came in from the other side. She had stripped down to a ragged pair of long shorts and a filthy bra, stained with grime and sweat. Her hands were empty and any remaining expression had drained from her face.
“Get it on!” Hob yelled, banging on a steel corner post with the back of Else’s machete. Else stepped sideways, feeling the floor under her feet and watching her opponent. Rowanna didn’t move for a moment and then took a hesitant step forward. Then two more. She was now within five feet and Else closed the gap in two long strides. Her fist slammed into Rowanna’s nose. Blood gushed, sending Rowanna stumbling backwards.
Shaking her head, the woman blocked Else’s next punch by grabbing the fist with both hands and biting down on Else’s knuckles. Else raised her other fist and slammed it down on top of the woman’s head. Rowanna dropped to one knee.
Else drew her foot back to kick at the woman’s head. Rowanna sprang upwards, her entire body driving into Else’s swollen belly and knocking the wind out of her. The body blow pushed Else back against the wire. She felt her flesh tear, and a sharp stabbing pain blossomed in her shoulder.
With an enraged howl Else clapped her hands hard against Rowanna’s ears. The woman screamed and pulled back, her ragged nails slashing at Else, tearing her shirt and raking her skin.
Else pulled herself off the sharp wire. Feeling blood pour down her back, she ripped her shirt off and twirled it into a thick cord. With a snap she flicked it at Rowanna’s shrieking face. The woman lurched backwards, one hand slapped to her eye as blood and fluid spilled down her face.
Else stepped up and punched her opponent in the cheek, crushing the bloody eyeball that hung by a strand of tendon against her face. Rowanna’s scream became shriller.
Else lashed out with a snap kick. As straight and hard as a blade, the edge of her boot crushed Rowanna’s throat, reducing her screams to a choking gurgle. Lost in the red fury, Else leapt on the woman and buried her thumbs in her eye sockets. Rowanna convulsed, her feet beating a desperate tattoo on the bloodstained floor.
Else howled and felt the thin wall of bone at the back of the woman’s eye sockets collapse under the driving pressure of her thumbs. She pushed them into Rowanna’s living brain until the woman shuddered and lay still.
Every muscle of Else’s body ached. The room spun around her and she could hear her baby crying. She staggered to her feet and felt the floor tilt crazily.
“Baby . . .” she said, reaching out towards a sudden flare of darkness that swallowed her whole.
Chapter 5
Shifting murmurs of half-heard phrases always filled Else’s sleep. The voices came from before she could understand words. From the time when her senses floated in a warm liquid womb and the world was only half-perceived. Like a dream, she remembered the soft shapes of men and woman dressed in white, inserting long needles into her liquid world. She moaned as once again a sliver of steel slid into her arm.
“She’s waking up,” a male voice announced. Else opened her eyes and then sat bolt upright, flailing in panic. She gasped in pain as the fresh stitches in her back pulled taut.
“Relax, no one here will harm you,” the man said, his voice slurring. Else slid sideways off the bed. Hampered by the plastic tubes buried in her arm, she half-fell to the cold floor.
“Where’s my baby?” Else demanded. She tugged at the lines in her arm, wincing at the sharp pain this caused.
“He is fine. Sleeping in fact, just as you were.”
“Who are you? What are you putting in me?” Else gained her feet and stood unsteadily in some kind of cotton shift dress, glaring at the man in the off-white coat on the other side of the narrow bed.
“My name is Doctor Clay. I’m giving you saline, some essential nutrients, and blood. O negative blood. Your type has proven difficult to match with anything other than a universal donor