by Jai Williams
Ronnie looked over at Stan. “The guy’s just like us, except we didn’t have to see the place we were in, get destroyed. So, I think he’s telling the truth. I need to escape from this cell and stop Captain Harris from getting killed,” he said.
“Why you?” asked Stan.
“Because it’s my fault he’s out there, so it’s my responsibility,” replied Ronnie.
“Okay, let’s say you find a way to open this cell door, then what? You gonna go up there by yourself? Man, that’s crazy. What happens if you get caught before you even reach the arena or worse, what happens if they kill you?” replied Stan.
“Well, one of us dying is better than all of us dying. So, when I find a way out of here I’m going by myself and I ain’t taking no for an answer,” said Ronnie with a serious look.
“I see a soldier in you. Ronnie. First, you led away twenty men back in that town, then you saved us from getting tortured and now you’re going to risk your life to convince Dwayne to stop a fight, which no one has ever done before. If you survive this you will no longer be just Ronnie; you’ll be Ronnie, a soldier,” said Stan with confidence that Ronnie would succeed.
“That’s a nice thing to say. Thank you,” replied Ronnie with a smile.
“You don’t need to thank me for something you deserve,” replied Stan.
Ronnie looked back over to Lewis. “Hey Lewis, I know you said no one has escaped here before but surely there’s got to be some way to get free,” he said.
“Well ah, I think there might be a way,” replied Lewis.
“Well, what is it?” asked Ronnie.
“Dwayne’s men all have a spare key to these cells so maybe if you make enough noise one of them will come down and if you can get them close enough to your cell you could knock them out or something then grab the key,” replied Lewis, thinking what he said could work.
“That’s a good idea. That could actually work and some of Dwayne’s men don’t look that bright so they wouldn’t expect it to happen,” replied Ronnie, confidently.
“Yeah, some of them – well, probably most of them – are dumb as fuck, so it could work,” replied Lewis.
“If it’s such a good idea why haven’t you done it?” asked Ronnie.
“Well ah, I wouldn’t be strong enough to knock someone out by slamming their head into the bars” replied Lewis.
“Okay then, this is it. I’m doing it,” said Ronnie.
Ronnie looked at all the soldiers as if it was the last time he would see them. “Let’s make a loud fuckin’ noise,” he said to them all, so they all started screaming, yelling, banging the bars and making all kinds of noises that would attract someone. Upstairs, there were two guys guarding the door that had the stairs that led down to the cell area and they heard the noise.
“Do you hear that?” asked one of Dwayne’s men. The guy opened the door and they could hear the noise more clearly.
“Hey new guy, can you go down there and shut those fuckers up?” asked one of Dwayne’s men.
“Yeah, sure. What do I do, just yell at them?” asked the other guy.
“Yeah, just yell at them and threaten to kill them, but don’t actually kill them or Dwayne will kill you,” replied the other guy. The guy headed down the stairs and the door shut behind him. He got to the bottom and Ronnie and the others could hear the door open and footsteps following it. The guy finally approached Ronnie and the others who were still making the noise.
“HEY, SHUT UP!” he yelled, so they all stopped making noise and stared at the guy.
“Wow, that was easy,” said the guy.
“Hey cock stain. Over here,” said Ronnie. The guy looked at Ronnie and walked over to him.
“What did you call me?” he asked.
“Oh, I’m sorry I couldn’t hear you. Can you come closer” said Ronnie, so the guy without thinking moved in closer.
“I said what did you call me?” he asked.
“I’m deeply sorry; you’ll have to come a bit closer because I’m a bit deaf,” replied Ronnie, so the guy got up close to the bars of the cell.
“I said what did you…” said the guy and before the guy could finish his sentence Ronnie quickly put his arms through the bars which was possible because the bars had large enough gaps between them for someone to put their arms through, and Ronnie grabbed the guy’s head with both of his hands and slammed it as hard as he could into the bars. He did this twice and the guy was knocked out. Ronnie slowly lowered the guy to the ground so he was close to the cell. Ronnie looked to Stan. “Well, that was easy,” he said, pleased.
