Chapter 94 - Imminent Danger

The woman's soft body hangs from the wires and her eyes remain closed in spite of the imminent danger.

"What the hell?" whisper members of the crowd, "Is she in a coma?"

"Are they going to use her to feed the lion?" the horrified women ask.

The lion senses the excitement of the crowd and it becomes agitated; it begins to pace its cage, roaring angrily. The cage does not have a top, so the woman descends without any hindrance.

"Wow, what is this?" asks a man sarcastically, "Beauty and the beast?"

Evan isn't in the mood to watch the show, but the frenzied discussions draw his attention. He looks up at the white figure slowly lowering into the stage. Suddenly, he leaps to his feet.

"Sir, the woman looks like Mrs. Howel," Robert observes.

Although the woman is wearing a mask that covers half her face, Evan is confident that he would recognize that figure and that hair anywhere.

"But what is she doing up there?" he wonders in amazement.

"Stop that thing!" he yells.

Evan yells, drawing the attention of the women in the room. He quickly realizes that all the yelling in the world is useless—his room is completely private. The soundproofing prevents noise from getting out and the one-way glass blocks everyone on the outside from seeing what goes on inside the room. Without a moment's hesitation, Robert runs towards the control room.

"Avery has been caught to feed the lion!" he thinks, "No wonder I couldn't find her anywhere."

He races to the control room to stop Avery from being put in the cage, but he's too late. The smell of Avery has gotten the lion wound up; though Avery isn't yet in the cage, the lion is already jumping for her. The guests all shout out in amazement.

Lisa watches with the confusion that quickly becomes excitement. Based on Evan's shouting, the woman being lowered into the cage is Avery. Lisa can't believe her good luck.

Avery opens her eyes with difficulty. The light is dazzling and she feels countless spotlights on her face. She subconsciously raises her hand to block the light but realizes there is something around her waist that makes her movement painful. She feels something hot at her feet and smells the faint reek of blood.

She forces herself to look down and sees something furry leaping at her feet. Her eyes fly open instantly.

"Damn!" she thinks, "Why the hell is there a lion below me?"

She subconsciously pulls her legs up. She does so just in time: the lion's teeth tear a scrap of fabric from the bottom of her dress. The thunderous sound of cheering fills the room.

Avery takes a look around. Guests in the private rooms have started to converge on the balconies outside the rooms to watch the show. She peeks up at the VIP rooms. Though she can't see through the glass, she seems to sense a worrying look coming from two of the different rooms.

The lion roars with dissatisfaction upon realizing it hasn't gotten a bite of Avery. Avery is scared for her life. Although she can fight off a dog, there's no chance she can fight off a hungry lion.

"Who wants me dead so badly?" she wonders.

The last thing she remembers is lying on the bed in the staff dormitory trying to sleep. She remembers hearing the door creak as if someone was entering the room and everything became blurry.

Avery looks up at the wire she's dangling from. It's dozens of meters long and she knows she can't climb it.

"Go away," Avery yells at the lion.

Avery tries to kick its head but it jumps to her feet and one white high heel falls. There is another round of shouting. The lion tears at the show with its teeth. The scene is thrilling.

Avery wants to scream with fear, but she forces herself to stay calm. She pulls her legs up higher and takes off the remaining high heel. She holds it in her hand like a weapon.

"Do you see her—she's going to throw her shoe at the lion! She's such a warrior!" the women gasp.

"I feel so sorry for her—to be fed to the lion-like that. I wish I could protect her," the men murmured.

Evan grabs the balcony railing aggressively and takes his gun out. He takes aim and fires into the cage. The lion suddenly leaps toward Avery and the bullet whooshes past it. Avery's lower body is very close to the lion and Evan knows it's dangerous to try to shoot again. He was taking a risk before by shooting at the lion's rear, but now that it's so close to Avery he doesn't dare fire. Evan throws his gun to the ground with rage and frustration. 

Robert rushes up to Evan, "Sir, the control room has been notified. But there's something wrong with the equipment and they can't pull her up."

She can't go up and the men in the room have been warned not to lower her so she's stuck suspended above the lion. Evan is about to push Robert away to fire again—the danger is damned—when he hears cheering.

"No wonder this is the grand finale," the crowd gushes, "This is the most exciting show!"

"Oh my God, what a woman! She uses her feet as bait," screams one excited onlooker.

Evan looks at the stage. Avery is stretching her feet out to the lion, urging it to jump. Every time it jumps she jerks her legs upward, taunting and exhausting it. Infuriated, the lion gathers all of its strength and prepares to jump again. Its mouth is stretched wide and its teeth gleam in the stage-lights. Avery swings the shoe in her hand and smashes the heel into the lion's eye. Blood pours out from its ruined eye socket.

The lion flies into a rage. It leaps again, but it can't even reach the bottom of her dress. It is too exhausted from its earlier attempts. The lion skulks away to a corner of the cage to catch its breath and Avery tries to catch hers.

She wants to call for help but there is cheering, discussion and noise everywhere and she knows that no one will hear her. She can't afford to let herself get distracted at such a critical time. Though the lion is injured, she knows it will try to attack her again.

She knows it will have to change strategy because of its wound, and that gives her time to take a break and gather her strength for what's to come. Suddenly Avery feels her body moving—the wire is in motion again. The audience screams. The wire is not moving upward but downward. Avery is quickly falling into the cage.

The lion watches Avery and carefully stalks toward her, determined to get its prey this time. As the wire descends, Avery gets closer and closer to the ground and the lion. She quietly reaches for some wh.i.p.s hanging from the wall of the cage.

She takes several wh.i.p.s and swings them throw the air. The sudden attack startles the lion, and it stops and sits down. It licks its teeth and analyzes its enemy.

"Is the woman a lion tamer?" murmurs the crowd, "It stopped attacking her!"

"What a brave woman," says an admiring man, "I'd love to take a look at her face."

The discussion begins to change and the mood lightens. Everyone assumed that Avery would die a horrible death under the lion's sharp teeth and claws, but now it seems that the beast fears her.

A loud sound startles Avery. Someone has thrown something into the cage toward Avery. Avery looks at it out of the corner of her eyes and sees that someone has given her a gun.