The Pit

Chapter 3: Caged

Neeka had a rough morning as a result of the horrors she'd experienced from the previous night. She had awoken in her home, but had been carelessly dumped on the floor. And whoever had returned her hadn't even bothered to close the door when they left. The already tired door and its frame were further scuffed and splintered, barely holding on to its hinges. Neeka's body was feeling how the inanimate object looked; worn and haggard. All the marks, both mentally and physically against her body, were loud reminders that caused tears to once again well up.

The gag and rope restraints had been removed, but bruising of where they had been remained. A pounding pain lingered persistently in her head and her throat remained raspy and dry, no matter how much water Neeka forced herself to consume.
Neeka's attire was damp and filthy. Coated with dirt, blood, and other stains that would not lift no matter how harshly she scrubbed. She forced herself to keep trying anyway, to wash away with it the ball of fear and anxiety festering away inside her. She gnawed at her bottom lip while she did so until it bled, pretending not to notice the thick liquid that she wiped away with the back of her hand was black.

After covering up the worst of the array of lacerations Lyall had forced upon her, Neeka started the next day as she was always expected to do. Entering the building and heading down the stairs, Neeka walked past an unusual congregating of workers who should have already started their shifts. They fell silent as they noticed Neeka, leaving her feeling self-conscious as they took in her battered appearance. Their startled reactions were a blend of nervous stares and scowls. Lyall also seemed surprised to see her and appeared to be in a foul mood. He made a disappointed huff but said nothing as Neeka passed by him, with her head submissively bowed.

Neeka hated that she had to work at The Pit. She thought it gory and cruel, even if most of the subjects being pitted were not human. But unfortunately, it was one of the only few places that could offer her a wage to live on. The fighting ring was situated in one of the few towns still laxly governed by theron, who seemed content mostly leaving the humans to their own devices, as long as they could occasionally attend the brutal entertainment.

The Pit's structure consisted of a circular below-ground fighting arena. The multiple sealed doors inside the ring attached to cages that held the fighters and would slide open to release them during the events. Ascending above were the tiered stands for the betting patrons to watch the fights unfold. During events, Neeka served beverages and did other odd duties for the paying customers. But most of the time, on none-event days, she worked exclusively in the torus-shaped corridors underneath the bleachers. Here the fighters were kept in their cages. And it was Neeka's job to feed and water the unwilling residents, as well as to clean up the constant hazards, spills, splatters, and filth from operating such a facility. A horrible job. But she was sadly used to such conditions. Today was different, however. Today Neeka could see a new addition to one of the cages that made her skin crawl.

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"Shit, it's ugly!"

"I thought they were killing it."

"Naw. Lyall wouldn't waste an opportunity to make money, right? I reckon that thing's gonna make a mint on bets."

"Pfft. That boney thing won't last a minute."

Away from the effect of moonlight, the creature's skull had receded back into something that resembled the head of a person. But that did not make it look any less frightening. Against the dingy lights, Its deteriorating skin glistened with bubbling pus and blood. Pieces of bloody flesh and fur draped precariously from the thick tendril-like appendages that reached upwards from on top of its head. The beast sat crouched, the nodules along its spine protruding exaggeratingly, and it remained creepily still. The only exception was its eyes, which were still black holes with white dots for pupils, following Neeka wherever she went as she went about her duties.

"Are Jeffery and the blokes that went after it last night unscathed?"

"Dunno. I haven't seen them around gloating as of yet."

Neeka kept her head down dividing buckets of water while she listened to the slurring men converse. They were some of Lyall's night shift staff that usually only worked during event nights and, as was the norm, they were ignoring Neeka's existence. Kala was beside Neeka though, also attending to her duties in preparation for tonight's event. Like Neeka she was refusing to look in the direction of the ghastly cryptid and was muttering nonsensically to herself, but Neeka was glad for her presence regardless.

"Better hope so. Jarron will beat Lyall to death if he finds out something happened to Jeffrey."

"Who's Jarron?"

"Jeffrey's brother, you idiot."

"Oh, right. That guy."

There was a pause. And then the trio laughed.

Neeka added cleaning chemicals to one of the worn buckets in preparation to mop. It was hard not to gag at the rotten smell wafting from the creature. The men were all so heavily intoxicated that they didn't seem to notice. Nor did they notice in the cage alongside the creature they were gawking at, its human occupant lay dead. Black murk seeped out from his face and his eyes had sunken deep into their sockets. A final expression of terror was frozen on his face.

"Help me get a souvenir."

"A what?!"

Neeka was as equally appalled by the suggestion as the man who had responded to the request. When she whirled around to see what the men were doing, one of them was reaching into the cage trying to foolishly grab at the creature's antlers.