Gyaros Book One: The Mice Eat Iron (YA 17+ Sci Fi Adventure) (42 page)

“Ladies and gentlemen, the winners are
…..THE DUSTBOWLERS!” roared the announcer triumphantly and, on cue, the spectators showered the stadium with a powerful audio blast of approval. Kevin, Janice and Roger bowed and basked in the praise and adulation before making their way to the exit and disappearing from the pit.

“Hey Maxen,” said Miles with fear in his eyes
, “do you really think we can do this? I mean thrashwings are one thing but those guys are killing machines!”

“Heh,” Maxen laughed
, “you worry too much man, you’re gonna get an ulcer or somethin’, you just leave it up to Uncle Max.” He patted Lucy on the head and smiled down at her reassuringly, “besides, hopefully we’ll get an easier team than them guys!” Maxen laughed but Miles didn’t find it funny. ‘Hopefully?! That’s the plan? To hope for an easy battle?!’ Miles felt his stomach groan and tighten. He felt faint and waves of nausea swept over him as it does when one lets fear take hold.

Bizarre, crunching music was booming over the loud speakers during the intermission as people made their way to and from their seats. The fifteen minute break between fights felt like an eternity to Miles who was truly terrified. He’d felt the fear of impending death plenty of times since arriving on Gyaros but never had the stakes been so high. Failure here meant death not only for him but for Lucy and Maxen too, and he was so close, so close to New Fortune, so close to finding a way home. Miles gulped hard trying to keep the desire to throw up at bay when suddenly the music died down and the announcer’s familiar voice once again filled the arena.

“Ladies and gentlemen, prepare for the eighth and final fight of the day!”

The crowd responded with the usual hoots and
hollers.

“You three,” said a burly man
to Miles’ right who was pointing and looking directly at him, “you’re up.”

Miles looked behind himself hoping desperately that the man was referring to someone else, but he was not. Miles, Lucy an
d Maxen were indeed up, Miles prayed that their number wasn’t as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 24

Miles' heart
pounded loudly in his ears as they were lead down another dark tunnel by a large security guard wearing a fluorescent orange vest, pools of wet blood and patches of dry blood could be seen covering the ground beneath them, illuminated by dull fluorescent lights on the ceiling of the tunnel. Miles kept his right hand tightly wrapped around the revolver tucked into his trousers, making absolutely sure it was with him at all times, his left hand held Lucy firmly around her shoulder, keeping her close. ‘Holy shit, this is it. Just stick to the plan, let Maxen do the fighting. Everything is going to be fine...’ The cheers and hollers of the crowd above sounded distant and muffled from within the tunnel and the announcer could barely be heard preparing the bloodthirsty spectators for the next fight. As the end of the dark passage came into view, two men could be seen walking in the opposite direction, pushing large wheel barrows containing the lifeless, mangled corpses of The Wasteland Warriors. A chill ran down Miles' spine as he imagined himself, Maxen and Lucy being rolled away in a similar fashion. He clenched his teeth and pushed the gruesome image from his mind.

“You and Lucy just stay back and let me handle the fightin',” Maxen reminded Miles as the three of them drew closer to the arena, Miles nodded his head
, fighting off another urge to be sick, and looked down at Lucy who hadn't said a word as they made their way through the tunnel, her brow was furrowed and her lips closed tightly in a look of intense focus. Miles’ mouth was as dry as the red desert and his stomach felt like it was housing a roller coaster, he’s never felt such a powerful sense of dread as he did at that moment.

The
roar around the stadium grew louder and louder as the three members of the opposing team could be seen through the arch of the tunnel's exit.

“Wait a second...”
shouted Miles as he looked out at the three fighters on the other side of the pit, his heart rate going up yet another gear, “that looks like The fucking Dustbowlers!”

“Shit,” replied Maxen
placing his hands on his head, “we're fighting them too?” Miles’ heart sank to his stomach as he realized they were to fight the same team which had altogether destroyed The Wasteland Warriors in less than five minutes. They were only six meters away from entering the battleground when The Dustbowlers noticed them. Miles swallowed hard and took a deep breath before stepping into the sandy pit of the arena with Maxen and Lucy. He looked back down the tunnel. ‘Maybe we can make a run for it.’ But the heavy guards looked just as forbidding as The Dustbowlers. At the sight of Maxen’s Marauders the crowd exploded again with a combination of deafening cheers, boos, and whistles. Miles was shaking uncontrollably as adrenaline coursed through his veins. It was one thing to watch savage conflict from the stands above but standing in the blood soaked sand with hundreds of thousands of spectators crying out for your gruesome and brutally entertaining death was an entirely different experience.

