Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Nina

I stare up at the ceiling now blocking Venn from my sight. I never meant to say those words, but as soon as they were out of my mouth I knew they were true. I can’t plan my escape and leave Venn and Reke behind. It would break my heart to think of them still locked up and forced to fight for their lives.

I grab the bars at the front of my cell and pull, but just like all the other times, nothing happens. Somehow, I’ve got to think of a way to get out of here.

Surely, this space station is bigger than just underground rooms and the Arena overhead. There’d have to be facilities for the visiting parasites—space for them to park their ships, places for them to buy food and drink, places for them to toilet. For all I know, the space station’s as large as a city, with restaurants and shops. Maybe even hotels.

I look around at the underground room as if expecting answers to jump out at me. All I see are hollow eyes of the other gladiators, waiting their turn to be sent up.

The other gladiators never eat or sleep in the cells like I do, which suggests there’s some sort of residential area. I know for certain there’s a medical unit, because that’s where Venn gets his injuries attended.

Maybe, if I manage to survive my first fight, I’ll be taken to the residential area too.

Then, once I’m out of this cell, I can start trying to think of ideas for stealing a spaceship and flying home. Maybe Venn knows how to fly. He could take me back to Earth, and he could take Reke— Well, Reke doesn’t have a home to return to, and he can’t come to Earth with me however much I’d love that. Perhaps he could go with Venn back to Venn’s home planet.

I give a decisive nod, committing myself to this new plan, and step away from the dead alien with his head still pressed to the front of my cage. His blood has dried, leaving gray stains down the front of my sweater and discoloring my once-pink uterus patch. I think about trying to clean it, but the only water I’m ever provided is my drinking water or the toilet water, and the prospect of sticking a bloodied hand into either my cup or my toilet isn’t appealing.

“It’s extraordinarily unhygienic to leave bodies lying around,” I tell the room at large, although there are currently no Hov guards within sight.

When nobody comes rushing to clean away the mess (no big surprise there!), I have to content myself with stripping off my sweater and throwing it into the farthest corner of my cell, hoping if I don’t look at it for long enough I can forget about it .

I’d also like to forget about the dead guy, and … well, absolutely this entire experience from the beginning. I was supposed to be seeing a movie with Maggie this weekend, and Monday was my day off work when I was planning on visiting the fruit market and restocking my fridge with fresh food. And I never spent my $20 birthday gift card. What an absolute waste! I shouldn’t have saved it. I should have just bought that skirt I’d admired to hell with the expense.

I lie on the ground and resume staring at the ceiling, fiddling with the cuff of my shirt where I’ve hidden one of Reke’s broken claws.

Part of me desperately wants to see the Arena, to watch Venn’s fight. The other part of me shies away from possibly watching his death. I’ve no idea what’s worse—not knowing what’s happening or having a front-row seat.

Lying this way means I don’t have a clear view of my watchers or the other gladiators, and I imagine I can bore holes through the ceiling with nothing but my glare.

Speaking of holes … There’s a small hole, about the size of my thumbnail, in the corner of my cell where the far wall meets the ceiling. It’s the same bland color as the rest of the wall, which is probably why I didn’t notice it before.

As I watch it, I almost swear it’s staring back at me. But that’s impossible. Walls don’t have eyes.

One-handed, I push against the super-smooth floor, propelling myself across my cell, only stopping when I hit the bars on the far right. Something in the hole moves. I push myself back the other way. It follows me again, almost impossible to see except that my spotlight is reflecting off whatever’s hiding in the hole.

An internal jolt kicks me in the stomach.

It’ s a camera.

Of course it’s a fucking camera.

I was na?ve not to have realized before now there’d be cameras down here.

No doubt it’s been filming me this entire time. I look at the ceiling of the cell beside mine, squinting through the shadows, and I’m pretty sure there’s a camera in that cell too. There’s probably one in every cell.

I pick at my nails until there’s nothing left to pick at, fuming at my idiot brain for not thinking about cameras sooner. And I’m fuming at the fucking Hov for not only abducting and making me into one of their gladiatorial puppets but taking away the last shred of my privacy.

At night, when the lights were out and I’d thought I was finally alone, I’d sat on my toilet and taken a shit. Probably the entire time I’d been watched by Hov guards. They’d probably laughed at me. Or jacked themselves off.

“Fuck you!” I scream, pointing straight at my camera.

Somewhere behind and above me, the watchers on the raised dais talk louder and faster, and I hate that they’re feeding off my anger and fear.

If Venn were here, he’d be scowling at me and telling me to shut up. He’s mastered the art of hiding his emotions, and it’s suddenly a skill I desperately wish I had.

I take a deep breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth. In and out.

Nina Huntley, you’re going to escape, I silently promise myself, taking my third deep inhale.

The overwhelming largeness of my nearly non-existent plan feels like a rock sitting on my chest, constricting my breathing. But it’s even harder to breathe when I think about not trying to escape. If I don’t at least try, then I’ll have accepted this is my new life and I’ll just be sitting in this cage waiting for when I’m sent into the Arena to be slaughtered. If I don’t try escaping, then I’ll have accepted I’m never going to see Grandma again. And maybe she doesn’t remember me, but I can’t just abandon her.

I inhale deeply, filling my lungs as far as they’ll go, and then exhale slowly.

You are going to escape. And when you do, you’re going to steal the Hov’s two best gladiators.