“I’m not going without a fight,” Jax yelled. “HA!” He struck out at the water buffalo, who had moved to pick up the leopard’s shock stick.
“Give me the keys! HA!” Jax shouted. He struck the bars of the cell and sent a shower of sparks in the air. “HA! Keys! Stupid animal!” He tried to think of what a lion tamer would have said to control them. “Move! Now!”
The rhinoceros pulled the shock stick back and lowered its head. Jax moved closer and raised his hands above his head to seem bigger. “Now! Keys! HA!”
“Got you, mal’chik,” it said with a snort. Then it jabbed in with its shock stick. Jax was too close. He tried to move, but it hit his stomach like the finger of God.
He fell, shaking to the floor, fire burning through his limbs. By the time he started to understand his surroundings again, they had dragged him to a new holding cell. A tingling sensation had replaced the burn. He could hear the Animalis audience, talking and moving on the stands just above where he was lying.
Jax flexed his fingers; he was starting to get control of his body back.
“If you live through this fight, boy,” said a smooth, deep voice from behind Jax, “I’ll make sure you’re well taken care of. There was only ever one human that lived through his fight, and it made people go wild to see his next fight. A shame he didn’t make it.” Something extended into the cage: the man’s hand. It held something. “Take this. It’s no guarantee, but you don’t have a chance without it.”
Jax pulled himself up, hanging on the bars of the cage. He could see the shard of metal in the man’s hand now. The man dropped it, and it landed on the hard floor with a light clank. There was a jerk of movement that almost knocked Jax back to the floor. The entire cage was sliding forward into the arena.
It was all happening too fast. Jax wasn’t ready; he couldn’t even stand on his own yet. Hank was coming for him—they were supposed to break through the walls. It couldn’t be happening like this; it was too fast. Come, someone. Please, Jax thought. But the hope he’d held onto was leaving him. And it was being replaced by a bloodcurdling panic.
“If you do win, hold your victim up and the guards will pull it to the audience. They love that,” the man was saying.
“Who are you?” Jax said through his thick, partially numb lips.
Rocks popped under the cage as it slide farther out through an opening in the wall. The shard of metal lit up as the bright lights of the arena consumed the cage. It was too bright to look through the opening. After living for four weeks in the low light of their prison, the light stung his eyes. Jax bent down and grabbed the metal shard.
“You can just think of me as a humble servant of Narasimha,” the man said. “Come back from this fight, and I’ll tell you more.” The wall closed, leaving the man behind. Jax tightened his hand into a fist, concealing the weapon.
The cage stopped. The sound of the crowd’s anticipatory rumble boomed through the arena. BOOM boom boom BOOM boom boom. Over and over again. Jax squinted, looking out to see what he was supposed to fight. Two tiny eyes peered back at him from between the bars, surrounded by a mass of black and faded white.
He heard a click, and all four walls of both cages swung open. The eyes didn’t move. It was his enemy.
The Animalis turned to face the arena. The audience started to cheer.
Jax looked up at the stands. I have to get out, he thought. Hank, the captain, Felix, and Maven, they were out there, just about to break in and stop the fight. He had to be ready for them.
He could see the Animalis moving toward him out of the corner of his eye. Survival shifted back into his focus. There’d be no point in rescuing him if he died before they came. He had heard they used the electric shock sticks from above the arena when someone avoided the fight for too long. The audience wanted their blood, and didn’t like waiting.
Jax abandoned his vigil for rescue and instead assessed his enemy. It was walking slowly, its arms held close to its chest. The head looked up at the Animalis watching, and then ducked back down low, looking at Jax. Its clothes were old and worn, made of a thick material that didn’t have any electronics, video diodes, or internet integration.
The head was big and round, with a pudgy snout extending out two or three inches. Its eyes were small compared to the rest of its features, small and mostly black like the fur around them. On top of its head sat two round ears. A white streak of fur at the top of its chest, just above its clothes.