“Feast your eyes on our next challengers!” The booming voice of the announcer almost gave Miles a heart attack as it blasted through the speakers
from above, the giant screen was now displaying a close up shot of Miles, Maxen and Lucy. The fear on their faces was apparent and the audience loved it.

“All first time combatants here at Titans Arena,” the announcer continued
, “the big fella with the shiny arm is Maxen Ward, I don't know about you folks but I wouldn’t wanna get on this guy's bad side! In fact, there's been a rumour going around that just a week ago, he took down a thrashwing queen single handed!”

The audience roared loudly for Maxen as the opposing team rolled their eyes and made rude gestures towards the three challengers.

“And accompanying Maxen in the pit, on a very special daddy, daughter day, Miles and Lucy Stanton!” Miles pulse shot up even more as he was introduced to the stadium, he felt like his heart would simply give out at any moment.

“These two may not look like much but Miles has one big ass revolver on his side which I'm guessing he knows how to use and little Lucy here has a few tricks of her own, let's hear it for
MAXEN’S MARAUDERS!”

The massive crowd erupt
ed, physically shaking the arena and Miles knew that it wouldn't be long before the combat began.

“Let's not keep you fine folks waiting any longer! You're here for blood and you're gonna get it!”

“This is it, Miles,” Maxen shouted over the noise of the stadium, Miles nodded and took another deep breath. There was no going back now, within minutes Miles knew he would be either dead or on his way to New Fortune.

“
FIVE!”

The Dustbowlers once again prepared for action as the countdown began.

“FOUR!”

Maxen stepped in front of the other two, shifting his arm to its weaponized form.

“THREE!”

Miles drew his revolver and held it tight with his right hand,
keeping his other hand on Lucy's shoulder, holding her close.

“
TWO!” 

'Maxen knows what he's doing
,' Miles assured himself desperately. 'Just stay back, protect Lucy and everything will be fine.'

“
ONE!”

The
audience again fell dead silent as they waited anxiously for the battle to commence.

“
LET THE FIGHT BEGIN!” The deafening roar of the spectators returned in an instant, the battle had started and The Dustbowlers began to fan out across the arena ground, staying in formation. Kevin the Kreep took the left flank with Roger Gunn supporting from the right while Janice slowly made her way down the centre of the pit, swinging the heavy chain above her head with a terrifying grin across her beautiful, but battle scarred face. Maxen remained alert, keeping track of every opponent as he contemplated his first move. Miles and Lucy stayed behind him in an attempt to avoid conflict, but remained on their toes and ready to defend themselves if it became necessary. Maxen waited no longer, pointing his cannon in the direction of Kevin the Kreep he fired the devastating weapon. A blue ball of energy hurtled towards the cleaver clutching combatant but before it could make contact, Kevin dived out of the way, barely managing to evade the deadly projectile, part of his long flowing jacket was ripped by Maxen’s blast, making him visibly angry. The energy ball continued past its target and headed toward the audience. Miles held his breath but the blast hit an invisible force field and dissipated. ‘Huh, a shield to protect the audience from the battle’. Taking advantage of the brief moment of confusion, Janice sprinted wildly toward Maxen, her long chain building momentum. Maxen turned just in time to see the bloodied chain swinging towards his face horizontally, instinctively bringing his robotic arm up to deflect the blow with a loud metallic crash. The crowd “oohed”. Maxen had saved himself from certain death though was knocked to the ground by the heavy strike. Miles' terrified eyes watched the scene unfold in front of him as Janice stood over Maxen, swinging her chain once more in preparation for a final attack. Miles raised his gun to shoot but he didn’t have a clear shot, the way his hands were shaking he was just as likely to hit Maxen. Janice raised her chain into the air, grinning like a maniac. But before the bloodthirsty woman could bring the chain down on Maxen and finish the fight, Maxen pulled his right leg up to his chest and released a powerful kick to her stomach, causing her to stumble back, breaking the flowing swing of the chain and letting it fall forcefully onto her knee with an audible crunch.

“Ah, FUCK!”
screamed Janice, clutching her shattered kneecap.

Quickly scrambling to his feet, Maxen aimed his cannon at Janice and charged another shot, this time he didn't miss his target, the blazing projectile ripped through the enemy fighter, tearing apart the top half of her body and covering a significant area of the pit with a layer of thick red liquid
, leaving only a pair of blood soaked legs laying on the sand.

