Page 138 of King of the Cage

I walked quietly over the thick, dark Persian rug toward a desk. A laptop sat front and center, and my fingers itched to get it. Itdidn’t matter if I had her passwords or what kind of security she had, sooner or later, I’d crack it and see the real insides of The Enclave.

“So, Giada. You’ve finally decided to join me. I take it you remember me?” A light came on. Regina sat in a leather wingback chair by the unlit fire.

A girl sat opposite her. Alice. Alice No Last Name. The girl who’d started it all.

She stared blankly at the wall. My heart thumped hard.

Regina waved her scotch glass at Alice. “Don’t mind her. She doesn’t even know you’re here.”

“What have you given her?” I edged into the room.

“Z Juice, of course. This one is an upgrade. It’s a hybrid of what you took, and classic, biddable Z Juice. The ultimate plan would be for the patient to be perfectly biddable and blank… and then after, remember nothing.”

“Why would anyone want to do that to someone?” I shook my head. “Never mind, don’t answer that. You’re just a crazy bitch. I forgot.”

Regina smirked at me. “Look at your confidence. Is that because you’ve remembered your hunky husband? You think he’ll survive out there?”

“If you wanted to kill us, we’d be dead.”

Regina inclined her head. “True. The Enclave might not approve of modern weapons like guns, but that doesn’t mean we don’t use them if we have to. But honestly, he’s too good of a physical specimen to waste. I think I’ll test my serum on him. When hewakes up afterward, I’ll tell him we’re madly in love and having an affair behind my husband’s back… He won’t even remember your name.”

I had nothing to say to that horrifying image.

“Or maybe I’ll dose him with the same stuff Archie is on. Men are so much more pleasant when they’re properly medicated. Is he as good in bed as he is at fighting?” Regina leaned forward eagerly. She wet her lips and seemed like she actually expected me to answer.

When I didn’t, she tossed her head. “Fine, don’t give me any spoilers. I’ll find out for myself soon enough. While your husband and I are going to have lots of fun, you and me, are done. You’ve failed to be interesting, Giada, and worst of all, you shrugged off the serum much faster than anyone before you. So willful and stubborn. I don’t think we’d ever have been real friends. Such a shame.” She turned to Alice. “Subdue her.”

Alice stood, her face still blank. She held a long hypodermic needle.

No, no, no.I backed away when she turned to me.

Alice started forward, and I danced away from her, my back hitting the bookcase. I scrambled for a weapon out of sheer survival instinct. My knife! It was still strapped to my thigh. I grabbed it and tried to move the table between me and Alice.

“Alice, you remember me, from the wedding. I tried to help you,” I panted.

Alice’s face didn’t twitch. She wasn’t there.

She advanced, and I backtracked.

“You fucking coward!” I shouted at Regina. “You could at least attack me yourself.”

“Why would I do that when it’s so entertaining to watch you try to not hurt an innocent girl? If it helps, this innocent girl was bold enough to go to the cops and try to bring this whole place down after I tested my new serum on you. She’s slated for death. She’ll be experimented on in our lab until she dies. You’d be doing her a favor by killing her.”

“Not happening!” I snarled, jumping out of the way as Alice got too close and swiped at me with the needle. I needed to get it out of her hands, but I didn’t want to hurt her.

Then, I slipped. The damn rug was folded at the corner, and I went down. Alice was on me in an instant. Regina stood, clapping her hands together with glee.

“Inject her!” Regina ordered.

Alice brought the needle toward me. I couldn’t let her inject me. I had no idea what was in the syringe, but Regina was clearly trying to kill me.

I gripped her wrist, but Alice was insanely strong. She wasn’t afraid to hurt me, so she wasn’t holding back. I had to work to keep the knife away from her wrist.

I was on the floor, and Alice moved across me, trying to drive the needle into my arm the whole way. She shifted so her entire body weight bore down on me.

I was going to lose. I could feel it. I needed to hurt her. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

A tear escaped my eye.

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