Life After Death

Chapter 12

"Holy fucking shit."

Turning the corner, that was all of our reactions. This long, singular street rife with the stench of decay. Each lamppost decorated with human remains.

Instinctively, we took ourselves out of plain sight, taking some form of cover in an accessible building across the road. Grey and black was mainly how it looked, more like a small scale factory than somewhere anyone would have once lived.

Inside consisted of scattered rooms, open halls and metal stairs and railings. What we expected from the exterior looks of it.

"Maybe if we get up high enough, we can look around the town, see how bad it is and where to avoid," Nathaniel suggested, "Then when we drive the fuck outta here we know what ways to go."

"That sounds smart enough," Jade agreed, nodding her head up and down.

Thankfully, none of us seemed to be overcome with panic at yet another encounter with Reapers- these days we were more worried about these thugs than we were the actual Lurkers. Fortunately, the headache that was brutes, was stronger than that of alcohol, so at least our minds were cleared of that pain.

Figuring there was bound to be an exit to the roof if we went far enough up and around the place, we made our way to the stairs. Each one echoing with the clang of metal, and each one of us wincing every time the noise repeated. If it wasn't someone's gun, it was someone's zipper.

"Jesus how tall is this building!?" I moaned, already fed up with the clambering.

"Viv, we've been up one flight of stairs."

"Shut it asshole," I laughed, flipping him off behind me as we continued.

In my defence, this one flight was at least fifty steps high.

At the top of these stairways, we came to more of a balcony that overhung the rooms and halls below. Much of the space seemed to be open plan, just a few rooms that were roofed making it impossible to see into.

But as we kept walking along this metal way, trying not to think about how old and rusty it probably was, we seemed to hear the distinct sounds of chanting and cheering. Like how the bars used to sound when there was a sports game of some kind.

We followed the sound, to curious to just abandon it. We couldn't be seen from below anyway. I don't know what we expected it to be from, whether we thought it real or that maybe someone had a generator and a TV. And, if I'm honest, we weren't all that surprised to find out what it really was.

It seemed to be some fight club.

There was a makeshift ring in the centre of a room, patches of red sheeting the floor, some old and faded others more prominent and clearly new. Crowds of people were either side of the rings, some looking thrilled and pumped full of eagerness and adrenalin, others looking terrified.

"What is this place?" Nathaniel questioned.

"I don't know, perhaps some place for the Reapers to train?" Jace answered, though he sounded sceptical himself.

Until the chains became visible, his answer seemed logical. It would make sense that these brutes would need somewhere to pick up the trait, but now it seemed more like a place for their entertainment than their work.

"Place your bets people, come on we don't have all day!" A voice from below bellowed, "I'm sure you don't need this long to think given the contenders!"

In the middle of the ring was two different men, both latched onto with chains and cuffs to the ropes at the side. But their size difference was astronomical. One was butch, with muscles that could have gone on for days, the other smaller and scrawny- he would be snapped like a twig with one pinch of the other guy.