“Yes.” He smiles. “It’s nice to see a familiar face. I mean, not that we know one another or anything, but…”
“But perspectives change on that a little bit now so, yeah, I get it. How’d you end up on this team?” I ask, lagging back a little from the rest of the group.
“To be honest, I don’t know. A dude in black fatigues showed up, handed me a uniform and told me to be in the atrium after dinner.” He rubs his chin. “I do have some experience hunting and using guns. I filled that out on my form when we got here and I’m pretty sure I passed whatever physical test they put me through.”
I shake my head. “Sounds about right. They’re really into the super-top-secret here.”
“It’s pretty impressive though—like right out of a sci-fi story. You know how in the movies they always are totally taken by surprise and the government fails left and right, unable to handle anything? Like we’re one step away from stumbling back to the middle ages? This place is the total opposite. It’s like they knew it was coming or something.”
“Or something. Guess it pays to be paranoid,” I mutter, slowing my pace even more because Wyatt has stopped before a large, metal, sliding door. He slides his keycard through one more security box and the doors part in the middle, like rows of sideways teeth.
We follow him inside and realize others are already here. The room is large and square. The floor is cement but there’s a padded, elevated ring in the middle, currently surrounded by cheering and shouting fighters. Two figures move around in the middle. The walls surrounding the ring are glass or Plexi-glass and I get an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach.
I march up to Wyatt. “Is that what I think it is?”
Wyatt nods. “A sparring ring.”
Someone in the ring crashes into the glass with a loud thud, the crowd roars and I look over, seeing nothing but shadowy movements.
“You’ve got to be kidding.” I say. “This is what you do for fun?”
“It?
??s training, Alex. For outside.”
Jude appears at my side. “This looks pretty awesome. What do I have to do to get a turn?”
“The ring isn’t for us to practice fighting each other,” I tell Jude. “But if you want to get in with an Eater go for it.”
His jaw, along with every other new recruit, drops when Wyatt doesn’t argue.
“For real?” Jude asks.
“They bring in the Eaters and test their weapons. Is that where Erwin got the idea? Or did you get it from him?” I blink back hot tears. I’d nearly seen Wyatt and Chloe get mauled to death in a similar cage at Fort Shaw. “God, you’re all the same. You’re all disgusting.”
“Everyone that steps into that ring goes willingly. It’s not for punishment or manipulation. Erwin was on to something. It’s a good way to judge what works in a controlled environment. You know that.” He looks at Jude. “And no, you don’t have to fight an Eater, but it is an option. You can spar with anyone you want.”
A bell sounds and the crowd erupts in cheers again. I look over despite myself. Two men leave the ring at the same time, tugging black gloves off their hands. They look bruised and battered but still alive.
Everyone moves toward the ring and I’m left fuming on the side with Wyatt giving me a hard stare, jaw tense.
“This is bullshit, Wyatt.”
“You’re being irrational.”
“Am I? Is this who we’ve become?
“Yeah, it is.” He steps closer. “It’s the freaking apocalypse out there, Alex. It’s gotten worse since we got here. Way worse.”
“I’ve been out there, remember? It’s not that bad.”
“You’ve been in cleared and swept areas. Controlled missions.” He’s not shouting but from the way the vein on his forehead pulses I can tell he wants to. “You wanted to be on this team and to help, but it may be the last thing you’ll do. Those Eaters…they’re changing. Mutating or something. They’re faster and meaner. The transition from human to monster happens nearly instantly—there’s no time for hesitation.” I hear the sliding of a heavy door across the room and the rumble of the fighters talking to one another. “We have to do this to stay alive and even then we’ll lose some people. Guaranteed.”
“Then why? There has to be another way.”
He shakes his head. “Saving humankind isn’t easy. The hard way is the only way the vaccination will ever get to the survivors out there.”
I glance at the ring and see how the spectators are getting a little edgy. A shadowy movement catches my eye on the far side of the glass. Even from here I can tell he’s less than human. “So we practice killing Eaters.”