"I have no intention of doing so."
"Rhyn might grab one and pull you out. You'd be cut into pieces by the bars, and then no one would get their snack."
"Yeah, real shame, shithead."
He laughed.
"What're you doing here, Lunchmeat? Humans don't come here unless they're dead, and even then, only a couple make it onto our supermax zoo."
"No idea."
"Why aren't you crying, little girl?" the beast, Rhyn, asked in his gravelly, low voice.
"Maybe she's a spy," a voice farther down the hall called. "Here to listen to our secrets."
"I'm not a spy."
"Wouldn't matter if you were," Jared said, unconcerned. "The beast is right. You're holding up well. Maybe when they start the torture, she'll cry. Then she'll negotiate on that no-pain thing."
"How I ache to be there," another voice moaned.
"You taste as sweet as you look, little girl?" Rhyn mocked.
"Like soggy gym socks," she snapped.
"I like you, Lunchmeat," Jared continued. "Will be a shame when they break you. Or when one of us gets loose and kills you. Not sure what'll come first, though Rhyn there has almost broken through his cage twice now."
Supermax, inhuman predator wing of the zoo. Torture.
It figured. Her heart was beating fast, her palms sweaty. She returned to her bunk and lay down, cold fear filling her. She stared at the silver eyes staring at her, slowly falling into an exhausted, restless slumber.
The sounds of Rhyn slamming his body into his cell and snarling awoke her sometime later. Lankha was huddled in a corner, but she rolled to watch. She popped one of the water cubes into her mouth, head pulsing from a nasty hangover.
Rhyn had bent his cage again. Though she tried hard not to fear death, she wondered what kind of creature was capable of breaking through bars made of materials she'd never before seen and held in place with some sort of magic. She wanted to see what the beast looked like, what kind of monster he'd be, yet knew if she saw him in full light, he was on his way to kill her.
The robed man came again and repaired the damage. Rhyn fell quiet, and the robed man turned to her. His eyes were black and empty, his frame small and wiry. He wore a glowing talisman on a leather chain around his neck.
"Hey Lunchmeat."
"Yeah."