[One Shots] The Shop In Totem

Malcolm's Escape

[Malcolm]

I sat in the waiting room, or at least that's what the man in charge called it. He didn't really have a name, none of us did. The waiting room was really just a long corridor with metal cell doors on either side of it. One door of the rooms led to the arena, and the other led back to where all of the cages were.

I lean against the stone and dirt walls and groan. My arm was put in a loose sling from the previous night, I'm pretty sure it's broken. I hear cheering from the arena and take a deep breath. It's almost my turn.

I hear the cell door behind me open as the man in charge comes in. He stares down at me as he walks by and opens the other cell door, the one that leads into the arena. A kid about my age stumbles through the door, blood splattered across their fists.

I stand up as we trade looks. They look like they barely managed to survive that. This was always the worst part of the fights, having to greet your next opponent as they cleaned up the remains from the last fight. They glance up and down at me and come up to me. They offer their hand, and I take it in mine. It may be absurd to shake the hand of someone you're going to kill, but here it's a respect for the life that's lost.

"Red, I know you're going to win this." The kid looks at me and sighs, he looks defeated. "Just do it quickly. Snap my neck or something."

"Same to you," I mumble as my stomach turns.

This kid just wants out, and I respect that. I do too, but I want to live. I'm going to get out of here, and it's going to be tonight. We both look at the man as he comes back over and gives us the signal to go out.

We both head out and into the arena. The bright lights shine down at us, almost blinding us after so long in the dark hallway. I look at the kid beside me as they stare ahead. I've never lost a fight, and I don't plan to. I'm going to live, even if it means killing them.

We do the usual of waving to the crowds, putting on a show. Some of the faces I recognize, and I can tell they recognize me. Through the arena different chants can be heard. Red versus runt. For a runt, they've made it pretty far.

The lights go off for a moment, and we get in place to start the fight. When the lights turn back on, the crowd cheers even louder, excited for the blood bath. Runt waits a moment, then lunges forward at me.

I step to the side and use my working arm to hit their back. They fall to the ground and cough. Normally this wouldn't have done much damage to a person, but they must have a few broken ribs. It's a surprise they're still conscious.

Runt rolls onto their back and struggles to stand back up. I can feel the man glaring at me for waiting for them to get up, but I'm going to at least give Runt a chance. They lunge at me again, this time grabbing onto my waist and throwing me to the ground, they twist my arm in the sling.

I cry out in pain as I throw a punch up at their face, it hits and throws them back. I grind my knee into their ribs as I climb on top of them. I pound my fists into their face. They double-tap my leg as they cry out in pain.

I look down at them hesitantly. They simply nod up to me. That was their signal, they're done. I nod down to them and pull them to the center of the ring and set them onto their knees. I stand behind them and place my hand under their chin.

"You fought well, Runt," I mumble down to them. I can hear them whimper just as I twist their neck.

I kill them before I rip their head off, just so they can rest. At least it makes me feel better. The crowd cheers and claps around us. I toss Runt's head to the ground for them to devour with their gross interests. Runt's free now.