The Black Hood

Chapter 3: Prisoner

I feel the van come to a stop and hear voices coming from outside, the door opens and I'n dragged out onto the cold hard ground as I hear a voice yell at me "On your feet!", I stumble to get up, I can't see a thing with this bag on my head and I can't feel my hands with these restraints on them, my blood isn't circulating. Someone kicks my legs, "Walk you little shit" he says as I walk forward trying not to trip over anything or my own feet, he kicks the back of my legs and I fall to my knees, the bag is taken off of my head, I squint as my eyes adjust to the light, Chapo walks up to me looking directly at me, "Welcome to the LB, John" he says smiling at me "We've been waiting for you." I glare at him "I told you that I will never join you, so just kill me! Kill me now! Kill me you son of a bitch!" I yell as tears stream down my face, "Oh John, I told you I'm done being nice, death is too good for you and you've already had the chance of joining us, now you will be forced to fight for us, you will be our weapon and with that you will wish that we killed you" he says looking at me dead in the eyes and giving me a smirk. "What do you mean fight for you? What if I refuse?" I ask a little confused on what he means, "You'll see, now come on, let me show you to your room" he says with a small laugh, I get another bag over my head as I'm lead to an unknown area that smells horrid and I hear some voices, moans, sniffles, and cries for help. They take the bag off as I'm thrown into a cell, my head hits the bars hard as I hold my head in pain, "Welcome to your new home" Chapo says with a laugh, I lunge at him only for him to close the door and I hit my head against the bars again, "Save that anger for the fight" he laughs and walks away. I look around and see more cells all filled with kids both older and younger than me, every ones cells are the same, no bed, no bathroom, just a hard cold floor. The guy next to me keeps staring at me menacingly and then he speaks up, "Yo, what they do to get you in here?" he asks, "Why the hell do you want to know?" I snap, "I just like to get to know my victims before I kill them" he says smirking at me. Is this what he meant by fight for them? I'm fighting to the death with kids like me? "What do you mean kill me?" I ask, "In the arena" he then leans in close to my cell "And let me tell you, I've never lost, I'm they're champion" he says and then laughs. Images run through my head, questions shoot into my brain, and at that I lay down and go to sleep.

Every time I close my eyes all I see is the all I see are the death of my family and Talia's body on the hospital bed. I'm awoken by the sound of someone banging on the bars. "Wake up! It's training day" Chapo says to me as he opens the door and puts me in restraints, we walk to a room that is set up like a gym, punching bags, weights, a boxing ring, everything you would have in a gym. He takes me to the ring and takes off my restraints, "You still remember how to box, don't you John? or is that also dead?" he says with a smirk as he gets in his stance. Anger rushes through me, hatred for this man, I get in my stance and go towards him as I swing at him, he ducks and punches me in the gut, I get winded as I get pushed back. "You're anger is good but it's distracting you, you have to learn how to channel that anger in a better way" he says, I catch my breath and advance toward him as I take another swing at him, he ducks again but I punch his gut, he seems unfazed by the blow like it didn't even hurt him at all. He leg sweeps my legs as I fall to the ground flat on my back, "What the hell? What kind of boxing is this?" I ask glaring at him, "When you're in that ring out there, there are no rules, plain old boxing isn't going to do anything to your opponent" he picks me up by my shirt collar and brings his face up to mine "He'll kill you before you even get to throw a punch" he hisses. "Why are you helping me?" I ask glaring at him, "Because John, like I said you're special, I want you to be our champion" he throws me back on to the ground as he gets in his stance again "Now get your ass up" he says. After countless hours of training I'm drenched in sweat, exhausted, every muscle in my body feels like it's about to give in, Chapo walks up to me "You're still not good but this will get you through for the meantime" he says as he puts me back in restraints and we walk out of the gym. He throws me back into my cell where I can finally lay down and rest, "Get some rest, you're gonna need it for the fight tomorrow" he says as he walks away. This is my life now, forced to fight to the death for peoples entertainment. What if I don't make it tomorrow? I have to survive, I have to escape this place, and most importantly I have to kill him for them, for my family, for Talia.