Animalis by John Peter Jones

starting to grow. Stains covered his now dysfunctional clothes. Red ringed his irises, indicating that his retina monitors had been removed. And on the opposite side of the arena, a cage folded away to reveal a lion.
    Or lioness , Jax decided.
    The lioness obviously hadn’t been mistreated like the man had been. She looked groomed and tidy, with dark gray clothes. There was no mane around the top and back of the head, just speckled, golden fur. As she called up to the crowd, her teeth were exposed. They could have been sharp, human teeth, except for the enormous canines. Relaxed, soft-looking hands hung at the end of her muscular arms. The tail was only a foot long, maybe cut short, but now fully healed. Her movements were slow and calculated, seeming like she believed that she was assured of victory.
    “I can’t believe this,” Felix said. “They still can’t stop these things? That should be our top priority: taking out this arena.”
    Jax nodded in agreement. The few times that the Animalis had put humans into the arena had been outrageous. It was unthinkable that they had gotten away with it before, and that it still hadn’t been stopped.
    On the video, the man was scrambling at the wall. He jumped and flung his arms up. But it was useless, as the fifteen-foot high walls were smooth and impossible to scale. He turned and flattened his back against the wall.
    The lioness slowed. Her posture lowered, ready to sprint.
    The man’s muscles contorted, pulling his face into a horrified gasp. He was too scared to do anything. Too scared to move, too scared to fight back.
    “I can’t watch this,” Maven said. The door to the cabin folded open and she stepped out. “Excuse me, Captain,” she said before leaving down the hall.
    They all turned to see Captain Hernandez standing in the doorway. Hank leaned away from the wall and unfolded his arms. Jax glanced at the floor and animal cage, before remembering he wasn’t in his barracks about to get an inspection. Felix gave a brief wave.
    Hernandez was about to speak, then saw the video playing on the wall. Hank moved to shut it off.
    “As you were,” Hernandez said, stopping him. “I’m glad you’re watching this. It’s something that we all need to be reminded of.” He lifted his leg to step into the room. “May I come in?”
    “Yes, sir,” Hank said.
    Jax moved to give the captain space, but there was nowhere to go. He tried to straighten up even more, but there was nothing he could do to feel more comfortable with the captain so close. Once Hernandez was in, the door folded closed, and the room felt even more tiny and cramped.
    “This is the Narasimha mentioned in the documents you retrieved.” The captain nodded to the lioness on the wall. “At least, as far as we can tell.”
    Her muscles were a coiled spring, ready to fire at any moment. Against the wall, the man seemed to have regained his composure. He stepped away from the wall, raising his fists. That must have been what the lioness had been waiting for. She burst into a sprint.
    “I’ve reconsidered what you suggested earlier, after a conversation with the admiral,” the captain said to Hank.
    On the screen, the man’s resolution evaporated. He turned and ran, squeezing his eyes shut. The lioness was almost twice as fast.
    “There is precedence, but only for very small units,” the captain said. “So I will be sending several small units to attempt to prevent these Animalis attacks. Hank, you are to be one of those units—you and Jax—along with three other small units from our company. All working independently but under my supervision.”
    “Am I in one of those units, sir?” Felix asked.
    The captain looked at Felix as if he were just noticing him for the first time. “No.”
    “You’re not sending the whole company?” Hank asked. Then, “Why us?”
    The captain frowned. On the wall, the lioness had tackled the man. Jax saw a flurry of movement as the man struggled wildly in her