Ronnie looked back at the body and searched it to find a key or something that could open the cell door. “Found it. Yes, ha-ha,” he said joyfully. Ronnie pulled himself up to the lock on the door and successfully opened it. He quietly opened the cell door, pushing the guy away in the process, and took his first step out of the cell without being pulled from it. “Wow freedom. Thank you, dumb fuck guard,” he said with a smile.
“Okay, now pull that guy in here so when you’re gone no one will see him,” said Stan, so Ronnie grabbed the guy’s arms and dragged the guy he just knocked out in the cell.
“Where do you want him?” asked Ronnie.
“Hey Phil, get off. We’re gonna put this guy on the bed,” said Stan.
“Fine, but what he’s wearing is a bit suspicious,” replied Phil as he hopped off the bed.
“Yeah, you’re right. I will wear his clothes and just put my clothes on him,” said Ronnie.
“Good idea,” replied Stan. Ronnie undressed himself until he was only wearing his underwear, and Stan and Phil undressed the unconscious guy, taking off his gladiator outfit. Ronnie put on the gladiator outfit and Stan and Phil put Ronnie’s clothes on the unconscious guy. Ronnie looked down at the outfit with disgust. “This is fuckin’ ugly. I don’t know why they wear these,” he said. “Because they’re crazy killers,” replied Stan.
“Okay, well, keep that guy alive because if you kill him I don’t know how Dwayne would react. So, gag his mouth and tie him up and knock him out occasionally. Now, I’m gonna go,” said Ronnie. Ronnie threw the keys to the cell to Stan. “Here, keep these hidden just in case,” he said.
Ronnie left the cell and shut the door behind him and headed upstairs where the other guard was. When Ronnie got to the door he knocked on it to see if anyone was out there, just to be safe, and one of Dwayne’s men opened the door. “Is that you?” he asked. Ronnie waited till the guy poked his head out and slammed the door against his head, knocking the guy out. Ronnie dragged the guy’s body out of the hallway and placed it behind the door; he shut the door behind him and stepped out into the hallway. Ronnie looked both ways; he had no idea which was the direction to the arena but all of a sudden he could hear cheering, so he followed it until it led him to an opening area to the arena but there was two of Dwayne’s men facing the arena so it wasn’t going to be easy but Ronnie quickly came up with a plan. Ronnie walked up to the guy on the left and saw that he was wearing a helmet; some of Dwayne’s men wore helmets and some didn’t.
“Hey, can I have your helmet? I lost mine,” said Ronnie.
The guy turned to Ronnie, “Ah sure. Hey wait, you’re the…” replied the guy and before the guy finished his sentence Ronnie punched the guy in the face and ripped his helmet off the guy’s head and smacked it across the guy’s head, knocking the guy out. The guy on the other side saw what Ronnie did.
“Hey,” he said angrily, Ronnie knocked the guy out with the helmet and put the helmet on and quickly searched for keys to the door to enter the arena. Ronnie found a key and ran up to the arena door, opened it and entered the arena. He saw Captain Harris on the ground with his weapon far from him and he saw the tall, large armoured man which he assumed was The Judge. Ronnie ran straight up to him to stop The Judge from killing Captain Harris. Dwayne saw this so he grabbed the mic and stood up from his throne. “Who the fuck are you? Judge, step aside, I want to see which one of my men is about to di
e. Reveal yourself,” he said with a displeased look on his face, so Ronnie took the helmet off, threw it on the ground and looked up at Dwayne. Dwayne had a shocked look on his face.
“H-how did you get out of your cell, Ronnie?” he asked.
“Well, you have shitty guards,” replied Ronnie.
“Well, what shall I do to you?” replied Dwayne with an annoyed look on his face.
