Chương 4: Fighting For Life
Who's he talking about fighting to the death? I look around and I don't see anyone else here. I look out into the crowd and from the eyes that I can make out they are staring back at me.
The crowd is loud and I want to cover my ears to try and drown out the sounds of laughing and cheering. I keep looking around trying to figure out what is happening when the announcer moves on.
"It has been verified the boy has no training and has never held a weapon in his life. Due to his age and lack of training and in order to keep the bets fair we have brought in a special animal this time. For the first time ever the weakest beast in the entire universe a Kulga will be fighting."
The entire stadium is filled with laughs as the announcer finishes. I can now see fingers pointing at me and discussions working their way through the crowd. I over hear a conversation wondering with my age and lack of skill who will win me or the Kulga.
What is a Kulga? They are pointing at me and wondering who will win in a fight to the death me or it. Am I the one fighting? I look down at the knife in my hand and am hit with a sudden realization.
I am the youngest fighter in the history of The Pits. It's me they are talking about. They want me to fight to the death. They can't do this...they can't kidnap, torture and then throw me into a fight. This isn't real.
Tears start to fill my eyes as the realization of what's happening is sinking in. I'm scared...so scared I start shaking. My legs feel warm and wet and my arms feel numb and cold.
I hear more laughing as I struggle with what's happening. Suddenly I hear someone yell out that he peed himself. Who peed themselves? I look and he is pointing his finger at me. I look down and my legs are wet and I'm standing in a puddle.
Suddenly people start screaming that they want to bet on the Kulga. Does them winning mean that I die? These people are betting that I will die and the weakest beast in the entire universe will live?
This is real...the people betting, the cage, the knife in my hand, and the animal that will be coming out, they are all real. This thought suddenly shakes my mind and moves me to my soul. Any second now I will be fighting whether I want to or not and no one will help me. Not only will they not help me they will be cheering for the very thing that will be trying to kill me.
In my entire life I have never thought about life or death. I have never given a thought to strong or weak. In my short life I have only ever thought about playing with some friends, hugging my mom, and sometimes getting away with a little more than I should have.
I don't know or understand why this is happening to me. I understand the person who brought me here was looking at me with pity as he stared at me in the cell. I didn't know why he was looking at me that way then but now I understand. I'm supposed to die here. Why would someone kidnap me, torture me and then force me to my death?
As these thoughts are running through my head the announcer continues.
"The fight will start in 3 kelkar, any bets you are going to make need to be made before the Kulga comes out."
For some reason when the announcer tells everyone the fight will start in 3 kelkar I know that translates to roughly 5 minutes on earth.
As I listen, I don't hear a single bet placed for me. I hear tens of thousands of people scream to bet on the Kulga. They are laughing as they place their bets talking about how this is the easiest money they will ever make.
As I am listening to them talk and bet I feel a strange sensation. In the middle of everything that's going on I find myself wondering if I have ever felt this way before. I think back and can't remember a single time feeling this way. For the first time in my life I feel angry.
I feel anger at whoever took me. I feel anger at the torture I had to endure that makes me want to pass out every time I think of it. I feel anger at the cell I woke up in. I feel anger at the man who brought me here and didn't say a word. I feel anger at the announcer who told everyone I would be fighting a life and death battle.
I feel anger at all of it and all of them but more than that I feel anger at every single one of the people who are laughing, watching, cheering and betting on my death.
A thought suddenly strikes me....am I going to let them have the satisfaction of winning a bet against me?
I have never been a competitive person. In fact, I have always been the type who would give in to prevent confrontation anytime confrontation would present itself.
Sure, sometimes others and even my friends would roll over me but that was fine because getting along moves us along. Everyone around me really appreciated that I would compromise so easily and quickly.
So as this thought was rolling around in my mind there was a significant internal struggle. For the very first time I was asking myself a simple but profound question. Rather than compromise, rather than give in, should I stand and fight back?
I found myself debating back and forth as I was anguish. This was counter intuitive to who I am. As I feel myself struggling the announcer interrupts my thoughts.
"Less than one Kelkar to get your bets in. How lucky this audience is! Of all of the fights that have ever taken place in The Pit this is the first of its kind. Depending on how this fight goes this may be the last fight of its kind, hahahahahaha...get your bets in or you'll regret it."
Hahahahahahahahahaha....I suddenly start laughing. What am I thinking? What internal struggle am I having? Compromise? Give in? Fight back? What kind of stupid questions am I asking myself?
There is no compromise, giving in or option of fighting back or not fighting back. There is only it dies or I die. Those are my options. As I look at the crowd a sneer moves across my lips.
Suddenly I feel a calm that I didn't know I was capable of. My legs stop shaking and the tears stop moving down my cheek. I take my arm and wipe the remaining tears out of my eyes and face.
I don't know what's going to happen me tomorrow...I don't know what's going to happen to me after the fight but I know I'm not going to give all of these people the satisfaction of collecting on whatever it is they are betting.
I take the knife in my hand and I move it around a little. I try slashing it front of me a few times. It feels awkward as the knife is pretty heavy. Do they even make knives for a boy my age?
Getting a feel for the knife in my hand I start to think about how I should fight. I have never been in a fight, thinking back I don't ever remember even seeing a fight. Even if I have seen a fight and forgot about it, I can be 100% certain I have never seen a knife fight or a fight to the death.
