Page 42 of Us Dark Few

The guard dropped his hands, stumbling back, and Brock went in for the kill.

He moved behind the guard and kicked him in the back of the legs. The guard fell to his knees, and there was no emotion on the Death-Zoner’s face as he bent forward, put his arms around the guard’s head, and snapped his neck. The guard’s eyes went lifeless as he slumped to the ground.

Dead.

The Death-Zoner exhaled heavily as he gazed down at the body, his eyes flickering with malice. The crowd seemed to hold its breath along with him.

Without another word, Brock climbed out of the fighting pit. At his movement, an explosion of cheers reverberated across the hall like rockets.

Khalani stood frozen, staring at the dead guard’s body. She’d never seen someone murdered in front of her eyes. Khalanifeltthe crack of bone like the damage was her own. It was gruesome and spellbinding, and the crowd ate it up. Even Serene beside her was slow clapping for Brock in shock and awe.

Takeshi nodded to the two guards next to him, and they dropped down to the dead guard. Khalani shuddered at the unnatural angle of his neck as the guards dragged his lifeless body out of the pit. She felt Takeshi’s gaze on her but couldn’t look at him, too fixated on the violent scene.

“Any other fighters?” a prisoner yelled out.

People clapped, and the crowd buzzed with excitement and adrenaline. Khalani doubted anyone wanted to enter the pit after that murderous affair, and she didn’t have the stomach to endure another bloody presentation.

She finally pulled her eyes away and turned to Serene. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

Serene’s face was still gleaming with exhilaration. “Damn, nothing is going to beat that. Yeah, let’s go.”

Khalani started to turn away, but a shout echoed through the air, the words hitting her like a cement block and anchoring her feet to the floor.

“I challenge Prisoner 317 to a fight!”

Her whole body tensed as she slowly turned. Dana stood in the middle of the pit, her muscular arms folded across her chest and a smug grin etched across her face. The weight of every stare bore into her, and the silence was palpable.

Khalani swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. “What is this, Dana?”

Dana shrugged. “You refuse to answer my questions, and this is what happens. In Braderhelm, you pay with blood.”

Several people whistled and cheered, egging on the fight between two female prisoners. After watching Brock’s brutal demonstration, the last place she wanted to be was in the pit opposite Dana. Khalani had never been in a fight, and Dana was a whole foot taller than her.

She would even bet against herself.

She glanced at Takeshi, and his expression was hard as stone. She noticed him imperceptibly shake his head as if to tell her not to engage.

“I don’t accept,” she stated in a firm voice. Multiple people booed and called her choice words. Khalani ignored the callous chatter and stood her ground.

Dana’s mouth twisted in a cruel smile, and she grabbed a small picture from her pocket that sealed a dagger in Khalani’s heart. It was the picture of her parents. Her only photo of them. Every muscle in her body locked into place.

How did she get that?

Dana flipped the back of the picture over to her writings. She chuckled.“Looks like someone has been crying to sleep at night. Writing in your diary like a baby. This is sad, even for you. Your parents are better off dead, so they wouldn’t see what their pathetic daughtergrew up to become.”

Dana held the picture in front of her and ripped the most precious item she owned into multiple pieces.

The dull roar of laughter invaded her senses as the broken image of her parents floated to the ground.

She couldn’t move.

Could barely breathe.

Her ears pounded, and all the blood rushed to her head as her body froze in quiet shock. Her vision narrowed and blackened.

The sight of the shattered scraps on the floor, like puzzle pieces that could never be put back together, screamed in the hollow abyss of her mind. The emotion slowly started to churn to something deeper and chaotic. Deadlier.

Her fists were closed so tightly that her knuckles felt like they could burst out of her skin. She vaguely remembered Serene pulling on her arm, but her attention wasn’t there. She had tunnel vision. Dana was the only object of her focus, and at that moment she wanted her dead.

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