Chapter 19 · Tamer of the Ash Wilds - Chapter 19: Vira Sold Me Out

The cage door slammed shut before Lin could turn around.

He lunged back, fingers scraping rust, but the lock was already cycling through some automated sequence he didn't recognize. Crunch growled low beside him, hackles up, eyes fixed on the crowd forming outside the bars.

Not a crowd. An audience.

Above them, tiered platforms rose in a half-circle, packed with bodies. Smoke hung thick under the ceiling, cutting through with colored lights that swept across the cage floor every few seconds. The stink hit him next—blood, old and fresh, layered with something chemical that made his throat close up.

"Welcome to the Drop," a voice crackled over a speaker somewhere. "Tonight's pre-lot: one grey-rank mutt and his tamer. Let's see what they're worth."

Lin's stomach dropped.

This wasn't Zone Eight. This was under it.

He scanned the cage. Ten meters across, steel mesh floor, walls reinforced with what looked like salvaged ship plating. No exits except the door he'd just come through. Above, a second level wrapped around the space—walkways, observation posts, and one raised platform where a figure stood backlit by red utility lights.

Vira.

She was watching him. Arms crossed.