Délon City: Book Two of the Oz Chronicles

by R. W. Ridley

  The crowd to the right of us parted. Four Délons pulling chains entered the dome through a tunnel. At the end of the chains, Ajax struggled to break free. My heart dropped when I saw him. His face was scarred and he looked twice his normal size. One of his eyes was swollen shut. He had been marked. Recently. I knew it. I could smell it. Not just once. Many times. This is how they prepared their champions to fight.

  I almost cried because I knew the hatred and pain that was running through Ajax’s veins. He wanted to kill. More than that, he needed to kill.

  The crowd to the left of us parted. The other champion was about to emerge. First out of the tunnel was a man I recognized. Hollis. Pepper Sands’s right-hand man. He was the one who told us about HMI, Hyper Mental Imaging. He was Pepper’s team psychologist when Pepper was smashing heads as the Falcon’s leading tackler. What was he doing here?

  The answer to my question came almost as the thought left my head. Following close behind him was Pepper. The other champion.

  Lou turned to me when she recognized him. Her eyes said everything. Don’t let this happen.

  I nodded. I don’t know why because I was pretty sure there was nothing I could do. The Délons came to see a murder today, and one way or another they were going to see it.

  By the look of Pepper’s swollen eye, it was clear he had been marked for this fight as well. The Délons dressed him in pair of cutoff sweat pants. His muscles were inflated by the marking, but it appeared he was still about 300 pounds lighter than Ajax. He didn’t stand a chance.

  The champions reached the fringe of the clearing. The general raised his hand to silence the crowd. Remarkably, almost instantaneously, the Délons fell silent. If it wasn’t for the gargled grunts of Ajax, you could have heard a pin drop.

  “Today, we have yet another treat!” General Roy shouted. The crowd of Délons in front of us parted. Standing on what was once the visitor’s sidelines were two Délons propping up Newell by his arms. “Today, we have captured our Keeper!”

  Once again, the Délons erupted.

  I swallowed. Wes and the others?

  The general, as if he read my mind, pointed to the still parting crowd. I watched in horror as the Délons peeled back and revealed Wes holding Valerie. Tyrone stood beside him holding onto the scruff of Kimball’s neck. Reya stood by them like a hunter standing by a fresh kill.

  “Friends of yours?” The general asked.

  I didn’t answer him. He knew. He’d known all along.

  “This isn’t a game, Oz,” he said in a low steady tone. “You can’t escape the collective.”

  “What are you going to do to them?”

  “The same thing I did to him,” The general said motioning to the crowd behind me. I turned to see Miles dragging a body out of the crowd. Devlin. Dead. Beaten horribly. Tortured to death.

  I surveyed the scene. Ajax and Pepper were mad with hate. Lou and Gordy were panic-stricken. Wes, Valerie, and Tyrone were scared but stoic. And Kimball was ready to do battle. I smiled.

  “What are you smiling at?” The general asked.

  “You made a mistake,” I said.

  His spider legs began to dance. He didn’t like my demeanor. “Mistake?”

  I focused on his dead eyes to convey to him that I meant every word of what I was about to say. “You brought me my warriors.”

  He smashed me in the face with the back of his fist and sent me crashing to the artificial turf. Kimball tore free from Tyrone’s grip and bolted to my defense. He was too quick for the Délons to catch. My faithful dog leapt through the air and clamped his teeth around the general’s neck.

  I was too stunned by the general’s blow to react immediately. I lay on my back and watched the dome spin. I heard the general cry out, followed by Kimball yelping in pain.

  “No!” I screamed, my jaw throbbing. Kimball’s lifeless body fell next to me. The general had broken his neck. The anger and coldness I had experienced after my marking came back. Tears stung my eyes. The hate that haunted and tortured me that night re-emerged. I slammed my fist into the artificial turf and was only mildly surprised when I created a hole in the seemingly impenetrable surface.

  I jumped to my feet and rushed the general. I had the strength of ten men and I was going to use it to tear him apart. I threw my shoulder into his abdomen and we both tumbled to the stadium floor. I pounded my fists into General Roy’s purple face before he could gain any sense of understanding what was happening to him.

