by Jai Williams
A guy from one of the other champion cells banged on the cell door of the cell he was in. “HEY RONNIE. JUST REMEMBER YOU’RE A DEAD MAN!” yelled the prisoner.
Dwayne turned to the guy shouting and saw that it was Cruise. “Okay Cruise, you’re a champion and when you have your last fight you’ll become one of my men and my men don’t have grudges on each other because grudges are for…ah wait, what rhymes with grudge, um…nudge, no that doesn’t make any sense. How about fudge? No. I guess grudge was the wrong word here. I’ll rephrase it, those who want to kill one of my guys meet the same fate as others and they die. There, nailed it. Boom drop the fuckin’ hypothetical mic. Now Cruise, we understand? So, drop the pity party and get over the loss of your brother; after all, he wasn’t going to make it – he did too much showboating; he was a cocky son of a bitch. And by the way it was The Judge who really killed him, so putting the blame on Ronnie, dude, that’s weak. I know Ronnie picked him to fight The Judge but still who cares? So if you ever attempt to kill Ronnie then I’ll attach a knife somehow to my boot and kick you up your ass repeatedly until you bleed to death. So we clear?” he said with a serious look, Cruise responded with an unhappy nod.
Dwayne turned back to Ronnie and Alice, “What are you doing? Get out of the bed, unless you’re gonna give Ronnie a morning BJ, then hop out,” he said with frustration, so Alice hopped out of the bed. She was fully naked, and the guys in the cell behind Dwayne saw Alice.
“WOO-WOO-WOO!” they cheered.
“Okay guys, we’ve seen tits before so come on. I mean well, these tits are great, not too small, not too big but in the middle, perfect to motorboat,” said Dwayne. Alice grabbed her clothes off the ground and put them on. Ronnie looked at Alice with a worried look because he knew that as soon as she leaves one of Dwayne’s men is going to force themselves on her and Ronnie hated the thought of that. He also hated that he forgot to ask her where Finn was. One of Dwayne’s men who was standing next to Dwayne opened the cell door to let Alice out. Dwayne demanded the guy take Alice back to where she belongs, which made it sound like she was a pet but he didn’t care. Ronnie did though but he tried to act like he didn’t know Alice before he slept with her because he thought that if Dwayne found out that Ronnie knew her, Dwayne would do something dreadful to her, so Ronnie kept quiet.
Dwayne looked back to Ronnie, who was still in bed. “Well, we gonna get up or not?” he asked.
“Oh right, yeah. Obviously,” replied Ronnie. Ronnie hopped out of the bed. He was only wearing his underwear so he wasn’t fully naked. He grabbed his clothes from the ground and put them on.
Dwayne opened the cell door. “Well, let’s go have breakfast,” he said kindly. They headed to the cafeteria area and grabbed a bite to eat. Brad, the guy that Ronnie hung with last night, saw Ronnie and sat across from him.
“Well Ronnie, how we feeling, party man? he said with a smile.
“Ohhh shit, that’s how I’m feeling,” replied Ronnie while he was rubbing his hands down his face.
“Well don’t worry, it’s your last day in the arena so after today you can drink and get hangovers as much as you like to,” replied Brad.
“How do you know I’m fighting today?” asked Ronnie curiously.
“Well, it’s champion day; all the champions are fighting. Me, those men you met last night, Cruise and um…” replied Brad.
Brad looked to Dwayne.
“That’s it, right?” he asked. “Yeah that’s all the champions,” replied Dwayne.
Ronnie looked at Brad. “When do you fight?” he asked.
“Early in the afternoon. There are other fights in between champion fights so it’s not one after the other, so you can relax and recover and speaking of recover, Max is the guy who’s got a trick to help people recover quickly from a hangover. So, speak to him and he’ll help you, because we don’t want you dying today,” said Brad.
“Where is Max?” asked Ronnie.
“He is in his usual spot,” said Dwayne.
“Which is?” asked Ronnie.
“The strip club. The one and only heaven of this place,” replied Dwayne.
Ronnie got up from the chair. “Okay, I’m going to go there then. So, which one of you is going to come, because I have no idea what he looks like,” he said.
