None of it made any sense.
The only thing I could cling to, the only truth I knew, was that I was madly in love with her. Even when the guards shot me with their shock rifles, the only thing I cared about was seeing her one last time.
Instead, I was faced with the blank wall. I wondered if maybe I hadn’t imagined her.
But no. Why would the Supervisor react the way he had if it hadn’t been as much a shock for him to see her there as it was for me?
Question upon question upon question.
I groaned as I pressed my fists to the floor and shoved myself up onto my feet. My bones cracked and my joints crunched as they healed and slotted themselves into place.
I pressed my face to the front of my cage. The animals were always treated the worst, and now I was considered among their number.
Across the way were a series of strange and magnificent creatures. It always broke my heart when I had to lay them to rest. I never let them live. To do so was cruelty. They shouldn’t have been shackled in here. They should have been free and proud somewhere out in the wilds of one planet or another.
Not cooped up in here.
I was much like them. The only innocent man in this infernal place.
Perhaps my end would be a mercy too. It would end my suffering and I too would be allowed to roam free.
The Survivor battles involved me fighting one opponent after another until I was so exhausted I couldn’t stand and fight any longer.
They would kill me, and it wouldn’t be quick. It would be slow and drawn out. Once they laid me to rest, they would become the new champion.
Then the others would fight and vie for the right to challenge the champion.
Enjoy it while you can, buddy. You won’t be the champion for long.
I had always spent my time fighting and shying away from using my ability. If I wanted to survive as long as I could in the pit and figure out a way of gaining access to the lab, I was going to need to buy myself time and use every advantage I had.
That meant not being shy about using my ability. It would be on show for all to see.
When the guards came to my cage, I knew what I had to do. I had to put on a good show.
It was what the audience—both the inmates and the Supervisor—wanted.
Ivy
I banged on the wall for twenty minutes after they dragged Kren’s unconscious body from the lab. I paused every few minutes to try and regain the same focus I had achieved earlier and break through the barrier.
It wouldn’t come to me. I grew agitated and banged on the wall again with my fists.
Somehow, I’d managed to break through the barrier. It hurt but it was better than being cooped up in here. If it’d been faster and less shocked by what I’d managed to achieve, I might have escaped.
But I’d been too busy staring at the handsome lug sat in the chair.
I sighed. Even if I had managed to get out of here, what was I going to do about the guards? I couldn’t leave Kren behind.
And now he was out there, about to be plunged into something called a “Survivor Challenge.” He would be surrounded by enemies, and eventually, one of them was going to do what the others were only threatening.
They were going to beat him.
Worse, they were going to kill him.
And it’d been my fault. I shouldn’t have tried to show him where I was. The Supervisor was going to kill him anyway.
And where did that leave me?
On the wrong side of Shitsville. That’s where.
“Fuck!” I said, kicking the padded wall. “Fucking asshole!”
I unloaded into the wall, pummeling it with my fists and feet, head and elbows…
It achieved nothing besides giving me a sprained wrist and making me realize how unfit at being a fighter I was.
I sat in the corner and cried. Pathetic little creature that I was.
I wrapped my hands over my stomach and felt that familiar glow.
Was it the baby? I wondered.
Kren had an ability, one he’d hidden from everyone most of his life. Was it responsible for what I did earlier with the wall?
Maybe I only managed to do it because I channeled the baby’s ability somehow. It wasn’t me at all.
How could that be?
Because you’re pregnant with an alien.
“Are you in there, little baby alien?” I said, rubbing my stomach gently. “If you are, thanks for earlier. If it’s not too much trouble, I’d really appreciate it if you could do it again. Daddy needs our help.”
Daddy.
I liked the sound of that. I especially liked it when it was attached to the champion hunk.
Fighting for his life.
For all our lives.
It didn’t need to end right now. Our lives could continue.
We just needed the will to make it happen.
But how?
There was no reasonable plan I could think up that resulted in us getting out of here. I was going to have to play it by ear.
So far, my plans hadn’t exactly been blinding successes. Having a baby to escape this place? What had I been thinking?
How about telling the Supervisor I no longer wanted to be a part of that plan? That worked out really well! I was still trapped in this damn room!
How about showing my face to Kren so he knew where I was? And then accidentally letting the Supervisor see me in the same breath? And now Kren was in the worst possible situation.
I sucked at plans. And I wasn’t going to make another one so long as I lived.
It was fly by the seat of my pants or nothing.
The Supervisor approached the wall with his goons on either side.
“The show’s about to begin. Would you like to watch?”
Kren
The crowd roared as I
