The crowd roared in screams of joy as blood flew into the air. A sword had slashed through the skin of a man's right arm and spilled the blood across the sands. The injured man whined in pain and held on to the injured arm while holding his own sword. His opponent loomed forward with murderous intent, exciting the crowd as they watched them battle it out with their lives on the line. Both were half equipped with armor and held swords, fighting like the gladiators of old. The injured man tired to defend himself by swinging his sword to block his opponent's attack, but his adversary quickly changed the direction of his sword and chopped off the man's hand which held the sword. Without wasting any time, his opponent rushed forward and delivered the finishing blow through the man's heart, much to the amusement of the crowd.
"This is how it's been ever since the outbreak", said the orange-haired man as he and I observed the games along with the others from a television set. We were in a "waiting room", as they would call it, surrounded by guards awaiting orders to usher us into the sands.
"Was it like this before the outbreak?", I asked out of curiosity.
"Hell if I know. I managed to escape death and survive on these sands out of pure luck, satisfying these rotten bastards, including the fat one up there", he replied while pointing at the screen. Boss Jack was laughing and smiling amidst the games, while being served food by his female attendants.
"What was the name of the game we're about to play on the sands?".
He looked at me and replied, "Survivor of the damned. I managed to survive it when I first got here though, but the experience is not pleasing at all".
"What's it about?".
He paused before continuing, "We're given pieces of paper at the start. The one with the X mark is the target. Then we'll choose the desired weapons of our choice before rushing off towards the target. When he's killed, the process repeats itself until it remains two persons to battle it out and fight to be the last man standing".
"That's just barbaric".
He chuckled, "Easy for you to say. I managed to survive that bloody arena and escaped weeks later, only to get captured again to start all the way from scratch".
A guard came in and announced that we were finally up for the sands. As we got prepared to leave, the orange-haired man asked me, "What's your name? At least best to know the last person I'll ever talk to if I don't make it out alive".
"Joe, just Joe".
"I see. Name's Kenny, just Kenny".
***
Beats of drums and shouts from every side erupted as we were led into the sands. We were positioned in such a way that six of us stood facing the other six. We were freed from our shackles but had alms pointed at us from the guards who stood at the farthest sides of the arena. Boss Jack stood up to witness the sight of us while sipping in his glass of wine. He smiled while bringing out raw meat from a sack and threw it at the crowd. Most of them dove for it and later fought among themselves, with the guards nearby not bothering to calm them down.
Jack looked at the crowd and immediately addressed them, "We are blessed to witness one of the memorials of this arena and that's called the survivor of the damned. We all know the rules. Those condemned to be the target must be killed until two remains, and those two must battle it out until one stands the victor. Now may the box of fate come forward!".
A woman wearing revealing clothes cat-walked towards our direction. We picked out the squeezed pieces of paper as she passed us by and without waiting for Jack to tell us to open it, we opened them. Although this annoyed Jack, he suddenly brightened up when I was chosen as the target.
YOU ARE READING
MUTATION: THE FATE OF A SOLE SURVIVOR
HorrorThe Phase three of the Mutation Series. Joe, the only survivor of his team, wonders about in the city of Brazil, where his fate is to be decided, whether he's deemed to die or live, stay lonely or find a friend that will help him in his fight agains...
