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Regulators-in-training I’d rescued when I first escaped the Community. I’d been able to crush his V-chip and sever him from the Link, and he’d fought hard to regain his humanity. It was his personal mission to help other young Regs-in-training we captured do the same. Like the rest of the population, once Regs got the final V-chip installed at eighteen, they were lost to us. The Rez still hadn’t found a way to remove the invasive adult V-chip without killing the person, in spite of countless attempts. Still, if Cole knew the details of this spectacle in front of me, he’d be horrified. These Regs had been programmed to fight for no other reason than for the sick entertainment of a pampered crowd.
    A countdown clock started, and the crowd chanted along. “Ten! Nine! Eight!”
    From the ledge, I could see over everyone’s head down to the oval not far below. When the count got to zero, a large set of doors opened at one end, and a hulking figure walked out to the center.
    I couldn’t help but stop and stare. It was a Reg, that was clear from the metal that glinted in the arena lights. But it wasn’t an ordinary Reg. Metal spikes covered his back. At first I thought he was wearing some kind of armor, but as the large wall screen zoomed in, I could see he wasn’t wearing a shirt at all—the spikes were embedded along his spine. Bits of flesh peeked out from the metal woven into his musculature, but unlike normal Regs, he looked more machine than man.
    I forced myself to look away from him. I had to find Max. I looked at the people streaming through the door, wondering if I should chance pushing through them all anyway.
    Then at the other end of the stadium, a door opened and five more Regs came out, each of them with more strange and terrifying additions. One had a giant steel battering ram for an arm, another had heavy swords instead of hands. The ear-splitting horn sounded again, and the five raced toward the spiked Reg. The ground of the arena was covered in metal plating, and the huge thunk, thunk, thunk of their heavy sprinting footsteps echoed through the arena even above the sound of all the cheering and screaming.
    The Reg with the battering-ram arm reached the spiked Reg first and launched himself forward with his hydraulic-reinforced legs. The spiked one had jumped too, twisting in midair so that his back was turned to his oncoming enemy.
    The Regs met in the air with a giant crash. The spikes sliced through the exposed belly of the other Reg. Blood spurted out over the ground just as the rest of the Regs got close. The crowd jumped to their feet around me, roaring their approval of the kill.
    The other four quickly attacked the spiked Reg. The metal from their various body parts sparked with the force of each impact. More blood spurted through the air, huge swaths of red filling the vid screen in the background.
    I turned away, nauseated. But I couldn’t block out the sounds of metal crunching against metal. I could tell from the way the crowd reacted that another Reg had died. I glanced back and saw three bodies on the ground. The two remaining Regs had turned on each other, one swinging a heavy spiked ball on a chain. The other hit the ball away with his sword, but the Reg was quick and swung again right away. The spiked ball embedded itself in the opponent’s forehead.
    And the crowd jumped to its feet, cheering louder.
    I stepped down off the ledge. I didn’t want to see any more. I already felt sick to my stomach. My power buzzed in my ears uncontrollably, straining to get out because I’d become so emotional. It hadn’t happened in months, at least not when I was awake. I stumbled, the bile rising in my throat, and backed into someone who let out a grunt of surprise.

 
    Chapter 4
    BEFORE I COULD TURN AROUND to look at who it was, a hand slid over my mouth and a whisper sounded in my ear, “Shh.”
    It was Max. I let out a relieved breath and whipped around. I wondered how he’d found me.