People start backing up.

I’m in the front corner, beside Clara. Bodies are already jostling us against the bars. If the panic gets aimed this way, we could be crushed against the metal bars. We won’t be killed but bones could be broken. Not a good time for broken bones.

In the center of the cell, Mr. Tattoo whales on Alpha. Alpha, though, is not to be underestimated.

He grabs a guy’s jacket and swings the bottom of the zipper at Tattoo’s eyes. It hits a woman in the face.

Tattoo swings his arm back for a sloppy hit and his elbow smacks into an old man’s neck.

The man falls back into Clara, making her bang her head against the bars. I’m trying to mind my own business, but this is not going to end well for any of us.

I weave my way to the fighters and grab Tattoo’s shoulders.

I jam my knee into the back of his. I’m careful to make sure that I shove his knee straight forward so that I don’t knock it out. A broken knee in our situation is a death sentence.

As he collapses down to my height, I pull his shoulders toward me and grab his head in a sleeper hold. I grip his forehead with one arm and clamp his neck with the other.

I squeeze my arms, letting him know I mean it. I’m not trying to choke off his air. Choking off the blood to his brain is faster. He has three to five seconds before he loses consciousness.

“Relax,” I say. He instantly does. This man has been in enough fights to know when it’s over.

Alpha boy, on the other hand, doesn’t know when to stop. By the look of his bulging eyes and crimson face, his fear and frustration are still slamming around inside him. He swings his leg back, kicking someone else in the process, and gets ready to kick Tattoo like a soccer ball as I hold him.

“You land that kick and I swear to God I’ll let him eat you alive.” I lower my voice and try to sound as commanding as I can. But Mr. Tattoo is most likely thinking about how skinny and short my arms are. It’s probably registering right about now that my voice is female.

I’ll be in a world of hurt if I don’t establish control while he’s on his knees. Because when he’s towering over me and looking down at the top of my head, he might start getting ideas.

So I do something I would never do in the World Before.

Even though he gave in, I choke him out anyway. His body crumples to the floor, head listing.