by Maxey, Phil
She crawled a few feet forward until her head touched the wall, the same area where the scratching noise was coming from. She went to knock on the brick, but stopped. What if this is some kind of test?
She clenched her fist and banged on the wall just next to her nose. She waited hearing her own heartbeat when a bang reverberated against the wall, making her head pull back slightly. Just as she was going to knock again, the sound on the opposite side of the wall moved, now it was coming from a few feet away. She went to move in that direction but stopped on realizing there was a small cabinet there. She grabbed it with both hands, and pulled it backwards a few feet. Crouching back down near the wall, her fingers immediately stumbled upon bumps and indentations along the brickwork. The knock on the opposite side came again, this time much louder.
She knocked close to where she thought the noise was, and immediately realized the brick she was hitting was loose. Poking her fingers into the loose masonry around it, she got a grip and pulled it out. In the hole were the brick was only darkness, just as it was around her.
“Hey, you there?” came a male voice from somewhere beyond. It had an unmistakable east coast tinge.
“Yeah, who are you?” said Abbey.
“I’m Miles, who are you?”
“I’m… Daphne.” It was the first name that came to mind.
“Right. I thought your name was Abbey? I heard you being brought in. News on the grapevine is that you won your first match, obliterated Foster.”
Abbey sighed. “I’m not proud of what I did, but…”
“You had to survive. You didn’t do anything that any of us wouldn’t have done. That kid has killed a whole lot of people.”
“So you know I killed him then?” She wasn’t sure she wanted the answer.
“Umm not sure, I just heard that you took him out. Anyway, by getting rid of Foster you did a lot of us a good deed. Here…” The sound of scraping came from inside the wall. “Reach in, my arms not long enough to go the whole way.”
Abbey reluctantly felt for the rim of the bricks, and then plunged her hand forward into darkness upon darkness, feeling the dust and the cobwebs until she felt something plastic. It pushed towards her and she grasped it then pulled it quickly from the wall.
“It’s some pieces of bread,” said Miles.
She unwrapped the plastic covering, immediately feeling the soft sponginess of the bread, and started eating it. “Thanks,” she said between bites.
“No problem. So where you from?”
“South.”
“Where south? I’m from New Jersey.”
“Texas.”
“But you’re not from there originally right? You sound more north, maybe Boston?”
She didn’t want to reply. Is this one of Hemming’s people fishing for information?
“Yeah, I was born there, but spent many years elsewhere.”
“How you survive the Cascade?”
“I got evacuated to one of the camps, but then that fell, and I ended up just roaming. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was a Cas—coach I wouldn’t have survived. What about you?”
“I was on a business trip. Got trapped down here. Somehow ended up in this place, just trying to survive too. I didn’t even know I had these… abilities, I had to be informed by others like me. What a laugh.”
“You haven’t tried to escape? Surely it’s only a matter of when not if, you meet someone in the arena that kills you?”
“They made examples of others like us early on. And anyway, were am I going to run too?”
“There might be other camps, other communities out there that would take you in?”
“You know of any?”
“No. Wish I did.”
“Anyway Daphne or whatever your name is, I’m going to get some shut eye, my match is tomorrow evening. Wish me luck.”
“Yeah, umm good luck.” There then came a scraping noise and Abbey was once again alone.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
A sudden intense rush of cold woke Zach. His head was spinning and he could feel the water running down his face and neck. A man moved away from him with a bucket.
“Good you’re awake.”
Hemming’s stood in front of Zach with his white shirtsleeves rolled up. Something silver glinted in his right hand.
“Where… Where am I?” said Zach.
“That doesn’t matter. What matters is I can’t have people sneaking around our town at night, there are rules!”
Before Zach could reply, a fist of metal slammed into his stomach, making him retch.
Hemming’s and his brass knuckles stepped back. “I knew you would be trouble the moment I set eyes on you! You’re not a team player! If it weren’t—” This time the solid fist of Hemming’s slammed into Zach’s ribs. An unmistakable cracking noise quickly followed. “— For your woman, I’d just feed you to the creatures, like we usually do to trouble makers. But I have a feeling her cooperation will be short lived if she learns you’re inside one of the creatures she’s in the ring with.” He shook his head and sighed. “What am I going to do with you.”
Zach tried shaking his own head, trying to stop the room from spinning.
“That disorientation you’re feeling, that’s from what we call a spinster. A fella from up north brought one down, traded it with us for a truck. You just got to be a few hundred yards from one and your mind goes all screwy, they give off some kind of chemical, don’t affect the coaches though. I don’t understand the science, but they come in real handy to stop people from escaping.” He then stepped in close to Zach, grabbing Zach’s head and lifting it so their eyes were parallel with each other. “I’ll tell you what. If you learn to do your duties, work hard, be one of the team we have here, then I won’t kill your Abbey, how’s that sound?”
“You need—” The words only just about formed in Zach’s mouth.
“Coaches are a commodity I’ll grant you that, especially one like your woman, but sometimes you just got to cut someone from the team, for the sake of the other players, you get what I’m saying son?”
