Page 9 of Caged

“I find it’s best not to ask these questions.” He gives me a final slap on the chest, activating my vitals monitor, and shoves me away from him.

Snarling up a storm, I’m guided onto the lifting platform where the neck restraints are tied down. I’m being sent up like this because the vrexing crowd loves seeing a gladiator bound.

With a jerk, the platform rises. I lift my head, staring at the doors above, which slide open, and the stench of the dome hits me as a physical slap.

“It just had to be a ziggurag,” I mutter. “Foul creatures.”

The noise is ear-shattering as the platform deposits me on the dome floor. I’m still in restraints, and there is nothing I can do until I am released other than glare at the ground. I refuse to look up. I refuse to be the entertainment, here and now, without a weapon in my hand.

Down the bottom, in the pool of murky water set aside for all the water-loving beasts, something breaks the surface, and the patrons of the dome go wild.

I sigh deeply.

The restraints click open.

All of this, I do for her.

ALEX

Itumble out into the street through a flap which immediately seals behind me. Sitting up and blinking in the midday heat, I attempt to make some sort of sense as to what just happened.

What…who was the male in the cage? Did he nearly have me for lunch?

His eyes, those beautiful pools of darkness—they’re haunting me. I can’t unsee them or him. I cough and pound at my chest to get my heart moving again and feel the hard passes I stuffed in my clothing instead.

I actually got them out! The dome is supposed to be impregnable, or at least escape proof, for the public’s safety, something I saw on a vid-screen some time ago.

I guess it’s not human proof. I bark out a laugh, and two skinny gray aliens look at me with their big black eyes.

“Fuck off and probe someone who cares,” I shout at them, getting to my feet and brushing off my clothing.

They hurry past me as I discover one of Ginka’s rolls in my pocket and take a carefree bite. I got out of the dome, I got what Ixor wanted, and it’ll keep him happy for a while.

As I wander back through the teeming streets of Tatatunga, keeping myself to the shadows as much as I can given the fact there are scout bots out and about, I want to forget all about the dome.

And all about the stunning creature in the cage, who was far too powerful to be contained. Above me, a hovering holo screen bursts to life, and I’m stopped in my tracks.

“Today only!” it booms. “See the Gladiator Gryn in action against the beasts and taking on all comers.”

In glorious 3-D, stood in the center of what has to be the dome arena, is the male from my escape nightmare. He holds an enormous sword, the tip down to the ground.

Noble and graceful and absolutely not supposed to be in a cage, or in the dome itself, he lifts his head to glare straight down the holo-camera, and I see the stare which is burnt into my memory.

This time there is a steely glint, one which takes no prisoners.

A hard, heavy body slams into me, causing me to slide to one side and bounce off a nearby wall, all the wind being taken from my lungs. Fortunately, even with eyes streaming, I see a flash of sickly green skin.

Ixor. He found me.

“Hello, little slave” he grates. “I do hope you had a good reason for standing staring at nothing.”

I look up again but the adverts on the hovering holo have changed.

“I did what you told me to do last night,” I mutter, getting to my feet once again but not bothering to brush myself down this time. “I got the passes for the dome.”

Ixor’s expression goes from a glower to what approximates a smile. A greasy, flabby hand grabs hold of my clothing as the other one delves inside. I hold back the desire to throw up as he extracts the passes, ripping my top in the process.

“Excellent,” he says, but he isn’t referring to my work, given his piggy black eyes are focussed on his prize. “Are these formatted?” he adds, slamming me against him.

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