The Belly of the Beast

Ch. 54, Strike First

CAUTION: DO NOT PLACE YOUR HANDS, TORSO, LEGS OR ANY TOOLS WITHIN THE MACHINE! EXTREMELY DANGEROUS!

*

Anyone brave enough to face Z and Dagger? Meet us in the Processing District.

Live in the Beast,

Die when you meet us

"Remember: don't stop for anything," Nuka said for the tenth time when we finished the run. Sweat rolled down my face, and Dagger's shirt clung to his chest. Neither of us had breath to respond. Nuka's hand slipped into mine and squeezed. His hand felt so warm and small in mine, that I couldn't believe he had been the one to suggest this. Dagger and I exchanged a long look. His face said what I was thinking: We're going to die.

The enormous processing room on Level L stretched into the distance, hung with the same debilitating smog of the Belly, making each breath sting. All around us the pound of machines created a boiling roar that should have been comforting in it's familiarity, but instead only served to remind me of the last time I'd thought myself stronger than a machine. We'd been here a few hours, practicing, but at last the message Dagger had persuaded someone to post on one of the information monitors flashed across every screen in sight. If they were coming, it would be soon.

Above us, a crowd had gathered. Workers on other machines watched us at a wary distance. In our blood-red uniforms, there was no mistaking Dagger and I for Letter Trial fighters. No one seemed to notice the small boy flitting between the two of us, talking in hushed, excited whispers. Like the girl who had helped me escape The Circled Forest, I guessed it was normal seeing people help, or hinder, the combatants.

The twin machines Nuka had chosen for us only ran a few times a day, so Nuka had manipulated the schedule for it to start when we needed. Dagger and I had both gone through twice each with Nuka, whom I was beginning to view with newfound respect. Even after a lifetime of machines, I didn't want to go back into that hellhole. Each time Dagger went through he emerged white as a sheet, and I'd had to stop Nuka from taking him through a third time. According to Nuka, they were the two most dangerous machines on the entire level, maybe the entire Beast, killing a couple engineers every month.

Which is exactly why we'd challenged the others to meet us here.

Tingles shot through the fingers of my iron arm. The phantom pain felt like a warning. Why won't they just hurry up and get here?

Some of the workers high on the railing above began to point, and my stomach plummeted, My wish had been granted.

Nuka flashed through the metal railing above, maybe twenty feet up from us, waving a hand, and then lifted six fingers. Six coming. Damn. Twelve of us had begun this trial, and six more had died while Dagger and I were on the Dead Level. We'd hoped the remaining six would be fighting. But, no, of course they would be working together. Nuka disappeared, and I was left with only Dagger beside me. We needed to get to our places, but I was lost for words, surprised at the ache in my throat.

"Well partner," Dagger said. "Any last words?" He stood straight, eyes hooded. Even so, I somehow knew he was afraid. Guess I was starting to know my partner after all.

"This is the stupidest thing I've ever done. Which is saying something."

He held out a hand. "Good luck, partner."

I shook his hand. "Good luck, Dag."

Then he turned and ran to the second set of machinery. I swallowed, and took my own position. The machines sat still and silent behind us, hulking giants waiting to be woken.

Nuka's idea was as simple as it was insane.

Deep in Level L lay a section of machinery that once you entered, the only way out was through the entire sequence. All the Jackal children were taught the pattern, just in case they found themselves trapped within— some were even given the unlucky job of going inside to clean or repair. I'd had similar jobs in the Belly, small spaces where small hands were needed. I'd also had my arm crushed irreparably in one.

I'd been doing my best to not think about it, but now that the workers gathered on the railing above, and the silent, mawing mouth of the machine loomed behind me, the memories crept free of their own accord.

The crushing, soul-shattering force.

An out-of-body-numbness and disbelief.

And worse, waking up, and finding a piece of me gone.

My iron fingers twitched, a desperate, phantom itch growing in my palm. I refused to reach down and scratch it. I'd learned long ago it wouldn't help; nothing satisfied the phantom flesh. That won't happen again. Either I emerged from the machine whole or not at all.

"You are a Belly rat," I whispered. "This trial was made for you. The only one who needs to be afraid is them."

One of the men on the railing above shouted, and I steeled myself. Further down the line of looming machines, nearly lost in the smog, Nuka came running towards me. My heart tightened, as behind him, Skull stepped into view, watching the boy run towards me.

Nuka's face was lit up in a grin, his cheeks flushed as he sprinted up to me.

"Are you ready?" he said.

As I'll ever be. "Yes. Go Nuka. Now."

But he stepped forward, his face set with determination, and pushed a knife into my hands. "Noni said not having a letter doesn't make you any less. It makes you strong. You're strong, Z."

Then, he took off, disappearing into the clouds of smog, my chest too tight and eyes too full to call after him. And what would I say anyway? Good luck? If I die, don't come back? Skull paced close, his eyes watching the whole encounter with interest. But, as I'd thought, he didn't draw away. To him, Nuka was just a boy, and I was just a girl. Even from here, I could see a knowing smirk slip across his face. It contrasted with the coldness wrapping around my heart.

Follow the pattern. You were born to do this.

The fear in my eyes was real as I stepped backwards, moving deeper into the machine, the fluorescent glare cut off as the shadowed interior swallowed me whole. I lifted the knife Nuka had given me; a ruse, to make him think I was here to fight. Skull sauntered down the narrow pathway between the machines, stepped onto the conveyor belt, and ducked beneath a piece of metal large enough to crush a man. Guilt twisted my gut for luring him here to kill him. Then he drew a knife from behind his back. The guilt disappeared. He was here to kill me; unless I killed him first.

Yana had told me to fight, and now more than just my life was at stake. So this time I struck first.