I knew that they were only Savages, but this felt…so wrong. Savages being pitted against other savages, by savages. They were even betting on them like some sort of dog fighting ring. It was morally wrong, horrible even, but I couldn’t bring myself to look away.

When I looked over to him, Lucas’s face was unreadable. I hated it when he did that. It felt like I was being left in the dark, yet I always trusted him anyway. Stupid? Sure. Is it going to get me hurt? Maybe. But there’s nothing worse that he could do that won’t already happen. Pulling me out of my thoughts, he takes us to a back corner of what looks like an old bar.

“Okay, we need to get our story in order because I don’t know if you feel it, but there’s no way we’re getting out of this without running,” He sighed grimly. I nodded in agreement, still a little stunned by the sudden amount of violence. Scowling, I closed my eyes to try and think of a way to not sound suspicious, but a silent voice echoes in my head.

Are you seriously going to let him make your decisions? You can’t trust him!

That voice in my mind made a sudden bitter change in my mood, my scowl deepened as I pretended to think about anything else. Lucas gave me a curious look before reaching out his hand to-

“Don’t touch me!” I snapped viciously. His hand halts above my shoulder as if he were startled, and when I looked up at him he looked taken aback. My eyebrows raise in surprise at my actions. I never meant to sound so cruel…why would it matter? It’s not like he was trying to hurt me or something. His face shifted into another emotion unintentionally, and it looked like he was scared, or perhaps it was a look of dread. But it didn’t look like he was scared of me, it looked like he was scared for me.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“No, it’s fine, we don’t have the time to worry about it right now. But I need you to stay here. No offense, but you look as pale as a sheet. You’re also rasping, it sounds like you can hardly breathe. So please, sit down,” He interrupts, pulling his hand away and pointing to a nearby barstool.

“But what about the plan?” I asked, a little hurt.

“I’ll handle it, dormouse. I’ll ask around, please just sit down,” He sighed.

Was he mad at me? Disappointed in me that I couldn’t help? I couldn’t quite identify the emotion behind that sigh, but it didn’t sound good to me. However, despite my wishes to participate, I dragged my feet over to the stool and plopped down, a downcast look on my face. Lucas helped to make sure I was situated, but his hand hovered hesitantly over my arm before he pulled it away. Without a word, he walks off into the crowd in search of answers.

Silently, I watched as he weaved himself through the crowd, slowly disappearing. I planned to remain silent, that was until a big figure sat next to me. The stool itself squeaked under the pressure of their weight. When I looked up, it was a very intense-looking man, who had a large scar that went across his face. Without breaking the silence, he slid me a tall drink, the froth spilling over ever so slightly while it swirled in the glass.

“Oh- uhm…thank you..” I mumbled hesitantly, glancing anywhere but in his direction. Of course, I didn’t plan on drinking it, because the chances that it was tapped were pretty high. Yet, I swished it around like I was planning to take a drink, biding my time.

“You won’t be safe here for long. I’m not ratting you out, but somebody else will, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to help you,” he said, his gruff voice rattling through me. I scrunched my nose involuntarily, scowling into the distance.

“I was told that this organization knows a cure for Phantom…Is this true?”

“To a certain extent,”

“And I assume you’re not going to tell me?”

“Not without a price,”

“I don’t have money,” I said, rolling my eyes.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Yeah, but you’re worth a lot of it.”

I was about to say something else until we both heard a commotion coming from the crowd. I squinted my eyes, looking for the cause, until eventually my eyes rested on Lucas in the middle of the ruckus.

“And somehow this dumb bastard is worth a lot too..” I grumbled under my breath, standing up and leaning against the wall to gain my balance. I looked back at the man on the stool.

“What savage do you think is going to survive this fight?” I asked him, cocking my eyebrows slightly.

“My bets are on you,” he responded with a hearty chuckle.

I grinned, “Damn straight.”

I ran through the crowd as fast as my feet could take me, elbowing my way through the drunken, angry herd, nabbing a gun from a guy on my right and spinning the cylinder.

