The crowd watched on but didn’t cheer. The problem with being top was everyone wanted a piece of the champion.
They wanted to tear you down and take your place. They didn’t know what it took to get to that position in the first place, to know what it took to be at the top maintain it.
They saw only the benefits and none of the sacrifices. The long nights of training, the studying of different alien species, and their strengths and weaknesses.
Above them, standing like God over his domain, was the Supervisor. He stood with his hands behind his back, his glasses drained white by the bright overhead lights in his research lab. He peered down.
At me? At the crowd? At the fallen fighter?
I couldn’t tell. It was unusual enough that I peered back at him.
The guards appeared at the exit. I followed them as I slid my sword into its sheath. We reached the waiting room on the other side of the tunnel. I removed my weapons and armor and placed them on the stands. They would be cleaned and prepped for the next day’s fight.
There was always another fight.
We wound up the stairs to the Prize Pool. The long tunnel was an achingly long walk.
I removed my gloves and tucked them in my belt. I would hold hands with her, I decided. I would walk her to my room as if we had finished a date.
The moment the door slid shut, I would press her against it and make love to her right there. I would make her scream so loud everyone in the block would hear her.
Yes, I thought with a smile. She would enjoy that.
The guards parted ways, one turning one way, the other in the opposite direction.
I approached the dais where the girls were lined up for me. I had eyes only for the lady on the far right, on the front row.
But she wasn’t there.
I snorted and shook my head. She was probably deliberately making me wait for her. She could be very cheeky when she wanted to be.
I glanced at the other girls. The one who stood beside Ivy still wore that terrible perfume that made me think my opponent had wet himself and sprayed it over me. She usually had a bright smile. Today, it was anything but.
There was a look on her face, one of anger, and yes, more than a little fear.
Of me?
I didn’t think so.
Her nipple was red and a little swollen through her sheer dress. Further along, Lily had a split lip and a black eye.
My stomach turned to water.
“Ivy?”
The girls and their madam shuddered, quivering with terror.
Now I felt that same terror, a fear I hadn’t experienced for years inside the ring.
I moved into the back room where I assumed Ivy would be right now, making me wait.
“Ivy?”
There was no answer.
I ran back into the Prize Pool and bellowed:
“Ivy! Where is she?”
Lily told me where she was.
And the blood drained from my face.
Ivy
The fighter gripped my arm so tight I couldn’t move. My feet barely grazed the gangway as he dragged me through the infinite prison hallways.
My sheer slutty dress that I thought had been funny at the time, got the attention of other prisoners who hooted and howled. They tossed down their cards and followed us as Dreth marched me toward his cell.
“Oh, Dreth’s gonna get him some skinny pussy tonight!” one heckled.
“I want a piece of that! Hey, Dreth. Don’t wear her out! Leave a piece for me!”
Another came too close. I shut my eyes as he reached for my breast.
A guard smacked him in the face with the butt of his rifle and unloaded into him.
The bolts that spat out of the end of the shock rifle struck the prisoner in the chest. He hit the ground and writhed. Something frothed in his mouth as he shook uncontrollably.
The other prisoners took the hint and quietened down after that.
Still, not one of them attempted to help me.
“Let me go!” I yelled at Dreth, thumping him on the chest.
All I did was hurt my hand on his armor. My punches and kicks had no effect. They didn’t even slow him.
We headed down two flights of stairs before we came to a stop. His cell door slid open stutteringly, damaged somehow, and Dreth dragged me inside and tossed me on the dirty bed.
“No!” I screamed at the guard. “Don’t let him do this! Please!”
The guards gave no indication they heard me, even less that they would do something.
The door slid stutteringly closed again.
The room was small. It had a crummy wardrobe with the drawers that didn’t match and a tiny single bed that the prisoner could barely fit on. There was no kitchen or private bathroom. Stains of blood streaked the walls and something black—possibly mold—grew in the furthest corner.
Dreth removed his armor and sat it in the corner.
My heart thundered in my chest and beat so loud I thought it might explode.
“Don’t do this. Please. Kren chose me. He’s not going to be happy when he hears what you did to me. But if you let me go, I swear I’ll tell him nothing happened and he won’t do anything.”
“My dear girl,” he said, stripping off his undershirt. “You won’t be telling him anything by the time I’m done with you. You won’t be telling anyone anything.”
He tore his pants off.
I stared in fear at what hung between his legs. Part of it was biological, the rest was metal with screws sticking out the sides. Half a dozen wires sparked.
“I lost my cock in a bar fight on the outside,” Dreth said. “This is what I use now.”
I couldn’t let that thing get anywhere near me. Definitely not inside me.
Dreth’s body was fat and flabby. He was strong but it wasn’t through keeping his body in good condition.
“And wait till you see what I can do with my tusks,” Dreth said with a sinister
