiders. I smash the bottom of my stick against his temple, and he passes out immediately.
The rest of my team is now clashing with the remaining four fighters of House Fernandez. Nobody’s holding back now that all restrictions are off the table. Blood splashes freely, soaking into the sand. Before I can join the chaos, I’m stunned to see a rival team member shoving his fingers into the eye sockets of one of my teammates, popping his eyes like grapes. His screams are chilling, yet the crowd’s roars of excitement are worse.
I reach the fucker and smash my stick against the back of his head. His skull smashes, bone fragments flying everywhere. I stare at the pieces of bone and brain lying on the sand. There is no way in hell that I hit him that hard—that I can even hit anybody that hard. Before I can grasp what just happened, I’m tackled violently from the side, landing on the ground hard enough for my spine to scream. In a heartbeat, my attacker sits on top of me, smashing his fists down on my head. Stars explode in front of my eyes, but I don’t allow myself to pass out. Before my attacker can land another blow, I shove him off of me.
He flies through the air and lands on his back, about thirty feet from me.
A cry of awe passes through the crowd, and I can understand why. I’m positive that whatever Elijah injected me with wasn’t just painkillers. I don’t know if he went against the rules, nor do I care at the moment.
I stand up to see my remaining teammates overpowering the last of our opponents. Four of us are still alive, but one of us is blind, so I doubt he considers this a win.
The crowd cheers, no longer booing the dirty Defender now that I’ve given them a gory show. I try to let go of the adrenaline that still rushes through my veins and makes me feel as though I could keep fighting for hours. Back in the locker room, Master Trainer congratulates us while watching me with suspicion. He should take it up with his boss since I didn’t choose to inject myself with this power.
I take a shower and wash the blood and sweat from my skin, then sit through more examinations by a medic. My face is a lump of bruises, but nothing is broken, and the pain is more bearable than it should be considering all the beating I received today.
It’s almost nighttime when we step outside, escorted by House Powell’s armed guards. I walk toward the car I arrived here with, but Elijah signals me to get into his private car. When I do, I’m surprised to see him sliding into the back seat next to me.
“What the fuck was that?” he asks as we begin to drive.
“What?”
“Don’t play games with me.”
“It was whatever the hell you injected me with.”
He narrows his eyes. “I gave you painkillers.”
“And something else, obviously.”
He shakes his head. “Just painkillers. Strong ones, but nothing I haven’t given others before, and nobody got superpowers.”
I don’t have more than a few seconds to ponder what it means when we abruptly stop. Elijah glances out the window, then opens the door and climbs outside to speak with a group of armed men blocking the road. He returns shortly after and signals me to get out. “Go with these men.”
“Where are they taking me?”
He snorts. “Like you don’t know.”
I let out a nervous breath. It’s time to meet Hector.
*
“How do you like the view?”
“I expected more, honestly.” Most of the city is made up of plain streets with one-story houses, and just the central area includes skyscrapers and wider roads. Yet I can’t deny how massive the city is, much bigger than what I imagined.
