The bait spoke.
It said: “I don’t want to be bait anymore.”
It said: “The metallic device running from my anus through my spine into my head is uncomfortable.”
It said: “I will not perform, so there is no point in my sacrifice.”
It said: “Do you know what it means to be bait? Do you know what it means for you every time you use bait?”
It said: “The knife falls, but bait fears not the blade, because no option remains for hope when you are mere bait.”
It said: “When I am old and rotting and white, you will cast me away and I will not know. But you will know. The knife will fall and I will not know, but I know now. The knife will fall, and bait wins. End to end, toe to toe, the world changes, but always, bait wins.”