Even as dazed and confused as he was, I’m pretty sure he knew what was going on. Durgan picked Sanderson’s slack body up and proceeded to raise him up over his head with no more effort than a basketball player puts into lifting a basketball. He then found the nearest Joshua tree and threw Sanderson on it. The spiny plant pierced Sanderson’s body in multiple places. The scream that came from him was one that will haunt me to the end of my days. Durgan had no desire to make this a merciful and quick killing. He proceeded to put his foot on Sanderson’s midsection and push until some of the spiny leaves began to make their way through to the other side of his body. Thankfully his screaming began to lose some of its velocity, blood began to fill his lungs and served to further stifle the noise. Shock mercifully was settling in; Sanderson’s eyes got the thousand-yard stare. To rouse the crowd even further Durgan pulled off one of the spiny leaves and jabbed it directly into Sanderson’s left eye; apparently he was not far enough in shock. He managed one more scream that rivaled all the previous ones combined, then gave one final convulsion and stayed there. I tried to imagine that he was just a scarecrow stuck to Velcro, that was far more palatable to swallow than the truth. I was about to turn the set off but my lack of better judgment prevailed. I wanted to see what Durgan did with his newest spoil.
He strode with all the pride of a peacock to the woman who was helplessly tied up. What he did next surprised and disgusted me. He knelt down on one knee before the woman and yelled up into the stands, “I will have no woman but the Goddess of the games” With that he stood up and put his hands on either side of his captive victim’s head almost as if to caress her and with a sudden twisting motion he broke her neck. That was probably the most humane thing that monster had done on this ship since he arrived. She was dead and that was that. I was not as appalled at the death as I should have been; I guess that I was getting desensitized. What horrified me more was the thought of that Cro-Magnon with my Beth, that was ripping my soul apart. Well, I thought to myself, he vowed to have no other woman, so I must also do the same. I had to focus on one thing and one thing only, survival. But now the focus wasn’t so much on myself anymore, I had to do it for Beth. The guilt I felt for having been with Debbie was already beginning to consume me. I had needed her then, I still needed her. When I felt that I wasn’t going to survive I needed her comfort but now that I had a chance, even as slim as it was, I had to focus all my attention on that possibility. Beth was my reason for living and fighting. I no longer needed or wanted Deb’s comfort, I told myself. I knew that sounded selfish but I had to be true to myself in order to be true to Beth. I decided to check the rankings to see who my possible opponents would be, if I made it through the next round. That’s when my biggest break thus far showed itself. I kept telling myself it had to be divine intervention. If so I would forever be in debt to the one I called God. The competitor’s names, vital statistics and rankings came up and by some twist of fate only 151 names showed. Sometime between the decision of the alien board and now, one of the victors had died. Durgan would get another bye, I would get number 2. It was only later that I learned it was not by wounds suffered in battle but by a jealous woman in one of the competitor’s growing harem. These women were proving more and more to be my allies. Confidence was beginning to build; now it was time to see what No. 2 was made of.
I looked over at Tanya, she stood there proudly, hands on hips, defiant even. That was a good thing, I thought. Even if I didn’t make it through to the end, I had given these women something invaluable: hope. I grinned at her and she grinned back. No words were needed; we both knew we had saved each other’s lives out there. Most likely her actions weren’t as altruistic as I would have hoped, but either way the outcome was the same. I was alive and I could continue on my quest. And yes, that’s what I felt it was, a quest. I was now on a mission I did not yet fully understand the magnitude of.
