by Mark Tufo
“I’m sorry,” I said, “but what is your name?”
“Leanna. Leanna Cantrell. And I wanted to thank you for saving me.”
“And Leanna, I wanted to thank you for carrying me back.”
“It was the least I could do,” she smiled. She blushed ever so slightly but quickly controlled herself when she saw Debbie’s eyes on her. Obviously, Stephanie had informed our new guest about the house rules. The budding tension was broken with Stephanie’s shout from the den.
“Look, the new ratings are coming up!”
I found myself being drawn to the screen, the competitive spirit in me was coming out in full force. I was sort of horrified at my morbid fascination for this tournament. But I had to know. It wasn’t a long wait either. There it was and as one we all let out a collective sigh. Luckily, as advanced human beings, we were above mere superstition, or at least I hoped so, because there I was, lucky number 13. The field had trimmed down to a svelte 306 men. Even with all their advanced technology, two more men had died needlessly. Well, they would have died anyway, I thought, sooner or later, it was just a matter of time. I spent the remainder of the day? Night? How do you tell that kind of thing in space? Do the aliens even care? In any case, I spent the next few hours watching reruns of the events and I had to be honest, my next opponent scared me the most. He wasn’t big and he wasn’t small. He was actually just about my size. He was the type who had made it thus far on wits, more so than power. So it was safe to assume he was at this exact time watching my re-runs. This looked to be my toughest event yet.
“What’s wrong, Mike?” Deb said as she curled up tight next to me on the couch. Apparently, the scowl on my face was very noticeable.
“It’s my next opponent.”
“What about him? He doesn’t look very remarkable.”
“My point exactly.”
“What do you mean?” She sounded perplexed.
“Well, he’s not huge, he’s not terribly fast, yet there he is. Still alive and kicking. He’s smart. He didn’t overpower any of his competitors. He outsmarted them. His road thus far has looked twice as tough as mine.”
“Oh, I see what you mean.” She sat up and took real notice of the man who could potentially end her very existence. “But you’re smart too,” she said, but her voice had lost some of its conviction. Not another word was spoken for quite some time. The significance of the conversation hit Deb deeply, she line-for-line inherited my scowl. The similarities between my mirrored opponent and myself, however, ended at the conclusion of each match. My competitor looked insane. After killing his latest victim, he’d begun dismembering him. That was about all I could handle, I had eaten a good lunch and had no desire to see it again. I shut the screen off. I had found his weakness anyway.
“Leanna,” I said, removing my hand from its resting position on Deb’s stomach. Deb seemed a little perturbed that I disturbed her, but she did her best to hide that she felt that way.
“Yes, Mike,” Leanna answered warily, trying not to let her voice waver in any way.
“Do they let the women watch these reruns?”
“Yes, and we make sure to watch every one.”
“Why?” Stephanie said as she turned away from the book she was reading. “Don’t they make you sick?”
“They do, they’re horrible,” Leanna trembled. “But we have to know our fate. Don’t we? We have to silently cheer for one or the other in the ring to win; our survival depends on it. And sometimes when the two men in the ring are both insane, we can merely hope death is swift,” she sobbed. The room fell silent. The women waiting to become gifts were living in a hell no better than mine, just in a slightly different location.
Leanna finally broke the silence with a smile in her voice. “You’re one of the favorites.”
“Excuse me?” I asked in disbelief.
“Well, you are so cute,” she said, quickly glancing at Deb continuing on anyway. “And smart and plus the obvious fact none of your women suffer the fate so many do now.”
“I understand completely,” I said “And yeah, I am kind of cute, aren’t I?”
“And big-headed,” Deb said as she threw a pillow at my enlarged ego. Obviously, I wasn’t too fast because the pillow caught me right on the side of my noggin. We all laughed, it was the first time in a long time we were all finally at ease with each other.
“So you believe any of these women will recognize me?” I asked hopefully.