I suddenly realize that in the last few seconds my entire demeanor has changed. One minute ago, I was wholly consumed in my fear. I was scared to the point that I wasn't thinking logically or with any common sense. After coming to the realization that I would have to fight and accepting that I was going to fight it feels as if though my entire body is lighter. My emotions that normally run wild and admittedly weak are calm and if I have any emotion right now it would only be anger.
"All bets are now closed! We of The Pit are excited to bring you a one of a kind can't be found anywhere else fight as the youngest member to ever be sentenced to The Pits is now standing before you in the ring. Normally before our members fight, we explain in detail the reason that member has been condemned to fight in The Pits. In the case of this young member he has been personally thrown into The Pits by his Majesty with no explanation except that his crime is so grave it threatened every single member of the empire to the point that we could all lose our lives."
I did what? What could I possibly do to threaten these people? Weren't they the ones who took me? Weren't they the ones who tortured me? Weren't they the ones who threw me in a cell? Aren't they the ones forcing me to fight in this cage?
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.....I want to scream. The calm I had a moment ago is replaced with pure unfiltered anger. I'm so angry I can't control my breathing and I start taking big breadths as I listen to the announcer continue.
"Due to the severity of his crimes his Majesty has decided that this boy will even die without a name."
I hear the crowd gasp as its announced that I'm expected to die today without anyone even knowing my name.
I hear one of the people in the crowd as he yells at me to die. Apparently to be sent into The Pits without a name represents the most heinous of crimes. I'm being cursed and screamed at as if though I'm the most venomous snake to ever exist.
Calm down. I take a deep breath in and blow it out slow and easy. I have never been in a fight before but I somehow know that getting angry and losing my composure will only make it easier for whatever a Kulga is to kill me.
"As always there is no rules in the cage. Punch, kick, bite, chew do whatever you can and want to get out of their alive. With that let the fight BEGIN!!!"
I hold my breadth as I see the cage door open and the opponent that wants my life walks through the door.
The Kulga came sprinting through the open cage door. After clearing the door, it came to a sudden stop and puts its nose in the air as if taking in the smell of the entire place.
As Yuta measured up The Kulga he realized it was tall for an animal at roughly 1.5 meter as it stands on its hind legs. Its short arms looked like it should make it much easier for him to get away from the Kulga when it attacks. While its overall features were similar to a rabbit from his home it was hairless, had sharp claws and seemed to be a predator rather than the prey he recognized.
As he stood there taking in the first animal he had seen from wherever he was the Kulga looked over and noticed him standing there.
"Kill him, I bet everything I have on that boy's death. If you kill him now, I will make sure you have the greatest feast a Kulga has ever had."
The shout came down from the crowd and as if the Kulga understood what was being screamed it lowered its head and started bouncing at Yuto incredibly fast. Faster than Yuto could bring up his knife to defend himself the Kulga took its sharp claws and slid them through Yuto stomach.
While the cut was not incredibly deep do to the short claws of the Kulga blood did burst from Yuto's side and he keeled over in pain. Noticing that he had struck Yuto with a devastating attack the Kulga turned to attack again.
This time Yuto took the knife and swung haphazardly to his front without any technique or strength. As it was slow and powerless the Kulga had no problem dodging the knife ducking under it and taking a stab at Yuto's left leg. His claws dug in deep into the area just above his knee.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh" Yuto screamed out loud as he finished his motion of falling. Yuto took his right hand and reached down to his side. His hand felt warm and slightly sticky. Bringing his hand up to his face he was appalled at the site of his own blood.
"Hahahahahahah, this brat won't even survive for one minute. After this fight is over, I'll make a fair bit of money. The odds for him to lose were only 4 to 2 but it sure is easy money. "
"The greatest idiot in the history of the Universe is Sneed, that moron bet everything on the kid, hahahahahahaha."
Sneed had tears flowing down his face as he listened to everyone around him laughing at his misery. He had thought since everyone else was betting on the boy's death it would be the perfect opportunity for him to finally catch his lucky break.
The odds of the boy winning were 1000 to 1. So only a 1 franar bet would net him 1000 franar. He had bet 5,000 franar which was everything he had. He had a sick daughter at home that took up every bit of money he earned and then some. With all bets going against the boy it drove the odds for the boy's victory to an astronomical level. Never in the history of The Pit had there been anything even above a 10 to 1 payout.
Sneed watched as the boy took a claw to his side and started to buckle over. To his horror the boy couldn't even hit the ground from his first injury before having his leg destroyed as well.
At this point he wasn't just watching the boy die, he was watching his daughter die as well. The money he bet was money he had saved for her cure. There were advanced doctors that could cure her but they were expensive. He had to keep her current treatments up because if he stopped she would die almost immediately. Her current treatments ate up all of his money not allowing him to save up money to cure her permanently. The treatments were not as effective and it was taking more and more to keep her alive. At this rate within 6 months she would die. That's why he took this chance, if that boy could somehow win he could save his daughter.
Watching the boy hit the ground the tears started streaming down Sneed's face. He couldn't be bothered to listen to the mob laughing at his misery as his mind was only filled with the thought of his daughter.
Sneed stared down at the boy who was now covered in blood from the waist down and clinched his fist. He lifted his head up and yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Stand up and FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE!!!!"
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