Chapter Thirty: Close to Death
Blood was dripping from Ronnie’s sword and blood covered his face and parts of his body. He looked at the body on the ground of the person he just killed and felt horrible. He never wanted to kill someone he got to know. He never wanted to kill someone who he trusted and helped him, but Dwayne forced this on him and if it wasn’t the guy Ronnie just killed, then it would have been Ronnie himself who would have died. Ronnie looked up at Dwayne and Dwayne grabbed his mic. “We have a winner,” he said cheerfully. The crowd cheered Ronnie’s name: “RONNIE, RONNIE, RONNIE,” but Ronnie felt no pride in what he did, he felt no joy or any type of positive attitude, he only felt guilt and regret for his actions, but once again Ronnie was forced to fight this man. Ronnie made a promise to this man he killed; he promised him that he would keep fighting and killing anyone he had to, to finally get to Dwayne and kill him to end this hell of a place and also to free those captives. It was a promise that Ronnie would keep and never forget. Before this fight, Ronnie didn’t have that huge anger burning inside him but now, after this fight, he had that burning rage inside him that hungered for Dwayne’s death and only Dwayne’s death, but those who would get in his way would feel Ronnie’s wrath. This was it; this is what broke Ronnie, not in a he lost hope kinda way, but in a he has to kill whoever he has to kinda way, which would break part of his soul that makes him human and not a monster like Dwayne.
A day earlier
Ronnie was standing in the arena; the whole crowd was booing. Ronnie was looking up at Dwayne who seemed angry when he spoke in the mic, telling Ronnie what he was going to do to him, but Ronnie didn’t care. Ronnie only wanted to stop Captain Harris from dying, which is what he did, or thought he did.
“THERE WAS A MISTAKE BACK THERE!” yelled Ronnie, as he was a bit scared because he didn’t know what Dwayne would do to him.
“What do you mean?” asked Dwayne, curiously.
“I AM THE ONE WHO CAME UP WITH THE PLAN TO ESCAPE. CAPTAIN HARRIS WAS JUST, I DON’T KNOW, TRYING TO PROTECT ME OR SOMETHING, BUT HE DOESN’T DESERVE TO BE PUNISHED. I DO!” yelled Ronnie as he was accepting what was to come next.
“So, what did you think, you’d just trick one of my dumb shit men into helping you escape the cell and come here and stop this fight?” said Dwayne.
“WELL, WHAT IS THE HONOR IN LETTING SOMEONE ELSE DIE FOR YOUR WRONG DOING?” yelled Ronnie.
“Ah, you got me there…mmm, how about this: Harris won’t die,” replied Dwayne. Captain Harris and Ronnie felt relief. “But instead you’ll pick someone to take his place,” said Dwayne with a smile.
“WHAT? NO. THAT’S NOT WHAT I SAID!” yelled Ronnie with a bit of anger.
“Yeah, but see The Judge only has a fight once a week, twice sometimes. And these people, this fuckin’ cheerful crowd, they count the days down for his fights and I’m not going to disappoint them. So, it’s either your Captain or someone else and since you are so loyal to your Captain I respect you for that, which is why I think you should pick who will fight The Judge and pick quickly because The Judge doesn’t like to be kept waiting,” said Dwayne with a serious look. Ronnie turned to Captain Harris and helped him up.
“Wow. Ronnie, I-I…” said Captain Harris with relief and exhaustion.
“It’s okay, you don’t have to thank me. I just want you to understand that it wasn’t my intention to let you take the blame, ok. And never again do that because after today, I don’t think any of Dwayne’s men are going to be that dumb again,” replied Ronnie with relief that Captain Harris was in the clear.
“Okay men, grab these two and bring them down to the cells,” said Dwayne in his mic. Dwayne left his seating area and two of Dwayne’s men came into the arena and pushed Ronnie and Captain Harris out of the arena, leaving The Judge, who was extremely angry, behind. They headed down to the cell area where Dwayne was already there waiting for them. “Get him the fuck in the cell,” said Dwayne. Stan, Dean, Jay and all the soldiers were so relieved and glad that Captain Harris was alive. Captain Harris was pushed into the cell and Dwayne saw a man in one of the beds in the cell Captain Harris was pushed into.