Zach nodded. Hemming’s let go of his head which then fell back down and rested on Zach’s chest. The room was spinning slightly less now.
Hemming's receded back into the shadows. “Take him back to the maintenance bay, and tell Corman that if we find him wondering around where he shouldn’t be again, I’ll find another chief mechanic.”
*****
Abbey was already awake when the door to her small room opened. It was Morri, and he had a small bag with him which he threw to her.
“Food and drink is in the bag. Eat up lass, you need to get your strength back.”
Abbey remained still.
“What’s wrong? Aren’t you hungry?”
“I’m not a performing clown.”
He sat down next to her. She moved slightly away. “Ah, lass, I know you’re not. But if you don’t perform then—” he grimaced. “— You got a role to play. You keep the minds of the people in this place occupied. If everyone really stopped for a moment to contemplate the shit they are really in, then everything would fall apart! You’re keeping everyone alive, by going out there.” He patted her shoulder and got back to his feet. “You weren’t going to fight for another few days, but I got you bumped up to tonight! You’re going to be fighting Miles—”
A jolt ran through Abbey which she hid from the man standing in front of her.
“— And his giant jelly-plant thing. It’s hard to describe, but it has these tentacles that—”
Abbey looked upwards, directly at Morri, making him stop talking. “What did you do before this?”
He started to fidget, like he suddenly developed an allergy. “The past is the past.”
“I want to know.”
“Bit of this, bit of that. Anyway, you win tonight and I can get you out of this room, get you some bigger digs.” He went to leave.
“The man I came here with, you said if I won, we would talk about me seeing hi
m.”
“Ah yeah I did say that, didn’t I.”
“If I don’t see him today, before I go back into the cage, then I’m not doing anything for anyone. Kill me, do what you want, but I’m not moving, or eating, or drinking unless I see Zach.”
Morri slid his hand over his face, then his slick hair. “Lord, ya gonna be the death of me girl.” He kneeled. “Abbey, we got a good thing going here. I’ll be honest, I haven’t had the best luck with coaches, but you got the gift more than I’ve seen before. You and me could go far in this place.”
Abbey picked up the bag he brought and threw it against the wall, making Morri duck down slightly.
“Alright, alright! I’ll see what I can do! Sheesh. But eat that food!” He then got up and walked out. The door closed behind him.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Zach looked up into the V8 engine of the 80s pickup truck, and smiled. He rubbed his fingers together and felt the smooth grease between them. His mind drifted back to helping his dad with their car when he was a teen. The sound of footsteps approaching brought him back to the here and now and he plunged his hand back into the underside of the car that was on the lift above his head.
“Felton! You need to go with these men.”
Zach froze and looked down at the set of tools near his feet.
“They’re taking you to see your woman, so hurry up before they change their minds.”
Zach quickly ducked down beneath the pickup and grabbed a nearby cloth, wiping his hands as he followed the two armed men through the door that had been locked the night before.
Within a few minutes and with him recording every twist and turn in his mind, he came to a long corridor on what he counted was the second floor. Doors lined both sides, and a faded sign with the words “Press rooms” hung lop-sided from the ceiling.
The men walked him to one of the rooms, and opened the door. Abbey immediately sprung up from the sofa and hugged him, causing him to wince a little.
She pulled back. “Are you hurt?” She then turned angrily to a man that was in the room with her. “If he has been hurt I’m not doing anything for you!”
“I’m fine, I just injured a rib when working on a car.”
Morri walked past them both. “You got ten minutes, make it count.” He then ushered them both back into the room, and one of the armed men closed the door behind them.
Before Zach could say anything else, Abbey moved to the door and listened against it. She then grabbed Zach’s hand and they moved to the sofa. “They’re on the other side of the door but if we speak quiet I don’t think they can hear us,” she whispered.
“How are you?” they both said at the same time, then smiled.
“I’m okay, surviving,” said Abbey.
“You had to fight in some kind of cage match, with E.L.F’s last night?”
Abbey sighed. “Yeah, I know it’s crazy. I just got lucky and managed to take my opponent out.” Her eyes then filled with tears, and she leaned into him. “He was just a teenager Zach, maybe fifteen. But I had no choice…”
Zach put his arms around her and pulled her in tight to his chest. “You did what you had to do.”
She pulled away. “We have to get out of here. I’m meant to be fighting again tonight. There’s a man in the room next to me, I think his name is Miles. He gave me some food. They want me to fight him tonight, I—”
A knock came at the door. “Five minutes!” said a male voice.
“I can’t fight him Zach. I don’t want to kill anymore, I won’t do that.”
“He gave you food? When?”
She leaned in closer. “Last night, through a hole in the wall,” she looked down to her right.
“Is he in the room now?”
“I don’t know, maybe, why?”
Zach quickly moved to the small cabinet and quietly moved it back.
*****
Morri stood in the doorway, holding a leather jacket with “Wolf-girl” emblazoned across the back. “Here, put this on. I had some of the girls downstairs make it.”