“Anyone up for roulette?” I asked as I shot into the crowd mercilessly, causing people to crumple over left and right. In the corner of my vision, I could have sworn that I saw a familiar figure fleeing the scene, but before I could identify them, a man picked me up from behind, tossing my gun aside. I swung my feet up before heavily planting my feet into the ground, the momentum causing him to flip over my head and hurtle into the woman across from me, his weight crushing her startled cry. I leaped for my fallen gun, scooping up fallen ammo and loading it into the chambers.

“You guys know how to party! This guy knows what I’m talking about,” I said, pointing to a lifeless man on the ground with the tip of the barrel. A woman from my right charged at me, grabbing at my shoulders to try and knock me off my balance. I gripped her arm before swinging her ruthlessly into the ground, knocking her temple with the heel of my gun.

“I thought it was funny…” I mumbled.

I pulled Lucas up from off the ground wordlessly, gripping his wrist and threading him through the raging crowd. We dashed up the stairs and back through the entrance, kicking up dirt behind us as we raced across the sandy ground.

“What the hell did you do!?” I yelled at him.

“Not the time!”

I groaned before pausing to look at a busted-up old hover about 50 yards away. It was in very poor condition and definitely an old model. However our chances of dying are higher than the chances of the hover not working, so I was willing to take a gamble. I tugged Lucas over in that direction and he seemed to understand my thought process.

We halted in front of the hover, the crowd hot on our tracks, and hauled it up off the ground, tilting it up into an upright position and I hopped into the side that I assumed would be the passenger’s side, but I was dead wrong. Lucas got to the other side and had the same realization.

“European model?”

“European model.”

We didn’t have the time to switch, so he hopped into the actual passenger side, and that’s when I started panicking, looking for a way to start it up. Lucas looked like he was ready to die in that spot.

“Blair, it would be a miracle if you got this thing to turn over!”

“Shut up!” I yelled and banged my fist on the dash. The hover startled both of us as it roared to life, dust swirling up all around us as it lifted slightly from the ground. Lucas crossed his arms and raised an impressed eyebrow.

“Well, hallelujah,”

I stamped my foot on the pedal and the vehicle lurched forward, bringing us to a high speed surprisingly quickly. However, my relief was short-lived.

“Uhm, Blair? I know right now probably isn’t a good time, but…”

I glanced into the rearview mirror, peering through the dust only to see the crowd with their own hover vehicles, seemingly as busted up as ours, right on our heels. I swerved to the right and they followed recklessly. Lucas clung to the safety handles for dear life and closed his eyes for what I assumed was a silent prayer.

“Head down!” I yelled.

“Why?”

Bullets shattered through the back glass, embedding themselves into the cushioned seats. The glass flew everywhere, cutting up the seats and forcing us to hang our heads low to the dash.

“That’s why!” I shot back sarcastically.

If you thought the bullets were enough, you were wrong. As I squinted into the distance, I spotted something very unwelcoming, so much so that I physically died a little on the inside.

“Rowland Chasm? This hover’s stabilizer model will never get us across that!” I hollered. Instead of looking worried, Lucas looked relieved.

“This is in our favor!

“HOW IS ANY OF THIS IN OUR FAVOR!?”

“Their hovers won’t be able to get them over it either. Do you trust me, Blair?” I nodded, confused by his implications.

“Jump out!” he commanded, banging his hang on the console, forcing it into autopilot.

“Jump- what!?”

Before I could even process what he said, he hauled me out of my seat and jumped out of the moving vehicle. Both of us screamed bloody murder as the dust enveloped us and we were sent skidding across the ground in a tangled heap. In my peripheral, I saw it all play out in slow motion.

The dust obscures their vision, and I watch one by one as every single hover falls into the pit, screams of alarm echoing through the walls in a horrible cacophony of noise.

We sat there for a moment in pure shock, until my mind was brought back to reality.

“Are you fucking nuts!?”

“Are you!? You could have died getting into that crowd!”

“If I hadn’t, you would’ve! How on earth did you manage to make an entire crowd that angry!?”

“It was an accident! My hood slipped!”

“For fuck’s sake-” I began but was interrupted by a new voice.

“You know, you both should consider how crazy that whole scene was. I knew I should’ve brought popcorn when I followed you two…”