Underland(39)

Zeke seemed to have picked up on the exchange and stepped in front of Kira, drawing Remus’s attention toward himself, which only made Remus’s face go redder. He might lose his cool here in front of everyone.

“Ironically, your human took out your own boggart. I also heard a rumor that she killed one of your zekes the first day at the training gym. Am I correct?” Avis turned, directing her question toward Remus. “Would you like to comment on this?”

Remus snarled in displeasure but quickly forced it into a smile. “Yes, I’m quite surprised by her ingenuity and skills. I doubt we will ever see the likes again.” He stood and left the stage, ending the interview but leaving a hidden threat in the air.

The chatter around her picked up with excitement, while Kira’s heart plummeted in fear. She looked up at Zeke and noticed that his cheeks looked sunken and his eyes were rimmed in red. He swallowed and gave her a wary look.

“Come, it’s time to see our medic.”





Chapter 17

From Remus’s compound, only Zeke, Kira, and Chaz made it back to their assigned room. There was very little to celebrate. Kira tried as hard as she could to remember passing the Amazon woman or the other man, or even seeing them in the race. She couldn’t. How far had they made it?

Now that the race was over, it was up to the owner’s doctor to treat the survivors. Kira couldn’t help but stare around the room that hours earlier had been torn apart. The cabinets and tables—a few of them dented—had been righted, the broken chairs were piled haphazardly in a corner. Kira tried not to look at the darkened stain on the floor where her pre-game doctor had died.

Now they each sat on a chair while Warrick examined and bandaged each of them. There was very little privacy.

Chaz had a large wound on his shoulder—like something or someone had tried to take a bite out of him. Warrick applied a topical cream, but whenever he wasn’t looking, Chaz would bend his agile neck and lick the wound frantically.

Warrick came back and examined the wound. “Stop licking it off. You’ll infect it,” he warned, giving Chaz a scathing look. Kira tried not to laugh at him, even though he reminded her of her own childhood cat.

Chaz just purred, a soft rumbling noise coming from his part-feline vocal chords. His eyes closed and he looked to be content.

Warrick raised an eyebrow before applying more ointment. “Hmm. I guess I’ll just have to bandage it then to keep you from bothering it.” He went to the cabinet. Again, as soon as his back was turned, Chaz’s furious licking continued. Warrick turned suddenly from the cabinet with a spray bottle and squirted a surprised Chaz in the face.

Chaz hissed once—the first moment he seemed more cheetah than housecat—and then sat quietly as Warrick wrapped a bandage around his shoulder and under his arm. Chaz was obviously uncomfortable. The muscles on his chest kept twitching. And it looked like he really wanted to tear it off.

“Sit there,” Warrick commanded Chaz. He turned to examine her.

Using scissors, he cut away at the sleeves of her uniform to get to the gash on her arm. Kira had been so pumped with adrenaline that she hadn’t even noticed the injury. She had no idea when or how she’d sustained it. Of course, now that it was visible, it was extremely painful. And her shoulder burned, too.

“So you survived the gauntlet,” Warrick stated, matter of fact.

“Ye-s-s,” Kira sucked in air with a painful hiss. She could feel the gazes of Chaz and the zeke, so she cut off the sound. She wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of knowing how much pain she was in. She could hide it. She had to.

There was a long pause.

“Good.”

A heaviness hung in the air. She could tell he wanted to say more, but it was safer to stay silent among the present company. He used a flask or two on her wounds, and then bandaged her shoulder and a few more cuts along her face and leg.

Zeke was barely moving, sitting quietly on the end of the table, his head hung low.

“Let me see.” Warrick unzipped his red uniform, and Kira saw a blotch of red across Zeke’s white t-shirt. The red uniform hid his bleeding completely. He pulled down the top half, and Kira saw a small pipe sticking out of his side.

“Oh, this is not so great,” Warrick mumbled under his breath. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Zeke raised his head slowly, and he looked over at Kira. His sunken eyes seemed even hollower, his eyes dilated. There was a wildness about him, like he was lost in a hunger and he didn’t have control of all of his faculties.

“Oh, I see.” He looked over at Kira and motioned to Chaz. “Take her out of the room, please. I need to remove the pipe, and she is too much of a distraction. It will be safer for both of us if she’s gone.”

Chaz slid off the end of the table with feline grace and headed out the door. He didn’t even wait for her. She wasn’t sure if following him out was the safest thing to do, but Zeke’s breathing started to hitch, and Warrick’s voice rose in panic.

“Go, Kira! Now!”

She jumped off the table and flung herself out the door. A few seconds later, she heard footsteps pounding after her and the door slammed behind her. Something large crashed into the door, followed by a frenzied scuffle from behind the metal door. She heard Warrick’s calming voice.

Kira backed away in fear and bumped into Chaz.