Safe Haven

Trial by Combat

The group comes to in the back of a van, with them is a muscular bandit, gripping a large knife in his right arm. His left arm is scarred heavily, with what appears to be bite marks.

"Hey, you," Nathan says to the bandit. The man looks at him, unimpressed by what he sees. "You, uh, kill a lot of those creatures?" Nathan asks, pointing to his left arm.

The bandit remains silent, maintaining eye contact with Nathan.

"Okay, well I just thought those scars were pretty badass."

The bandit punches Nathan in the jaw, grabs him by his hair, and slams the back of his head into the van, knocking him out cold. The other group members remain silent, but shake in their seats. Jillian and Chloe cry quietly, unable to help him.

The van slows down to a stop, and moments later, the backdoors to the van swing open.

The group is herded out, except for Nathan, who is carried behind them.

The bandits set up camp in a high school football stadium. The concession stands make up their prison cells. Dozens of other survivors are locked up, some angry, shaking the gate in an attempt break free, but the majority have given up on any chance of freedom, and simply accept their fate.

The field is dedicated to their own personal coliseum. Captured survivors are forced to fight for their lives, or they'll be executed, often very brutally.

"Welcome to your new home," the leader of the bandits says. "You cute little things can call me 'X,' the Great Leader of the Wildcats." The group stares at him, refusing to speak. "The silent type, huh? I'm sure we'll get along fine. I don't think we could've picked a better time to capture you folks, because today is our very first tournament! You will fight many opponents today, or you'll bleed out on this very field."

"What if we refuse?" Jillian asks.

X smiles. He puts his hand on her chin and puts his nose to hers.

"If you refuse, I'll peel your skin off this pretty little body, and I'll leave your body impaled in front of the gates," X says. "You're a beauty, you know that? I'd really hate to ruin that."

Jillian scowls at him. He pats her cheek and turns to face the group.

"You folks will stay in here and be fed meager meals until the fights are ready. I'm going to go work on the bracket. See you all soon!" X motions for the Wildcats to throw them in the cell.

Nathan wakes up in the cell, his head in Jillian's lap.

"Where are we?" Nathan asks, rubbing his head.

Griffin explains the situation to him.

"So what's the plan?"

"The plan? There is no plan, Nathan. There's no way out of this," Kate says.

"You can't just give up, Kate. Do you want to get to Fairview or not?" Nathan stands up, but immediately sits back down next to Jillian.

"Fairview? You're still on that?" Kate takes a deep sigh before losing her temper. "You seriously think that we're actually going to make it there, or that if we do, there's going to be some-some-what? A safe haven? That's absolutely fucking absurd, Nate. This world is nothing but the absolute lowest of the low humanity has ever seen. Nobody's going to help us. If we show up, I can guarantee we'll end up riddled with bullets. There's nothing in this world for us, so yeah Nate, I've given up."

Nate shakes his head and glances over to Chloe.

"We're making it out of this, baby sis."

"Why did you just call me that?" She asks.

"Because you're my baby sis, sis," Nathan smiles.

"I'm nineteen, I'm not a baby."

"But you were my baby sis at some point."

"You're only like five years older than me you ass," she laughs.

"You know, baby sis," Nate is interrupted by a deep sigh and eye-roll. "As I was saying, I'm really proud of you, the way you're handling the end of the world and all. It gives me a lot of hope."

"Thank you, Nathan. I do my best," Chloe smiles. "I love you, a lot."

"I love you too, sis."

Silence falls upon the group.

"We're getting out of here," Griffin finally speaks up. "I don't know when, but we will, and then we're going to make it to Fairview."

Kate looks at him in disbelief.

"Alright kids, you all ready to watch your friends kill or be killed?" X says, approaching the cell with a paper in his hands. "First up is..." he pauses for dramatic effect. Blondie over here!" X points at Chloe. Her face goes pale.

"Wait!" Nathan yells, quickly standing up. "Let me go first!"

"Oh, you'll get your turn. What, afraid to lose your, wait a minute," he inspects their faces. "She's got blonde hair, yours is brown, but your green eyes, your nose, even your ears," he lets out a hearty laugh. "You're brother and sister, aren't you? Well come out here, I'm sorry, I never caught your name sweetheart."

"Chloe..." she mumbles.

"Alright Chloe, come with me so we don't have to do this the hard way."

Chloe stands up and follows X. A group of bandits come to escort the rest of the group to their seats in the stadium.

After a short while, X walks into the middle of the field with a microphone.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm your gracious host, Xander Greene, and I'm proud to announce the first ever tournament, rightfully named TRIAL BY COOOOMBAAAAAAAT!"

The crowd reluctantly applauded, worried that they'll get in more trouble if they refuse to do so.

"Our first matchup, begins now! On the left, we've got Blayne Lukeman Junior! Blayne is thirty six, standing at six feet, two inches and weighing in at two hundred and twelve pounds!"

The Nathan covers his face with his palms, scared to see what may happen to his sister.

"To the right is Chloe Williams! Chloe is only nineteen, standing five feet and three inches, and weighing in at a measly 96 pounds! Now let the fight begin!"

Chloe is equipped with nothing more than a survival knife, whereas Blayne was given a sizable iron mace. Blayne charges at Chloe. Frightened, she runs away, towards the end of the field. Gunmen keep the boundaries secure by force, so rather than running straight out of bounds, Chloe uses Blayne's momentum to duck his swing and trip him out of bounds. He's immediately shot multiple times, receiving more bullet wounds until the twitching stops. Chloe walks to the center of the field to meet X.

"Well, quite the unexpected outcome, if I do say so myself! Our winner is Chloe!" He raises her arm in the air. The crowd applauses, and she's sent to the viewing area.

Several more fights go by before the group is approached again.

"You, white hair," a Wildcat says, pointing his gun at Griffin. "You're up next."

"Good luck buddy," Nathan says, patting his back. "You've got this."

"And uh, you, redhead," the Wildcat continues. "You're up too."

Kate, shocked, looks around at first before pointing to herself.

"Yes you, come on."