Flower Petals and Flesh - A Violentine Story

A Cruel Test

With a loud thud landing at her feet, Clementine suddenly awoke. Her vision was blurry and a sharp pain could be felt in the back of her head. She looked around, Louis lay unconscious against a wall a few meters away from her. At her feet lay a tall but thin man, he groaned and writhed against the sandy floor.

Taking a second to look at herself she noticed the clothes she wore where not her own, they were simple rags, she had no shoes and no equipment. Even her hat was missing.

She looked at her surroundings, they were trapped in a long corridor of some sort, a lone metal door sat in the centre. 'Don't die too fast' was painted on the door accompanied by a series of bloodstains and dents where people had attempted escape.

"Don't try the door-it's pointless." The man on the floor groaned, slowly climbing to his feet.

Clementine was still dizzy, she could barely stand straight. She stumbled towards Louis, he lay uncomfortably on the ground with his head bent at an awkward angle.

"Your friend is fine, slight concussion, same as you I would guess." The man analysed.
"Oh I'm Pete by the way."
He wiped the dirt from his hand and extended it in greeting.

Clementine shook his hand, Pete had frail arms and a weak grip which was strange for somebody surviving in the apocalypse. Most people survive with strength and smarts, it was clear that Pete was never one to be strong.

"I'm Clementine." She muttered.
Clementine looked around again, "I'm sorry, but have you seen my friends?" She asked worried.

Pete smiled nervously, "Yes. Yes I've seen them, they get me to do medical checks on everyone who they capture. Well at least I did before they decided I was no more use."

Clementine panicked, "Where are my friends? Please I need to know!"

Pete scratched his arm nervously, "Look I don't know where your friends are but I do know where we are." The man cleared his throat, he looked nervously at the door. He seemed terrified by it.
"This is what they call 'The Gauntlet' it's some kind of sick entertainment for those assholes, in a minute that door will open and I have no idea what's on the other side."

Suddenly he rushed to Louis's side, he clicked repeatedly near his ears and attempted to get him to his feet.

Louis mumbled something unrecognisable and slowly opened his eyes.
"What? Where am I?" He grumbled in a croaky voice.

"Come on friend, we need to get you moving!" Pete said with a fake confidence that tricked nobody.

A loud, irritating screech filled the room, the metal door slowly raised and a thundering cheer rapidly silenced the loud noise.

"You sorry fuckers better start running!" A voice cackling voice called over an intercom.

Stumbling out of the small cell they were met with a large open room, an obvious path marked out with wire showed a complicated and twisting path that lead to another metal door.

"Look there." Pete pointed to the ceiling where a large bundle of grenades hung daintily from a wire.

The intercom buzzed, "I suggest you don't touch that wire. Unless you want to get a face full of death!" The voice laughed obviously.

Either side of the room, stood behind thick plastic sheets, crowds of bandits snarled and laughed, they were bloodthirsty and hoping for their experience to be a painful one.

Clementine began to walk down the path but was suddenly stopped when something sliced the bottom of her bare foot.
Lifting her bleeding limb up she removed a shard of shattered glass, looking down she spotted that the entire floor was covered in broken glass, shards of metal and rusted nails.
It was clear that going fast was impossible, having their feet shredded by shrapnel would only cause them to trip and detonate the bouquet of explosives that dangled from the ceiling. However going too slow to avoid getting seriously hurt was bound to anger the spectator and cause them to interfere.