  Chaos broke out around us, but none of the Délons ran to the general’s aid. Ajax broke free from his chains and was crushing Délons like they were brittle twigs. They had juiced him beyond their control. They created a champion that could easily dispose of them by the dozens.

  Pepper was never one to stand on the sidelines. He dove into the crowd of Délons next to him and used the hate that they built up inside of him against them. He wasn’t as proficient as Ajax at killing Délons, but he was taking them down two at a time.

  Newell took the opportunity created by the distraction to break free from the two Délons who had a hold of him. He shed his robe. A light emanated from him that at once held everyone’s attention in the stadium. As quickly as the melee had begun, it stopped. My fist halted mid-punch. I couldn’t move. The noise was vacuumed out of the air. Silence.

  Newell walked toward me. Every Délon, animal, and human was frozen in time. I was the only who could move besides Newell. I stood, searching for the hate I was filled with just seconds before.

  “What,” I began.

  “Do you know where you are?” Newell asked bending down to stroke Kimball’s head.

  What an odd question. I looked around the dome. One-byone I saw Délon after Délon pop like a balloon. They were disappearing. “What’s happening?”

  “I asked you a question,” he said still attending to Kimball. “Do you know where you are?”

  “I’m... in Délon City...”

  Newell patted Kimball and the dog’s tail began to wag.

  “Kimball!” I ran to his side. “He’s alive.”

  “More like his death has been erased,” Newell said.

  Kimball stood and shook like he’d just had a bath. I hugged him hard enough for him to whine and pull away.

  “You’re in a story, Oz,” Newell said. “A story in which you don’t belong.”

  “Don’t belong?” The crowd of Délons rapidly grew smaller and smaller. “That’s the second time you’ve told me I don’t belong. If I don’t belong, how did I get here?”

  He leaned in and whispered, “You’re on a couch in Dr. Graham’s office.”

  I swallowed hard. “Dr. Graham...”

  “He has you under hypnosis.”

  “Don’t trust ‘G.’”

  “He’s not who you think he is.”

  My head started spinning. This was all too insane for me to comprehend. “What do I do?”

  “Don’t lead him to the Source.”

  “That’s easy. I don’t know what it is. I don’t want to know.”

  “You will before this day is over.”

  “I’m confused.”

  “It’s about to get a whole lot more confusing.” He gestured for me to look to my right. I was looking at the Georgia Dome from outside.

  “How...” I looked down. I was still standing on the artificial turf.

  “You will begin again.”

  “Begin what?”

  “You are entering the dome again.”

  I watched as Lou, Gordy, Miles and I began making our way through the Délon opening into the stadium.

  “Let them fight. No matter what happens, let them fight.”

  “Ajax and Pepper?”

  “It has a place in this story. It must happen.”

  “Ajax will kill Pepper.”

  “And in doing so, he will ensure that the future of the Storytellers is secure.”

  “I can’t let Pepper die.”

  “If you don’t, then you leave the fate of the Sto
rytellers in the hands of the Destroyers.”

  I couldn’t believe my ears. “Pepper would never betray the Storytellers.”

  “Not intentionally, no.” Newell started to back away. “I’ve given you a second chance to do nothing. I’m pleading with you to let them fight. Let Pepper die.” He took one more step and disappeared, and I was no longer standing on the artificial turf. I was entering the dome as I had done moments before. The events of the past few minutes began to scramble in my brain. I watched them like a movie in my mind’s eye, only segments were thrown together out of sequence.

  “Are you all right?” Lou asked.

  I gave her an unenthusiastic nod and smile. She didn’t know. This was all happening for the first time for her. I was the only one who remembered.

  We entered the clearing where General Roy was waiting for us. The Délons were back in full force, crawling, waiting for the fight to begin.

  “Ah, our honored quests!” The general began. He attempted to pull me to the center of the Falcons logo as he had done before, but I broke from his slimy grip and continued on through the horde of Délons.

  “Where are you going?” The general asked.

  “To talk to my champion,” I said.

