The smell reaches me even from across the room.
The blender whines harder for a second, then cuts off. Seth lifts the lid and looks into the pitcher. He doesn't make a face. He reaches for two dented metal cups and starts pouring the pink sludge, careful so nothing spills.
I shut off the water when the tub sits nearly halfway full. The echo softens to a low slosh. I wipe my hands on my thighs and walk back toward the cages.
Sophie watches me. Her eyes flick from the tub to the blender to the cup in Seth’s hands. Fear sits under her skin, but shock blurs it.
Elliot stares too, jaw clenched, breath coming in short, shallow pulls. Sweat and grime streak across his face. His pupils look blown, more from pain than anything else.
Seth hands me two cups.
The liquid inside looks thick and frothy. It clings to the sides of the metal, a soft pink that would look harmless in any other context.
I walk to Sophie’s cage first.
Her fingers curl around the bars as I approach, knuckles pale.
“You should drink,” I hold the cup up to the gap in the bars. “You need protein if you want to make it through tonight.”
Her gaze drops to the cup, then back to my face.
“What the fuck is that?” she whispers.
“It’s a protein shake. You always gave them to us in the manor.”
Her throat works as she swallows.
She reaches through the bars and takes the cup from my hand with both of hers, the metal rattling softly against the cage.
“Don't make me pour it down your throat,” I add calmly. “That would be a waste of everyone’s time.”
She lifts it to her mouth and takes a small sip.
Her face changes instantly.
She gags and jerks the cup away, spitting the pink liquid onto the concrete. It hits in a wet splash and spreads in a pale smear between the bars. Her whole body shudders. She holds the cup out like it might bite her.
“What the fuck is that?!” she chokes. “What is that?”
I laugh before I can stop myself.
“What's wrong Sophie? You don’t like sucking on Knox anymore?” I chuckle. “That's surprising.”
Her eyes go wider. She stares at the cup like it has turned into a bomb.
“No. No, no,” she whispers.
Sophie makes a broken choking sound and slams herself backward into the cage.
“Funny, you swallowed plenty of him before.” I tilt my head slightly. “You were a lot more enthusiastic then.”
Her stomach rolls hard, and Sophie makes a choked, strangled sound from the cage as she turns her head and spits, her shoulders tightening while she tries to force it back down.
Seth walks forward. Something frozen and dark swings from his hand before he drops it hard against the concrete directly in front of the cages.
Sophie screams. Elliot recoils violently against the back of his cage.
What is left of Knox’s head rolls sideways across the floor with a wet crack. The lower jaw is missing completely, ripped away beneath the nose. Frozen flesh has started collapsing inward from decay, the skin gray and split in places where freezer burn and rot have eaten through it. One eye socket is empty. The other still holds part of a clouded, sunken eye buried in blackened tissue. Clumps of dead hair stick to the side of the skull where frost still clings stubbornly to the skin.
