Page 10 of Beast Unburdened

“I have a plan,” Ziame said simply. Then his green gaze shot to the immobile body of the blue-haired, cannibal creature. No wait, I suppose it wasn’t cannibalism as they weren’t the same species. It just seemed really wrong as the Krektar were sentient even if they were cruel and horrible slavers.

When Ziame focused on me, in the semi gloom I could only see the outline of his huge, horned head and the glow of his green eyes. “Abigail found out the number of Krektar left.” When he didn’t elaborate I realized he wanted me to share the numbers myself. I rose to my feet, feeling better when I stood my full height and then some on my stilettos.

“Twelve, and two injured confined to bed rest,” I said and then I added, “The doctor can remove the collars, circumventing the tamper-proofing but it takes time. Time we won’t have when escaping.” There was some muttering and one voice claiming that made things impossible but Ziame shushed them all. “We get our hands on one pain controller and one of us can keep countermanding their orders, we can keep fighting.”

That sounded like a worst-case plan, risking getting disabled in a fight over and over? But this seemed to cheer up the fox-like male, “That sounds doable. Let’s all think about it. We can surprise the two guards in the gym easily.”

There was some more talk then, but Ziame didn’t mingle more. Instead, he returned to where I was standing next to the cot. “Take off your stilts and sit down, we should eat and then sleep.” I gaped at him in the dark. “Stilts?” then I had to laugh as I touched the long pointed heel on one of my stilettos. Stilts was apt I suppose.

We ate in silence, sitting knee to knee on the cot and I kept the blanket tucked tightly around me. It was so cold in here I only seemed to feel warm when Ziame was touching me. Last night that thought had been pretty terrifying but I’d gotten used to him, in fact, I kind of liked him. He was really good at fooling everyone that he was a dumb beast, but he was smart and sensitive to my moods and the kindest person I’d ever met.

The ration bar I was chewing on was hard and tasteless and I struggled to chew the stuff without taking sips of water from the water bottle supplied in between bites. Ziame devoured his bars in two big gulps in contrast. Thankfully this stuff was high protein, dense and heavy, and incredibly filling so only three bites in I felt full.

As I laid down for sleep the big green-scaled male started to gently tuck me in and I almost asked him to join me, just so I could snuggle up against his warmth. The cot was far too narrow for the two of us though, in fact, it was probably too narrow for him by himself. I wouldn’t be surprised if his feet dangled over the edge when he laid down.

Instead, I happily curled against his shoulders for heat when he sat down with his back against the edge just like I’d woken up this morning. When I moved to touch him that way he seemed to take that as an invitation to raise his tail and curl it around me, adding warmth and safety.

It wasn’t until my fingers grazed the scalpel I’d tucked between the mattress and the cot that I even remembered I had it. I only hesitated a moment, then I asked Ziame softly, so the other gladiators wouldn’t overhear. “The doctor gave me a scalpel that first night, do you think we can use that to take off our collars?”

Ziame stiffened in surprise immediately, “You have a small blade?” He turned in his spot, keeping his tail tucked around me but facing me, his arms braced on the small bed. “Let me see it please,” he asked, keeping his voice low and quiet as well.

I didn’t see much more in this dark than the soft glitter of his eyes and the vague outline of his big body but when I pulled out the scalpel I had the feeling he saw perfectly well. “Yes this is small and mobile enough, we can pry open the lid and disrupt the insides. That should work. Now to figure out how to get around the tamper-proofing.”

Oh, of course it wasn’t that simple. If there was no tamper-proofing he’d probably pried the thing open by now with one of those retractable claws of his. “What kind of thing are we looking for?” I asked, hoping he knew a workaround. After a silence, he said, “I’ve heard the collar shocks the person tampering with it. So I suppose any kind of shielding would work.”

While I’d always been great at numbers, physics was a whole other cup of tea. I had never aced those classes, unfortunately. When he talked about shielding I thought of medieval wooden or metal shields first before I tried to wrap my head around what kind of thing he could really mean. “Shielding as in something to keep your hands from touching the collar or the knife?”

A soft chuckle and then Ziame bend his big head closer to mine, I felt his warm breath caress my face and my body responded by raising goosebumps from the back of my neck all the way to my wrists. “I mean something to shield your hand from touching the knife. A thick piece of cloth, a glove or something. Or maybe something to wrap around the handle of the knife itself.”

