Sniffing loudly, I nodded. “Yes, my dearest, sweet aunty Beatrice. We were very close.”
“Don’t worry,” the guard said, giving my shoulder a pat. “We’ll get you out of here so you can say your proper goodbyes.”
“Thank—”
“She doesn’t have an aunty,” Dig Graves interjected. “Both her parents were only children.”
I narrowed my eyes on him and his wicked grin. “How did you know?”
The guard lost his sympathy and prodded me. “Move on.”
I refused. “What if I got pregnant?”
“You’re not pregnant.”
“I could try.” I pointed my finger to a red-haired man further down. “Give me five minutes with—ah, no, not him. Hm. Not him either. Or him.”
Dig Graves lifted his chained hands. “I can get you pregnant.”
“Actually, I think I’d rather just die.” I clapped my hands with glee. “Come along then everyone! Let’s go and kill ourselves!”
10
The arena for the Execution Battle occurred in the dilapidated city of Tar that had a huge grey wall circling it to keep inmates in.
Enormous and vast. A playground for slaughter. Facades were torn down, leaving only the carcass of steel and timber to suffer weathering. There were still abodes available. Apartment buildings and store fronts and even a small suburb on the outskirts had accommodations for anyone eager enough to fight to stay in a quaint home for the full ten days. Having limited spaces with lavish beds and foods and hot showers gave the inmates reason to claim regions and invade territories, always resulting in death.
And death was their main priority.
It was in their best interest to kill as many as possible. With prisons pushing at the seams, it meant there was less to go around. Less space, less food, less privacy, less medical attention, less laundered clothing. After each Execution Battle at least a third of the inmates had been killed and the rest lived peacefully until the prison was piled up again.
It was no good to have themallkilled.
People tended to forget who they were.
I remembered when I was younger, my brother telling me when Soulless were exterminated immediately, people forgot about their wicked nature. Activists began rebelling against the culling of Soulless, trying to convince people they were human beings and after a while the death penalty was lifted.A horrible time. Soulless were everywhere, destroying the world. It took the harming of many innocents to finally bring the death penalty back and ensured it stayed in place.
The Execution Battle.
Overhead, drones would buzz with cameras that would televise to the world the true nature of Soulless. The ten days of death and torture would remind the world of what they were.
Of what I was.
The van rocked from side to side and Dig Graves kept his thigh tucked neatly against mine. It did not matter how I repositioned myself, I could not veer away from him. Our hands were chained to a notch in the seat between our legs and our ankles were confined under. At least he could not snap anyone's neck.
Four hours we drove.
I did my best to ignore his thigh on mine, his constant stare, his sunglasses and instead focused on applying my sunscreen by squeezing it onto my fingers and bending into my lap to apply it.
“You’re flexible,” Dig Graves commented. “I can’t wait to find out what other ways I can bend you.”
“Yoga.” I slathered cream on my forehead. “I suggest it, particularly for yourself since you have anger problems.”
“I don’t have anger problems.”
“You’re a mass murderer.”
“Because it makes me happy.”
