Grey's eyes lifted in his direction and he started laughing. It was a deep, rumbling chuckle that rattled up his throat and through his teeth. His gang of admirers joined in appreciatively.
"Yeah, what are you gunna do lover boy?" a large man with a long beard catcalled from the crowd to my left.
Grey stopped laughing instantly. He turned and swung his fist through the air so quickly that I flinched in shock. The man with the beard hit the ground with a sickening crunch and blood streamed from his nose. He cursed and writhed on the floor as his friends backed away from him and Grey glared at him like he was daring him to fight back.
"Break it up!" Unibrow's voice boomed over the noise and relief spilled through me in a flood.
The crowd glanced at Grey as they started to disperse. He stared at me, a wicked gleam in his eyes which said he wasn’t done here. Slowly, he raised his fist and wiped the bearded man's blood down the front of my jacket before turning and walking out of the hall.
Dolly sauntered after him and the double doors swung shut behind them.
I released my fork, sank back into my seat and sat on my trembling hands as the noise surrounding us returned to normal.
Laurie had told me to keep away from him. But what was I supposed to do if he didn’t want to keep away from me?
On the fifth day of training, we were working on the mats. I was doing no better and my temper was rising after being thrown onto my back for the tenth time.
“Place your feet and twist into the movement," Laurie said, sounding exasperated.
I got back into position and motioned Taylor forward. He grabbed me and I twisted, knocking him off balance but I didn't get my shoulder into place and he managed to stay on his feet.
“Again," Laurie snapped. She was turning out to be a total hard ass in her role as our trainer and I ground my teeth as I tried to get my headspace right to try again.
Taylor lunged forward and I started to move but something caught my eye on the other side of the training area and I hesitated. He hit me hard in the shoulder and I was knocked off of my feet as he flung me across the mat.
I cursed, scrambling to regain my balance as I tried to get a better look at what had distracted me.
"Really?" Laurie began, but she was cut off as a scream broke out above the rest of the noise in the room. It was swiftly followed by the buzz of several tasers. The room exploded into shouts and chaos.
Grey hit the floor with four Wardens piling on top of him, several taser cords were attached to various parts of his body. He was twitching out of control but his face was pointed in my direction and he was smiling. It was almost a snarl but I could see a light behind his eyes that hadn't been there before. He looked excited.
The Wardens, led by Unibrow, dragged Grey out of the room using metal batons to strike at him as he resisted.
As they moved away I caught a look at what had caused them to restrain him like that. One of the time servers was sprawled on the floor, his arms were twisted at an unnatural angle and a training knife protruded from his chest. The force it must have taken to get that plastic knife to cause any kind of injury was immense but as I thought of Grey's hulking mass, it didn't surprise me that he’d managed it.
A pool of blood was spreading out from the man's body and his eyes were staring lifelessly at the ceiling.
I suddenly felt cold. The sweat from my workout chilled against my skin and I shivered.
A female Warden hurried across the room carrying a large blanket and covered him up as other Wardens started to segregate all of the convicts and check that there was no more trouble brewing.
"Goddamn psychopath," Laurie muttered, ushering us back into the safety of our mat area.
“What will happen to Grey now?" I asked her.
“He'll be locked up in solitary when he's not training. But he's a lifer anyway, there's not a lot more we can do to him. He won't be allowed near the knives again though."
I couldn't quite believe what she was saying.
“But he just killed that man. He could have a family waiting for him back in the city," I protested.
Laurie fixed me with a hard stare but it was Taylor who replied.
“That's the whole point of the trials, Maya. There's no guarantee you're going home."
“But this wasn't the trials. It's just stupid training, with a stupid plastic knife!" I shouted. Some of the other Wardens were looking my way but I didn’t give a shit.
“Maya, stop." Laurie inclined her head towards the other Wardens. "Or I'll have to do something neither of us will like." Her hand was on the taser at her hip and I knew she meant it.