I turned back to the Jumbotron to check out No. 2, Adam Kirkland. My confidence waned ever so slightly when I saw him. He was nowhere near the size of Durgan but every part of him was pure muscle. The best way I could describe him would be to take a picture of Patrick Swayze and shave his head. Obviously this guy had studied martial arts before he ever stepped into this three-ring circus. He, like Durgan, didn’t believe in using weapons, he had no need for them. Kirkland disposed of his latest victim quicker and with more finesse than Durgan had. It was almost an art form the way he killed him. I’m relatively sure his competitor never felt a thing. His foe had thrust his spear at Kirkland’s torso, but he quickly evaded the attack. He put one foot behind the man’s leg and literally tripped him over his shin, a mere fraction of a second later the heel of Kirkland’s boot was smashing through the bridge of that poor man’s nose. Pieces of cartilage into the brain cavity did the rest of the work. Unfortunately Kirkland saw no reason to be quite so merciful to his spoils. The woman shrieked in terror as he approached. Obviously she knew something I didn’t. What I watched so sickened me that I vowed I would kill him just for that single act. With the woman still tied up, hands over her head, he delivered a hard karate blow to her arm. The elbow gave way and bent the opposite way from which God had intended it to. With a sudden fury Kirkland kicked in both of her knees. Her legs bent backwards like an ostrich’s. The audible crunching of the bones could even be heard over her shrieks. The woman just kept screaming and Kirkland just stood there, hands on his hips looking at her as if he was admiring his work. And then he just walked away. I was yelling at the screen at the top of my lungs.
“Damn you, finish her you fucken bastard!” I spat. This man was far crueler than Durgan, if that was even possible. He just left her hanging there with a broken elbow and two broken knees. I think it was shock that finally killed her, the sobbing stopped after twenty minutes but her tears went the distance. Forty-five minutes later when her final death throes were over I was shaking uncontrollably. I had cried so much the front of my shirt was damp. What was even worse was that the aliens with all their advanced medical technology just left her there to die. I once again vowed revenge for all the souls that had lost their lives here, but especially for Kate Hellsboro, the girl they left to die. They would pay with blood or whatever flowed through their crocodile-like veins. The first plan of action was to figure out a way to eliminate Adam Kirkland. But with God on my side, how could I lose? I went back to my room just to be alone and think.
Deb asked a question, breaking me out of my contemplation. “Mike, can I talk to you?” Her voice sounded distant, almost as if spoken through an intercom system. I don’t know how many hours I had been sitting there in the dark but I still felt no relief from the internal pain I had experienced earlier. Debbie repeated herself before I was really even sure somebody was talking to me. Her voice groped in the dark, looking for my ear like a blind man in unfamiliar territory.
“What is it Deb?” I replied slowly and with a hint of an edge.
“Are you alright?” she asked tentatively.
“What do you mean Deb?” I snapped, “Do you mean in the physical sense? Because yeah, I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in. I’ve got muscles in places I didn’t even know existed. Or do you mean my mental state? Yeah, I’m as sharp as a razor. I can think of more ways to kill a man than you can imagine. Or do you mean spiritually? Because I’m sure God just loves the work that I’m doing down here. And you know what Deb? I’m starting to like it. I feel more alive when I kill somebody than at any other time. Even more so than when we’re making love!” That seemed to sting her like a bee, she outwardly winced. “I’d rather snap someone’s neck! Don’t you see what I’ve become? I’m losing my ability to empathize. I’ve seen more death and torture and destruction of the human soul in the past couple of months than most people see in a war. And we’re doing this for the enjoyment of a civilization that couldn’t give two shits about us. Sometimes I think it would be easier if I just went into the arena and fell on a sword.” If Debbie’s facial expressions could have been capable of
making noise I would have been able to hear her face drop even in the gloom of the bedroom.
“Stop that, don’t talk like that!” she implored. “We have got to survive, we just have to!” She seemed to be saying that more to herself than to me.
“Please leave,” I motioned. “I just want to be alone for a while.”
A while turned into four days. I didn’t so much as say hi to any of the women the entire time. The aliens came and I went with them without uttering a word, and not surprisingly no words were offered in return.