Bear Animalis. Jax kept walking around the rim of the arena as he examined it, estimating its abilities. Sagging skin, coming out from under its shirt from its belly, and shaking back and forth on its arms, was a sign that it had probably lost most of its weight. The way it kept glancing at the crowd made Jax think it was nervous, maybe afraid, or even ashamed somehow. The places to be wary of were those tiny daggers at the tips of its fingers, and the sharp, extra-large canines in its mouth.
Could Jax actually kill it? If he got on its back and held the powerful neck between his arms, if he actually survived, would he be able to squeeze until the life went out of it? Use his secret shard like a knife? The Animalis were so human. Their voices, their body structure, their blood, but mostly, their will to hold on to their precious lives was the same.
“I have to, human. I have to feed the children inside of me so they can live!” the bear said in a half whimper.
Jax instantly recognized the voice. It was Misha.
She stepped toward him. Jax looked around the arena: a circular dirt floor, about the size of a basketball court, with walls at least fifteen feet high around it. He had seen a wall close to that height in basic training. A single person couldn’t hope to get over it alone, with no ropes, stones, trees, or any other archaic equipment Jax had scoffed at back then. He noticed some scrapes and gouges, but nothing he could use to climb out with.
Misha shuffled closer. Jax glanced at the guards above the arena. Three of them had stopped walking around the rim and were holding their shock sticks, looking impatient. He’d have to face the bear—not with the lack of confidence of the man he had seen in the video, but with intimidation.
“Ahhhhh!” Jax charged at Misha, raising his hands above his head, remembering how intimidating Narasimha had been in that position.
She kept coming. When he got close, she swiped at him. He ducked and jumped backward. Misha’s movements were almost as fast as his. The muscles looked small and weak under the sagging fur, but they were still powerful. She moved forward at him again with her arms spread wide.
“I have to eat. Nothing else to eat.” She clapped her hands together where Jax’s head had been.
He lunged forward under the arms and grabbed around her chest. Jax ended up tucked under the armpit. Misha bellowed and tried to grab at his back. The fingers slipped off Jax’s smooth shirt, but the hooked fingernails cut into him.
His teeth clenched and he groaned, but didn’t let go. Jax pulled his arm up around Misha’s armpit and grabbed the fur on the back of her neck. He kicked his legs wildly when she bent down to get hold of one.
Jax had to get away from the claws, away from the gaping mouth. He planted a foot and tried to throw his weight around to her back. She spun with him, keeping him in the same position. Jax hit the ground again and this time threw his knee into Misha’s ribs.
She let out an ear-shattering roar. Jax took the opportunity to finally get completely behind her, wrapping his left arm around her bulky neck. He wanted to tuck his left hand into his elbow to lock it in place, but the neck was just too large. Was this the moment to use the metal shard?
Paw-like hands slapped at Jax’s back and head. He tried to bring his arms in tighter to start the choke, but he couldn’t tell with all the fur and muscle if it was doing anything at all to her. The knife. But … Misha would die. He would make her lie down, never to get back up. Jax pulled out the shard and pushed it against the pulsing artery in the bear’s neck. The tip of the metal pressed in, warping the skin around it. Soon it
would puncture. Her life—Misha’s life—for his own. It was the only way. A fair trade, right?
His gut went hollow, and he felt a cold emptiness while remembering what the killing had done to him before. He pulled the shard away from her neck.
The walls of the arena spun around as Misha tried to shake Jax off. Claws dug into his scalp. He could feel blood trickling through his hair where she was striking his head. Jax felt his feet touch the ground as she started to lower herself. What is she doing? he needed to know to anticipate her next move. Had the choke been working?
Then, in a powerful thrust, Misha jerked forward and Jax was thrown over her shoulders. His arms flailed in the air, pulled from Misha’s neck. The tiny shard of metal twinkled in the light and disappeared somewhere in the dirt. Jax’s legs were over his head as he came down to the floor. He tucked his head to his chest and held his arms forward as he hit, rolling.
But Misha was back on him, rabid, jaws scraping against his scalp, hands beating against his chest. Jax covered his head with his arms and kicked up with all his strength. His feet caught her in the throat. She pulled back, gasping.