  He stood, embarrassed that I had usurped his authority. He could have insisted that I return, signaled to the Délons to prevent me from passing through, but he didn’t. He went on with his speech about one champion who would die for his king and one who would kill for his king.

  I made it to the tunnel entrance where Ajax had emerged before. The four Délons stood at the mouth of the tunnel holding onto the chains with all their might. They were being tugged to and fro.

  I walked past them and stood face-to-face with Ajax. He had dwarfed me before, but now, he was twice as big. He huffed and grunted and dug at the thick metal collar around his neck. He was too agitated to take notice of me yet. His face was deeply scarred. The wisdom that used to dwell in his penetrating stare was gone. The swollen eye was as big as a grapefruit, but the other eye was fierce and beyond angry. He rose up and pounded his chest, pock-pock-pock. That’s when he noticed me. He stopped as if on command.

  “Ajax,” I said. “It’s me.”

  He blew air through his massive nostrils, and let out a vocalization that emanated from his throat.

  “It’s Oz.” I said.

  He lurched forward. The Délons pulled back on the chains. Ajax stumbled.

  It pained me to see him in such a state. He was being tortured by the thoughts that were soaring through his marked brain. He wasn’t the Ajax I knew and loved. Then again, I wasn’t sure if I was the same Oz. I stepped forward, and he seemed to be startled by my lack of fear. The truth is I was scared to death. I wasn’t even sure what I was doing. I felt compelled to ease his anguish. He was my friend, and he was going to kill Pepper. I knew that it was against his nature to kill humans. The marking would wear off, and when it did, he would be stuck with the memory of what he’d done. I’m not sure he would be able to live with himself. He had been raised by a human, taught to speak American Sign Language. He was a gentle being at heart.

  I hooked my bent right index finger, palm facing down, over the bent left index finger, palm facing up, and then reversed the position of the hands and repeated the gesture.

  Ajax snorted and shook his head.

  I signed the word for “friend” again.

  Ajax snarled his lip and planted his knuckles on the concrete floor of the tunnel. The four Délons holding his chains watched with mild interest as their champion calmed.

  I made the sign again.

  Ajax sat on his haunches and raised his massive arms. He made an ‘L’ shape with his right hand and touched the right side of his forehead. Palm facing left, he moved the right hand downward, landing across the thumb side of the left ‘L’ hand, palm facing right.

  I didn’t understand the sign. He repeated it. I shrugged my shoulders. He shook his head and grunted, clearly frustrated. If I had to guess, he was calling me a loser.

  My sign language vocabulary was limited. I pulled out the ones I could remember. I turned up my left palm and made two quick brushing movements with the fingertips of my right hand. “Forgive.” I pointed to him.

  He cocked his head to the right. He was mulling over my sign. What was I forgiving him for? I bowed my head. If he only knew.

  The crowd of Délons parted, making way for his entrance. I smiled and nodded before I bolted through the cleared pathway back toward the general and the others.

  General Roy watched me approach with a confused look on his face. He wanted to know what I had been up to. I ran up to him.

  “Save the dramatics,” I said. “I know everything.”

  “Everything?” He squinted his dead eyes.

  “Pepper Sands is Ajax’s opponent.” I pointed to the tunnel where Pepper would soon emerge. “Newell is behind that crowd of freaks.” I pointed to the Délons standing in front of us. “And a little farther to the right are my friends. Like I said, I know everything.”

  He was angry that I had ruined his surprise. He wanted to ask how, but he didn’t want to give me the satisfaction. So I offered up a lie to get under his skin a little deeper.

  “The Pure knows all.”

  He shook with anger.

  Having sufficiently pissed him off, I quickly moved to the other tunnel. I fought my way through the Délons to the tunnel opening. This was going to be harder. I had to say goodbye to a dead man.

  Hollis greeted me with a startled expression as he saw me approach. “Oz?”

  “Dr. Hollis.”

  He smiled. “Well, I’ll be. It is you.” He stepped toward me, not knowing whether a hug or handshake was appropriate. At the last second, he opted for the handshake. I grabbed his hand and shook it firmly. “How about that? You’re about an inch taller, but it’s you all right. Hey, Pep, look who it is.”

