Safe Haven

Unwelcome Guests

Nathan, Chloe, Jillian, and Griffin are herded back to the stands, forced to watch another day of fellow Wildcat prisoners murdering each other.

As X makes his way to the field, he walks past a speaker, blasting the high-pitched feedback through the arena. The group simultaneously covers their ears, attempting to preserve their earbuds from exploding.

"Sorry about that, folks," X begins his speech," but good morning, and welcome to day 2 of our tournament!" Xander pauses for a moment, the crowd remains silent, confused as to why he suddenly stopped speaking. "Sorry again, folks, I thought I heard something. Anyways, why don't we get this show on the road?" The prisoners refuse to applaud. X becomes visibly frustrated. "Tough crowd, hmm? No worries, maybe you need a little, what's the word? Incentive?" X drops his microphone arm to the side and says something unintelligible into his radio. A Wildcat near Nathan and friends nods, and empties a clip of his assault rifle into the group sat in front of him.

"Holy fucking shit, holy fucking shit," Nathan whispers. "This guy is batshit crazy."

"No kidding, someone needs to put him down," Chloe whispers back.

"Shut the fuck up!" The Wildcat watching their group shouts. "Talk again and I'll fucking drop you!"

Nathan and Chloe look at each other, then turn their eyes towards Xander.

"Alright, now that you're all paying attention, how about an applause?" Xander throws his arms in the air, acting as if it'll pump up the crowd. Everyone applauds, reluctantly. "Thank you, thank you! How about we-"

SCREEEEEEEEEECH
SCREEEEEEEEEECH
SCREEEEEEEEEECH

"Wildcats, defense positions now!" Xander yells into his microphone. He sprints into the stadium and disappears from sight.

Nathan stands up, and motions for the rest to follow.

"Here's our chance! Let's get the hell out of here!" Nathan yells, running for the inside of the stadium.

"I knew those creatures would hear these dumbasses," Jillian sighed. "I don't understand how they weren't attacked sooner."

"I don't know, but let's head up to the luxury boxes and see if we can find a good place to run for," Nathan commands.

They approach the luxury boxes, but notice two Wildcats inside, armed with sniper rifles.

"Nate, you take the one on the left, I'll take the one on the right," Griffin says. He crouches low, and slowly approaches his target Wildcat. Nathan does the same, reaching for the Wildcat's sheathed knife. He quickly pulls it from its holster, and shoves it straight into the Wildcat's jugular. He twists the blade, and pushes it out, slitting his throat wide open. Griffin kicks the other Wildcat in the back of the leg, knocking him to his knees. He snaps his neck in one smooth motion, and they both drop dead.

"Let's take their guns," Griffin suggests.

"I say we try to snipe X while we're up here. Put him down before they know what even happened," Nathan replies.

"Alright, lets see if we can't- holy shit," Griffin drops the rifle and stares at the field. Dozens of BCs fill the stadium, slaughtering prisoners and Wildcats alike. The surviving Wildcats begin to retreat, overwhelmed by the sheer brutality of the creatures.

"There's no way you're going to find X during this hysteria," Chloe says. "Lets just get out of here while we still can."

"You're right, sis," Nathan agrees. "Let's get out of here, guys. X is probably already dead anyways."

"I'm not leaving until I see his body," Griffin refuses to look away from the stadium, frantically searching for Xander.

"Griff," Jillian puts his hand on his shoulder. He immediately shrugs it off. "Fine, we're leaving. You either come with, or you get left behind."

"No no no," Nathan leans towards Jillian and whispers, "we'll get him out of here. We can't leave him behind." He turns towards Griffin. "Look, buddy, I'm sure Xander has an escape plan, he probably left already. If we don't leave now, we'll never find him."

Griffin drops the rifle to his waist.

"You're right," he huffs. "Let's blow this joint."

The group runs for the exit, shoving through prisoners and ducking bullets. Griffin notices a small group following them, also intent on escaping. They catch up, running side-by-side with each other. Griffin turns his head around, and notices a troubling sight: at least four BC chasing them.

"There's no way we can outrun them," Griffin thinks to himself. "But maybe if I..." He smirks, and trips a fellow survivor. They land flat on their face, getting trampled by the other escaping prisoners. Some trip over him, collapsing to the ground as well. The BC take advantage of these easy meals, pouncing on the incapacitated prisoners. They subsequently tear them to shreds, flinging blood and flesh all over the walls of the stadium.

"There's the exit!" Chloe smiles. "We're so close!"

The group makes it to the exit, but it's too small for everyone to fit through at once.

"MOVE, YOU CUNT," a prisoner yells.

"HOW ABOUT YOU MOVE, DICKH- SHIIIIT!" another yells as a BC pounces on him from behind, ripping his throat out with its bare hands.

The group makes their way out, sprinting for the nearest house to get some much needed rest. Several other survivors follow.

"Did you guys see Xander?" Jillian says, taking quick breaths in between words.

"No," Griffin says, clenching his fists, "but I'll find him, and I'll make him suffer."