Abbey took it from him and pulled it on. It was a bit tight, but strangely felt good on her.
“You ready?”
“Yes.”
“Good, follow me.” They walked out into the corridor on the journey to the arena. “Now remember. His E.L.F is a strange one. It looks like it’s just sitting there, then suddenly these cords will fly out of it and if they hit you or your creature it’s game over.”
“I remember.”
“So keep moving, don’t let it get you trapped at any moment.”
“Don’t worry I got a plan.”
Morri looked at her. “Good, finally!”
They entered the long corridor which ran to the stadium. The double doors were already open and the air was already rich with sweat and the crowd’s thirst for destruction.
Abbey took a deep breath, and then stepped out into the incessant chanting and shouting. She wasn’t sure but it sounded like they were cheering. “Wolf” something.
The chain-linked fence which stretched to the roof was shaking with the thousands of boots hitting the ground in unison. She walked forward through the open gate and back out onto the floor she fought over the day before. Jai was panting to her left, his chest area had a bandage wrapped around it, but she could sense he was still in a lot of pain. This was going to be more difficult than she hoped.
She looked across to Miles and his E.L.F. He was a mild mannered looking man, maybe six foot tall, with short light brown hair. His creature was the complete opposite. Multicolored and standing twice as tall as him and Jai. It remained motionless. The closest thing living or dead that Abbey could compare it too was a mushroom. But with eyes, hundreds of them spread out over the large dome shape at the top of its trunk like torso. Morri had warned her about ‘cords’ that were fatal but from the distance she was, she couldn’t see any.
Both gates closed, and Abbey immediately linked her actions and thoughts to Jai who growled, then leaped up and backwards, grabbing hold of the inside of the fence.
Miles E.L.F shuffled forward slowly, like a tree propelling itself on its own roots.
The crowd hushed, waiting for a side to make their first strike. Abbey moved cat like around the rim of the cage, keeping as much distance between her and her opponent but all the time watching Jai as he clung to the fence.
Just when she thought the strange E.L.F some thirty yards away was not going to act, it started to shake and a stream of organic material squirted from it covering most of the distance between it and Jai. Abbey’s E.L.F climbed up just in time but she noticed the fence where the liquid had hit was sizzling and vapor was rising up from it.
Come on Jai higher.
The wolf like creature continued to climb as Abbey looked at Miles and then fell to the ground clutching her head. She glimpsed through her fingers and saw his E.L.F shuffling even closer to the center of the cage.
Boo’s started to ring out from around her.
The armed men that surrounded the cage started to get fidgety.
She looked over to Miles who nodded to her, and she scrambled backwards as much as she could until her back was up again the fence. His creature started to shake again, but this time it was more violent. Its entire body and head started to pulsate as the crowd fell silent, and then an explosion of goo shot out upwards, covering the hundred or so feet to the top of the cage.
Streaks of the creature’s excretion stretched across Jai making him howl in pain, but he clung onto the fence, halfway from the floor to the ceiling. Smaller flickers of the creatures organic material fell to the ground, some of which touched Abbey’s and Miles bare skin causing both of them to double over in pain and writhe.
There was only one thought in Abbey’s mind as her body felt like electricity was coursing through it.
Higher Jai, Higher.
Her creature grabbed at the fence above it and climbed, trying to shake off the parts of the other E.L.F which seared through it
s fur and flesh.
Some of the armed guards looked at each other bemused, while others took their guns off their shoulders.
Abbey lay with her back on the ground and looked up at Jai nearing the top of the cage area. He then with one huge claw grabbed hold of a piece of fence and pulled on it. She could still feel his pain, but it was lessoning.
Get up Abbey.
Pulling herself onto her knees, she looked at the men with guns. They were beginning to point them upwards, but she knew from their position it was hard for them to see to the top of the cage.
Most of the crowd were talking amongst themselves, unsure of what this new spectacle was.
There was a snapping sound, and a large piece of fence high above Abbey and Miles heads started to fall to the floor.
“It’s escaping!” shouted someone in the crowd.
Jai niftily climbed through the gap and onto the top of the cage. At the same time bullets started flying upwards in his direction, but none were finding their target.
While the guards and most of the crowd were watching what Jai was doing, Abbey staggered across to where Miles was standing.
“Can he do it again?” she said.
“I think so, but that will be it. We need to stand back.”
They moved around the edge of the fence, some yards away from the gate that Miles came in from. His creature was now facing that way as well, and was shaking as before.
A stream of fluid jettisoned outwards covering the gate and a lot of the guards and audience on the other side causing them to collapse in pain. Abbey pulled her jacket arms lower to cover her hands, then ran to the gate. Steam rose from the metal links and with one hefty kick of her boot she sent the gate tumbling off its hinges and down the stairs.
She went to run through the opening, but looked back at Miles. He had his hands around the strange creature that had given them this opportunity. “We have to go!” she shouted.
Miles nodded stepping back, while his hand lingered on the torso of the creature, which looked half the size it was when it had entered the arena.