  The beefed up Pepper stepped out of the shadows. He peered at me with his open eye. The veins on his forehead were throbbing. His lips had a blue tint. He was shivering. He was freezing inside. It was painfully obvious.

  “Pepper,” I said.

  He nodded his head. I’m not sure he recognized me.

  “It’s Oz, Pepper,” Hollis said. He turned to me. “He’s not really himself right now. They...”

  “Marked him,” I said pointing to my once swollen eye.

  Hollis’s shoulders dropped. He knew what my marking meant. I was to become a Délon. “They do it before every match. He’s a crowd favorite.”

  “And you?” I asked. “What’s your function here?” It came off as accusatory when I didn’t mean it to be.

  “I’m his handler. Pepper worked out a deal with the Délons. He’ll be their champion as long as I’m spared,” he pointed to my eye. “You know.”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  Pepper stared at me.

  “October 2004,” I said. “Against Tampa Bay, you had two sacks, a fumble recovery, and an interception return for a touchdown. You were a one man wrecking crew.”

  He managed a smile. “Still am, kid. I still am.”

  “Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy,” I said.

  It was Pepper’s turn to cock his head in confusion.

  “You told me that once,” I said.

  “F. Scott Fitzgerald,” he said.

  I nodded.

  “Today’s not my day for a tragedy, kid.”

  I smiled feebly. “You’re Pepper Sands!”

  “I’m Pepper Sands!” He barked back. He pounded his chest with his fists.

  I wanted to tell him to turn and run, to get the hell out of the stadium, Délon City, the United States, hell, to get off the damn planet, but I couldn’t. His fate was sealed, and there was nothing I could do about it.

  ***

  General Roy had prodded me to join him in the luxury box before the match officially got underway, but I rejected his offer for many reasons. Not the least of which was that my
parents, or what used to be my parents, were waiting for me up there. I couldn’t stand to see them again. It would have been yet another reminder of how badly I had failed.

  After Devlin was revealed to me this time, Newell was dragged out in front of the Délons, and beaten severely. The crowd cheered uproariously with each blow he received from his two Délon escorts. It was sickening. I knew that Newell had the power to stop it, just as he had done before, but he didn’t. He took the beating because it was part of the story. He was willing to die if meant ending the coming of all seven races of Destroyers. I got a lump in my throat as I realized for the first time what a real hero was.

  The general allowed Wes, Valerie, Tyrone, and Kimball to stay with me on the edge of the clearing. I’m not sure why exactly. Part of me thought he was a little afraid of me now that he thought I was in communication with the Pure. But only a little. He was beginning to believe as Reya did, that it would be safer to kill me so that the Pure couldn’t use me to find the Source.

  Before the fight began I turned to Lou. “Do you remember any of Ajax’s sign language?”

  “Some,” she said.

  “What about this?” I repeated the sign Ajax had given me in the tunnel.

  She thought it over, repeating it several times herself. “Oh,” she yelped as it came to her. “Brother.”

  I stared at her in disbelief. “Brother?” I whispered.

  “Why?” she asked.

  I didn’t answer. Did Ajax consider me a brother? What was he telling me?

  The Délons still had Ajax on his chains. He was more agitated than he had been before. He was ready for a fight.

  Pepper stood stoically. Hollis was saying something to him. Trying to get him to visualize every aspect of the fight, I imagined. Trying to predetermine Pepper’s victory. It wouldn’t come.

  Lou saw me staring at Pepper. “How are we going to stop this?”

  I didn’t acknowledge her.

  “Oz, how...”

  “We’re not!” I barked.

  She was hurt by both my tone and my answer. “What do you mean?”

  “Just what I said.”

  “But Ajax will kill him.”

  I thought of Newell taking the beating when he didn’t have to. I thought of a thousand other sacrifices that I had heard about in my lifetime. They all were about men and women sacrificing themselves for the greater good. I couldn’t recall one story where someone let their friend die for the greater good. It was a far greater sacrifice.