Page 53 of The October Trials

The guard steps back.

Archon looks at the man on the screen. “Would you like to do the honors?”

The man in the superhero suit nods. “Three.” His voice comes through the speakers, almost cheerful.

Dimitri’s screams reach a fever pitch.

“Two.”

I want to look away. I want to close my eyes so I don’t have to watch.

I can’t.

“One.”

Boom.

The explosion is deafening, a violent crack that rattles my teeth and heats my face even from several feet away.

The blast launches Dimitri backward, his body lifting from the chair and slamming into the wall behind him. Blood is everywhere. The smell is God-awful, like charred flesh and burning chemicals.

Dimitri drops.

His body crumples to the floor, and all I can see from here is the smoke rising from his chest.

I clap a hand over my mouth as a single sob escapes. My eyes burn. It feels like there’s ash in my throat, but a cough won’t come out.

He was the only one left who still cared about me. And no one else is reacting.

The men on the screen? They’re laughing.

“Excellent,” Archon chimes, turning to the feeds. “Truly spectacular. Now, let’s move on to our next contestant.” His gaze lands on Sloane. “Bidding starts at ten thousand for the redhead.”

The numbers begin to climb again.

Eighteen thousand. Twenty-three. Twenty-eight.

It goes past fifty, and I’m not that naive as to not know why they’d bid more for a girl.

“Sold to the one in the baseball cap and glasses! What’ll it be?” Archon asks.

The guy grins. “I want someone to whip their dick out and piss on her.”

What the fuck?

Sloane’s eyes go wide. “What? No. No.”

“Excellent choice,” Archon chirps.

“I said no!” Sloane screams, trying to stand.

A guard moves behind her, pressing the barrel of a gun against the back of her head.

She freezes.

“You can cooperate,” Archon says calmly, “or we can make this much worse. Your choice.”

Sloane is shaking, tears streaming down her face. Another guard steps forward, already unbuckling his belt.