MUTATION: THE FATE OF A SOLE SURVIVOR

Chapter 9: The Reason to Survive

   "Are you familiar with the word, 'Gladiator', Joe?", Max asked me one time as we hiked up a mountain together for the first time.

"Warriors captured, sold to slavery, and used for sports against each other?", I replied in a questioning tone as I struggled to keep up.

"Bingo. My daddy was always interested in them and their ferocious will to survive. One thing about a gladiator is that defeat was the same as death, and even if the defeated begs to be spared, its up to the hosts to decide the outcome. You live, or you die".

"And may I ask why you are telling me this?".

Max lifted up a heavy sigh and replied while pulling himself up higher, "It was on one fateful mission, a very bloody one at that. We managed to breach the enemies' defenses and laid waste on them, only to discover that it was a set up. The main forces arrived and overwhelmed us by a large margin. We were lucky they possessed no explosives, but the pressure was at its worst. We however stood our ground and fought until it was only me and the enemy leader left alive".

"You were able kill so many even though outnumbered?!", I asked in bewilderment, "What kind of soldiers were they?".

"Men who were ready to take as many enemies as they could to hell. They were fine men I say, best of the very best".

"What about the enemy leader?".

"You would have wished to see his reaction at the capabilities of my men. We exchanged words, then engaged in a fierce battle. I underestimated his strength and was beaten back. Before he could kill me with a stake, I remembered that tomorrow was Ana's birthday, meaning that if I died now, her birthday would be a remembrance of my death instead of a celebration of another year of her life. I knew that I couldn't die there now, and that the only solution was simple. Survive!

"So with that in mind, I grabbed the stake with both hands as he drove it straight for my chest. While I struggled to prevent him from killing me, I kicked his left leg with my right, making him to fall to his left knee. I wrestled the stake off his hands and use it to hit his face. We both got back to our feet, but I was still in control. I beat the crap out of him before plunging the stake straight through his chest. He died almost immediately, and I was the only man left standing in that bloody battlefield".

"You really are a tough one to kill, but I respect your zeal to live in order to not leave Ana behind".

"It's the same reason as to why gladiators fight, Joe. They fight to survive, to live another day, to hope that someday their hard work won't be for nothing. If there's one thing I learned from them is this: What is your reason to survive?".

***

The memories faded away as someone kicked me repeatedly to wake up. I opened my eyes and saw myself instead a truck, bounded hands, and feet to chains. Other men sat there with me as well, all in the same condition. We were twelve in numbers, with six sitting down on either side of the truck. It was a bumpy ride, one that shook the truck violently as it rode. The driver and his colleague swore heavily as they drove on, indicating that the road was really bad. I didn't see the sunlight, so I thought it was already nighttime.

"Hey you", growled the man who woke me up. His orange hair was wild, and he wore tattered clothes, "The hell are you doing looking all over the place. Do you know where we are?".

"Was about to ask the same question", I replied.

"The Underworld. We're about to enter a living hell".

"What do you mean?".

"Hell are you new here? We're about to enter a place called, 'The Den of Men', where we'll meet Boss Jack, a rotten f**k who monopolize food and resources and feed them to his favorites. He sends out hunters who capture innocent people and makes them kill each other for sport".