“Woah!
That thing really packs a PUNCH!” the announcer shouted excitedly over the speaker system as what remained of Janice's internal organs spread across the floor of the pit. The crowed loved it. Miles covered Lucy's eyes once again with his left hand, keeping his right wrapped around the revolver. ‘Shit, stay alert, this isn’t over yet!’ Kevin and Roger looked at each other in disbelief, their eyes bulging in their sockets. But their shock soon turned to rage at the death of their comrade, their faces contorting freakishly into psychotic grimaces.

“Looks like it's time to bring out our first critter!” The stadium roared louder
still with cheers and screams as a large black boar was thrown down into the pit. The creature began squealing frantically and charging toward Roger Gunn. But it didn't last long as the muscle bound monster made quick work of the wild animal, ripping both long tusks from its mouth and thrusting them through the boar's eyes and into its brain. He held the dead boar aloft and then tossed it away, roaring into the sky, veins bulging from his immense muscular chest, shoulders and arms. This distraction allowed Kevin to close the distance between himself and Maxen.

“Maxen, watch out!” Miles screamed at the top of his lungs as the dual cleaver wielder tackled his team mate's killer to the ground. Miles reacted quickly, bringing the sights of his gun to his eye and aiming the weapon at Kevin. But before he could fire, Miles felt a large hand wrap tightly around his neck as his feet were lifted
off the ground by Roger who smiled sadistically, now choking the life out of his helpless victim. Miles dropped his revolver and brought both hands up to his neck in a feeble attempt to loosen his attacker's grip. Meanwhile Maxen and Kevin struggled and scrapped on the arena floor. Kevin would strike with a cleaver and Maxen would block with his metal arm and return a punch to Kevin’s face with his other fist. It was impossible to tell who was winning the brawl as the two savage fighters took turns of pinning the other on the ground and raining down blows.

“
Things ain’t looking too good for Maxen’s Marauders!” yelled the announcer, stating the obvious. As Miles’ vision began to fade, he noticed the look in Lucy's eyes, the same look she had when she had attacked him at the gas station, the same as when she freed herself from the cannibal raiders in their desert camp.

“LET GO OF MY PAPA
!” she screeched with a terrifying spark in her usually soft brown eyes, her voice rising above the roar of the spectators as she leaped onto the huge man's back and began savagely clawing his neck with her fingers, digging them into the soft flesh of his throat. Roger let out a pained scream and dropped Miles onto the sand as he reached back and struggled to shake Lucy off. Eventually he succeeded, taking her by the leg and throwing her down hard onto the floor of the pit like a lifeless ragdoll. Her face struck the ground forcefully with an audible crunch. The crowd winced and let out a collective “ooh” as Lucy was slammed onto the dry, dusty ground. The pathetic, sickening sight of a child being treated so violently brought out a moment of sympathy even from this crowd.

“NO
!” Miles shouted, still trying to regain his breath as Roger prepared to finish off his opponent. The muscular freak crouched over Lucy and pulled back his arm for a final devastating blow but before he had a chance to launch the strike, he brought both hands to his head, collapsing to his knees beside Lucy and letting out a blood curdling howl.

“What's this? Looks like Roger's having some issues down there!”
said the announcer as the large screen above the arena shifted to a close up of the grimacing Gunn. Miles knew exactly what was going on, he had hoped that it wouldn't come to this but he gladly accepted any alternative to certain death for himself and Lucy. The crowd fell silent as they looked on at the strange events unfolding beneath them and all that could be heard were Roger's horrifying screams of agony. Lucy began to glow, emitting bright white light from somewhere deep inside just like she did the night she lost her arm. Even Maxen and Kevin stopped fighting, mesmerised by Roger’s sudden, unexplained behaviour. And then it happened, the screams came to an abrupt end as the huge man popped spectacularly and was reduced to little more than a puddle in the sand, his entire body exploding from the inside out sending gore hundreds of feet in every direction, some even reaching the shield that protected the audience, evaporating on contact. The entire stadium remained silent for several more seconds before bursting out once again in screams of excitement and shock, louder than ever!

“
WOW! She destroyed that guy without even touching him!” boomed the announcer. “This is unbelievable folks! That's two Dustbowlers down and-” Maxen seized the moment of disbelief, using his left hand to deliver a powerful punch to Kevin's, still slack, jaw. Freeing himself from his attacker's hold, he climbed to his feet and finished off the last remaining opponent swiftly, the same way he did with Janice. Kevin screamed, “NO!” and raised his hands to protect his face in a futile act of self-defence, but Maxen’s energy cannon ripped through Kevin’s flesh and bone like nothing, spreading a red jelly pulp across the gritty pit.

