Ronny sat in the den, which was what she liked to call it at least. The den. It sounded better than the holding room, it was less or a room and more of a cellar. The men were kept at one end of the room, while the women were kept at another. Anyone under the age of 16 was in the smaller cellar to the left. Everyone had a chain around one foot, about 10 feet long that didn't let you do much save for get your bowl of gruel when it was brought out to her. From where she was, Ronny could hear the cheers of the people out in the stands, those poor slops that watched as two people beat the shit out of one another. "Who is it today?" Ronny asked out of the younger girls, she was only eighteen but she was a scrapper. She had her faced pressed against the bars at the top of the wall, the bars that let them all see the arena, so they would know what was in store for them. "Anyone we know?" Ronny added bitterly<br/><br/>“No, it’s not anyone that we know.” The girl finally said it had taken her awhile to get a proper view of who was actually fighting. “It’s another feline, and a fox.” The girl, Shonda was her name, said sitting down next to Ronny. Shonda was a feline, like Ronny though her traits weren’t as noticeable. It seemed with every new version of the serums for the splices that the Doctors used, the patients got noticeably less animalistic. Ronny didn’t mind, she had long since adapted to her canines and claws. Pulling her hair up into  a high pony tail, Ronny put her hands on the ground, about to propel herself up when a voice stole her attention away.<br/><br/>“Isn’t this supposed to be a special edition of<em>Gladiator!</em>?” Another girl asked from Ronny’s right, in the light that did find its way into the dingy grey room, Ronny looked over at her. For Ronny it was as clear as day, her night vision letting her see the worry on the little foxes face. As she asked her question Shonda began to nod from the other side of Ronny. “Aren’t they supposed to be picking the names for the<em>Forest</em>tonight?” The girl asked Ronny moving a little closer to the older girl. Ronny opened her mouth for a moment before closing it again. The girl was right, they were supposed to be picking the names to go into the<em>Forest</em>tonight. Ronny’s eyes narrowed. When she had first heard of their latest attraction she had felt nothing but fury in the depths of her stomach. It wasn’t odd for a normal person to put themselves into Deathmatch against a humanimal, usually it was some drunken hick, but letting them go out and hunt them down was taking it a step further.<br/>“I don’t think we need to worry about that right now. Sure they are announcing the names but it isn’t until the end of the month. They want to announce the names now, so people have two weeks to place their bets on us.” Ronny spat scornfully and then she did push herself up to her feet, the only noise she made was the light, occasional, scrape of her chain against the stone floor. She didn’t want to think about the list of names that were going to be read. He had heard many things, some had said that it would be a list of four; others had said that it would be as many as fourteen, Ronny was more concerned about where the hell they would host something like that. Surely the government would notice people hunting other, well people. From across the room, Ronny heard another voice speak up.<br/><br/>"N-n-no what I heard?" He asked. It was a weedy little man, an older amphibian from the look of the green twinge of his skin. He was jittery, hanging off the wall even he couldn't keep still. Ronny felt immediate distrust towards him. If he was jittery like that, it meant he was taking one of the drugs that the often tried to supply to the humanimal's just to see if it would get them to fight better. Unfortunately, like the man across the room, most of them just got hooked and became tweakers. "I said, wanna know what I heard girly?" He asked her grinning like there was no tomorrow. Ronny growled lowly at him, flashing her canines.<br/><br/>"Why should I trust anything you have to say fiend?" Ronny asked carefully sliding out her claws. She wouldn't be able to reach him; her chain didn't allow that by all means. But, Ronny didn't have any problems with giving a tweaker a good threatening swipe. "After all, you'd probably do anything just to get the leather off my back." Ronny added watching as the man rolled his eyes giggling madly at her. "Probably try and sell it to another humanimal for their share of the stuff they've got you doped up on." Ronny added giving him a scornful look.<br/><br/>"You don't understand toots." The man said getting off the wall and walking out towards her. His hands danced as he walked and his eyes were constantly moving but never leaving Ronny's face. "I get the good stuff you see." He said quickly kicking at someone who tried to pull him back. "I get the good stuff from the boss’ office itself. I've won 28 matches in a row. They are trying to keep me from winning I know that, changing my focus." He added with a shake of his head. "No no no no no, I know that!" He exclaimed and Ronny eyed him warily. She didn't know whether to believe him or not, but he did seem pretty hyped up. Maybe they were trying to kill him.<br/><br/>"Will you just get on with what you heard Toad?" Someone else popped off. Ronny couldn't agree more. Toad, glared at who ever had said it in that moment Ronny was positive that if he could have spit poison at the man he would have.<em>I can see why he's won so many times, he's old and ruthless.</em>Ronny thought to herself.<br/><br/>"What I know is," He finally said changing his story from what he heard to what he knew. ", what I know is that the thing is rigged. They are only picking from a select few of us. No one under 20 will be chosen, and they are wanting at least nine of us out in the<em>Forest</em>." He giggled wildly again hoping up and down alternating between feet. "People are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars," Another peril of giggles. "To kill you!" With that he broke out into hysterics leaving Ronny standing there wide eyed.<br/>