“I’ll show ya,” said Dwayne. They headed to the strip club and Brad tagged along.
When they got there, once again Angel was the first to greet Ronnie. “My big strong man is here to rescue me from the dragon,” she said in a sexy tone.
“Wait, what? Do you hear the things you say? I mean not to sound like a dick or anything but dragons don’t exist. It would be cool if they did, I read the mythology about them but if they were real we would be fucked,” said Ronnie.
“Oh yeah, but you could tame it and ride it,” replied Angel in a sexy tone.
“Now I know you’re not talking about dragons,” replied Ronnie.
“Well, how would you like me to greet you?” asked Angel.
“Well ah, just say something like hey wanna fuck,” replied Ronnie.
“No, that’s what guys say. I’m a woman, I come up with something more clever, like…” she put a sexy voice on and continued, “I’m a naughty girl and I need to be punished.” Angel slapped her own ass.
“We can fuck later, ok. To celebrate my victory of no longer being a fighter in the arena,” said Ronnie with a smile.
“Okay,” replied Angel and she walked away.
Ronnie followed Dwayne to meet Max. Max was sitting down on a chair getting a lap dance. Dwayne interrupted him.
“Oi, oi, Max,” he said.
Max looked up at Dwayne. “What do you want, boss?” he asked.
“This is Ronnie and I want you to help get rid of his hangover. Do that trick that you do,” replied Dwayne.
Max put his hand out to shake Ronnie’s hand. “I’m Max and it’s nice to meet you, Ronnie,” he said kindly.
Ronnie let go of Max’s hand. “Nice to meet you too,” replied Ronnie.
“Well Ronnie, let’s get rid of that hangover,” said Max. Max Blake, which was his full name, was about twenty-five years old; he was wearing normal clothes, not the gladiator outfits like some of Dwayne’s men were wearing. He didn’t have any scars or bruising so it seemed like he wasn’t much of a fighter, and his hair was short and brown. Max was a kind guy; he didn’t seem like a criminal. It seemed like he was one of those people who were forced into following Dwayne’s commands and didn’t like doing it. Ronnie followed Max over to the bar. “Hey barkeep, we need a Max fixer over here,” said Max, so the bartender poured a glass of something and handed it to Max and Max handed it to Ronnie.
“W-what’s this? It looks like shit,” said Ronnie as he was smelling and looking at the drink he had in his hand.
“Well it tastes like shit too, but it’s got things in it that will cure a hangover,” replied Max.
“What’s it got in it?” asked Ronnie.
“Woo-woo-woo, I’m not gonna tell you the ingredients. You might steal the glory from me. No copyright here, well there’s no law against it anymore but still no one’s stealing this cure from me,” replied Max with a serious look.
“Okay, that’s fine, I get it. So, I’ll just drink this and what? How long does it take to kick in?” asked Ronnie.
“Not long. So, after it works we can start to drink,” replied Max.
“No I can’t, I have a fight later on so I can hang here but not a drop of alcohol is touching these lips,” replied Ronnie. Ronnie skulled the drink down and hung out with Max until it was his time to fight. Max was a happy, simple guy; all he cared about in the world was alcohol and sex. He doesn’t like killing but he has to do it or alcohol and sex would disappear from his life – that’s what he told Ronnie, and that’s when Ronnie thought that not all of Dwayne’s men are stone cold killers; some of them are probably just like Max. They just want to survive and not die, so they do whatever Dwayne tells them to do. Some
men are here just for the fun and others are here just for the blood. Max told Ronnie about his life before this place; he told him that he was just surviving with a group of people who had to do what they needed to do to get by the world, even killing those who posed a threat and stealing from those who were weak. He told Ronnie that these are things that they have to do and if they don’t, they end up dead. The sex and alcohol is what kept Max alive and made him forget about the horrible things he did and has to continue to do. So, people don’t have to be born killers to become a part of Dwayne’s team, Dwayne just encourages it but in Ronnie’s perspective he thinks he must become a killer so he can kill Dwayne and that’s the only reason Ronnie has survived this long.