“HEY, GET UP!” he yelled.
“Ah, he’s ah sleeping. He’s really tired so I wouldn’t wake him. He gets all angry when he doesn’t get his sleep,” said Jay, trying to lie the best he could.
“I don’t give a fuck if he wants his beauty sleep, he gets the fuck up or he’s in the pit next,” replied Dwayne rudely. Jay looked at Ronnie, who was out of the cell, and gave him a worried look.
“You know the dumb shit that I told you about that helped me escape?” said Ronnie.
“Yeah,” replied Dwayne.
“Well, that’s him. We couldn’t just leave him on the ground, now could we, so we ah, tied him up and knocked him out” replied Ronnie.
“Untie him and wake him up. I need to deal with him,” said Dwayne, damagingly, so Jay and Dean untied Dwayne’s man from the bed and slapped his face to wake him up.
The guy finally woke up and panicked. “W-w-where am I? W-what happened?” he asked.
“You fucked up and there’s consequences for fuck ups like you,” said Dwayne.
The guy got up quickly. “But I ah, they ah, um I. Shit,” he replied.
“Yeah, shit. Come here so we can get out of this cell,” replied Dwayne. The guy got to the cell door, which was pulled open just for him, and he hopped out of the cell. He looked at Dwayne with a fearful look. “So, tell me how you got in there, and don’t tell me you volunteered to hop in,” said Dwayne as he crossed his arms and gave the guy an angry and disappointed look.
“I, well…it was that guy,” he replied as he pointed to Ronnie. “He tricked me into coming close to the cell and he knocked me out somehow and then I just woke up in there with…what? These aren’t my clothes” he said as he looked down at what he was wearing and he looked back up at Dwayne with a frightened look.
“So, you’re saying you’re a fuckin’ idiot and you pretty much helped Ronnie escape,” replied Dwayne.
“No, he said he was a bit deaf and told me to come closer and oh…duh,” replied the guy. The guy laughed, realizing how stupid he was. “Ha-ha, he was never deaf. Shit, I’m such an idiot,” he said.
“Nah, ya think? Fuckin’ idiot, but you will learn. You…take him,” replied Dwayne as he pointed to one of his men, so the guy grabbed the other guy Dwayne was just talking to and pushed him out of the cell area and upstairs. Dwayne looked at Captain Harris.
“So, consider yourself saved and don’t think next time you do this you will be saved. So, in the future just don’t admit to something you didn’t do, ok.”
“Now you,” said Dwayne as he looked at Ronnie. “You gotta pick who The Judge is going to fight and don’t worry, I won’t force you to pick one of your people. Don’t worry, they will soon meet their fate in the arena,” said Dwayne. Ronnie looked back at all the cells in the direction going to the stairs. He pointed to all the cells leading to the stairs.
“So, any of these cells?” he asked.
“Yes, anyone in these cells but not my champions; they are close to becoming a part of my team and I don’t want to fuck that up by sentencing them to death. So, the couple of far cells on the left and right side are off bounds,” replied Dwayne. Dwayne, Ronnie and the guy behind Ronnie slowly walked down the cells. Ronnie was looking at all the men in the cells and he got to a few cells near the door that led to the stairs. Dwayne pointed to the cells on each side. “These cells are the ones off bounds, like I said they’re my champions,” he said.
“Where
are the fighters who are broken and love fighting and don’t care?” said Ronnie.
“Well, in any of these cells, really. I don’t pay attention to their lost hope, only to the blood they shed,” replied Dwayne. Ronnie stepped over to a cell next to one of the champion cells which, was to the left of it, and he looked into the cell. Ronnie could see all these men looking at him with a thirst for blood in their eyes. These men had scars, stitches and bruising over their bodies. Some of them were wearing gladiator styled clothes, not the same as some of Dwayne’s men; these men had just their genitals and butts covered like gladiator underwear.
Ronnie looked at them all individually until he looked at one man who had a mad smile on his face; it looked like a serial killer smile.