Chương 18: The Unveiling of the Death Game

The deaths games… we stand in front of a giant garage door that slowly starts to open. I look to my left and I see Cheshire, standing there, looking up at the door with so much intense anticipation, the light in her eye that twinkled, you could feel the intense joy and passion coming off of her with a smile on her face that marched the grinch. I couldn't understand… Was she happy? What for? This was about to become a slaughter house. Most of us could die including her and she's Happy?

I couldn't understand it but the more I looked at her… as the door began opening, a light from outside passed through the open area of the door and light shun on her face. Her white hair, shun even brighter, her eyes that twinkled became rubies, her soft face with her pink plush cheeks where complimented by the light as she smiled even more. In that moment, though there were hundreds of people around her. It felt like she was the only one standing there. She was truly and breathtakingly beautiful. Yet, as if it was some plot twist to some show that immediately changed, that beautiful spell she had casted on me was broken, because once the door opened she turned to look at me with the smile of some fiendish female antagonist from some anime. Her head bent to the side at 90degrees and her emerald eyes lit up

"Don't die on me eddy"

She said. Then she blended into the crowd with her katana as the force of a hundred people created a wave that threw everyone out of the space and unto the field of the stadium. There were so many… so many people and so many demons. The stadiums inside had a field with grass reaching our ankles and lines drawn on it, the lines were going from top to bottom on the field but in there was one line that split down from the middle.

There were also lights that covered the ceiling of the stadium and as more people spread around the lights shun on us, they were almost blinding. Just then another door had opened up on the opposite end of were we were had come from and there came out those wearing the blue uniforms earlier with salvation engraved on their backs. As they had entered the lights quickly shifted to them, there I saw my friends… my cell mates. I noticed they were all out in front but behind Cayafaz. I quickly waved to them to let them know where I was, I could tell some wanted to wave back but none could because of Cayafaz, he must have said something to them before they entered to make them as hateful to me as he was. I truly felt bad about this but I couldn't complain. I too have things of my own I wish to achieve. I clenched my fist tightly and held my weapons firmly, ready for battle

Just then from the top of the stadium a horn was blow. It was a part of the stadium I hadn't noticed because of all the lights. The horn had stolen everyone's attention, the audience and those of us performing looked up, all the lights on the stadium turned to the spot where the horn was blown and not to my surprise, of course, in front of us, at the very top of the stadium was a space reserved for the V.I.P of this event. The clown, with two empty seats next to him. He stands on the chair and steps forward to do a dramatic pose placing his right foot on the rails of the V.I.P spot. A golden Mic with a silver wire slowly descends from the above his head. He grabs it and clears his throat, slightly coughing into the mic. Then he speaks

"Ladies, Gentlemen and demons of all types. I welcome you to this prison's great sporting event, the first ever. Death gaaaaaaaaaaames!!!" the whole crowd cheered him as he flipped off his chair and stuck both feet on the rails playing with the wires of the mic in the process. He laughed into the mic a bit and asked the crowd

"Aren't you excited folks? I expected a better and louder scream than that" The crowd somehow got even louder and cheered even more, then he said "Today you get to watch these animals go up against each other and kill themselves until one team is victorious! Man will be put against man in these troubled times and only the strong can overcome it. Today we see those who are strong for ourselves. I know most of you already have favorites from the torture data and some of your favorites are down there right now, a lot of you have already even placed your bets and I'm telling you we can't wait to see which one of your gambles pays off"

In that moment it hit me, and I stumbled. Like a gunshot through my head, it hit so hard di nearly fell over. This really is a game and there are people here who are betting on our lives. The clown went on

"Please if your feeling unsure about your bets I do urge you to change them now because once the game starts I'm afraid you'll be incapable of changing them again" The crowd mumbles for a bit and the clown giggles into the mic

"Well it looks like you folks are thinking it over so we will give you two minutes to decide but while you do that, we will like to explain the reasoning behind the creation of these two teams, not for our audience but for our entertainers down on the field especially for team salvation since their looking a little confused. Hahaha, but I won't be handling that instead my lovely assistant, the demon Miss Mercury. Take it away darling!"

