Welcome to Sanctuary

1 - Sanctuary

Crimson bathed the night sky with fire and the ground with blood. No one cared about the prisoners trapped in the burning building. They knew what they signed up for the moment they entered the game. Death wasn't a secret.

Jet breathed heavily as he chased prisoner number LL2375 down six stories. They had to escape the building before the ceiling weakened with fire. But first, Jet needed the rose. It was the only way to win the game and he didn't join this mess just to lose.

The walls roared in anger. As if seeking revenge, a wooden beam fell in front of Jet to block his path once he made it to the first floor. He hesitated at the veil of flames, but the image of the other prisoner gaining distance gave Jet the push he needed. He jumped over the beam and continued pursuit. He had a high threshold for pain so the fire's lick did little to hurt him. The other man, however, wasn't so blessed.

Already bleeding through a large gash on his back and arm, LL2375 had multiple burns on his body. He was fighting hard to survive. The heat scorched his throat whenever he inhaled. The smoke in his eyes felt like little needles. At this moment, he knew death was inevitable. He wasn't going to make it out alive. But the thought of dying still terrified him. It kept him running, and that was all he was capable of.

He clutched the rose so tight, his hand bled from the thorns. This red flower was the only hope he had left. He obtained it out of pure luck but now a Deadman was chasing him for it. It was a curse LL2375 had to get past. If he got the rose outside, he'd get two thousand points. Without that, he wouldn't survive this prison.

LL2375 slipped on a pool of blood and split his chin on the floor. He bit his tongue in the process and howled in pain. The way he fell also twisted his ankle. Before he could get his knees off the ground, a hand came from behind and forced his skull back on the tiles. His muscles tensed as he struggled to lift himself, but it was futile. He was too weak and already on death's door.

"Stop, please. I need this!" he begged, still desperate to live despite facing the reality of his fate.

Jet's grey eyes held no compassion for the half-dead man. "I won't kill you. I just need the rose," he said simply with an breath of patience.

LL2375 instinctively held the rose close to his chest to protect it. He sneered, showing red stained teeth from his wounded tongue. "You might as well kill me. Without the rose, I'm dead. I have no points. This is my final run." the truth stung his eyes but he refused to cry. Not here. Not on television for the world to see.

The small drone, a white sphere with a center lense, hovered just above the two prisoners. It had been recording them since the chase began. They were worth the screen time which meant LL2375's death was going be aired in this week's episode of Con City.

What a joke. He was just another tally mark on Deadmens' kill list. That was all he was worth: a body count. Nothing else really mattered.

Laughing in a maniacal manner, he raised a hand and flipped off the drone. Even as he coughed up blood, the crazed smile on his face remained. "Fuck you," he said, then screamed it with every drip of anger within. "FUCK YOU!" over and over he repeated this until his voice went hoarse. He had to let everyone on the other side of that screen know he hated them. All of them.

He was being pathetic, he knew that, but he couldn't help it. This was who he was. He had been a slave to the strong the moment he blamed himself for the beatings he received from his father when he was young. It was because he was weak that he deserved all the lashings. Even his mother despised him. He was spineless and gutless. No wonder he was never loved.