Collateral Damage (14 page)

But I'd start with the end of the story. With making the little worm brave. And smart. Maybe smart enough to survive.

Chapter Twelve

Damp earth, sweat, and freshly baked bread. I sniffed and my stomach growled.

"Mornin', sleepy head." April picked up a huge loaf of bread from the tray on the floor in front of her. She tore a chunk and handed it to me. "Coffee?"

I stared at her stupidly. Her light tone and relaxed smile made it seem like we were at a slumber party or something instead of waiting to go to "The Arena" for God knew what.

She blew at a strand of hair that had slipped across her cheek. "Simple question.

There's no point in dwelling on the inevitable. Eat, drink some of this delicious coffee, and then tell me a bit about yourself."

Stay in the moment. Good idea.
I grinned at her. "Coffee would be great."

We chewed and sipped in companionable silence until we'd finished all the bread and drained all the coffee from the thermos. Across the room, Steve, Ric, and Tobi did the same, only they shared a small buffet of breakfast food laid out on two trays.

April caught me glancing over at them and touched the back of my hand to draw my attention. "Their food is better because they've made the guards happy—willing or not. We've got pity food from Lacy. I kinda prefer it, don't you?"

Using my tongue to clean my teeth, I nodded. "You know, I think this is the best bread I've ever eaten."

Smiling, April licked the lip of her cup. "And the coffee was divine!"

Free food. Can't complain
.

"So." I hugged my knees to my chest and rested my chin on them. "You want to talk about me?"

"Yes!" April pushed the crumb littered tray aside and sat on her feet. "Tell me everything! Where are you from? Do you have a boyfriend? What do you do when you're not teaching? I want details!"

"You two are ridiculous." Ric spat on the floor as he stood and then strode towards us. "I'm sure you're very happy to have a new friend to play your little game of make-believe, April, but you should be working with the rest of us to find a way out.

Only three of us will survive the arena. Are you so confident that you'll be one of the three that you won't even try to get out while you still have a chance?"

With a heavy sigh, April turned to face Ric. "And what do you suggest? So far, all your attempts to 'get out' have only got you hurt."

"Because I've acted alone!" Ric threw his hands up and groaned. "There's five of us! They can't take us all!"

"I'm pretty sure they can." Steve mumbled around a forkful of scrambled eggs.

"Sorry, man, but Darryl took you out with one punch. You couldn't stop them from—"

"The rest of you just sat there and watched." Ric spat again and folded his arms over his chest. "Fuck, I don't want to be stuck here anymore than the rest of you, but I would have respected you all more if you'd tried to make a run for it."

"Good thing your 'respect' doesn't mean much to us." April stood and brushed the dirt from her thighs. "We have no idea how many people we're up against. I've had my share of being punished for trying to escape, thank you very much. I'm sure we all have."

"Not her." Ric pointed at me. "She's safe. Wonder why?"

I rolled my eyes. "Right. I have these bruises because I've been a good girl."

"Probably!" He turned to Steve and Tobi. "Think about it. None of us has those kinds of bruises. We already know she has an advantage over the rest of us. She's wearing a collar. Do you know what that means?"

Tobi wrapped her arms around Steve's waist, trembling. But her eyes had gone cold. "What?"

"Someone owns her." Ric smiled a chilling smile, as though something had just occurred to him. "Someone who's probably shown her how to live through whatever they have planned. Which makes her automatically one of the three. Not quite fair, is it?"

Steve pushed to his feet and took a few steps toward Ric. "What are you saying man?"

Ric moved closer to Steve and put a hand on his arm. "I'm saying we get rid of the competition. I like my odds a lot better with just four of us, don't you?"

Fuck.
I picked up the tray—the only thing I could use as a weapon—and stood. I should have expected this. When it came to survival, people were little better than animals. I could feel the pack mentality forming. To them, Ric was the alpha. He had the strength to protect them if they stood by him. What had happened last night didn't matter—or maybe it did. Maybe that had proven he was willing to fight. He represented their last hope.

And I was just another obstacle. An easier one to get around than the guards waiting outside that door.