“Most certainly, but if you don’t mind my asking, why are you asking?”
“I just think I’m going to need a little help in this next round. That’s all.”
Nobody knew my plan and at the moment I wasn’t in the mood to explain any further.
Deb later admitted to me she did not at all like Leanna’s revelation.
“What do you mean, Deb?” I knew the answer but egging her on was fun, what can I say? Sometimes I’m an ass.
“I don’t like the fact that you are now a desired commodity.”
“Would you rather I looked like a hunchback?”
“You know what I mean—why are you mocking me?”
“I’m just playing, relax woman.”
“I’ll tell you what. If anyone tries to make any moves on you, I’ll make the tournament look like a sandlot football game.”
I laughed, but she didn’t see the humor.
“And I just bet you would, Deb. I just bet that you would.”
The next few days were tense ones. Up to this point in my life I had never felt so much accumulated tension. I was having a hard time with the women. No, they got along fine, it was the responsibility I now shouldered for them. Back on Earth I could barely take care of myself, now I was responsible for the very lives of these three women. That weighed heavily on me. I avoided all three. I just couldn’t bear the thought of anything bad happening to them. I would have gladly given my life if I had any opportunity to spare theirs. But the only way I could keep them safe was to do the very opposite. I could not spare the lives of my opponents, I had to be ruthless and that was just not who I was. It was a lot to wrestle with in those proceeding days. Deb tried her best to offer support and comfort but she also had to wrestle with her own demons. The potential of losing me and possibly losing her own life kept bleeding through into the membranes of her very existence. She even had to wrestle with the alternative: what if I kept winning? I’d eventually get Beth back and then what would happen to her? She was torn. Neither scenario offered much comfort. It was two weeks until the next awaited match came. The tension never loosened its grip the entire time. The girls spoke to each other less and less over the following days and then it was usually only in passing that any comments were made. Deb seemed to pull back more and more every day. But nobody could be blamed for any strangeness of feelings that surfaced. When the day of the fight finally arrived, it was more of a relief. At least now I could get out of this cell and try once again to shape my own destiny as opposed to just obsessing about it. Deb wept openly as once more my door vanished and I made my way to the arena. Leanna’s eyes seemed to be watering a bit, but the biggest surprise was the total lack of emotion on Stephanie’s face. I’m pretty sure the weight of the previous weeks had finally found a way to settle down on her shoulders. She appeared to have physically aged years just in the past few days. So there it was, I left my semi-castle with some mixed feelings. At this point, I seriously doubted I was ever coming back. Oh, the sweet relief to just let go, to not have to shoulder this burden anymore. I trudged onward toward my fate.
* * *
As soon as the door once again materialized, Stephanie turned to Deb.
“Deb, I had a dream last night.” With that sentence the floodgates opened. Steph’s chest rose and fell with each gasping breath as her hot tears burned tiny rivulets into her cheeks. Terror began to surmount in Debbie.
“What is it?” she cried out as if in extreme pain or possibly fear or more than likely both.
“I dreamed that Mike w
as killed,” Stephanie choked out. “It was so real, I kept yelling to him to turn around, but-but he wouldn’t listen.”
“Steph, it was just a dream,” Deb said as she tried to calm Stephanie and herself down.
But Stephanie just kept crying, so Deb did the only thing she could think of, she smacked her hard across the face. Both women stopped crying and could only stare at each other in surprised shock. And for the first time since they met, they shared more than negative feelings about their situation. Almost as if on cue they both took a step forward and embraced each other. The crying intensified. Leanna joined in more for the comfort than any true liking for either woman. But it still felt good anyway. They finally let go of each other after what seemed hours and turned to the screen to watch their own fates unfold.
“Oh God, no!” Stephanie shouted.
“What-what’s the matter!” Both girls turned to look at the color rapidly draining out of Stephanie’s face.
“That’s the terrain I saw in my dream!” Stephanie shouted with pain in her voice.
