After the trip back from the scrap heap with Jarome and the run in I had with the Amazonian women in that hotel I felt like the king of the pit. Boy that feeling didn’t last long. Jarome left my side after the trip to the scrap heap something about finding a midget. I swear Jarome is a trip but he seems like a ok guy a bit weird but he hasn’t tried fucking me over so he’s cool in my book.

After I first came into the habitable zone I saw the trouble start. A big bear of a man blocked my way into my cell block. He wasn’t faceing me so I figured he didn’t know he was in my way. “Excuse me can I get pass?” I ask as friendly as I could not trying to fight this guy I could barely hold my own in the area here in the habitable zone there are no rules.

He turned around and growled while he tried to speak to me I guess to intimidate me. Spittle dripping from his thin lips as he spoke to me. “No trespassing Dinkerman orders.” I was shocked I couldn’t even get back to my own cell I didn’t want to argue with the man though he seemed like he could crush me with his thumb if he wanted to. “Oh..ok sorry.” I said as I turned around and looked to see if anyone knew why Dinkerman locked down the cell block.

Looking around I saw one of the white guys who was with us on the Arena one of the twins I think he was the guy chucking grenades and blowing people up. “Hey what’s going on man?” He didn’t seem to like me talking to him and ignored my question. “I said…hey can you hear me?”

He scrunched up his face and looked at me he wore camouflaged pants with a plain black tee shirt and thick boots. “Some idiot pissed off Dinkerman and now the whole block been cut off until they’re done beating up the fool.” He spoke in a rough smokers voice. I tried to see past the group of men blocking the entrance to the cell block with no luck the there was just to many of them.

I decided to stand on the railing next to Dinkerman men to get a better view so I pushed past a few weaker looking men and stood on first railing. There is a common area under the cells where a guy can work out a little free of charge because the folks at home watching the Arena at home want to see healthy people killing each other. What I saw shocked me horribly, Charlie was in a circle bloody and cut fighting off three men. “You fucking bitch.” Charlie yelled as he spat the blood around his cut lip into the eyes of one of the guys and gave him a right hook then spun around and elbowed him across his face with a quick combination of punches. The guy fell to the group two others carried him off and another came in to take his place after they got the knocked out man to the side they dropped him and joined the other man ready to beat Charlie even worse then he already was.

“Come on then…” Charlie said as he put up both his fists balled up and prepared for the others to jump him standing in a good fighters position. The two charged at Charlie but he was faster for a big guy so he didn’t sweat it when he saw them charging. Charlie swerved to the left and shoulder rushed the closest guy to him knocking him on his ass. Charlie then jumped and stomped on his chest sending all the air he had out of the thug on the ground keeping his eyes on the other two.

Charlie looked tired I wondered how long he been fighting them off, but then just as I was about to think of joining in to help Charlie the group of men spread out and backed away from Charlie. Dinkerman came into the center in the circle of men with a smug smile smeared across his face as he looked at Charlie leaking blood from his face. Dinkerman wasn’t very tall only standing at five feet seven inches and skinny as twig but was a leader of the most notorious gang in all of America. His gang took over most of Chicago’s black market threw blunt force and waves of murders and the New York city is under his iron fist as well.

His gang controls most of the Arena underworld activities like smuggling band contraband and drugs but it isn’t the strongest when it comes to numbers seeing as most rather die then suffer the wrath of Dinkerman in the Arena. Dinkerman puts any guy who lets the corporate security forces take them in alive threw a gang beat down to earn their respect back, most die after a few seconds. “Thought you could rob me? Thought I wouldn’t find out you been short changing me for six months?” Dinkerman said as he shuffled closer to Charlie I figured he found out he’s been getting a small chunk of what Charlie earned by surviving the Arena, but Charlie told me everyone keeps a bit for themselves so I wondered how Dinkerman found out.

“Now you’ll find out what I do to thieving rats.” Dinkerman said as threw himself at Charlie goring himself into Charlie’s stomach that nearly took Charlie down. Dinkerman then started to beat him with a fury of punches and elbow strikes while Charlie was still recovering from the gore. Charlie tried to block but still got hit, he then pointed his knees up and strikes Dinkerman in the side quickly so not to let Dinkerman push him over.