Well, one thing I couldn’t count on anymore was the help of a woman. Since my last fiasco, all women captives were kept up in the stands until completion of the battle at hand. For the first time since I got on this ship, I saw Beth. I guess I was early because she was just being led to her 'Guest of Honor’ seat. I know that she saw me too because she paused for a moment and almost made to wave but then thought better of that idea. My heart had somehow made its way into my throat. Sweat leaked out of every pore and I hadn’t even moved yet. I had almost forgotten the deep feelings I felt for her. No time for reflection though, Kirkland was already being led into his side. When I entered my side of the pit the crowd hushed into complete and utter silence. While I had my chance I yelled at the top of my lungs so that all could hear, even though the message was for one only. “I love you!” And barely audibly, so that no one heard but I knew, Beth repeated those same words. And so the saga continued. I picked up a spear. I hoped that Kirkland hadn’t developed any new moves in the last two weeks. The terrain this time out was only a small grassy hill in the middle of the arena that flattened out on the top. But it effectively hid my competitor from my view and vice versa. I knew from watching him that he would be approaching at a steady pace up the slope and he would be unarmed. I checked my homemade knife which was hidden in the belt loop of my trousers. I hoped it wasn’t noticeable. The laws of the games strictly prohibited the use of two weapons. I hoped that this rule didn’t apply to homemade ones. I’m not sure how favorable the alien board would look upon another infraction from me. It had taken me most of a week to sharpen the strip of metal I had taken off of the fridge. And still I wasn’t sure if I would be able to deliver a killing blow with it. I was fairly confident it would cause injury but it had to be enough to slow this monster down. I walked toward the hill with a pace that would make a turtle happy; I was in no rush for this showdown. Obviously Kirkland was, though, the crowd began its incessant buzzing. I was certain that those croc-aliens were capable of smelling death. Well let them, for one of these days it would be their own deaths they smelled.
But enough reflecting. Kirkland was coming and he was coming fast. And the bastard was smiling. I think it was the sight of the spear. I’m pretty sure he thought I was going to be as easy as his last victim. That was fine with me, the more confident he was, the better I felt. He would be less wary in his over-confidence and eagerness to finish the job.
“That’s right,” I mumbled to myself. “Stick with your normal routine, and you’ll be dead in another twenty seconds.”
And so we squared off. I felt as if I was performing an instant replay for the NFL but this time the ending would have a different outcome. I slowly jogged towards him, spear in hand. I jabbed at him with the spear; he feinted right and dodged left. My heart jumped; he was doing exactly the same routine. With his left foot out his left hand grabbed the spear, with his right hand in the small of my back he used my momentum against me to force me to the ground. As he pushed and gravity took over, I began to twist my body. When I hit the ground I was already in motion; my hand found the hidden knife. I pulled it out from behind me as I began turning my body away from his kick. His right foot missed my face by no more than a shoe’s width. He seemed to hesitate with the change in the game plan. But that was something I would think about later, I was acting purely on instinct at the moment. With one deft motion I drew the sharpness of the blade across his Achilles heel. The tendon snapped like a broken rubber band and he fell fast. His face was twisted in agony. I still had no follies about going in for the kill just yet. He may have been down but he was far from out. The lethality of his hands hadn’t been diminished in the least with the crippling of his leg. Extreme caution was now the order of the day. I wasn’t going to give up the advantage I had fought so hard for. The crocs were silent, must have been a bunch of them that lost a crap load of drakka on that last move. They looked stunned. They didn’t like the unexpected, by all their accounts I should be dead by now, but much to their future chagrin I still had a few more battles left in me. I don’t know what I was thinking but it definitely wasn’t about the task at hand. I began to drift off; I started to think about my first encounter with Beth and how I knew that there was something special there just from the way her skin felt on mine. I hoped beyond hope that we would once again be able to unite but I wasn’t sure if she would or even could love me after witnessing my destruction of human life. She had always been an advocate for peace and a vegetarian to boot. Could she handle a soul mate that violated her most fundamental principles? I hoped so, the thought of going on without her hurt more than the broken rib I had just sustained.
