The Change: Episode one (5 page)

The cage was a small wired dome, with a bar
between us that slid down as I stepped inside the arched doorway.
The sides of the 12’ x 12’ fighting area were fenced, as much to
keep us in as the crowd out, and lined with tiny, durable cameras
for those up-close shots the crowds craved. The entire arena
streamed with vivid flashes of brilliant blue light meant to make
the battle hard, more entertaining, and the sound of the viewers
screaming was overwhelming.

I let no expression give away my thoughts as
the hulking female in front of me cracked her knuckles and leered.
Nicked and scratched, her scars were numerous but light, telling me
she was good at ending the fight before her opponent could get
close enough to deliver a serious injury. Dressed in white boxing
shorts and a half top that accented the size of her, it was clear
that the Diva was a brawler, but I was a killer, and I stepped
forward eagerly.

I didn't wince at her roar when the bell
came, nor did I move when she charged me. What I did was get set,
mentally running through the moves in an instant.

I ducked, leaning forward, to drive the flat
of my palm into her large, unprotected nose.

Crunch!

Blood splashed over me, and I gave the final
killing shove, to silence the howls of agony spewing from her
mouth.

The Diva dropped to the mat with a damp,
meaty thud, and I added her gang to my already long list of
enemies.

Silence...

More silence... then chaos.

"Match to Pruett!"

Cheers and shouts erupted, contestants and
viewers now screaming from the stands in disbelief at my quick
execution. These were the New Network City residents and favorites
of the ruling council. They lived here for the Games and the blood,
and they only cared for the favors their rulers doled out to keep a
wealthy following. Useless, I especially despised those who modeled
for the Network, or starred in their little promo clips for the
Games. Starlets had no place in this new world, except as bones
under my boots.

Shaking the Diva’s blood from my short,
black spikes, I moved from the cage without a thought for the
lumbering giant I'd just defeated. She had been the replacement
contestant for the one I’d killed during the stroll on The Block,
already dead before her name was drawn. I grinned, letting the
shouts and jeers drive back the need to spill more blood.

As I walked up the fenced cage length,
ignoring those pleading on the other side, begging for mercy for
their family member, I felt the tingle of being glared at. It was
so strong that I spun to see which contestant it was.

The Blonde Bombshell was cloaked in vivid
scarlet, standing with two weaker females on the balcony above the
cage. Long lashes framed cold, golden eyes, and arched brows added
to the sense of menace. It matched what I’d felt from the doorway
across the hall, and slowly, deliberately, I widened my grin. I
knew who she was now.

She nodded back with pink eyes, and I turned
into the protection of my two guards as I entered the hall, tucking
the double-starred ID into a bloody pocket. I was goading her, but
I disliked her immensely for playing these Games so willingly. Why
anyone would want to work for such brutal masters was beyond me.
Only the heartless were close to the Network, and I already knew
she would fit the job well. Maybe I felt the need to kill her to
save the lives she would take during her reign as Head Defender,
but I couldn’t spare the concentration to fully examine my own
motives.

I barely had time to finish a fast meal
before the Bachelor guards came for me. The reporters followed us,
but they hung back, and I was glad. They were vultures on the
scene, trying to capture everything you didn’t want to give, and it
was a slight struggle to keep quiet as the loud voice began
broadcasting.

“
And now, our first match
winner will take a tour of the prizes!”

Deafening screams emanated from the halls
and speakers as the watching world waited for me to step inside the
male area. Glaring flat black, I opened the door.

The Den Mother on duty stared in concern,
and I sneered at her beehive of blue hair as the door closed,
leaving the reporters to watch the cameras out there like everyone
else. They weren’t allowed in. Only contestants were.

Wearing the usual Network uniform, the tall,
blue bun of hair gave the Den Mother an almost alien appearance. I
could tell the live-in guard cared for her charges from the way she
hovered, but it obviously wasn’t enough to keep them from being
hurt. The first cell I passed held two bloody men who refused to
meet my eye for fear of triggering another attack, and I wondered
how much she had taken to rent them out. It happened at every Game,
but that didn’t mean the sight of it wasn’t turning my stomach
against the Network even more.

The Bachelor quarters were nice, luxurious
even, but still cells, and without the Network's enhancers, the
group of nine men barely noticed I was there. This was my tour of
the prizes. I was even free to sample if I so desired, but I was
very careful to not meet their dazed eyes. I’d seen happier animals
on the side of the road.

Daniel was in the second cell, and I
couldn’t prevent the pause in my step when I saw him. Curled onto
his side, that thin profile was one I’d seen every night for ten
years, and it was hard to move on. The other Bachelors, I couldn’t
say much about. I only made sure to pause at a couple more cells to
appear I hadn’t already marked my mate for kidnapping or worse.
Taking something the main contestant loved was a favorite tactic
and I had little doubt that my Mother and Angelica were already
guarding my Father against it.

I moved toward the door with the same glare
I’d come in with. They wouldn’t know which one I favored, but I
did. I had told myself over and over that my current lover bore no
resemblance to Daniel - that I hadn’t chosen along that line. Now,
I was forced to admit that wasn’t entirely true. Their similarities
were in the golden flashes scattered around the tips of Baker’s
short black hair and in the exact same curve of their jaws. Had I
watched my lover in profile and pretended it was Daniel? I didn’t
want to think myself capable of that type of cruelty, but I
couldn’t be sure. After all, I was here, playing one of the
Network’s bloodiest games.

