"You're fighting. Get in the ring."
"Fighting?" Shuyin's voice was roughly cracked, defeated, "I can't fight! I've never... I don't know how to..."
"That's not my problem." The guard shoved her toward the stained circle.
Shuyin stumbled forward, her chains clanking. The crowd's roar grew louder, more frenzied.
As she stood there trembling in the center of the stained circle, Shuyin's eyes adjusted to the harsh lights.
That's when she saw them, not just inmates filling the tiers, but others too. Men in expensive suits sitting in a separate upper section, drinks in hand, cigars glowing. Rich people.
Outsiders who had paid to be here, to watch women destroy each other for entertainment.
Money was already changing hands. Guards moved through the crowds collecting bets, their pockets filling with cash and tokens.
"Twenty on the new girl!" someone shouted from the inmate section.
"Are you crazy? She can't even stand straight!" another voice yelled back.
"Fifty says she doesn't last two minutes!"
"Look at her! A rich girl probably has some hidden training. I say she's got some underhanded tricks!"
"You're delusional! She's gonna get destroyed!"
"Never underestimate the desperate ones! Maybe she's got powers we don't know about!"
"Powers? Look at her crying! She's already broken!"
"A hundred tokens say she goes down in the first hit!"
"I'll take that bet! Sometimes the scared ones surprise you!"
From the upper section, the wealthy spectators made their own wagers, their voices carrying over the chaos.
"Five thousand on the veteran," a man in a grey suit called out, swirling his whiskey.
"I'll put ten on the new blood," another responded with a laugh. "Just for the entertainment value."
"You're throwing your money away. Look at her, she's never been in a real fight in her life."
The betting frenzy built, tokens and cash flowing between hands, guards and bookies scribbling down odds and names.
Shuyin stood in the center of it all, tears streaming down her face, watching herself being reduced to nothing more than entertainment, a gambling chip, a body to be broken for profit.
A crackling PA system burst to life, the speaker somewhere high above. A voice boomed out, distorted and harsh.
"NEW BLOOD FOR THE GRINDER!"
The crowd went wild, screaming and stomping their feet. The whole arena seemed to shake.
"FIRST TIMER! PRETTY LITTLE RICH GIRL! LET'S SEE HOW LONG SHE LASTS!"
Tears streamed down Shuyin's face. "Please! Please, I didn't register for this! I just got here! There's been a mistake!"
But no one was listening. The guards unchained her ankles and wrists, then backed away, leaving her alone in the center of the bloodstained circle.
The crowd's chanting changed, becoming rhythmic, and pounding.
"KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!"
A door on the opposite side of the arena opened with a grinding screech and a woman stepped out.
She was massive, bigger than Tank, built like a boulder. Her head was completely shaved, revealing scars that crisscrossed her scalp.
Her arms were thick with muscle, her knuckles wrapped in dirty, blood-stained cloth.
Tattoos covered every inch of visible skin, crude prison ink, and violent images.
She stepped into the ring, and the crowd erupted in cheers.
The woman looked at Shuyin and smiled. It was a terrible sinister smile, showing broken and missing teeth across the rows of her jaw.
She cracked her neck, first one side, then the other. The sound was loud even over the crowd's roar.
Then she charged forward.
Shuyin's survival instincts kicked in, either way, to survive, she had to fight her way out.
She stumbled backward, her feet slipping on the stained concrete, barely avoiding the first massive swing that whooshed past her face.
The crowd erupted in echoes...
"She moved! She actually moved!"
"Come on, rich girl! Run!"
"Don't just stand there! Fight back!"
The massive woman pivoted, her eyes narrowing with annoyance. She swung again, a heavy, brutal hook aimed at Shuyin's head.
Shuyin ducked, dropping low. The fist had sailed over her, close enough that she felt the air displacement.
The crowd again went wild.
"YES! AGAIN!"
"Maybe she does have some fight in her!"
"Keep moving! Keep moving!"
Shuyin's heart hammered in her chest. She didn't know what she was doing, her body was just reacting, pure terror driving her movements.
She backed up, circling, trying to keep distance between herself and the mountain of muscle stalking her.
The woman lunged forward with surprising speed for her size. Shuyin twisted to the side, narrowly avoiding another crushing blow but her foot caught on the uneven concrete, and she stumbled, falling to one knee.
"GET UP! GET UP!"
The woman was already coming at her again charged with full force.
Shuyin scrambled backward on her hands and knees, then forced herself upright.