The Arena novel Chapter 18

My search for Tana is on hold again. As desperate as I am to find her, I am also desperate to make Troy pay for what he did to my pack.

I explain to Bastian what the arena is. Now, the underground tunnels make much more sense. This is how they are getting the supes into the cells without drawing attention to themselves.

We take the rest of the day to study the map, deciding who will go with us to fight the humans and rescue the supes and who will stay to protect the pack. Bastian and I agreed that if Troy gets away, the first thing he will do is try to come back and take over the pack. Therefore, I leave Bastian behind to guard the pack with half our warriors, and I take the other half as we begin the trek to the new arena.

We run for three days. When we get close enough, we find our trackers and begin searching and watching. I know better than most what to look for, so I see it first when what looks like a Keeper exits an area near us.

“What day is it?” I ask my warriors.

“Thursday, Alpha.”

“We have a day to prepare. We need to take them out on Saturday morning.”

“Why Saturday?” one of my men asks.

“Because that’s when the fighting happens. Tomorrow, we’ll watch to find out where the other entrances are. We’ll need a strategy to kill them all while releasing the supernaturals that will be in cages under the ground,” I tell them.

That night, I sneak into the underground tunnel. I make my way to the cages and find a similar situation to what Tana and I were living in before. I hand out the food I brought with me, hoping it will be enough to help them get stronger for the breakout.

“Who has been here the longest?” I ask, coming into an area full of supes.

“Me, Alpha,” a wolf shifter says. I sniff, and I can tell he’s a Beta.

“How long?” I ask, needing to know if he has enough information to help me.

“Only a month, but I think I was one of the first ones here. It seemed like it had recently been created when I got here.”

That would make sense. They would have had to rebuild the arena after we had burned ours, leaving it in ashes.

“Do you have any idea how many shifters are here?”

“No way to tell.”

I tell them the plan before moving around the arena. This one is smaller, thrown together quickly after ours was destroyed.

“Did he say who he was bringing?”

“No. Just that we need her.”

Tana. It has to be. Who else would be able to help Ishir bring down an aArena? If they don’t arrive for the battles on Saturday, at least I know they are coming. I will wait and hopefully get a chance to speak to her.

While I went down to check on the situation in the cages, my warriors watched the entrance I went into and also circled around to find the others. Now that they know what to look for, they found them easily. Four underground entrances. Four possible escape routes for the supes, but also the keepers and the hunters.

Since the supes will be escaping with the keepers and hunters, I only assign two warriors per entrance. I assign another eight to open the cages and help the supes find their way out.

“The rest of us will cause chaos in the arena. They will be more prepared this time. Bars separate the arena floor from the boxes where the Commander and the other leaders will be sitting. I don’t know what the torches will look like since it’s what we used to destroy the last arena, but that is our best bet. Light the fires and let them burn while we get all the supes out,” I say.

Friday, we watch. A few keepers sneak in, most likely feeding their favorites. When night falls, and they leave, I head back in, bringing more food and water. I confirm with everyone the plan that we are here and will be ready to fight as the first battle begins. I find the ones that have been moved for the first fights and tell them to act the part of a fight until we get to them. They all agree.

I can’t stay in the underground long. This time, I begin to feel the effects of whatever it is that they pump into the cages to keep the supes from being able to shift. It makes me wonder if they have increased the amount they put into the vents so that the supes won’t be strong enough to shift or to fight back tomorrow.