CHAPTER 23 – Journal Entry 18
The crowd, its usual reserved self, looked like something out of a Saturday afternoon baseball game in the Bronx. The Yankees versus the Red Sox. They were going crazy. I again lost my lunch; it was the best I’d felt in the last two weeks. I was also hungry, but not for food. I yearned for victory. These aliens liked to watch me fight and I hoped they preferred me to win. I wondered if they gambled on these things. Did they handicap? They must, I reasoned, why would they go through the trouble of having a ranking system in place? I reaffirmed my vow that if I survived these insane games I would do everything possible to kill all those responsible for this. But there would be no later if I did not get through the now. I felt very zen at that moment.
The arena floor had been laid out in a desert motif. They even had small cacti and Joshua trees covering small sand dunes. Actually, some of the dunes weren’t quite so small, some appeared to be in the neighborhood of fifteen to twenty feet high, plenty of places to hide and lie in wait. It would be virtually impossible to hear somebody coming, but neither could they come with any speed; the sand was soft and made all movement difficult. I could see my potential gift from the spot where I stood; she was exactly midway between the two gladiator entrances but pushed back against the far wall. I knew Beth had been watching me through all these battles. What did she think of me? Could she possibly still love me if she ever had? If anything, we had always been quasi-peace activists in school, not actively involved, but we always supported their efforts. Thankfully, I was not given the time to pursue these debilitating thoughts any further. The battle was about to commence. My competitor was introduced first; they even had the custom of introducing the challenger first. How long had they been watching us? Or was this universal? The door behind me closed during my introduction. I hoped whatever they were saying about me was flattering, but I didn’t speak alien so I really had no idea why the crowd was going nuts. I tried to block the noise out with images of tranquility and peace, but the only views popping up into my head were those of my own dismemberment and darkness closing in on me. I banished those thoughts as quickly as they came and tried my best to focus on the task at hand. I grabbed the weapon closest to me; a small, lightweight throwing axe. I was actually happy; I figured it would do nicely. Axe in hand, I started to run as fast as I could. The sand crust always breaking away at the last push making my progress seem frustratingly slow. The crowd began to whoop and clap or at least their own version of it.
My biggest fear of running flat out and paying no attention to my surroundings was finding my opponent lying in wait, just waiting for me to crest a dune and chop my legs out from under me. But I felt the potential reward was well worth the risk I was taking. It might be my only chance. Besides, I reasoned he would have to be running just as fast to catch up to me and then get into an advantageous place. I figured the threat to be relatively low. Although this was my life and the lives of four women I was gambling with, I’m not sure the stakes could get any higher. The girl looked up in sheer terror as I approached her at full tilt. She had to think I was mad. Here’s this guy coming straight at me, running as fast as he can with an axe held high. I just kept thinking to myself, please whatever your name is, don’t pass out or everything I am trying to do will be for naught. But I figured I would have myself by now if the roles had been reversed. I couldn’t spare the breath to forewarn her and I didn’t want my competition to know what I was up to. That could spell instant disaster for both of us. And then she began a full-throated scream.