Jax scrambled, looking for where the shard had fallen. His hip jerked, and he snapped his head to look down the length of his body, only to see that Misha had gotten a hold on his leg. He reached for the ground, but he slid backward. She bit down on his calf.
“Ahhhhh!” Jax yelled.
Misha bellowed in response.
Clawed hands held onto the leg.
“I can’t live without this. I have to eat, human. I’m sorry.”
Jax pulled his waist up to get a hold on her, but she stepped down on his chest, pinning him to the ground. Then she bit his shoe again and started to pull.
Chapter 14
The Escape
Misha’s weight held Jax in place, pinning him to the arena floor. Muscles twisted in his leg painfully as she bit and tugged at it. Teeth bit into him again and again, tearing off shoe, pants, and finally bits of skin.
He pounded his fists against her leg. Jerked his chest over and over, trying to throw Misha’s weight off of him. It wasn’t enough. Pain, helplessness. Help! Please, somebody. The world still needs me, doesn’t it? Anyone, help! I’m not done yet. God, help me! He heard—and felt—a crunch of bone beneath the bear’s jaws.
“Ahhh!”
Jax felt the tug of Misha still pulling at him. His body jerking back and forth under her foot. But he couldn’t feel it anymore. No pain, no pressure of teeth sinking into his skin. He looked at his leg. It was still a part of him, sandwiched in her bear-like jaws, attached to his knee, attached to his thigh. Why couldn’t he feel it?
The crowd was restless with excitement. The end was coming soon.
Misha continued to pull at the leg. She jerked, knocking the wind out of Jax with the force of counter pressure on his stomach. The leg started to stretch unnaturally. It kept moving out away from the rest of his body. Without the pain of it, Jax didn’t understand what was happening. It was like some alien object in the bear’s grasp.
Then the bone cracked near the top of Jax’s right calf. The muscle stretched and tore in half, and the skin ripped apart. The lower part of Jax’s right leg separated from his body. The bear stumbled back with the foot and ankle still in her jaws.
Jax scrambled backward, looking from the end of his leg to the object in the bear’s mouth. No! No, no, no, no, was all his mind could produce. This was it, the fight was over. Jax couldn’t run. How could he ever win?
He let the sick dread wipe his mind and dropped back to the hard dirt floor of the arena. The lights above him were intense. An isolated thought drifted up from the emptiness: I couldn’t even kill the bear to save my life …
A noise resonated throughout the stadium: “More! More! More! More!” It shook the walls and rumbled the ground around his head. His vision blurred, and the cries from the Animalis crowd turned into a hiss of static in his ears.
“Are you ashamed of me, Jax?”
He hadn’t noticed his father come into his room. Fire shot out of his virtual space fighter, exploding from the enemy bullets he had stopped paying attention to.
Jax kept his eyes on the wall screen and joined another battle. “You’re not supposed to come home early,” he said, holding back the emotion burning his throat.
“No.” He could see the shadow of his father looking down at the floor. His arms shifted and the robot prosthetic disappeared behind his back. “But this is different.”
Jax’s ship exploded again. He started another game.
“And now I get to be here with you, and your mom. It’s going to be nice.”
“I didn’t want you to come back,” Jax said. It was part of their community, one of the laws that the heroes of the country, the warriors of the army, didn’t break. Not without losing their honor.
“They couldn’t use me out there anymore. I’d be no good to them, not with this.” He brought his arm back around and moved it back and forth, disgusted.
Jax blew up and joined another battle.
“Jax, shut that game off and talk to me. You can’t think of this as failure. I lived, and that’s something.” His dad went to the wall to shut the game off. Jax rolled his ship to the right and caught an enemy’s bullets, blowing up, just before the color evaporated and the ships and explosions flattened out to the normal smooth surface of the wall.
Jax leaned back and looked down at the floor. His dad towered over him.
“A lot of my friends died. I was lucky to get this.” He shook the metal in front of Jax. “There’s not one of those men that died who wouldn’t rather be back with their families. They’d be proud of me for getting out, getting to be with you.”