"Think about it. Tobi teaches Spanish. As far as I know, she's the only one of us who can." Ric reached back, and Tobi scrambled to his side. He put his arms around her. "That makes her valuable. You teach grade school math, Steve. Alrik likes you, right?"

"Yes," Steve said.

"And I teach Phys Ed and English." Ric smirked at me. "So if they don't have you, they'll need us."

I tightened my grip on the tray and gave him a curt nod. "You're right. So come on. Get rid of me. But I'm telling you now, it won't be easy."

I am a stair master!
My internal voice mocked, but I ignored it. Fine, I might go down. But not without a fight.

"This is crazy! Ric, don't do this." April pulled me behind her and put her hand up as though to say, "Stop, and think."

"Maybe you're right," she said. "If we work together, maybe we can overpower them. I'd rather risk them coming in and raping us all than start turning on one another."

"You were a hooker; of course you don't care if you get fucked. You're used to it."

Ric jabbed his fingers into his chest. "I'm not used to this. I have a wife and kid at home.

If I can live long enough, I might find a way back to them. But I have to get through today. And I'm only seeing one way to do that."

"Well, that's not an option." April lunged for the door.

Before she touched the handle, Ric caught a fistful of her hair. Wrenching her back, he spun on his heels and smashed her face first into the wall. Her neck arched back as her body hit the cement. Blood smeared the wall as Ric released her and she folded to the floor.

"April!" I flew to her and gathered her up in my arms. Dirt scraped my knees as I dragged her away from Ric. Half of her face seemed crushed inwards. I pressed my hand over it. "April, hold on." I rocked her back and forth, gulping to hold in my breakfast as her blood dripped down my arm. "Vince!" I sobbed, praying he would hear me, though part of me knew he wouldn't. "Vince . . . Cyrus! Cyrus, help her, you son of a bitch!"

"They're not listening." Ric stood over me, eyes wide and white all around.

"Maybe this is just another test. Maybe they'll choose whoever makes it out of this room alive."

His fist came at me, and I closed my eyes.

"Ric!" Steve screamed.

A sharp crack. Then . . . nothing. No pain. Ric hadn't hit me.

"Well, this is unfortunate."

I gaped up at Cyrus as he threw Ric's limp body to a man by the door.

"Leave her, Nicole. She's dead." He shook his head and sighed. "Such a shame.

Alrik liked her."

Hot tears spilled down my cheeks. I shook my head. "Why? Why did you let him do this? You could have stopped him."

"Could I have?" Cyrus clucked his tongue and bent down, prying April from my arms. He passed her limp body to yet another man. Before I could follow, he shoved me back and took a seat in front of me. "Really, sweetheart, I'm not God. But I'm flattered that you think so much of me."

"Please." I put my bloody hands on his chest and took a deep breath. "Help her. I know you can. You're . . . whatever you are, you have the power to bring her back. I'll do anything—"

"Such a tempting offer. I almost wish I could." Cyrus glanced down at my hands, took hold of my wrists, and brought my fingers to his mouth. His eyes rolled back as he cleaned them with his tongue. "There's nothing left to bring back. He snapped her neck.

I snapped his. Justice at least, no?"

"They had lives, families. You did this to them." I stared numbly at my clean hands. I was whole. Ric had wanted to kill me. Cyrus had saved me.
Why?
I looked up at him. "Why didn't you let him kill me?"

"Because
I
like you." His lips slanted on one side. "And we both know that's all that matters. Don't we?"

"Why do you like me?" I looked around the room, spotting Tobi and Steve, huddled in the corner, lost now that Ric was gone. "What makes me any different from them?"

Cyrus shrugged. "You're a redhead. I guess you can thank your parents for giving you the right genes."

"There has to be more to it than that."

"And what if there isn't?" He patted my cheek, then stood. "Lacy will come get you—clean you up before you're brought to the arena. She'll probably be in a bad mood because her friend's dead, but I'm sure you can comfort her."

He strolled across the room, glancing back once before letting out a laugh.

"And then there were three."