Ronnie’s waiting hours were up and Dwayne came and got him so Ronnie could get ready for his last fight. Ronnie headed to the arena but before he got to the door that led into the arena, one of Dwayne’s men handed Ronnie a sword. “Ha-ha, have fun. I bet you one billion dollars you refuse to kill your opponent,” he said with an evil smile.
“Why? Who is it?” asked Ronnie, as he felt a bit worried.
The guy laughed. “Ha-ha, just wait and see,” he replied. Ronnie headed into the arena and one of Dwayne’s men shut the door behind him. Ronnie saw a guy faced away from him; he was curious who it was.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the fight of the day. We have the amazing Ronnie and for his last fight in the arena, I put him up against someone he came here with. Someone who he trusted and cared for. Anyway, I present his opponent, Stan the man,” said Dwayne into his mic. The mystery guy turned around to face Ronnie and Ronnie saw that it was Stan, not some random guy just named Stan – no, it was Stan, one of Captain Harris’s soldiers.
“Fuck,” Ronnie said to himself with worry.
“NOW FIGHT!” yelled Dwayne cheerfully.
Chapter Thirty-Three: Stan the Man
A few weeks ago
Ronnie came back to the cell with blood on his face and splattered on his clothes. The blood wasn’t his; it was the blood of Lewis, the truth-telling next-door cellmate. Ronnie was pushed into the cell by Dwayne’s men, who walked away.
“What happened? Who’d you kill?” asked Stan. Ronnie looked at Stan.
“I um. It was that guy Lewis. That guy who was trying to warn us not to escape,” replied Ronnie as he was wiping some of the blood off his face.
“Oh, that guy,” replied Stan.
“He tried to warn us and he told me his story of how he got here and without hesitation I killed him and I didn’t for a second care. Does that make me a monster?” asked Ronnie as he was thinking that what he did was horrible.
“No, it was either you or him and you choose to survive, so you’re not a monster. A monster is someone who gets enjoyment out of it, so to clarify if you’re a monster or not, I’ll ask you this. Did you feel any enjoyment from killing him?” asked Stan.
“No,” replied Ronnie, truthfully.
“Well then, that settles it, you’re not a monster, you’re a survivor. I think we need to understand that there is no escaping from these cells. The only way we can escape from this place is if we fight up there in the arena and become a part of Dwayne’s team and when that happens, we’ll get our freedom,” replied Stan. Ronnie felt some relief from what Stan said. It’s like Ronnie needed someone to tell him that he wasn’t a bad person for what he did.
“Won’t the killing just transform us into monsters like Dwayne?” asked Ronnie.
“No, only if we give into it. So, just fight it. Don’t unleash that darkness inside of you. Don’t let it take control of you and if you can do that, then you can continue being who you are and not what the killing makes you,” replied Stan confidently.
Dwayne came down to the cell Ronnie and Stan were in. “Grab that guy, whatever his name is. I can’t remember. What was it again?” he asked as he pointed to Stan.
“Stan,” replied Stan.
“Oh yeah, that’s right – Stan. Okay well, Stan, you’re up next. It’s your time to fight,” replied Dwayne. One of Dwayne’s men grabbed Stan and pulled him out of the cell forcefully and shut the cell door behind him. They walked up to another cell heading towards the stairs. Dwayne stopped and turned to the cell on his left side and pointed to a random guy in the cell. “Who are you?” he asked carelessly.
“It’s ah, Will,” replied the prisoner in a scared tone.
“Well, Will, you come with me – get it, get the pun? Because your name’s Will and it has another meaning than pussy ass guy who won’t come here so he can get the fuck out of this cell so he can either die or be killed,” said Dwayne, so the guy stepped forward and Dwayne demanded one of his men to open the cell door and grab Will. They headed off; Stan went to one side of the stadium and Will stayed on the same side. They were pushed into locker rooms, the same lockers every fighter goes into so they can pick a mystery weapon. Stan looked at one of Dwayne’s men who was in the room with him. “Why are we in a locker room?” he asked.
“This is where we keep the arena weapons and pretty much every weapon. So, if you don’t mind, grab a fuckin’ piece of paper from this hat and we’ll see what weapon you’ll fight with,” replied one of Dwayne’s men.
Stan did exactly what the guy said and picked a piece of paper from the hat and he read it. “Crowbar. What the hell? A fuckin’ crowbar? Are you serious?” he asked with a strange look on his face.