“I’m not. And I’m not going to give up like you.” Jax held still, waiting for his dad to hit him.
But he didn’t. After a long silence, Jax looked up and his father was gone. He held still, listening for his footsteps.
Finally, Jax turned in his chair to look at the door to his room. His dad had stopped in the entryway and was looking back at him. His voice was soft and cold when he spoke, and the words cut permanent marks in Jax’s mind:
“If you went through what I did, you’d quit. You’d be just as weak and pathetic as you think I am. You’d give up.” He started to walk away down the hall. “You’ll give up.”
Jax opened his eyes to the sound of snarling. The guards above him were holding out their sticks, shouting at Misha: “Finish!”
Jax pushed himself up into a seated position and felt a tidal wave of dizziness flood his brain. Stone walls and dazzling lights streaked through his vision. Dizzy … from losing too much blood, Jax thought. With every vein and artery in his calf ripped open, gushing its contents onto the floor, he wouldn’t have long to live. If I’m … lucky … pass out from blood loss … before Misha … before she starts to eat me.
He stopped moving and watched the ground slowly settle. Crisp shadows from small rocks and scrapes in the floor came into focus. All a dull dusty brown color. He squinted. Where’s … the blood? There was no blood. None on the ground, and none on the end of his ragged, tattered leg.
It was all real. This wasn’t a dream where rationality didn’t apply. If his leg was gone, there would be blood. There had to be blood.
“Finish!” the guards shouted again.
Misha let out a throaty growl.
Jax turned, twisting the world with dizziness again, and looked for the bear. She was still three yards away, trying to ignore the threats from the guards to keep eating the tattered end of Jax’s leg.
My body … Yes, it must have … pulled all the blood up … away from the wound. He nodded to himself, holding on to the simplest, most blatantly wrong reasoning for what was happening. To stay sane. No one was going to save him; not Hank, not the captain. Even if he killed Misha, he would have to fight again. Don’t give up! his very core shouted. Escape.
Misha pulled the leg away from its red-rimmed maw. “Do
n’t fight,” she said. “I have to kill you.”
He had to get out of the arena. It was the only possible way out. But the height, fifteen feet, was so impossibly out of reach. Jax could jump two feet in the air to touch the bottom of the net on a basketball hoop. That was only nine feet.
But, with the six feet of the bear under him, that could get him to the rim of the arena.
If he could jump with one leg.
With a fierce roar, Misha swung her claws down at Jax. He pulled himself forward and felt the fur brush against the back of his neck. The bear leaned to the side, catching its balance.
Jax rolled back and thrust his foot up into a sharp kick. It connected with the dismembered leg Misha was holding, and it went flying through the air, hitting the wall behind Jax with a lifeless thud.
“That’s mine!” the bear cried. “They can’t have it. It’s mine!” And she started to run after it.
As she went to sprint past, Jax caught her leg with both of his hands and yanked, sending her to the ground. He pulled his left foot underneath himself and leaped, diving to get to the leg first.
“No! It’s mine!” She scrambled after him on all fours.
Jax reached the leg, pulled it back behind his head, put his left arm out to counterbalance the motion, and threw the bear’s meal with all his strength straight up.
The bear strained to pull her head up to watch the leg fly into the air. Her awkward scramble transitioned into a standing run before she reached the wall.
Jax rolled onto his foot and got ready to jump onto her back. Seeing her against the wall, just in front of him, his plan looked foolish. She was big, but not some rock that would hold still while he got his balance before his desperate jump.
Above them, the leg reached its apex and began to drop toward the audience. The bear would give up on the leg and turn to eat him. He had to do it, at least try. Now.
Instincts took over. Jax sprung up, thrusting off his left leg. As he leaped, he grabbed handfuls of Misha’s loose skin and jerked himself higher. He tucked his legs against his chest and landed, uneven, on her shoulders. He grabbed the fur on the head and looked up. The lip of the wall was still so far away.
Animalis Page 15
