The Arena

8: My Welcoming to the Red Sector Was Me Getting Tased

I jolted upright, which was probably not too good for me because I immediately coughed up blood.

"Easy there, Boy," Zarbeck said next to me.

I wiped my mouth and looked around. I was in some kind of hospital. A very strange and alien one, but definitely a hospital. I was laying down in a bed, Zarbeck in a chair on my left. The room had a different color to it. From what I have seen of the Arena, the color was usually purple, but in here, it was red. There were a few other beds at the end of the room, there were monitors everywhere, and beeping noises. My hearing was doing better, that was a good sign, but it hurt to even breathe.

"You're awake," Someone came from my right. I turned to see that even the armor's symbols had changed from purple to red.

"Where am I?" I asked. 

"You're in the Red Sector," They said as they lifted my right arm.

Pain shot through it, and I let out a cry.

"Sorry about that," She said. It was a girl, I could hear it in her voice, and she wasn't as broad or as beefy looking as the others. "You fractured your arm, and there's also quite a bit of burns. Not too serious of burns, though, so no permanent damage. You've also got a lot of internal injuries." She pulled out a clipboard and wrote some things down.

"How-how long have I been out?"

"Eight hours."

"Eight hours?"

"I'm afraid you missed a lot," Zarbeck said. "The weapons choosing has finished, which you need to make up." he made it sound like I was still in school. "Also, you've missed training time. tomorrow will be all about training, but you'll stand at a huge disadvantage if everyone else has had eight hours more training than you."

I nodded. "And when do I make that up?"

"As soon as they let you go."

The lady cut in. "I won't be able to do a full heal, and I've been doing my best to figure out how to treat you for the past eight hours, so I'll do what I can. The main healing chamber won't be up and running until Round One starts. Think you can last for a little while with a temporary treatment?"

I took a deep breath. "Yeah."

"Alright." She pulled out a taser.

"Wait, what are you-"

"Hey, just relax, okay? It's not going to hurt you." She held it up to my neck and activated it. It was a taser in a way, but it numbed me. I could still move and feel things, but I couldn't feel any pain.

"There, you see? That should last until tomorrow. Now, I'll bandage up your arm."

"I have talked to the Emperor," Zarbeck said as she wrapped my arm. "He agreed that your battle will occur after you've been fully healed. We don't expect these battles to last that long, though."

The doctor was bumped, almost falling on top of me. Even with her helmet on I could tell she shot the Ulzarian that bumped her a dirty look. "Sorry about that," she said, looking back to me.

I nodded, and she began to wrap my torso, which normally would have hurt, but I was numb from the taser.

"Your difficulty breathing is due to your broken ribs. Three of them." She said as she finished up.

"Three broken ribs?"

She nodded. "I've put special wraps on your arm and torso, these will prevent swelling. They come with built in cooling packs, so you don't need to worry about much. Just be careful out there. Don't take things too fast, you'll cough up blood again. We'll see you in two days."

Zarbeck helped me up. It was kind of hard to stand, but I got used to it.

"First things first, Boy," He handed me my armor. "Put these on."

I looked down at the black and teal armor. As soon as I put those on, I was an official competitor. I didn't want that. I just wanted to go home. I just wanted to see my mom again. 

"What are you waiting for? Go!" 

I sighed sadly and left to go change.

"Well, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I would be lying if I told you it didn't look good on you"

I looked at Zarbeck and then back down at my armor, which fit me perfectly. "You know, that is the first compliment you have given me."

"Shut up."

I smiled and he lead me through the halls. 

The whole place seemed the same, just red. The halls had a lot less doors, and they weren't as big.

"Where exactly are we?" I asked as we passed some of the red armored Ulzarians.

"We are in the Red Sector." Zarbeck answered.

"The Red Sector?"

"There's a lot more to the Arena than you know, Boy," he cast his head down to look at me. There are five sectors to the Arena. There's The Red Sector, The Blue Sector, The Green Sector, The Orange Sector, and what you are familiar with, The Purple Sector. The Purple Sector makes up most of the Arena, but every Sector is just as important." 

"So why don't we get to see any of the other Sectors?"

"Because their tasks are none that concern you. You will see the Red Sector the most out of the others, except Purple, of course. Red Sector is the Medical unit."

I nodded, wondering what the other Sectors jobs were.

We came to a stop, and Zarbeck placed his hand on a wall. The wall opened up, leading back to the Purple Sector.

"Woah," I whispered, but I'm still pretty sure Zarbeck heard me.

We walked in and the wall closed behind us. 

"Zack!" Makayla and Tyler ran up to me. Tyler almost gave me a hug, but Makayla tripped him and he fell flat on his face.

"Don't you even. He's still hurt, you idiot!" she said to him.

"sorry..." he said as he picked himself up.

I could have totally said that I would have been fine, y'know something like, "hey, it's cool, they tased me, so i'm all good!", but I didn't.

"Are you alright?" Makayla asked, looking a bit worried.

"I've had better days..." I tried to smile. "but I have a feeling that won't be the worst pain I feel while I'm here."

She nodded. "That armor looks great, by the way."

I just realized that they were in their armor. Makayla's tunic and boots were dark blue. Her symbol, gauntlets, belt, and pants were black.  And Tyler was in his red and black armor.

"Thanks, you too."

"So, why do you think that sword did that?" Tyler asked.

"I... I have no clue..." 

Zarbeck stood in, "whatever happened, I'm sure we will figure it out. For now, Zack needs to make up all that he missed, and you two need to go to dinner. Zack will join soon."

They looked a little shocked for a moment, which left me a little confused, but they nodded and left.

"C'mon, Boy, we need to get to the training deck."

I nodded, looking back to see Makayla give me a small sympathetic smile before turning the corner.