Chapter 23 #2
“No,” Hector says. “This one was built a few years before the war, mostly to be used as a bunker. But war came faster than expected, and they never got to finish the work. Still, whatever they built is enough for my needs.”
“And what are those needs?” I ask.
Hector pats my back. “Soon.”
I begin to hear flowing water up ahead, and there’s a faint green glow at the end of the long tunnel.
It grows brighter as the air turns colder, until we finally reach a massive dome-like space.
I try to remain calm at the sight of hundreds of lizard men below us.
Water spills down from outflows surrounding the round floor, and some of the lizard men swim in it.
“Are you keeping all of them here?” Finn asks, shivering next to me. I squeeze his hand, hoping he knows that any attack against him will have to go through me.
“They have enough space to walk around, and the strongest ones get to leave for other activities.”
“Like attacking settlements?” Finn asks in a tight voice.
“For example.”
The lizard men look up at us. At first glance, they all seem similar, but some are bigger than others with subtle differences between their features.
“How do you feed them all?” I ask.
“They can go on for weeks without food. Most of the time, they’re in a state of hibernation, but my arrival stirred them up. Let’s continue.”
We walk down a narrow flight of stairs and face the most terrifying creatures I’ve ever seen, despite facing them before in my nightmares.
Their musky and earthy scent makes me dizzy.
Their narrow pupils follow us as we walk among them.
They bow their heads at Hector, who touches them briefly like a holy man.
We have enough room to walk, but I still put my hands on Finn’s shoulders as he walks in front of me. When we finally pass all the lizard men, we enter another dim tunnel where the air is less damp.
“How did you get so many of them?” Finn asks Hector.
“Oh, I’m sure you’ve figured it out by now.”
Finn stops walking, making us stop as well. There is no fear in his eyes as he glares at Hector. “Are these people?”
“They used to be, and now they’re so much more.”
Finn rubs his face. “Raiders?”
“Only a few.”
“You’ve been bringing people here from the settlements you conquered,” I say, reminded of my conversation with Elijah. I’ve seen every imaginable horror during my time as a Defender, but I can’t wrap my head around people being turned into these monsters.
Then it hits me. My inhuman strength. My yellow blood. “You’re… you’re turning me into one of them.”
Finn’s eyes go wide in horror.
Hector holds my gaze for an agonizing amount of time before he bursts out laughing. “Don’t be foolish! I would never do that to my champion.”
I have no way of knowing if he’s telling the truth, yet I’m unbelievably relieved.
Hector pulls me into a hug. “You and I will change the world. It won’t be pretty at first, but then it will be glorious. And don’t worry about Finn—we’ll keep him with us because people like him will be the first to perish.”
That just tells me how much he underestimates Finn, which might end up being his downfall.
We continue to walk, reaching two rows of cells where prisoners are being kept cramped together. Some reach out through the bars and beg for help. I can’t do anything for them, so I avoid their eyes, ashamed of how much their stench disgusts me.
“Evil,” Finn mutters.
“It is,” Hector says, leaving it at that.
We enter a spacious and bright lab with people in white lab coats. They bow when they see Hector, then continue their work. Five naked men are strapped to metal tables, seemingly unconscious with IVs dripping a yellowish liquid into their veins.
“Once they’re done here, they’ll be moved somewhere else until they finish transforming,” Hector tells us. “It usually takes a few days, but I’ll spare you the gruesome sight.”
“How much more do you need?” Finn faces Hector. “You think your Raiders will want to fight alongside these creatures? Or are you planning on transforming all of them too?”
“If I could transform them all, I would, but there’s only so much of my blood I can afford to spare.
I’m close to achieving the army I need, but I have to move fast because the life expectancy of my creations is less than three years.
Their bodies first welcome the change, then they fight it until they die. It’s quite poetic.”
“Murder isn’t poetic!”
I touch Finn’s lower back, trying to signal him to calm down. Seeing all of this feeds us information we can later use. As disturbing as all of this is, I’m glad more of Hector’s sick plan is coming to light.
“You want Caden to be your conqueror and lead your army,” Finn says. “Did you mean the lizards?”
“No. I can order them around just fine, but if I want people to surrender once I crush their armies, they won’t do that for an army of lizards. I’ll need human troops, led by a human champion. Well, an enhanced human.”
