Death and blood and biters. It was everywhere, clinging to me, seeping through my skin and filling me with dread. My knee bobbed up and down relentlessly, and my legs tingled. My jaw was stiff and sore from grinding my teeth, and my fingernails dug into my palms.
“Death,” I mumbled. “Death.”
They had come and taken me, all those men. They’d grabbed me with sweaty hands and meaty fists that hurt when they hit me. Then they’d dragged me kicking and screaming away from Alice and Jonah, and I’d screamed and clawed, desperate to get free. I’d screamed for Eagle, frantically searching every face we passed, but I never found him and he hadn’t come.
“He can’t protect you now, darlin’. Now you’re all mine.” Liv had been there too, giving me her sadistic smile as they’d hauled me past her.
And now I was locked in a dark and tiny room with four walls, one door, no windows, and the air thick and pungent with the stench of death. I trembled, my body convulsing from head to toe as I whimpered. I wanted to be brave, wanted to be strong and sturdy, but I couldn’t. I was beyond frightened.
I finally fell limp, my body succumbing to my misery as I slumped against a damp wall. I moaned, my tears dripping down my cheeks.
Autumn, I told you to stay away from people.
“Daddy,” I whimpered.
I warned you what would happen.
“I’m sorry.”
Sorry isn’t going to keep you alive.
“Help me,” I whispered, bowing my head. “Please, help me.”
There is no helping you. You’re already dead.
“No, no, no!” Grabbing fistfuls of my hair, I violently shook my head.
Footsteps, loud and heavy, thundered outside my door. I glanced up sharply, feeling light-headed, dizzy, and nauseated with fear. Keys jangled, a throat was cleared, and the sound of laughter echoed around me. They were laughing, probably at me and at my expense. The thought was somewhat sobering. I should have never come back here; I should have stayed where I knew I was safe.
The door swung open and I dropped my gaze, refusing to look at them. Large hands grabbed at me, thick fingers and jagged nails biting into the skin on my arms as they pulled me to my feet. I stumbled along, refusing to look up, not wanting to see anything or anyone, wanting to just disappear.
I’d thought I could do this, to be back with people. I thought I could be human again. But I was wrong, so wrong, and my father had been right all along. People were bad. I should have stayed on my own, should have stayed in my cave.
Outside now, the sun shone down on me, hot and heavy on my back and neck. They continued dragging me along as the noise around me grew, giving way to a veritable roar of voices. Above it all, I heard the lone voice of a man, the announcer, louder than the others, talking and talking, talking so fast I could barely make out what exactly it was that he was saying.
Only one word stood out above all the others.Autumn. My name. He was talking about me.
A renewed surge of terror barreled through me and I pulled on the arms that were holding me, scrambling as I dug my heels into the ground. I knew that voice. I’d heard it once before.
“No! Please, no!” I screamed and continued pulling, struggling against their hold on me, but my efforts were futile, only causing them to tighten their grip. “Please, I haven’t done anything,please.”
Laughter followed my pleas.
I glanced up and saw her ... Liv. She stood in the middle of the pathway, daylight shining all around her, basking her in an almost angelic glow. But her grin was anything but heavenly. I thought back to the smile I had given her and the way I’d clung to Eagle’s hand, and how in that moment I’d felt justified and smug that he was mine.
“I’m sorry!” I screamed at her as I renewed my struggles against the hands holding me. “I’ll leave! You don’t have to do this! I’ll leave!” Tears slid down my face, hot and salty, burning trails down my cheeks. “You don’t have to do this!”
Still grinning, Liv stepped forward and grasped my quivering chin, tilting my face up to hers. She stared into my eyes, just staring while tears blurred my vision and my teeth began to chatter.
“But I want to do this,” she whispered, and pressed a rough kiss to my lips. It was over before it had begun, and as she pulled back, she spat in my face. Turning on her heel, she stalked down the pathway, disappearing into the waiting crowd.
My captors pulled me forward, the crowd parting for them as they dragged me through the sea of eager, hungry faces, their cheers and screams nothing more than a blur of noise.
It felt like ages before we were free from the press of the crowd, but once we were, and I saw what waited for me there, every hair on my body prickled to attention. I knew this place; I had been here before. The wide pit of pressed dirt, the man with the megaphone, and the giant metal cage he stood on. The cage door opened before me, and the creak of the hinges sent another wave of horror rushing through me.
“No, no, no!” I screamed. I pulled against the hands, twisting and kicking. With no concern for my own well-being, I went wild in their grip. Growling, I snapped at them, trying to bite, to claw, anything to free myself from the fate of that cage.
With one shove, they sent me flying forward, and I stumbled into the cage. Spinning around, I threw myself forward just as the door slammed shut in my face. I howled as I wrapped my hands around the bars, fear burning through every inch of me, branding my skin from within.
