Indian Hill (18 page)
A sudden nervousness clouded her face for an instant, than passed when she realized that I was only asking the question out of concern and with no hidden malice behind my words. I guess she finally decided I was telling the truth. Damn, I thought to myself, this was one attractive woman but I decided in the best interests of all to let my primary head do the thinking. It’s amazing to be a guy, on an alien ship God knows where, with potentially less than three hours to live, yet I still was having strong feelings of desire for this girl I didn’t even know.
“And why,” I asked, truly curious now, “was someone as gorgeous as
you
“assigned to such a lowly ranking as myself?”
She visibly flushed. “You weren’t supposed to win,” she said quietly, hoping to not upset me. Too late, I thought. “The ranking system is almost always right. These monsters take pride in that fact. You, Mr. Talbot…”
“Mike,” I interjected.
“Mike, you are considered an anomaly, they were actually going to let you die so that their predictions would be true, but I guess now you are some sort of curiosity to them. So far you are only one of fifteen that has gone against the odds.”
“Lucky for me I guess,” I said with very little inflection.
“And lucky for me, I suppose too.” But she definitely put more feelings in her words than I had.
For the first time in a week I felt something besides hate and pity, and for a moment in time I wasn’t afraid.
She responded to my smile with a
friendly
kiss that could have easily melted me.
“
Thank
you.
" I told her. The softness of her lips on mine would linger for a long time.
"For what? She asked.
"Giving me something to live for." I told her honestly.
“
You're welcome.
” she said ever so softly, “
and
thank you for not taking advantage of me.”
“Deb, I might be caged but I am not an animal.”
We talked for hours about everything until we came back to my original question, which she had tried to skirt around for the entire conversation. She told me she was so afraid because Durgan had started a gruesome trend among the victors. She explained that not everyone had followed his lead but enough did to make it a very macabre event. Upon winning his second battle, quite easily she added, Durgan was awarded his spoil right there on the field. He then proceeded in front of the whole alien audience and the rest of the women (the spoils to be) to rip the clothes off of his newest acquisition. When that was done he pushed her down to the ground on all fours and mounted her from behind.
“He raped her right there in front of God and everyone,” she sobbed. “Those fucking alien things were going crazy. That poor girl was screaming in pain, she was so afraid, I just wanted to go down there and help her.”
It was at this moment that I wanted to kill all of those alien bastards, and not only for what they had done to me, but for what they had put Deb and the other women through.
“He was brutalizing her until blood began to come out of her.”
That sickened me, how could you possibly take such a beautiful act and turn it into such a gruesome event?
“This went on for almost half an hour, he just kept doing it and doing it, and the girl, she was now just sobbing a little bit, the bastards even put close-ups of the whole thing on the big screen, they were eating it up. Finally he finished what he had started and then it really got bad.”
“How the hell could it get any worse?” I didn’t think that I wanted to know, but I was too involved now to not find out.
“He… he killed her,” she stammered. “He drove his sword through her back and pinned her to the ground like a butterfly, it was horri
ble
. She was so battered and bruised that the girl could barely muster up a scream. Many of the contestants followed suit after him with their own spoils, it was a slaughterhouse. I just cried and cried for those poor souls, and I am ashamed to admit it now but I hoped beyond hope that you would die also.”
“I understand if I died I wouldn’t be able to do those awful things to you. I’m so sorry that you had to see that. I know it’s horrible inside the arena floor but I at least somewhat control my own destiny.” I paused to gather my thoughts. “Deb, I know you’re upset but I have to know…”
“What is it?” she whimpered
“What happens to you if I die in this next round?”
“Don’t even say that! Please don’t even think it!” she yelled.
“
Deb, look at me, I’m 165 pounds
, I’m far from the bruisers that are out there now. I’ve faced one old guy and a half dead guy who almost killed me, my odds of going too far aren’t all that great.”
“Please!” she cried.
“Deb, what happens?” I asked a little more urgently.
“I go to your victor,” she sobbed. “Please don’t let that happen!”
I hugged her with all the strength I could muster, she winced in pain but she didn’t want me to let go either. We cried for what seemed like hours but in reality it was only minutes. Then the screen roared to life.
“Gladiator, prepare yourself, your bout is about to begin.”
All of our conversation ceased as we watched the events unfold on the screen. It was obvious more pomp and ceremony was attributed to the higher rankings. Durgan didn’t even have an armed escort leading him into the arena. He appeared to enter willingly, all too willingly actually. The camera honed right in on him and I was able to get a good look at him. He looked like a wrestler in his garb, he even had what appeared to be a silk robe on. This really did look like Saturday Morning Wrestling only I wasn’t on my couch at college and I definitely wasn’t smoking a big fattie with Paul. Durgan even bowed before the crocs, and they loved him, they hissed back their collective approval. It was when they announced his competition that I knew something was amiss. His competitor for this round had died from his injuries sustained in the prior round. So even the alien technology was only so good, they did have faults. That was a good piece of news, if only I could get out of here to tell somebody. Durgan was getting a bye for this round and he was pissed; he was angry that he was not going to get the chance to kill another human being. How far from the edge had this man been on Earth? It couldn’t have been that far
, if
he was pushed over the edge
that quickly
. And then as he turned to his spoil his eyes gleamed. No, I mean they really twinkled, if it wasn’t for the evil grin that spread over his face I would have actually thought that he cared for
her
. I was riveted to the screen, I felt like I was watching a train wreck in action. The camera pulled back from the massive structure of him to the shrieking and shivering form of the woman in the center of the arena. She was tied to two posts, so that she was spread eagled and naked standing up. Tears flowed down her eyes in rivulets; she could not take her eyes off of him. She knew this monster and she knew that her fate was sealed, but that didn’t make it any easier to swallow. He slowly sauntered his way to the center of the arena. The crowd was going crazy, they were actually throwing flowers onto the floor of the arena.
