Downstairs

Part 5: The Twins

A man walked through the large warehouse room, unlocking a few cages along the way. He eventually walked up to the twin’s cage, pulling out a key, he unlocked their cage . 

“It’s your lucky day. All four of you worthless roaches get to be in todays match.” He opened the cage door. The twins and the brown haired teens stepped out. Addison looked at them with a scowl. The brown haired boy laughed. 

“Good luck out there. This isn’t our first time. If you didn’t know, we were the winners of the match that took place 3 days ago. We’re going to wipe the floor with you.” he said.

“You wish! This ain’t our first time either. We’ve been scraped up by the cleaners before, but we still survived! We’re tough, and smart. And I’ll be damned if I let you win a match that we’re a part of!” Addison said with determination. 

“That’s quite the big talk for such a little boy. We’ll see you out there then. I do hope you last a while. Nothing would make us happier then finishing you off for dessert.” The brown haired girl gave an arrogant smirk, and the two teens walked off. 

“Stupid, arrogant…. Ugh!” Addison growled. He turned to Audrey, putting his hand on her shoulder. “Look, during this match, I want you to stay as unseen as possible. Last time we tried making it through, we only lived ‘cause the guy pitied us for being kids. He didn’t kill us, but others are definitely gonna try. Plus, I don’t want those brown-haired assholes finding you and doing something bad.” An alarm went off. All of those who were let out of their cages were led to a long hallway. At the end, a giant metal door. 

“Addison, I’m scared.” Audrey cried. 

“Don’t worry, sis. This time I swear it, we’re going upstairs!” The large door began to rise. “Stay back as long as you can and then hide in one of the two corners closest to the door. Everybody else is most likely gonna try to get as much distance as they can before people start fighting, so it’s your safest bet.”

“What are you going to do?” Audrey looked worried.

“I’m gonna fight off who I can to greaten our odds. Let’s hope our jerky cage mates get killed off. I’m gonna try to avoid them, but if it comes to it I will throw hands.” the door continued to rise slowly. Kids were crawling through the opening to run. When the door fully rose, everyone ran out, and Audrey ran to huddle in a corner just as her brother told her.

“Good luck Addison.” she said quietly. The twins were relieved to see it was a regular match, one without weapons. They were starving, feeling a little weak, so Addison knew he would have to rely on smarts and tactics, because strength wasn’t on his side right now. He stayed back as much as possible, but avoiding the inevitable was difficult. He found himself being targeted by older kids, and did his best to defend himself. He fought dirty, biting, scratching, cheap shots where the sun doesn’t shine. Then again, there was no such thing as fair. The number of people standing was thinning, and once again blood stains the cold concrete floor. The fighting continued, and Addison didn’t see anybody else standing anymore. He looked around at the bodies to be sure their main threat was out of the picture. But then he heard a scream, Audrey’s voice. He ran towards her to see the two brown-haired teens in the corner. As he got closer, he saw the boy holding Audrey up by the collar of her shirt.

“Audrey!”Addison yelled. The two teens looked at him with devilish smiles. The boy threw Audrey to the floor and kicked her in the back. The girl picked up Audrey by her hair, yanking on it tightly. Addison balled his fists, and gritted his teeth. “I’m going to kill you!” he screamed as he ran at the arrogant teens. The boy tried to grab him, but Addison slid under his legs and went for the girl. He punched her in the face, causing her to drop Audrey, and then climbed up onto her back. “You’ll pay! I told you not to touch her!”

“Get off of me!” The wretched girl tried pulling Addison off of her. Enraged, Addison shoved his thumbs into the girl’s eyes, leaving blood dripping down her cheeks. She screamed, and the boy ran over to assist. But before he made it to her, Addison had shoved his small hands into her screaming mouth, and tore her jaw apart. He hopped off of her, and her body fell to the floor. 

“You little shit!” the teen boy tried to kick Addison, but he failed. Addison grabbed his leg and pulled it, causing the teen to fall onto his back. He stood on top of the disoriented jerk, and looked down at him. 

“Who’s wiping the floor with who now?” Addison said, and then stomped down on the teen’s throat as hard as he could. Blood poured out of his mouth after the impact, and Addison was standing there looking down at him, panting heavily. He fell to his knees.
“Congratulations, young champion! You have been granted a night in the royalty suite! Please make your way to the elevator!” a voice over the PA said.

 “Audrey! It’s over!” he yelled, tears falling down his face. He looked at his sister who was lying nearly motionless on the cold, concrete floor. Audrey’s back lifted and lowered very slightly. Addison walked over, and knelt down beside her. He lifted her into his arms, slumping her over his shoulder, and made his way to the elevator. “We did it sis, everything is going to be okay. At least, for tonight.” he stepped in, and the elevator door closed.