Page 72 of Xeda

"What do you think we've been talking for?" said the skra.

He moved to the entrance, then turned back to them. "Tell me what you plan to do."

CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN

Xeda

He sat on the metal bed, slowly wrapping his bad arm in a heavy stretchable cloth, mostly to make sure he didn't easily pull it if he were to move too quickly. As he wrapped it, he watched the healers come and go. They checked him every so often but left him alone. Sometimes guards came to make sure he and the other fighters weren't lingering around where they shouldn't, telling them to stay in their rooms. He wondered why they didn't just lock them in, until he realized it was to keep them from thinking they were prisoners. Make them think they had some air of freedom to move around.

Xeda also suspected the men were only made to look intimidating with their guns, but they likely had no skill in combat. Just aim their weapons and hope they didn't miss.

The collars made sure he and the others didn't get out of line. They were the most important factor in their escape.

Niks—the name the female skra gave herself—told him and Aeriz that deactivating the collars was most vital. The guards were only secondary.

"They likely can control the deactivation from a computer or some other device," Niks had said quietly when they stood between her door and the hall. "With a certain code."

"What makes you so sure?" Xeda asked.

She’d gestured to a doorway down the passage. "That's where they take fighters who don't make it. They take the bodies to store them. There's no need to keep a dead person collared right? I'm going to sneak in there with the next body and see how they do it. And hopefully steal the code."

As she made her plan, Aeriz snuck into one of the head healer's offices and got into their machine's system, finding a map which he memorized. Xeda's job was to distract to make sure no one saw him. He bashed in a glass pane with his tail, making it look like an accident, but with enough noise to make every healer and guard come running. They sent him to his room and cleaned the mess. Some time after, he’d snuck back to Niks' room. There, Aeirz had already returned. He had also taken a writing tool and some cloth he found and started drawing the map from memory.

"We are on the arena's north end, just below it," he said, drawing out shapes to indicate buildings. "There are only two ways out of here. One is through a staff passage to the gaming center which I guarantee will be packed with full security, trapping us in. The second is the arena itself. No reason anyone should be there now, and it gives us plenty of room to maneuver. We can move across it to the gaming center to the southeast. As for this medical facility, there is also a lab connected by a storage room, a supply bay, and the place where they keep the bodies of defeated fighters. The lab is where I have the most interest. On their database, I saw a list of supplies. They’re carrying several biochemicals made for enhancements. I think they are making them here."

Xeda stared at the map with keen excitement. "We could certainly use some of those."

"My thinking also. But not just for giving us an edge. The chemical components can make for a deadly weapon if mixed with other components in the medicines they make. Along with bluum they are secretly storing as well. Together, well...let's just say no safety measure is going to keep this place standing."

Xeda's eyes narrowed as his mouth widened. Bomb-making was never one of his strong suits, but he learned a few basics from his brethren in the Blood Guard who were experts. "I'd be happy to see this place burn," he said in a soft hiss.

"You should lead us out," Niks said. "You can help us make a path of destruction, taking out anyone in our way. Then we get to the ship port that brought us here."

His eyes flickered over to her. "I'll lead you out. But after that, you're on your own. I have to stay."

Her expression twisted. "Why?" Then her eyes widened. "You want to seriously try to take out Kaxek?"

"Not just that. There's someone I have to get out first."

They looked at him suspiciously.

"Who?" Niks asked, confused.

"His trainer," Aeriz said, before Xeda could respond. The fyrien's hand gripped the hilt of his blade. "I saw her here. Saw her by you. You care for her."

Xeda dipped his head. "Yes," he said softly. "And I'm not leaving without her."

The fyrien glared at him for a moment, then let his hand fall from his side.

"Do as you wish then," Niks said. "But know Kaxek will come for you if he can. And getting her out might be impossible."

Xeda flicked his tail, gaze turning back to the map. "I know."

They talked over the rest of the plan. One fighter a room over hadn't woken up since Tazyn had bashed part of his skull with his blade. Somehow the grex had clung to life for this long, but Niks had overheard the healers getting ready to put him out for good, unable to revive him. As she waited for them to come and wheel him out so she could sneak away, Aeriz moved out to start telling the other fighters to be ready. According to him, the others wouldn't move unless Xeda was with them. Having a vrisha on their side meant a better chance of escape, especially one who almost took down Kaxek. They'd heard what happened, how he might have won if not for Tazyn, and saw him as someone worthy enough to lead them out in a small rebellion.

Xeda didn't care what they wanted to think as long as the plan worked. After their discussion, he returned to his room to wait and prepare.

He finished tying the cloth to his arm and stood. He wasn't in peak shape, but he was going to fight like a savage to get to the gaming center where he believed Ophilia must still be. Once he had her, then they could figure out what came after.

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