"Grab the cub and run!" Vera's rifle slammed into my back and shoved me forward as the steel shutter screamed down behind us.
My hands were wrecked. Claws snapped clean off at the knuckle. Just raw, bleeding stumps and I couldn't even make a fist.
"I can't carry him like this!" I snarled at her, voice wet and stitched and wrong. "Look at my hands!"
"Then use your damn teeth if you have to," she snapped, rifle up, eyes flicking to the dropping doors. "You wanna die here? Move!"
Pip was curled in the scrap nest behind the pipe. Tiny. All eyes and patchy fur. He made this dumb little chirp when he saw me and it hit me right in the chest.
"Hey, kid," I said, softer than I meant to. "Come here. Now. Come on."
He didn't move. Frozen solid. The lights overhead were flashing red and Hector's voice was about to come on and the shutters were already halfway down.
The gap was down to two feet. Maybe less.
"Jace! Leave him!" Vera grabbed my shoulder, nails digging through my stitched hide. "We don't have time for this!"
"I'm not leaving him," I said.
"You don't even know him!" she yelled. "He's scrap! He's bait!"
"He's mine now," I told her. "That's how it works. You don't get it."
I dropped to my knees and scooped Pip with my forearms. No claws, just pinned him to my chest. He squeaked and latched on, little claws digging in.
Vera stared at me like I was insane. Maybe I was.
"You're gonna get us both killed for a scrap cub," she said, voice low and pissed. "You get that, right? You get what that means?"
"Then shoot me and go," I said, looking up at her. "Or cover me. Pick one, Vera."
Her jaw tightened. She didn't shoot. She spun and fired two rounds at the shutter controls. Sparks blew everywhere.
"Go! Go! Go!" she screamed.
I ran. Pip bouncing against my ribs, his claws hooked into my chest so hard it stung. My feet slapped concrete, my stumps bleeding, leaving prints.
The gap was a foot now. Vera hit the floor and slid on her side. I dove.
Steel screamed past my back. Missed my spine by an inch. We made it to the other side and hit hard.
I rolled, curled around Pip so he didn't take the hit. Vera came up gasping, rifle smoking, hair in her face.
"You stupid, stubborn son of a bitch!" she panted, smacking my arm hard. "You could've lost your head!"
"But I didn't," I said, grinning with too many teeth. "Kid's fine. I'm fine. We're fine."
Pip chirped, loud this time. Almost angry. Like, how dare you.
"Yeah, yeah, you're fine too," I told him. He butted his head against my chin and stayed there.
Vera watched that. Her eyes did this weird soft thing for half a second then went hard again.
"Don't get attached," she said, wiping sweat off her lip. "That's how you die in the Pit. You know that."
"Too late," I said. "Already attached."
"You don't even know what he is," she said.
"He's a cub that needs me not to die," I said. "Same as you."
The speakers crackled. Loud. That fake-friendly voice that made my skin crawl.
"Vera, darling," Hector Vane purred over the intercom. "You found my stitch. How lovely. How very clever of you."
Vera flinched. Her grip on the rifle went white-knuckle. I saw her whole body go tight.
"Hector," she said, not loud. Like he could hear her anyway. "Let us out. Right now."
"Oh, I can't do that," he said, almost laughing. "That stitch is unregistered property. And it's evolving. Do you know how much that's worth? I want it alive, Vera. You know I pay extra for alive."
"He's not a thing," she snapped, glaring at the ceiling. "He's not your stock!"
She stopped. Looked at me. I saw the question in her eyes. What are you, then?
"I'm a guy who doesn't want to be cut open," I said for her. "Tell him no deal."
"No deal, Hector," she said into the ceiling, voice shaking but loud. "We walk. Both of us. And the cub."
"You walk when I open a door," Hector said, amused. "And I just did. You're welcome."
A gate at the far end of the corridor groaned. Hydraulics hissing. Light poured in from the other side.
Fresh air. For a second I thought — that's it. That's the exit. We made it.
Vera stood slowly, rifle still up. "You see that? That's our door. Come on, Jace. Let's go."
"Wait," I said. Pip was sniffing the air and whining. Low, scared. My own nose caught it then and my stomach dropped.