I had told the reporter that I’d come for
the fights, and that was the impression I sent to those watching,
but it hurt me more than I can say to leave him there. It also sent
relief rushing into my heart, knowing for sure that he was one of
the prizes.

Daniel

I let myself breathe once she was gone, but
I knew I was on her list. It terrified me.

I had listened to the muffled cries of the
rented males I shared this cell with before she came in, sorry for
them, but grateful it wasn’t me. Even now, I could still hear them
begging to be spared…

Freedom
. I shuddered. I wanted no part of that, only a loving owner
to take me away from here – away from Rankin. Using her authority
as Head Defender, Rankin regularly tormented me, and many of the
others. Beyond cruel, she was my nightmare, and I dreaded tomorrow,
when she would return from her latest mission in the West. The best
future I could hope for was to be won and removed from her
reach.

But not by that
one!
I’d seen Candice, watched her first
match with the others and then hurried to my cot in fear. That one
was not a bit loving. Nothing like the girl I sometimes still
dreamed about. It used to be every night, but for the last year, it
had only been when I was in fear of Rankin’s coming visit. Well
trained, I hoped to use my skills on a female who was gentler. I
had little hopes that it wouldn’t be a Changeling – who else could
survive here? But I also wished for just a bit of
compassion.

My mind flashed back to Candice, to the
woman who had paused at my door. She terrified me with her very
presence. I’d get no sympathy from her. I knew it, and I couldn’t
stop myself from trembling. I’d been in this complex for a long
time and I didn’t remember my life before. I was told I’d had a
fever that erased my memory, and had to accept that as fact. Even
when I kept having the dreams of a childhood friend, I’d believed
the story. Now, though, I’d begun to wonder. Rankin had let too
much slip, and I suspected there was more to my being here than
just the rules.

I wasn’t trained for the outside world -
that was something no one knew. All my education was in pleasure,
and it added another layer of worry. If I was taken home by
someone, she would have to train me… Except, that I had this sense
my being here was just for show. The Network didn’t really want me
free and I thought I knew why. It was because of my kids. I hadn’t
learned what the scientists discovered, I’d never even been allowed
to see my two children, but I’d been pulled from both the renting
and the breeding program right after. For the last year, I’d been
left alone…except for Rankin’s visits.

I shuddered again. At some point, Rankin
would push me too far, and I would kill her. She’d broken me in
upon arriving at the complex, I remembered that very clearly. There
was no one I hated more. To be free of her hold was a dream that
ran second only to being allowed information about my children.
Behind those two, was the anguish that rode me the hardest – the
need to know how I’d come to be here. Hadn’t anyone loved me?

Chapter Three

Day 3

1

My guards following, I moved down the
photo-lined hall to the arena to watch a match between contestants
in a different game. I planned to make myself accessible between my
own bouts. I couldn’t sit in that room and watch the clock, or I’d
lose my edge to nerves.

When I stepped into the arena, I was
noticed. A small cheer rang out, and I grinned back with the
feeling of playing their games so well that none of them recognized
me for what I was… an imposter. I was infiltrating the Network to
get my mate back, and my grin widened. The Network wasn’t the only
ones who were adept at manipulating things into the path they
needed.

I moved toward the other side of The Block,
where the actual view was distant, but made vivid by the giant
screens set into the round walls. There were Network guards
scattered over the levels of the viewing areas, and in the corner,
medicos who used to be bachelors.

These were males who had
been returned by their new owners, or actually turned on them.
Killing a male was illegal, even for the Network, and so they’d
come up with the solution of making them medicos… after removing
the part of their bodies that got them in the most trouble. They
also took the tongues of some, or cut their ankles so they couldn’t
try to escape again. The Network denied such brutal tactics, but
the pale man in front of me had just
limped
towards a hand calling for
attention.

I saw the heavy-duty suture kit on his hip,
the protective gloves, and wondered which of the animal games this
shift had come from. Their boots were splattered in crimson, and
the sight of a light brown feather clinging to one of their pant
legs gave me the answer. They’d been in Vulture Run. Another weekly
game, the winding path through a vulture nursery was no easy task,
especially when you had only your bare hands to survive with. The
prize for making it the full ten miles was a pardon for whatever
crime you’d committed. The game was so popular because it had only
had a dozen winners in the last five years.

I turned my head toward the
stage, but stayed alert. I had no protection while viewing the
matches, only in my room and the halls, and an ambush was more than
likely. I'd planned on being a target though, and it was good that
I had. I'd no sooner settled onto a hard seat than another blade
was sliding around my throat, and I was
changing
.

Breaking the wrist like I had last night, I
flung her over the benches in front of me, following with a neat
roll that had my assailant sprawling and me on my feet.

Made by trekking the apocalyptic wilderness
for criminals, my thick leg delivered a kick to her ribs, hard
enough to feel the break as my boot connected. I quickly slammed my
other foot down onto her broken wrist, crushing it.

Snap!

"AAhh!"

Her knife went sliding across the stone
floor, and I leaned down to deliver the death blow, but had to duck
a flying shard meant to sink into my neck. She had a partner!

I spun again, snatching the light woman into
a tight grip that only eased when she sagged, unconscious in my
thick arms.