One of Dwayne’s men grabbed a crowbar and handed it to Stan. “Yeah, we’re serious. So, don’t bitch about it and take this,” said the guy, handing the crowbar to Stan. Stan held the crowbar in his hands.
“What stops me from just killing you guys?” he said with a smile.
“Um, how about a bullet to the head?” replied one of Dwayne’s men. Stan wiped the smile off his face and Dwayne’s men pushed him out of the room and they headed to the arena. Will ended up getting an electric drill for his weapon.
When Stan and Will entered the arena, Stan looked down at Will’s weapon. “What the fuck, how ridiculous,” he said to himself. Dwayne who was at his seating area, his special viewing area, grabbed his mic. “Men and sex pleasure people, which are women, if you didn’t know what I meant by that, our next fight is between Stan, who is on the right of me, and his opponent is Will, who is on the left. Who will win and who will fall…directly into their own pile of blood. Now Stan and Will, let’s make it a good fight, a satisfying fight. We don’t want the crowd booing; we want them cheering. So, give us a dirty – and by that I don’t mean fuck each other, which some of these horny bitches here would love to see – so give us a dirty, bloody, ridiculously amazing fight, ok?” he said, smiling. Dwayne put his mic down and picked up a flare gun and shot it into the air. Stan and Will just looked up at it and Dwayne looked at them with a displeased look, so he grabbed his mic. “That fuckin’ means fight for fuck’s sake. Idiots,” he said, so the fight began.
Stan looked at Will and headed towards him; he was a foot or so away from Will. “Look man, I don’t want to kill you but I have to or else you will or if you don’t kill me then his men will and I ain’t dying today. I ain’t dying anytime soon. So, I have to kill you and I know that sounds wrong to say, I mean you’re probably a nice and friendly guy but being nice and friendly doesn’t get you by in this world. It doesn’t help you survive this world; in fact, it kills you. I’m sorry to say that but look around. These aren’t nice and friendly people because nice and friendly people don’t watch people kill each other. So, if you got any last words then say them,” said Stan as he hated the fact that he had to kill this innocent man.
“I understand what you’re talking about but no, I’m not dying today because I’m going to be the one that kills you,” said Will.
Stan chuckled, “Ha-ha, are you being serious right now because look at you, man. You’re pissing your pants, you’re scared and a scared man can’t kill. You need to shut that shit down, which I don’t think you can do,” he said.
“Well what, then
? You’re just gonna kill me and live the rest of your life killing others along the way,” replied Will, trembling with fear.
“I’m not going to be able to sleep after this, because I will have to live with myself knowing that I killed an innocent man and that I have to kill many more innocent people just so that I can survive. That will be the burden I have to live with and I will never be the same again. So I ask you this, do you want that to happen to you? Do you want to live with that burden?” asked Stan.
Will turned his head up to Dwayne. “Well, let’s make it a dirty and bloody fight,” he said.
“I’m sorry that this has to happen to you,” replied Stan. Will came charging at Stan while he was holding his finger down on the trigger on the drill.
“DIE!” he yelled. Stan ducked, grabbed Will and filled him over his head. Will tumbled to the ground and the drill flung from his hand. Stan turned around and headed over to Will who was still on the ground. Will was panicking; he had never felt so scared in his life, Stan’s shadow covered Will’s head and Will looked at Stan, who was blocking the sun from his face. Will swallowed every bit of breath he had and stared at Stan with fear in his eyes; his wide, unblinking eyes and shaking showed Stan how scared he was.
“KILL HIM, KILL HIM, KILL HIM,” chanted the crowd, they kept repeating it and Stan looked up at them. He saw all these men and woman who were expressing their excitement. He thought that this was wrong, it was so wrong, but the only way to end this madness that Dwayne created here, was to live through it until he becomes free from the arena and when that happens he will get to free his people and those who deserve to be freed. Stan looked back down at Will.
“I’m sorry,” he said in a soft and sorrowful tone. Stan kneeled down next to Will and raised his arm with the crow bar in it and slammed it into Will’s head. Blood splattered on the ground and a bit splattered on Stan.