Blood Red Road

How’s my girls tonight? says Mad Dog.

The ghters in the main cel wake up right away. They’re on their feet, scut lin into the shadows so’s he cain’t see ’em to pick on. I was back on my cot the moment the door flew open.

He runs the stick along the cel bars.

Wake up, he says. Daddy wants to play.

Helen, I says, move!

She’s froze with fear, stil crouched down by the cel bars where we was talkin.

Mad Dog spots her.

What’re you doin there? He pushes his stick through the bars an pokes at her. Come on out, you rat! She shrinks away.

Leave her alone, I says.

Oooh, he says. He moves along to my cel an leers at me. If it ain’t the Angel of Death.

I stare at him. Let him see how much I hate him.

You think yer somethin, don’t you? he says. I tel you, if it was up to Mad Dog, you’d be outside right now git in a beatin you’d never ferget. That day wil come. An when it does, you’l be beggin me fer mercy. But not now. Yer the star at raction in Hopetown these days an Mad Dog don’t wanna git into trouble. But I’m bored. I wanna bit of fun.

He points at Helen. Bring out the rat, he says.

He jerks his head an the guards unlock the main cage, push their way in through the girls. They twist Helen’s arm behind her back an haul her out.

Helen! I says. Wait! Leave her alone!

Mad Dog drags one of the guard’s chairs into the middle of the cel block an sits on it backwards. His eyes spark with excitement an he’s startin to twitch. His fingers, his shoulders, his feet. That means trouble.

Let’s see, he says. How about you sing me a song?

I dunno no songs, says Helen in a low voice.

She don’t know no songs. Mad Dog looks al around, like he’s surprised. Wel , can you dance? Do me a lit le dance … rat. Go on, what’re you waitin fer? Dance.

Helen don’t move.

I said, dance!

Leave her alone! I says.

Shut up, jest shut up! Gawdammit, he yel s, do I hafta do everythin myself?

He throws his chair aginst the wal an it smashes into bits. Then Mad Dog starts dancin. He twirls his stick, throws it in the air, dances around it.

See? he says. Look how easy it is! I’m dancin! Let’s everybody dance! C’mon!

Helen’s stood there, her arms clamped to her sides, starin at him.

Suddenly he stops. What’re you starin at, rat? I said … what’re you starin at? He screams it at the top of his voice, the veins in his neck poppin out. He grabs her by the arm an starts draggin her towards the door. She cries out.

Helen! I scream. Let her go, you bastard! I leap at the cel door, ferget in I’m chained to the cot an the cot’s xed to the oor. I land face down but scramble up right away.

Mad Dog shoves Helen at the two cel block guards. Take her outside, he says. They take her by the arms an hustle her out a the door.

Helen! I says. No! Helen!

Mad Dog’s unlockin the door of my cel . I scrabble back onto my cot, into the corner, an kick at him as he unchains me from the cot. He grabs my arm, yanks me to my feet an out a my cel . He pul s up the metal trapdoor in the floor of the cel block an shoves me down inside.

Sweet dreams, Angel, he says. Then he spits on me. He slams the door shut an I’m in the Cooler. In the darker than dark. The blacker than black.

I know I’l never see Helen agin.

The girls in the cel block stay silent. They don’t do much talkin to each other an sure as hel they don’t talk to me. They blame me fer Helen bein dead.

They ain’t wrong at that. I blame myself. If she hadn’t of bin talkin to me, if I hadn’t needed to know about Lugh so bad, we would of bin more careful. Not talked so long. We would of heard the guards an Mad Dog comin. If we had, Helen might stil be alive.

But not fer long. That’s the truth of it. Helen’s time was runnin out. Everybody knew it. She knew it. She was only waitin to lose her third

But not fer long. That’s the truth of it. Helen’s time was runnin out. Everybody knew it. She knew it. She was only waitin to lose her third fight. She was only waitin to die in the gauntlet.

I seen what’s left of a person after they run the gauntlet. At least she got spared that.

She’s free now. Like she wanted to be. But she lies heavy on my heart.

When I ain’t thinkin about Helen, I’m thinkin of how I’m gonna nd a way out a here. Midsummer eve, she told me. I got a git to a place cal ed Freedom Fields in the Black Mountains by midsummer eve. Jest over three weeks from now.

So I watch. An I wait.

My chance is gonna come soon. I know it wil . It must come.

It must.

I stand in the middle of the Cage. Stare out at the crowd. They jump to their feet an roar fer me. I’m the biggest draw they ever had in Hopetown. They pack in when I’m fightin.

I look up through the top bars. Nero’s there, like always. Perched on top of the light tower that stands right next to the Cage. It ain’t carried light since Wrecker days, of course. Now al it carries is the people who clamber up to watch the ghts from there. The light tower’s the cheapest seats there is.

Essept nobody sits there when I’m ghtin. Not with Nero perched on top. Everybody’s skeered of him. They al believe that crows bring death. Defeat. Destruction. They believe I git my powers from him.

I like to look up an see him there. He always stays til I win an then he flies of . He’s done it since my first fight.

But my power ain’t down to Nero. It’s down to the red hot. That’s what keeps me winnin.

There’s a girl in the front row today. Tal , gold skinned, with a proud nose.

She ain’t like most what comes to the Colosseum. Other people might not take no notice, but the moment I see her, I know her right o fer a warrior. She’s got a look about her. She takes things in with quick eyes, things that other people’d jest pass over without noticin.

An she don’t take leaf from the chaal man when he o ers it. Not like everybody else who comes to the ghts. Neether do the three girls with her take any.

In fact, they jostle him so’s his basket tips out an then they scu al the chaal leaf unner their feet so they git al crushed an lthy. When a armed guard comes over to see what’s goin on, they pretend it warn’t nuthin to do with ’em.

She sees me lookin at her, watchin what they’re doin. Raises one eyebrow as if to say, what’s it to you anyways?

The cage door opens an my opponent enters to boos an jeers. She’s a tough-lookin, brown-skinned girl, name of Epona. She only arrived a couple of days ago. I ain’t never fought her before but the word is she ghts dirty. The Cage al ows pret y much anythin—hits, kicks, stranglin, twistin legs an arms—but not bitin or gougin. I heard she’l try both if the cagekeepers ain’t got a clear view an she gits the chance.

I’l hafta watch her.

I put the girl in the front row out a my mind. I put everythin out a my mind. I clear it so the red hot can take over. That’s the way it’s got a be if I wanna survive.

The keeper sounds the gong an we’re of .

Epona gits me in a stranglehold on the ground. While I’m strugglin to git free, I look up an there she is, the girl in the front row, starin right at me. Our eyes meet.

She’s tryin to tel me somethin. But what? What is it?

My concentration slips. Epona’s got advantage. She shuf les us around, out a sight of the keeper, an bites me on the hand.