Oh… wait my hand? “You mean I have to disable your collar?” I knew absolutely nothing about mechanics, I wouldn’t be any good at such a thing! “Yes, I’ll get hit with the highest setting of pain regardless of what we do… I can’t be the one wielding the knife.”

I mulled that over for some time in silence but I found that I had to begrudgingly admit that it was the only way. He’d proven several times that he could handle the pain, he was clearly willing to go through it. The problem was, it felt like a lot to carry, knowing I was the one pressing the button so to speak made things very different. I didn’t want to hurt him but if he was willing then I had to put on my big girl panties and just do it.

With that issue resolved I finally remember something that might actually be useful. “Rubber is good for shielding isn’t it?” I asked on a breath, still trying to be super quiet so no one on the block could overhear us. I had the feeling that Ziame didn’t trust all of the gladiators to be on board, to so openly talk of rebelling made him uneasy. I understood that.

“Rubber is perfect, but I checked the soles of your stilts, they’re wood and leather,” he said as if he’d thought this through already. “And none of the fabrics of your clothing are pliable enough or thick enough to work well without some thorough shredding.” He left unsaid that he obviously wore next to nothing, sacrificing his loincloth for it wasn’t going to be helpful.

Reaching up into my tangled curls I struggled with the two thick rubber bands I’d used what seemed like a lifetime ago now to restrain the whole mess. Once I got one free and held it up triumphantly he smiled back and I actually saw the glitter of his fangs in the dark. “Perfect!” I struggled to free the other while he went to work diligently wrapping the handle of the scalpel with the first. Adding the second one for good measure.

Once done he tucked the blade into my hand and folded his fingers around my shaking fist. “I’ll guide the knife to the right spot, after that you’ll have to work fast to pry the panel free. Once open just cut any wires you see and that should do it.”

Panic seized hold of me for a brief moment, “What you mean right now? In the dark? I can’t see a thing!” I hissed at him. But he was nodding, I could see the way his big horns bobbed up and down. “Yes now and in the dark, or the Krektar will see and come in here guns blazing.”

Okay live in the moment, I can do this! I told myself while I sat up on the edge of the cot. Bracing one palm on Ziame’s brawny shoulder and letting him guide my other hand with the knife to the band around his throat. Pry off the lid, cut the wires. Easy peasy lemon squeazy. I just had to do it in the dark, where I couldn’t see the seam of the panel or the wires I was supposed to cut.

“Ready Abigail?” Ziame asked in a husky whisper. “No… But let’s get this over with,” I squeaked back at him. He pressed the scalpel with my hand against something hard and then there was a hissing sound as the doorway to the cellblock slid open and raised voices as four Krektar barged in.

Shocked I slid back on the cot and hurriedly tried to hide the knife. Ziame was calm as he turned around to face the front of the cell, his broad back offering protection from view. Had they overheard us? Were they about to bust us for trying to escape? For tampering? I was scared enough that my heart was pounding in my throat.

Then I saw what the Krektar were dragging in with them; a slight figure with long blonde hair. They were arguing about touching her, not in a rapey way but in the ‘I don’t want to touch this filthy thing’ kind of way.

The first two cells in the hallway were empty and they’d opened one of those and were escorting the small figure inside it. The light caught the figure just right and I saw a frightened, tear-streaked human face beneath that tangle of blonde locks. Shit! A human woman! Her body was small and slender except for her belly which was bloated. Holy crap! A pregnant woman at that.

They dumped her inside carelessly and retreated as if they got burned; the cell slammed shut practically on their heels. The Krektar looked around suspiciously at the rest of us in our cells but nobody said anything, we just watched. I watched with bated breath, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Another human girl!

As soon as our guards left I turned to Ziame, “See that! A human woman! We’ve got to help!” I couldn’t see his expression in the dark, the lights in the hallway had dimmed the moment the guards left. I imagined he looked both worried and skeptical. Knowing him he’d want to help but what could we do from in here?

I got up and walked to the front of our cell, pressing myself against the bars. “Hello? Can you hear me? I’m Abigail, I’m from Earth, New York to be precise! Are you okay?” There was a long silence and it surprised me that none of the other gladiators were pitching in. They’d seemed super interested when I’d been escorted down the hallway.