A woman suddenly walks through the curtains into the V.I.P area and she isn't a demon, at least by appearance… she's human. She's a Caucasian female with blond hair that was packed all the way to the back in a doughnut style. She had a pen going through one side of her hair and coming out the other, black glasses, she had on a black pencil skirt that highlighted her…features and a blue stripped and ash colored dress shirt. She had a mic in her ear. She approaches the rails standing behind it and pulls the pen out of her hair with her right hand. In her left hand she holds a clipboard and using the pen she guides what is written on the board so she doesn't lose track of what she's saying

"Well everyone, I'm sure you all wonder how the teams were decided for this game, well most of the clue to how it was done is engraved unto your tracksuits that your wearing, teams Damnation and Salvation. Also, to further prevent any confusion your uniforms were given unique designs and colors. The suits also work as enhancers of course, like the wings on team salvations backs? Those aren't just for show. Those wings allow you to fly for short periods of time. Sadly, those of team damnation have no such thing but luckily if you can steal or tear off the wings from those on team salvation you can put them on the back of your suits and fly too"

"Come on Mercury, tell them how they were really divided into the teams they are on now. That's the real fun"

"Of course, sir. You see, based on psychic evaluation it was determined there are two types of natures over all in this prison and that is those who are incapable of being saved and those who are still redeemable. Hence the two teams, damnation and salvation"

"That's right cool kids, in the right corner we have the undesirables, the unsalvageable, the truly rotten by nature, you can even see the murder in some of their eyes, look at them licking their lips, they can't wait to rip into you guys he-he, give it up for TEAM DAMNATION!" The crowd cheers

"And in the left corner we have those whose souls may not be pure but they can still be saved, give it up for TEAM SALVATION" The crowd cheers some more

"Now I know what a lot of you might be thinking, but despite your thoughts the truth is salvation and damnation don't oppose each other. You all might think these two things cannot co-exist, that they oppose each other. But in truth both these things work side by side. They need each other to thrive, because for you to be saved… You gotta be damned first" He smirks and all the stadium chuckles a bit, he goes on

"Huh?" He says as he laughs "Don't you agree? Ha-ha. Then come on then! Let's have ourselves a death game"

His assistant then tells us all the conditions for winning and loosing and how

"The conditions for winning and losing. Its either a team is wiped out or another team concedes, but in the situation were a team selects a leader and that leader chooses to surrender or is killed that team loses. It also counts as a loss if your leader or most of your team falls into the pit"

A player then asks "What pit?" The clown responds

"Oh, I'm so glad you asked" All of a sudden, the ground starts to shake and the Edges of the field start to break apart, the stadium expands and as the field gets further away from the stands, a sound of roaring comes from underneath the field. Several loud roars consume the whole stadium as participants run to the edge of the field to see what the roars are

"To make these games more exciting we threw in a chimera pit filled with all sorts of flesh-eating beasts. If you're to fall in there you will be devoured without a trace not even a stain of blood will be left. So please, try not to fall in but also do fall in so you make it entertaining for us ok?"

One of the participants near me then said "You can't be serious"

"Well it seems our time is up and the two minutes left to change bets has passed, the audience seems to have polled most of their money into team salvation, but those who did bet on team damnation put all their money on one person and she will be the M.V.P of this match. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Cheshire!"

The lights move towards her position on the field and there I find Cheshire on my right. Just standing there, behind five other people. She looks up to the spotlight and gives the crowd a smile and a wave with katana in hand

"Isn't she something folks? Well I think you all have waited long enough. Players! Take your places"

Everyone on the field takes position and somehow, I end up on the front lines with the first row of people to attack, when I turned back I noticed we arranged ourselves on the field like we were playing rugby, the only difference is the numbers didn't match up. There were a hundred people on both teams so there were ten rows of ten people.

I was the fifth person on the first row, Cheshire was the second person on the third row. I faced team salvation and noticed Cayafaz had taken the same position as me. Meaning once we charged he and I would be clashing. I also noticed Mr. Will, Maya, Ethan and Isabel. They were all lined up on the same row at the back. I think it was the fifth row but I couldn't be sure. The weapons they all had on them were the kind that complimented them. Cayafaz had a spear, Mr. Will had two axes, Ethan had two golden desert eagles, Maya had a Glock 19, and Isabel had an AK47. Suddenly, the clown cleared his throat and told the crowd he wished to give a speech. The arena became silent and calm

"To those who will die in these games, know that it is unavoidable that this is your fate. That is why I believe if you must die then let it be with a fighting spirit and on your own terms. That is the true purpose of the death games, you can choose to take a life before dying or die with your hands clean. In this moment… for the first time in your lives, your lives are in your hands and you shape what comes out of it. Now, show us! All of us in this arena, a true demonstration of men who have nothing to lose. Fight with a power that would make the Angels scream! And the Devil cry!"