Oh no, I thought to myself, I chose wrong. He had to have heard that even over the mob; my time was limited. I approached her, axe high in the air. She had added uncontrollable shaking to her repertoire. I swung, the girl slumped—no, don’t pass out! I think I heard Beth scream. The crowd was silent, for once. The girl’s hands came down as I severed the rope binding them over her head. Luckily, she stayed awake. She picked up her head after realizing she wasn’t dead yet and looked me straight in the eyes. Hers were still wide with terror. The best I could do was to try to calm her down with a shushing sound and hold the axe down in a non-threatening manner. It seemed to me to take hours before it dawned on her I wasn’t there to kill her. Sobs wracked her body; it looked more to me like she had a killer set of hiccups than anything else. At any other time that thought might have seemed humorous. After a few tense moments I felt she was ready and motioned for her to follow me. I motioned for her to grab a short sword which hung on the wall near her station. She seemed surprised I wanted her armed but she grabbed it eagerly. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to use it, but if I got myself killed today at least she would have the opportunity to defend herself against Psycho Man. She was beginning to come more into her own and understand just what was going on here. She knew I meant her no harm and the odds of us getting out of this alive were greatly increased when it became two against one. My confidence increased. I was fairly certain she wasn’t a trained killer but her athletic body would do in a pinch even if for only diversionary tactics. For the first time during the games I was at an absolute loss as to what plan of action I should take now. I sincerely hoped my confusion wasn’t showing, I didn’t want my new ally to become unnerved by my indecision. At the moment, she appeared to be relatively calm, possibly because for the first time since she got on this strange trip she now carried her own destiny in her right hand. I hoped her strange calmness would not leave her during the heat of battle. Utterly clueless as to my next move, I warily went forward, always on the alert for an attack. The girl followed closely, she also was on full alert.
We progressed forward for what seemed hours. I was beginning to think he had somehow circled around us. But I reasoned that was impossible, there wasn’t really anything to completely cover him while circling past, we would have spotted him at some time. No, he’s laying low, we just need to be careful when we come up over the dunes, unless of course he’s buried himself—
Too late! I screamed as the blade entered my leg just above my ankle. I felt it scrape against my bone; I could hear my muscle being cut as the blade exited right below my knee. As he pulled the blade back I felt it scrape against my shin. I fell like a stone. Blinding white spots shot across my eyes, I could see nothing except savage pain. He had used my own tactic against me. I barely made out his shape as he jumped out of the sand to complete his handiwork. I couldn’t raise my axe because I had dropped it to clamp both my hands over the wound on my leg. I knew this was the end; I just wished I could have kissed Beth one last time.
“I’m dead!” I yelled, mere moments before I passed out.
The next thing I remembered was waking up with Deb looking down at me. But how could that have been—had that maggot killed her too? Was I dead? I did my best to try to get up but the searing pain in my leg prevented that. My teeth were chattering uncontrollably. From across the room I could hear Stephanie’s voice. I couldn’t even begin to concentrate on the
words, the pain had put me into another whiteout. It was many moments more before I was able to regain some semblance of consciousness. I was able to focus on objects even if the edges were blurry.
“Am I dead?” I managed to stammer, not really sure which answer I wanted to hear.
“No, but it was close,” Deb said gravely, tears forming in her eyes. “Tanya saved your life.” She grabbed me and hugged me, luckily she didn’t shake me or I would have passed out again from the pain.
“What happened to him?” I asked incredulously.
“Tanya stabbed him in the back as he was moving in to finish you off, he was so intent on killing you he never even noticed her.” A noticeable shudder ran through her body as she explained the details. I drew her close to try to drive away the demons bothering her.
“And I’d kill that bastard again if I had the chance!” Tanya yelled from across the room.
“He killed her best friend in the last round. Talk about your poetic justice,” Deb said. “She still has nightmares.”
“Still? How long have I been out this time?” I moaned. At this rate I’d sleep the rest of my time on the ship. I felt bad for Tanya and her nightmares, but the fears of what might have been far outweighed the action she took.
“A week.”
“A week! When’s the next round start?”
“Another week.”
“Deb, I can barely move after a week of recovery, how am I possibly going to be in any type of fighting shape in another week?”
“That’s not your biggest worry,” she said softly, obviously seeing the strain on my face.
“What could possibly be worse?”
“There was a huge power struggle over you. The gladiator overseers—I guess that’s what you’d call them—some of them wanted to have you executed. They said you violated the rules and received outside help. But a slim majority felt you used extreme cleverness and improvisation and heralded your actions as very advanced tactics. The minority had to acquiesce on two points so as to not have any further arguments regarding you,” she said with a sigh.
