The Change: Episode one (7 page)

“
And for the second
match…The Defender!”

My nerves went back to taut. If I wasn’t
chosen, I had no idea what I’d do until tomorrow. And, I really
wouldn’t mind a crack at the Defender. I’d seen her fight and she
was…

“
And the former Network
guard’s challenger is…that Bounty Hunting Pruett from the Recovery
Zones!”

I grunted in relief. I didn’t mind being the
Network’s tool to get rid of their former employee. It was one of
the benefits.

“
This should be a highlight
fight, folks. Known for being merciless, both of these second-match
females are extremely good at what they do.”

I paid no attention to the rest of the usual
spiel as I planned my time until the match.

“
Neither of these females
has indicated a preference of the Bachelors, but both have had
their tour, as I’m sure you know.”

I wondered briefly if the Defender had seen
what I did, if she cared…if she’d noticed my mate and now wanted
him.

2

My interview this time was with a man, one
of the very rare former bachelors who had earned good favor with
the Network. I’d only seen one of them in my trips in and out of
New Network City, and thought their clothing and painted faces made
them seem too feminine to draw the fire of Changelings. I was
wrong.

“
So tell us, Candice.
What’s it like to know you may be dead before the dawn?”

His voice had a low tone that immediately
woke the flames, and I leaned forward, curious as to what his
reaction would be. “Thrilling. How about you?”

He was covered in an extra layer of makeup
to keep down the glare of the lights and to help disguise what he
really was… an unbroken male who’d found freedom.

He gave a confused smile as I prepared to
pounce.

“
How about me,
what?”

I scented the air openly, letting him see
the pinkening tint of my eyes. “How does it feel to know I could
spill your blood before they could get to you?”

He scrambled from the chair so fast that he
tripped and went sprawling at my feet. His big shoulders flexed as
he shoved himself up, and I let my hand trail along his arm as I
followed him. He was bigger, stronger, but he froze under my touch,
trembling.

Need crackled, and those watching held their
breath as I leaned closer.

“
You smell like…chocolate.”
My eyes flashed red orbs that I had to pull back before I
really
did
lose
control. “I
like
chocolate.”

He paler fuller under the makeup, but he
knew not to run. If he’d done that, I might have snapped. He did
smell good.

I stepped away and gave him
a sharp gesture he couldn’t mistake.
Get
lost!

He was gone a second later, and I turned to
look toward the cameras in the high corner. “But I love blood. When
do we fight?!”

The crowd roared, and I flashed my now
famous grin. I’d gone through all of their supposedly indifferent
reporters so far, and I was enjoying every minute of it.

3

Still hating it that someone else had been
chosen to battle first, I watched these angry fighters on the
screen in my parent’s room, entourage lurking in the open doorways.
I'd left the doors that way to continue my campaign of
intimidation. I was aware my security didn't approve of it, but
they had respect for me, that I could feel.

"They want to feature you on a talk show if
you make it through."

I nodded my agreement right
away to the question in Angelica’s tone as she read through the
communications and I let my Mother tame my unruly hair one last
time.
"Good."
I
loved being interviewed.

My grin must have been fierce because my
Mother shrank back, and my Father hurried to comfort her while I
resumed my indifferent façade.

The halls were crowded as I
moved back toward my nicer room. New females were being set up for
the next game, and I ignored their curious stares and fearful
glances.
None of them were my
enemy
, I thought, but the
Network...

Too wound up to rest, as the other
contestants were probably doing, I wandered the halls I had access
to and found myself on the aquatic Games floor. All of these shows
involved surviving in water and I chose the one labeled with the
shark fin. If I couldn’t be the one spilling blood right now, at
least I could watch it.

The stands for this game were empty, and I
understood why as soon as I saw the blood in the waves. A survivor
wasn’t coming from that water, only parts of a body.

I started to go back out when the churning
red liquid rose up to reveal a shark fin. Large and black-tipped,
those jagged edges told me this was a New shark, and I stifled a
shudder. All the chemicals from the War were mostly gone now,
except in isolated places where deadly souvenirs remained. The
toxins had drained from the land and gone the only place they could
– the oceans. As a result, awful mutations had occurred.

I watched the shark speed toward a floating
chunk of debris with laser-like movements, seeing how its fin
operated like a rudder to allow it a sharp turn these dangerous
predators hadn’t been capable of before. New sharks were stronger,
bigger, and they liked the taste of men. The days of swimming in
the salty waves or surfing them on a board, were over.

I moved out of the room as the cleaning crew
came in with a steel chain, and a harpoon with a needle attached to
the end. Once they knocked the shark out, it would be guided along
a watery tunnel under this floor and put back in the aquarium.

Curious as to the other specimens they’d
gathered, I headed for the attraction that drew people from across
the world twice a year for the birthing celebrations. Unlike humans
and many land animals, there was no shortage of males in the water
populations. The oceans and rivers were flourishing with aquatic
life…and all of it was bloodthirsty.

The aquarium was off limits to the public on
any other day and I had the front of the glass screen to myself.
Designed in 3’ x 3’ cages that magnified the view down into the
water, each small partitioned pane held something I was both
fascinated and repulsed by.

The first was the seahorse pen, and I
watched the tiny life forms tear apart a fallen sprite with teeth
half the size of their curved heads. The water went red, and I
turned to the next window.

Inside were half a dozen crabs, the big kind
with long claws and remorseless features. These were trundling
along the bottom, no longer able to come out of water and survive.
To make up for that, nature had given those pinchers a dose of
lethal poison that sent a type of wasting sickness. One of their
victims was hovering in the corner, a carp with gills all over its
flushed tail. It seemed to shrink up before my eyes, and I quickly
moved on.

