Monster Gauntlet Read Online Free

just like every other criminal. You don’t care about the rule of law. You don’t care about society. You don’t care about other people. All you care about is yourself.”
    He slowly got up from the table and stood tall. I’m sure it was supposed to be intimidating. He could stand while I had to sit. If I stood up, the guards would beat me down.
    “I think we’re done here,” Sterling said. “You’re a sociopath.”
    He shook his head with that maddening, knowing smile, and started to turn away.
    “What happened to Alysh?” I blurted out. Sterling’s smile fell and he had a vacant, searching look in his eyes.
    “Alysh O’Connell? My roommate? Red hair?”
    Then I said, “You don’t even know her name? She was in the march.”
    I saw something in Sterling’s eyes. They seemed to widen in recognition. He turned his back on me and started walking out the door. I got to my feet. Two men appeared on either side of me and clamped their hands around my arms. I shouted at Sterling, “So that’s it? Nothing? Who’s the sociopath now?”
    I attempted to break out of the guards’ grips but that didn’t happen. They were dragging me away when Sterling ordered them to hold me in place. He turned around and put his face uncomfortably close to mine. His eyes narrowed and his lips crept up into a sinister smile. He looked at me and said, “We’re going to put you in the Gauntlet.”
    Then he turned and walked out.

4
     
     
     I wasn’t intimidated by Sterling’s threat. People volunteered for Monster Gauntlet. Nobody “put” them in the show.
    Still, I wasn’t too surprised by what happened a week later. The guard came around again and said, “Hands out the door. You’ve got visitors.”
    I was cuffed and led to the same room. I figured it was probably Sterling again, or some replacement the government thought would be more convincing to try to force me to make a public apology or do whatever they wanted. I was wrong.
    The door opened to the room. My eyes went immediately to a tall woman wearing shear black slacks and a form-fitting black jacket. Her long, straight, purple hair was pulled back in an ornate clip. She was beautiful, and even though I don’t watch the show, I knew who she was.
    “Vasha?”
    The woman smiled and extended her hand. “Moira MacMillan. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
    I stared at her hand. I didn’t know whether to shake it or smack it away, but since a guard was standing next to me and two others were watching, I thought it best to conform to the social conventions. I shook her hand.
    “Do you know why I’m here?” she asked.
    “I have a good idea,” I said.
    “Of course,” she said, smiling. I wasn’t stupid.
    A tall man in with a shaved head stood next to Vasha. He wore a brown leather jacket and looked like he might have been about 50. His eyes were blue and I could see he was intensely interested in me. There was a sheen of outward friendliness in his eyes, yet beneath their icy surface I detected an underlying hardness. I almost dismissed him as some type of “correctional” official or something like that. Then he stepped forward and extended his hand.
    “Moira, my name is Maximilian Cain. I’m the producer of Monster Gauntlet.”
    I reluctantly shook his hand, and he said, “Let’s talk.”
    We sat. Maximilian talked while I listened.
    “Normally, we have recruiters who do this sort of thing, but this is a special case, and I wanted to meet you in person. Besides, I’m a fan.”
    “A fan?”
    “Of course,” Cain beamed. “You’re something of a celebrity, simply for fighting with the police. And you’re a woman. We don’t get many opportunities to recruit female volunteers for the show. Of course, we don’t get many people willing to take on law enforcement either.”
    There were so many things wrong with those statements I didn’t know where to begin, so I did something uncharacteristic of me: I sat there with my mouth shut.
    Cain said, “We