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He unlocks the cage and steps inside. Every person trapped with us shrinks back.

I don’t.

Poppy’s fingers dig into my sleeve.

The leader walks slowly, enjoying the attention, boots clicking against tile. “Here’s how this works. Everyone here gets a chance to leave.”

A sound of disbelief moves through the cage.

He lifts one finger. “One chance. One fight. A life for a life.”

My arm tightens around Poppy.

Everyone.

The word slides cold under my skin. If he thinks that includes her, then he’s wrong. I’ll fight mine, then hers. I’ll fight two people. Ten. The whole damn mall if that’s what it takes.

He gestures behind him to the people waiting outside the cage. “These will be your opponents. Each of them has chosen to fight one of you. If you win, you walk out. If you lose, well . . .” His smile deepens. “We don’t like wasting meat.”

The woman near the bench stops rocking. The teenagers clutch each other harder.

Poppy goes rigid beside me.

The leader watches our faces like all of this is a game he invented and never gets tired of winning.

The woman from the woods steps forward. Short, hacked hair. Soot-streaked face. Eyes pinned on me with a hatred so personal it feels like a noose around my neck. She has a split across one eyebrow and a knife at her hip. Her arms are bare despite the cold, lean muscle corded tight under skin marked with old scars.

I glance at the dried blood on my hands.

The leader follows my gaze. “Rhea has a special interest in you.”

“Lucky me.”

Rhea bares her teeth. “You killed Roy.”

“I can’t say I feel bad.”

“He was my brother.”

I look her dead in the eyes. “Then he should have made better choices.”

Her face twists.

Good.

Anger makes people sloppy. At least, that’s what Lyla would say.

The leader laughs softly. “This should be entertaining.”

He turns toward the cart, and that’s when I see the man standing behind it.

Russ.

The hallway disappears. The cage. The people. The cannibals. There is only him.

Clean-shaven, somehow. Thinner than before. Hair longer. Clothes dirty but intact. His face looks exactly the same and completely different. Same light eyes. Same mouth that taught me how small a person could feel inside her own skin.

My body reacts before my mind catches up. A cold, old fear tries to rise.