“What the…?!” I yelled as I snapped back to my predicament. Kirkland had sensed my thoughts were elsewhere and was kind enough to help me back by projecting his left foot into my rib cage. One, possibly two ribs snapped with the dryness of a twig under a hot desert sun. But the pain made it feel as if my entire side had collapsed. I was in trouble, he had punctured a lung, my breathing was becoming shallower and the blood that rose up my throat was also a good indicator of how much trouble I was in. I figured I had about a minute to finish him off before I was the dead one. Wouldn’t that just screw up my plan? Kirkland was also aware of the damage he had inflicted; he started to pull himself away from me as fast as a one legged man can, which believe it or not was amazingly fast. I stumbled after him but my breathing was becoming more difficult, I was drowning in my own blood. My heart raced in fear, my thoughts drifted to my mother. I missed her toasted cheeses for dinner, Eddie Peak, my best friend in the first grade, Betsy Hoegler, the first girl I ever had a crush on. Mandy, the first girl I was ever intimate with. Breaking a million on Missile Command. Kate Hellsboro. A blood splattering cough racked my body, I fell face forward; I barely had enough strength to turn myself over. Kirkland, seeing my potential demise, was coming back for the kill. His eyes gleamed with the prospect of another victory. He appeared to me to look more like a serpent than a man. If I could only concentrate on something besides the pain, but everything began to become unfocused. Images kept fading in and out. Kate Hellsboro. ‘Who is Kate Hellsboro?’ Recognition through the pain. Kirkland also noticed the change in my face, the clearing of my eyes, he hesitated and my opening arrived. With Kirkland literally in my face I stuck my crude but effective knife straight into his throat. If I had been a surgeon it would have been a perfect tracheotomy. Blood criss-crossed my face, air bellowed out of the hole. He still had the presence of mind to try and finish me off; he attempted to break my neck, but I was never going to give him that opportunity. I just kept sticking the knife into the side of his neck until he had to accept the inevitable, life as he knew it was now over. He rolled off of me and tried to cover his multiple wounds with his hands but the blood poured through every crevice. I felt the need to let him go into the afterworld with one final parting shot.
“Hey dumb ass!”
He actually acknowledged my words and turned to look at me.
“If you had just left me alone I would have died all by myself in another minute or two.” With those final words his time was over, but even though my eyes were closing I had the distinct feeling it wouldn’t be forever. For some strange reason I thought I smelled a cheeseburger.
“I think he’s coming to!” I heard from a galaxy far, far away.
“Someone get a wet cloth.” That galaxy didn’t sound so far away as I had thought.
“He’s opening his e
yes,” a familiar voice said, but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. I thought to myself, I hope my eyes aren’t open because I can’t see a thing. The world looked as if I was viewing it through an ace bandage. I could see shapes but no distinction whatsoever.
“I can’t see,” I mumbled weakly.
“And by the sound of it you can’t talk either.” A small laugh broke out among the women in the room but it felt more like relief than humor.
“We all thought that we were going to lose you,” a tender voice said. I could hear the strain in it.
The name Deb popped into my head long before I was able to associate it with the voice.
“How long?” was all I was able to mutter.
“You’ve been out for close to a month,” a voice unfamiliar to me said.
My face must have gone slack, but she still continued with the explanations even after seeing my disdain.
“Well dear sir, you got your lung punctured, and an artery to your heart was also nicked. The aliens are still in disbelief that you are alive. They are more than a little upset, by all of their scientific data you should have died the moment that your rib was broken.”
Well, that was all the information that I could handle for this month, I fell back asleep but not as deeply as before.
“Mike, can you hear me?” What a soothingly comforting and familiar voice I thought to myself. “I know it’s over between us.” I was about to reply but from her tone I was under the impression that she was talking more to herself than me; the fact that she thought I was sleeping did not deter her from her speech. “I know the comfort we brought each other was temporary. It was just our way of coping with this insanity and the stress. Only I didn’t know that I was going to fall in love with you. To be honest I didn’t even think that you were going to live past the first round I saw you in. And I think maybe that you had the same thoughts and maybe you felt it would be better to at least go out with a smile. But now I think you’re going to survive and I think that you also believe that you are going to make it through this nightmare. Nobody could’ve done what you’ve done so far. Granted your strategy has been superb, your stamina incredible, but ah my love, your luck has been…”