The crowd runs wild, he's speech even has some of the participants pumped. When I turned to look back all of a sudden, the faces that were once riddled with despair were filled with passion, they gnashed their teeth, lifted their heads and shouted a big cheer for the clown. Even Cheshire! Everyone praised the clown and he basked in it. From the field I glared at him and eventually his eyes caught mine and he returned the glare with a smile. That was when…Unknowingly we had jumped into a hell we had created. The bloodshed started when the first gun shot went off from someone on team Salvation while everyone was still distracted. The player who was shot was instantly killed… And the clown used it as the signal to start the death games. In words of his own, he said

"Spread death" and both sides clashed

Cheshire who was behind me suddenly started to leap over people with ease but as she ran there were those who she couldn't go through…without cutting them down. So, if you were an obstacle she couldn't overcome…shed cut through you instead. Our own team mates and the opposition both fell at her hands. She didn't have a specific person she wanted to kill on the field and she didn't necessarily have to kill anyone, she wasn't a target and she wasn't really being targeted but not long after she had killed a few people someone from team salvation approached her. A big, bald, muscular man with the tattoo of two crescent moons around his left eye approached her. He was huge, he had to be at least 6,9 with a deep voice and to top it off his weapon was almost as large as he is. He had a rectangular mace that was 5,6 and rather than having spikes coming out of it, it had studs on every inch of its body besides the very top. He approached her with the weapon in one hand and said to her

"You look strong…wanna fight?"

"Hoooo? You want to fight me? I mean i've been looking for a strong opponent and you sure do look strong, but are you really?" Cheshire asked with a cocky smile

He cracked his knuckles one at a time up until the last one. His thumb on his left hand he left alone and with that hand he slowly reached for his weapon

"I dunno. How about you decide if I'm strong to you through our weapons?"

"Ha!" Cheshire responded, brandishing her katana she took a stance with both hands on the blades hilt and yelled "Let's dance then!"

The brute took his mace "Come at me!"

And so, the two clashed. The agile Cheshire Cat and the Brute of the garden both square off. Their weapons clashing so hard the sounds draw the attention of the audience even some of the fighters on the field can't help but gaze in awe. I on the other hand couldn't afford to watch her fight because when the brute attacked Cheshire, Ethan leaped out in the confusion to attack me. His guns clash with my blades and were caught in a dance that pushes us away from the crowd to a more open space on the field

"Of course, you were the one going to attack me, Ethan!"

"You always let your guard down, Ed! But that's fine because if anyone is going to kill you it should at least be your friend"

"Pretty considerate but, I'm afraid I can't let myself be killed, not even by you, Ethan!"

He uses the head of his gun in his left hand to turn my blades. My right hand goes down but our weapons still clash.

"Did you miss your chance?" I say playfully teasing him but just then I realize, because of his actions I've moved from my position right into his line of fire. I looked down and saw his right hand pointed at my stomach

*Gasp*

I quickly try to move my body further to my right side

"Predictable" Ethan says then with his hand in the same position he turns the head of his gun further to his left but facing downwards.

"Wait!? Your aiming at my knee?!" I try to move my leg but it's useless I won't be able to pull back in time. His fingers slowly slip on the trigger and I start thinking to myself in that moment, if I take a mobility injury I'm screwed! There's no way ill be able to prevent the others from killing me.

Suddenly I had a bright idea. Instead of trying to dodge I use the blade in my right hand to reach for my calves were Ethan's aiming for and block his bullet. Just when his fingers are about to squeeze the trigger I quickly use my thumb to push my blade by the hilt further. Ethan fires his weapon but my knife makes it in time to deflect it, passing in-between his legs. We both look down and see none of us have managed to draw blood then look back at each other. I let out a sigh of relief and he looks at me with a crocked smile then we break apart. He sets himself up for another clash after firing four shots off in my direction but he misses all his shots

"Your wasting valuable bullets, Ethan! Give them to someone who can actually kill me or let someone else takeover"

"You know" He reloads his guns using the dead bodies around him for cover. I also take cover behind a few "I don't appreciate the fact you're not even thanking me for taking the time to try and kill you but"

We both make a mad dash for each other "Since you want someone else so badly" It looks like the two of us are about to clash once more when Ethan suddenly dives to my side and coming from behind him is Cayafaz ready to thrust his spear into my chest

"How about you let him be your dance partner, Ed?"