Page 97 of The Last True Hero

“Rust! Rust! Rust!” came the chant.

Jesus. He’d felt hatred from humans before, and knew what disgust and fear felt like. This was something else. This was joy at the thought of his inherent suffering. A lust for his misery, his defeat.

A condemnation of his own worth.

You are nothing, said the screaming voices.Just a moment of amusement for us before we bury you.

The chanting grew louder. Both he and Colton were turning in slow circles. He couldn't see the general anywhere. Maybe he hadn't arrived yet.

But Vex didn't throw him back in the cells. She probably liked the idea of watching him die too much.

Instead she let the crescendo build, watching the crowd with glittering eyes. She knew how to own her reivers. Maybe one of them might overthrow her one day, but Adam doubted it. He knew fanaticism when he saw it. She was giving them what they wanted, and so they’d love her for it, even when she tightened the leash and played them off against each other, one by one.

“Fight!” she finally screamed, bringing her arms down sharply at her sides.

Something silver arced high in the air, and a single knife flashed into being as someone threw it into the ring. Colton was already sprinting for where it landed, point first in the sand.

Adam shoved himself into gear, darting forward to meet him. If Colton got his hands on that knife, then he might as well kiss the game good-bye.

Colton slid to his knees, and Adam drove into him a second before his hand curled around the hilt of the knife. The impact rolled them both across the sand. Both of them were covered in oil and he couldn’t quite get a strong enough grip. A knee drove into his thigh, so he hammered his elbow into Colton’s jaw.

Colton blinked, his fingers digging for Adam’s eyes. Adam used his heavier weight to drive him into the ground, and locked Colton’s elbow into place.

“If you help me, I can get over the fence,” he whispered in Colton’s ear.

Then he rolled away as Colton flung a flimsy blow at him, offering Colton time to get on his feet.

The crowd booed and hissed.

“Kill him!” they screamed. “Give us blood! No mercy!”

Colton’s dark eyes flashed in curiosity as he climbed to his feet. Rolling his shoulders he looked around, as if surveying the crowd, but Adam could see him taking stock of their surroundings.

“Blood! Blood! Blood!” Someone in the crowd started up a cheer, one hastily taken up by the rest.

And they thought he and Colton were the monsters. Adam wiped the sweat from his brow, feeling sick.

Colton danced toward him, fists held up defensively. “What have you got in mind?”

Thank fuck.

They hammered together, both of them seemingly wrestling for control. “Throw me over. There.” He grunted as Colton drove a fist into his side. “I’ll take down the fence’s electrics. Then you can follow.”

“You’re fucking crazy.” Colton slammed his cupped fist into the muscle above his collarbone. “They’ve got gun turrets at both ends.”

Adam grunted and locked his cupped palms behind the other man’s head, bringing their faces close enough to share breath. “You draw their attention at one end, I take out the other one. Or would you rather die for their amusement?”

Another flash of dark eyes. They went down and rolled, Colton hooking a leg around his as both wrestled for supremacy, but his heart clearly wasn’t in it. He was thinking now. That lock should have broken Adam’s ankle, but he shoved free with a hard knee to the muscle in Colton’s upper thigh.

Both of them broke apart, panting. Colton’s eyes darted. His back was close to the huge electrical generator at the southern end of the arena. With a faint nod, he held his hand up and twitched two fingers.Come at me.

Adam started sprinting toward him. Hell if he knew if he trusted Colton or not, but this might be their only chance.

The crowd roared their approval. At the last second, Colton slid to one knee, cupping his hands together in a stirrup.

Adam’s foot hit Colton’s clasped palms, and then he was sailing up, up, arms and legs windmilling as if he were running through the air as the fence rushed toward him.

The crowd’s roar turned into a scream of thwarted rage—and fear.

And then Adam cleared the fence.