Blood. Old blood. A lot of it. And rot. And wet concrete.
"What's that smell?" I asked. "That's not outside air."
Vera's face went pale. Like actually white. "No. No, he wouldn't. He wouldn't do that."
"Wouldn't what?" I said, stepping closer to her. "Vera, what is that?"
She grabbed my arm, her hand hot even through my hide. Her fingers dug in. "That's not an exit, Jace. That's the feeding pit."
"Feeding pit?" Pip squirmed harder against me. I held him tighter. "The hell does that mean?"
"Where they dump the failures," she whispered, eyes locked on that open gate. "To feed the big ones. The ones they can't control."
Hector laughed over the speaker, delighted. "Go on, Vera. Take your pet for a walk. Let's see what he really is when he's hungry."
The doors behind us locked with a heavy clang. No going back. The sound shook the floor.
The gate ahead kept rising. Slow. Teasing. Like it wanted us to watch.
Something moved in the dark beyond it. Big. Breathing. Chains rattling.
"We can't go in there," Vera said, voice suddenly small. "Jace, we can't. We'll die in there."
"We don't have a choice," I said. I shifted Pip to one arm, tried to flex my ruined hands. Nothing. No claws. Just meat.
"Give him to me," she said, reaching for Pip. Her hand brushed my chest.
"Why?" I said, holding Pip away. "You just said don't get attached."
"Because you can't fight without hands!" she snapped, right in my face. Close enough I could feel her breath, see the sweat on her lip, see her pulse jumping in her throat. "And I can shoot! Give me the cub, Jace!"
"You want him now?" I said, staring down at her. "Make up your mind."
"I want him alive!" she yelled, eyes wet and furious. "Don't be an asshole. Give him here! Now!"
We were chest to chest. Her jacket against my hide. Her eyes locked on mine. Angry, scared, too close. I could feel how hot she was.
"You trust me?" she asked, quieter. Her voice dropped.
"Do you trust me?" I shot back. My voice was rough.
She didn't answer. She just yanked Pip from my chest. He yelped. I let her.
"Hey!" I snarled anyway.
"Shut up and watch my back," she ordered, tucking Pip into her jacket. He poked his head out, eyes huge. Zipped him in so only his nose showed. "You got teeth, right? Use them."
I bared them. All of them. "Yeah. I got teeth."
The gate hit the top with a clang. Light flickered inside and showed us what we walked into.
It wasn't a room. It was a throat. Wet concrete, chains hanging from the ceiling, bones scattered everywhere. Old and new.
And in the middle, something woke up. Eyes opened. Like six of them. Low to the ground, wide as a car, reflecting our light.
"Oh, hell," Vera breathed. Her back hit my chest as she stepped back.
The thing made a sound. Not a roar. A wet, hungry click. It smelled us and it liked it.
"Jace," Vera whispered, backing into me. She was shaking. I could feel it through her jacket. "That's a Maw-Mother. We're not supposed to be in here. No one goes in here."
"Can you kill it?" I asked, my mouth by her ear. My hand found her waist to steady her.
"With what? This peashooter?" She laughed, shaky and sharp. "We need to run. But there's nowhere to—"
The Maw-Mother shifted. Chains rattled and snapped. It stood up and the whole floor shook. Dust fell from the ceiling.
Pip made a tiny, terrified noise inside her jacket. Vera clutched him.
I stepped in front of her without thinking. Big body, no claws, but I was still bigger than her. Still between her and it.
"Get behind me," I said.
"You don't have claws," she said, grabbing my ruined hand. Her fingers were warm, tight, laced through my bleeding ones. "You'll die. You can't fight that thing like this."
"Then I die and come back," I said, looking down at her. "You don't. So get behind me, Vera. Please."
She stared at my hand in hers. Then at my eyes. Really looked. Something clicked behind her face.
"Your eyes," she whispered, breath catching. "They're human. Why are they human? What are you—"
The Maw-Mother lunged. So fast the chains snapped like thread and the air moved.
Vera screamed and shoved Pip deeper into her jacket. I threw my weight forward, teeth bared, no claws, nothing but stupid instinct and a cub to keep alive.
"Jace, don't—"