Chapter Thirteen

Steam obscured the tiny bathroom and misted across the bedroom floor. The shower spray had to be scalding hot. I sat on the bed in my original room, still naked and covered in blood. And decided I better talk to Lacy before she tried to force me into the shower. If the wild look in her eyes was anything to go by, she would be more than happy to hurt me for what had happened to April. She didn't care who'd killed her. She blamed me.

"Get in there!" Lacy glanced at the door to the hall, lowering her voice. "Cyrus wants you all cleaned up for the arena. I can't get ready until you are, so hurry up."

I folded my arms over my breasts and shook my head. "Not until you listen to me. I know you're upset. I am, too . . . I didn't know her for very long, but April was kind to me, and she deserved better than—"

"Don't tell me what she deserved! It's what you deserve that matters now!"

"We both know whose fault this is, Lacy."

"Yes. Ric . . . ." Her bottom lip quivered, and she covered her mouth with her hand. "It should have been you."

"Ric paid for what he did, but it wasn't his fault either," I said, not sure why I bothered trying to explain. She wouldn't believe me. "He got desperate. People do messed-up shit when they're desperate."

A low, keening sound came from deep inside Lacy's throat. She dropped to her knees and rocked back and forth, mumbling something under her breath.

Approaching her, while still keeping a cautious distance, I caught what she was saying.

"I did this to her. Me. This is all on me."

I frowned, baffled. "Why would you say that? Lacy, you're as much of a prisoner as any of us. Like you told me, you did what you had to in order to survive. I might not agree with your methods but—"

Her wavy, brown hair slashed across her face as her head snapped up. "You have no idea what I've done. My
methods
. . . do you want to know what they were?"

She surged to her feet so fast I stumbled back, sure she'd attack.

Moving slowly, she circled me, raking her fingers through her hair, over and over. "When I heard Cyrus talking about finding teachers for Alrik, I told him about April. I led him right to her. I helped him catch her. She met me at a bar, thinking I needed help. I drugged her and stood by while Cyrus' men took her."

"You were . . . ." My mouth went dry. "You had a chance to escape. Why didn't you take it?"

"Escape to what? Me and April met on the streets. We had the same pimp." Lacy fisted her hands in her hair. "She got out of that life. I didn't. Not until Cyrus found me.

He got me cleaned up."

"And made you
his
whore."

"No. I'm more to him than that." She blinked and lowered her hands, composing herself. "I have everything I could ever want here. I proved myself useful, and that's why I'm not locked up. Why I'll never end up in the arena like you. I just wish . . . ."

I never found out what she wished. She let her sentence trail off and then walked out. Before the door could close, Darryl stepped in.

"Don't freak out; I won't touch you," he said as I scrambled to the far side of the bed, dragging the sheets along with me to shield myself. He rolled his eyes as though he thought I was being silly. "You have five minutes to shower and make yourself pretty."

"Why should I care what I look like?" I clung to the sheets, still afraid that he'd come rip them away, even though he didn't look too interested in me at all. "What difference does it make? There are only three of us left."

Darryl shrugged. "Yes, but Cyrus decided Alrik only needs one. Whoever impresses the crowd . . . ."

Oh, God.
Suddenly, I knew, without a doubt, that this was how it had been planned from the beginning. The only thing I couldn’t figure out was why Cyrus had had let us believe—actually, maybe I could. The five of us fighting for one of those precious spots would amuse him. If there’d only been one spot, he couldn’t have put us together because we’d have turned on each other right away.

But he made sure they turned on you. Made sure they knew you had the advantage.

Just another part of his sick game.

So how the fuck do you win? What’s your advantage? You don’t have Vince anymore.

Well, Vince had told me the training would help me become one of Alrik's teachers. I hadn't questioned it then; all that mattered was doing whatever I could to stay with Alrik.

So what did that mean? What part of the training would I need? Submission? A tolerance for pain? Both? Or maybe something else. I scored through everything that had happened during my brief time with Vince. My chest tightened every time I pictured his face. His smiles. His hands on my body. His deep voice giving commands or praise.

In the time before I'd lost him, he'd given me something. Something that would get me in and out of the arena in one piece.