“They’re as sick as he is!” I shouted to no one in particular.
The woman renewed her shrieking and screaming with a vengeance. He approached her and actually walked around her once, slowly. The woman desperately tried to follow him with her eyes all the way around; he finally came to a stop in front of her and just stood there, eyeing her up and down. It was the kind of once over that could get you in trouble for sexual harassment on our planet. He looked at her for another few seconds with her just quivering and crying and then bang, he punched her full force in the nose. Her nose cracked with an audible pop. What was once a beautiful aristocratic nose was now a shattered piece of flesh and cartilage on her face. Blood poured out and her eyes instantly blackened. The crocs looked like they were foaming at the
muzzle. I had hoped that the
punch would knock her out so that she would not have to endure the inevitable torture that he was about to rain down on her. But whether he had pulled the punch just enough, or she was just strong enough to withstand it I d
id
n’t know, but she was still cognizant, the terror in her eyes revealed that her senses had not been dulled in the slightest. Durgan removed his robe and let it gracefully fall to the floor, he then undid his kilt and with one quick motion he fully violated this woman. She went slack. This once probably strong and vibrant woman just gave up the ghost, she had accepted her fate and was most likely now making peace with her God, but to me it didn’t seem that he was listening at the moment. That animal was everything men had striven not to be, he was more the missing link than a human. He let out a triumphant yell as he came and even stepped back and beat his chest like King Kong. He pointed into the audience and yelled “This one’s for you!” The camera zoomed onto the person he had been talking to. I fell against the screen, it was Beth. Her face was pure hatred and terror. The camera flashed back just in time to catch the sword as it made its way through Durgan’s newest spoil
's
neck. I shut the screen off before the woman’s head had a chance to hit the ground. Deb was crying and I was dry heaving into the toilet. It was a long time before I was able to regain my legs and stand up. When I finally exited the bathroom Deb was still whimpering a little bit, but she must have been dreaming of the atrocities because she was now fast asleep.
They came sometime after I had fallen asleep. At first I thought Deb was trying to awaken me. But the feeling was unmistakable, cold and clammy and immensely strong. They felt dead to the touch and their eyes did little to change that appearance. I jumped, Deb jumped too. Tears flowed from her eyes anew.
“Wake up hu-man, it is time to die,” the guard stated. If I had known any better I would have sworn he laughed, but through the mass of teeth they have it's nearly impossible to tell if they even possess any human-like emotion.
“Gladiator No. 812, follow the lit arrows to the stadium, do not stray or you will be shot.”
“I guess that means me.”
“Good luck Mike,” and then she kissed me, not one of those auntie kisses, but a full-fledged passionate kiss. My knees literally knocked together, another couple of seconds and I would’ve wobbled to my knees.
I had to be strong. I was not only fighting for my own survival but also for Beth and now Deb, the burden that was being laid upon my shoulders was almost too much to bear. If it wasn’t for the guards holding me up, I most likely would have collapsed on the floor.
“I’ll be watching Mike, and I’ll be praying for the both of us.”
“Thank you,” I said weakly. She wiped away a tear as I rounded the corner.
I stood in my familiar place awaiting my introduction and my competition. The crowd seemed to have worked themselves up into a frenzy, a shark feeding frenzy. Bloodlust was in the air. I tried my best to scan the arena stands where I thought Beth might be, but I couldn’t see through the lighting that was flooding the arena floor. We wouldn’t want those friggen aliens to miss any action in the shadows. No. 212 came in, he appeared to be about 5’10” or 11” and was extremely well built. And he did not have so much as a scratch on his entire body. A repeat of No. 310 would not happen this evening. The high, tight haircut he was sporting did little to calm my fears. He gave me the distinct impression that he was at some time or still was an active member of the armed services. ‘Please God.’ I thought to myself, let it be the Navy and not the Marines. He had that air of self-confidence about him that reeked of drill instructor. He didn’t seem to be concerned with me in the least.
The unceremonious shove from behind clued me in to the fact that it truly was time to do or die. Great, the arena motif this time was tropical jungle, I get to fight what appears to be a Marine on
Vietnam
territory; the odds seemed stacked worse than I thought. This day was not getting off to a good start.
I pondered using a bow and arrow. A long range weapon was something that I needed over someone who definitely had better training and better conditioning, my idea of a good workout was going a couple of rounds with the Nintendo. But long distance had been denied to me tonight. From where I was standing I figured that the longest shot I could probably get off would be in the neighborhood of ten yards due to the tropical foliage. Definitely too close, the memory of Mace Head was still too vivid to risk that avenue. I would never be able to swing the mace fast enough and I was afraid of a sword fight, he would overpower me entirely too easily.
Another
alternative was a knife
but
I had no desire to smell his breath with my last. So I grabbed a spear. It felt good in my hands, it was light and deadly, it was just what I hoped I needed. For the first time in three rounds I found myself on the defensive. I didn’t think that there was any sense to sticking my neck out any further than it already was. I gathered just from one look at him on the Jumbotron that Mr. 212 was going to go on the offensive, and why shouldn’t he? I didn’t appear to pose much of a threat to him. So I did what any scared kid would do, I climbed a tree. Unless he was using a bow and arrow this sort of put us on even terms.