“Hold on
folks, make that three! Ladies and gentleman, THE DUSTBOWLERS HAVE BEEN DEFEATED! And not a single casualty for the opposing team, GIVE IT UP FOR MAXEN’S MARAUDERS! What an incredible victory!!” The arena stands erupted louder than ever as triumphant rock music blasted through the speakers. Chants of “MAXEN’S MARAUDERS! MAXEN’S MARAUDERS!” rocked the stadium, the spellbound spectators serenading their new heroes!

“Congratulations to our glorious victors! That was our final battle of the day folks, come back tomorrow for more un
beatable entertainment at TITANS ARENA!”

As spectators began
reluctantly leaving their seats with the help of the security staff, Miles ran as fast as he could over to the blood soaked Lucy who was lying unconscious in the sand. He threw himself to the ground and placed his arms around her, propping her head in his hand.

“Lucy, I’m sorry, I’m so sor
ry you had to be a part of this. I never wanted it to come to this,” Miles whispered as he wiped Roger’s blood from her scratched and slightly bruised face with his shirt. He could feel her little pulse pumping away in her right wrist, and her soft breath tickled his neck as he held her close. He took her limp body in his arms and stood up, regrouping with Maxen in the centre of the arena.

“Is she okay?”
asked Maxen, looking down at Lucy and wiping Kevin’s still warm blood from his cheeks.

“She'll be alright
in a while,” Miles replied, slowly regaining his breath, “how about you?”

“Still in on
e piece,” his voice wavered. Miles could tell from Maxen’s demeanour that he had underestimated the arena battles, he was visibly shaken, and it was not easy to shake Maxen.

Soon after the battle had finished, the familiar arena security guar
d returned and Miles and Maxen were escorted back through the tunnels that ran underneath the stadium stands. This time however, the guard took a left and the three were lead to a large mess hall occupied by several other arena fighters all dining on hearty meals of meat and bread.

“What's all this?” Maxen asked the burly security guard
, still dazed from the fight.

“Your dinner, on the house of course.” Although Miles was hardly in the mood to eat after witnessing the gruesome deaths of three people and with adrenaline still pumping through his system, he was happy about the free meal
. Food was not easy to come by on Gyaros, Miles knew that better than anyone, you just didn’t turn down free food on the red moon. However, the sight of large cuts of meat accompanied by a rich, thick gravy looked a little too much like Janice and Kevin’s remains for him to build up much of an appetite.

“You'll need your grub if you wanna survive your next fight tomorrow.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 25

“WHAT?!” Miles said, stopping in his tracks and quickly turning his head to the guard incredulously, a second battle was never part of the plan.

“What the fuck are you talkin' about? We're done with this place!” Maxen added angrily.

“Are you kiddin' me? You guys were way too entertaining, boss says you gotta do at least one more fight.”

“Fuck your boss!”
said Maxen, closing the distance between him and the security guard, “we're takin' our money and gettin' the fuck outta here.” The guard was clearly beginning to grow impatient with Miles and Maxen.

“You can leave whenever you like but you're not gettin' paid until you fight again
,” his nose now less than an inch from Maxen’s.

“We were almost killed out there! You expect us to do that again?!” Miles shouted, losing his temper.

“I expect you to do whatever the hell you want but if you guys want your money you gotta get back in that pit tomorrow! Now, if I were you, I'd start thinkin' about my options. Make up your minds and get the fuck outta my face!” With that, the security guard left, leaving Miles, Maxen and the still unconscious Lucy in the mess hall.

“Fuck!” Miles exclaimed loudly not paying any attention to the other combatants now staring at them
, “they can't do this! We need that money Maxen!”

“Chill the fuck out, man!” Maxen said, putting b
oth hands on Miles' shoulders. He took a deep breath before continuing, “look Miles, I don’t like it either, but it looks like we don't have much of a choice here, if we want that cash, we're gonna have to fight.”

“Are you serious? After what we just went through?”

“Let's just sit down and think about this.”

“Alright
,” Miles said quietly as he tried his best to calm himself, suddenly conscious of the number of eyes that were on him. He carefully sat Lucy down on one of the chairs that were placed around a square, four person table and took a seat next to her, gently moving the hair out of her face and resting her head so it was comfortable.

“Okay then,” said Maxen, sitting across from Miles and Lucy
, “looks like the only options we got are; one:” Maxen held up the index finger of his mechanical hand, “we forget about the money and head straight for New Fortune. Two:” he held up his middle finger, “we go back to Adam and Miriam’s and have to come back and fight again anyway, or three,” he held up his ring finger, “we fight again. If we make it out alive, we get double what we initially bargained for.” Miles silently contemplated the options, rubbing his forehead vigorously trying to make the right call. ‘I didn’t ask for all this fucking responsibility, I just want to go home God damn it!’ He took a deep breath, exhaled and feebly responded,