Finn glances at me as if he expects me to argue, but I’m done arguing. If I’m to challenge Hector’s plan, it won’t be with words, and I’m not yet strong enough to fight him.
Hector holds my hand and leads me to one of the empty medical beds. I snatch my hand back, my gut twitching. “We’ve seen enough. Let’s head back.”
“You’re going to face the greatest fighter in the world tomorrow, and despite all of your hard work, he will kill you.” He shakes his head. “I can’t allow that, not after all we’ve been through.”
A sudden wave of dizziness hits me. I begin to fall, but Hector grabs me and eases me onto the bed.
“What are you doing to him?” Finn’s voice sounds far away.
“Saving his life.”
“You promised not to turn him into one of them!”
“And I won’t.”
I can barely feel my body, though I’m aware of Hector pulling off my shirt. Through my blurry vision, I notice people in lab coats walking around. They strap my wrists and legs tightly to the bed. I should fight what’s coming, but I’m trapped inside my own flesh.
Warm hands touch my temples. Finn’s blurry face floats above me, but I can’t reach out to touch him. He shouldn’t see this. He shouldn’t even be in Denver. “I’m sorry I can’t stop this,” he whispers as he cries. “I’m sorry.”
“Why would you want to stop him from becoming so much more?” Hector asks.
“Your friends wouldn’t have wanted any of this. You’re not honoring any of them!”
“Be careful, Finn. Don’t assume you know me because I told you some things. Now, I’m afraid that this will require a bit more than a cut.”
I gather enough strength to raise my head and see Hector’s tail swaying above my stomach.
The pointy tip presses against the right side of my abdomen.
I tighten my muscles, but it’s like trying to stop a knife with my skin.
The tail pierces through my flesh and drives into me.
The pain is beyond anything I’ve ever experienced, unleashing the fire of hell at the center of my body.
Through the haze around my senses, I scream.
Hector tries to ease my pain, but he’s unable to match the scorching acid in my stomach. The change that started inside me with Hector’s first cut is accelerating at the speed of light, altering every cell in my body.
“Breathe,” Hector says through my screams. “Accept my gift.”
I hear the weakness in his voice. This is costing him, but I can’t use the opportunity to kill him like I hoped.
Finn kisses my forehead, his soft hands still on my temples. “You’re strong,” he says as I thrash and spit and growl. “You’re so strong.”
I feel anything but strong as I sob like a child. If this doesn’t stop soon, my heart will collapse.
Finn suddenly pulls his hands away from me, shouting, “What the fuck are you doing to him? Stop!”
I don’t know what is making him react like that, then Hector says in relief, “Here we go. That’s it. We have arrived.”
Arrived? My breathing slows almost instantly, and my lungs no longer fight for air.
Hector pulls his tail out, and my body quickly heals the wound, as well as any other bruise I carry.
I raise my head to see blood everywhere, but my cut is almost sealed tight.
I pull at my bindings, snapping them with ease.
I do the same to my legs and climb down from the table.
The floor feels unstable, but I take a deep breath to compose myself. My screams still echo in my head, but I’m calmer than I’ve been in a very long time. Hector, as pale as a ghost, places his palm over my heart. “You are glorious, my champion. Do you feel it?”
“I… do.”
“I need to rest,” he says. “This was more than I expected.”
I’m overwhelmed by a strong sense of concern. “Are you okay? I can carry you.”
He chuckles. “I’m fine, but maybe our friend needs carrying.”
I turn to look at Finn, taken aback by the shock in his eyes.
I open my mouth to ask him what’s wrong, but I catch my reflection in his pupils.
I touch my face, feeling the roughness of what can only be small scales across my forehead and the sides of my cheeks.
I look down to see scales on my upper arms and shoulders as well.
I should be shaken, but I’m not, yet Finn is horrified.
He looks at me as if he’s seeing a monster.
*
Elijah paces back and forth in the locker room.
I can hear thousands of people as they fill the arena.
When it becomes too much, I tune them out with ease.
My control over my body keeps surprising me.
My lungs, my liver, my senses… all under my control.
I’m more than I have ever dreamed of being, and my fear of facing Isaac has turned into excitement.
I don’t know if I’m strong enough to survive this fight, but I’m eager to find out and make Hector proud.
“Can you please stop pacing?”
Elijah, wearing his house’s burgundy suit, stops in front of me. “How could you let him do this to you?”
“Do what? Make me strong enough to take down a giant?”