Behind me, the door opened, and I tensed.
This area wasn’t completely deserted, I could hear the occasional
voice or step, and I stayed aware as I peered into the third
window.

Squeak!

I grinned. The octopus had lunged forward
and latched onto the glass like it was my face. Big and yellow, it
looked just like the pictures in books, except it now had ten
extending arms searching for the prey it had sensed.

“
They’re one of the few
that can see through the distortion.”

The Blonde Bombshell stood a bit behind me,
and I turned to face her with eyes that immediately flashed to
pink.

She took a step back, and it threw me off,
made me give her the chance to speak.

"Your parents may be
protected, but the
girl
isn't."

I stared at her for a moment, trying to read
that icy façade, and then I moved by her. I didn’t know why she was
warning me, but I doubted it was a lie. Angelica was in
trouble.

She watched me leave - I could feel it - and
the sense of gloating came, but there was little I could do from
these halls, and I made sure my steps weren’t hurried. The more I
appeared to care, the higher the odds went on them killing Angelica
to hurt me.

I wondered at the Bombshell’s motives. If
she thought she’d get the Head Defender’s job by being generous or
compassionate, she was in for a shock. The Network didn’t play that
way, and neither did I.

“
She’s gone.”

My Father’s tone as I entered their chaotic
room was only slightly accusing. He knew not to push right now, and
I looked to my Mother. She knew as well as I did that the chances
of getting Angelica back unharmed were small if I won. If I lost,
she would absolutely be killed. Faced with hard choices, I sent my
guards away and talked to them without the eyes and ears we’d had
since stepping through those big glass doors.

4

"Cage Match Six!"

Feeling the rage build, I stepped into the
ring with The Defender. Unlike the others I’d faced, this fighter
didn’t show off for the crowd, but stood impassively near the bars
now sliding down. When I stepped into the cage, she got set with a
good stance and the alert eyes of a life-long fighter, but I had
the rage of ten years of grief to drive me, and I grinned for my
fans.

The roaring jeers increased, and I watched
her face harden as the crowd displayed their dislike for her, the
need to see her pay for her mistakes. I waited, not about to rush
in and give her the edge.

I sort of owed this former guard a favor,
but there was no sympathy in me as I stared at her stoic, hawk-like
profile. I wouldn’t sacrifice Angelica’s life to save Daniel if I
could help it, but little would stop me from earning my slot on The
Block.

Pushing away the flare of guilt, I tried to
goad her into death. “Baker says hello.”

Those who’d heard, laughed at my tactics,
but The Defender didn’t. She answered me.

“
Tell him not to forget his
promise.”

I stared stupidly as she attacked.

The harsh blow to my forehead knocked me off
my feet, and I slammed against the fencing with her furious red
eyes charging my way.

She delivered an ugly kick to my stomach
that shot my breath out in a rush and sent the rage into my
eyes.

I kicked out, sure she would jump it, and
lunged upward to deliver a staggering punch to her throat.

She gasped for air as I drew back to do it
again, and then she was flipping, changing into a brute with more
fury than even I had stored.

She dove at me with those sharp claws,
ripping away my cloak as she grabbed my arms and lifted me off the
mat.

I kicked out again, nailed her in the chest
over her heart, and hit the ground as she grunted in shocked
pain.

I scrambled to my feet and sucked in a tight
breath, letting her get to her feet. She’d caught me off guard, but
I was listening now. I couldn't wait for her to attack, it left me
blind to her lightning quick blows. Neither could I waste my energy
to chase what I had no real hopes of catching.

Determined to find a weakness, I dropped
into my training style and began forcing her back with blow after
blow that didn’t land, only shoved her toward the fencing as she
blocked - trying to get her into what passed for a corner.

She was faster than me, and I growled in
anger as she ducked a rough swing and delivered a hard hit of her
own to my ribs. I let the rage out a bit more, swinging faster.

She caught my hits with her heavy hands, and
then bounced them back to cause me real pain that flipped my eyes
to dark pink. I tried to jump over her for a rear attack and took
another nasty punch to the ribs that had me gasping in pain and
frustration.

Stuck using dirty tactics, I cowered away
from her next swing only to lunge back and nail her in the chin
with the top of my head.

She staggered back, blood
pouring from her nose, and I moved in for the kill while I could. I
blocked her automatic defensive swing and sent the
changed
claws of my other
hand in to rip her throat out.

Crimson rained over us as the fire faded
from her eyes, and I jerked my claws free, stepping back.

Her mouth opened as she slid to her knees,
and I looked back with no remorse. “You underestimated.”

Above the bloody cage, cameras turned,
capturing it all to be played back later for the Network Council.
The name Pruett was no stranger to those running these games. The
reporters hadn’t recognized Candice as the family member of another
winner, but the Network had.

“
Match to
Pruett!”

There was no controlling the crowd. They
broke the barriers and swarmed the cage, climbing over me,
screaming obscenities as the guards zapped them in vain. The
bloodlust had peaked, many of them had bet their life savings on
the Defender, and I was stung again and again by the things they
managed to hurl through the fencing at me.

The hoses began blasting them off the cage
and into the air, drenching me in the process, and I struggled to
remain standing as order was regained.

A full squad of guards burst into the arena
and escorted me out with brutal blows to anyone who strayed too
close to us, and I kept that ugly grin on my face the entire
time.

Chapter Five