Dinkerman groaned surprised by the knee strike to the kidney and Charlie used this opportunity to his advantage. Charlie grabbed at Dinkerman’s neck and pulled it down driving his skull into Dinkerman’s face. Then with both hands out stretched he smacked them on Dinkerman’s ears that caused Dinkerman to yell in pain as his ear drums nearly popped from the impact and the loud smack from Charlie’s open palms. Charlie then flung his elbow up into Dinkerman’s nose sending Dinkermans head whipping back so fast it had to leave him discombobulated.

“Fucking bastard, I’ll get you for that.” Dinkerman said as he licked the blood dripping from his nose with his tongue and took a step back. Charlie shoved his tight palm into Dinkerman’s chin and made him bite his tongue sending blood squirting out of Dinkermans mouth. “Don’t think I’m done just yet.” Dinkerman said with a lisp as his severely cut tongue dripped blood down his chin.

Using all his strength Charlie pushed Dinkerman off balanced then he got on top and began to beat on Dinkerman driving his fist into Dinkerman’s cheeks and nose with quick and thundering strikes. Dinkerman tired to roll him over but Charlie was heavier then Dinkerman could move so his men came to help Dinkerman. They kicked and punched at Charlie while some tried to pushed Charlie off their boss. Charlie was totally out numbered I couldn’t watch anymore so I jumped down kicking the nearest guy in the face from on top of the railing and he was out cold, and then threw myself into the group of men arms swinging wildly into the frey.

I punched and kicked a few out of the way but didn’t do much there was just to many of them for just me to handle. Then just as I was getting my face beat in by three thugs who quickly stopped my heroic attempt to save my celly they were attacked from behind as far as I could tell. It was Jarome and a few of the Motown Millitant Brotherhood came with a few other cholo looking bangers who also joined the fight and quickly Dinkerman and his thugs didn’t have the number advantage. Soon it was a brawl the MMB and these cholo bangers against Dinkerman and his thugs with bodies smashing up against one another fist flying kicks being thrown and anyone who was on the ground got stomped on quickly.

Jarome was busy fighting off three guys and Charlie was now up fighting along side his cholo looking bangers, I was now left face to face with Dinkerman of all people why did it have to be him. “You little pup, think you can dance with me?” He asked me as he stepped closer fist up ready to beat my face in looking like a demon fresh out of hell with his mouth covered in mostly his own blood. I looked around almost in disbelief that he was talking to me kinda hoping he was talking to someone behind me but nope just a blank wall behind me and fights to either side of me. I literally had no place to run or hide I was going to have to push past Dinkerman to get the fuck out of this sistuation.

“You got to be kidding me.” I said as I saw he wasn’t kidding and coming even closer to me. He took a step towards me and I noticed he was wearing my shoes, the very shoes he robbed from me on my first day in this hell hole. Somthing inside of me snapped I can’t remember what but I heard a cracking sound inside my head like a bone being snapped in half and I lost it all sense of my humanity was lost.

Suddenly all the failures in my life flashed before my eyes. I saw my job that was going nowhere where the highlight of my day was spitting on someone’s food and watch them eat it. I saw Paulina standing in a dark ally with my beer can half empty crashing into her face in slow motion. I saw the dumb jock Tucker head crashing into the bathroom sink then Paulina standing in court pointing to me and sending me into this hell hole until I die a violent death.

The final image that was in my head was Dinkerman standing over me after he shoved me to the ground and taking my shoes leaving to walk barefoot around this stinking place. All of them images made me so angry I could cry out, but I didn’t have time Dinkerman was now swinging at me. The punch was in slow motion I could’ve sworn time stood still for a second so I made sure I wasn’t going to die today. Nope not today not by Dinkermans hands. I’m going to live I’m going to survive I’m going to get out of here!

I used this freaky second of slowed down time to move and shove myself into Dinkerman shoulder first. Dinkerman didn’t expect me to actually fight back so my shoulder thrust caught him as his right leg was rising up to take a step forward while swinging at me. Dinkerman tripped losing his footing from wearing my shoes that were too big for him and my well timed shoulder rush. I jumped at him grabbing the waistband of his pants lifting them and him up while driving Dinkerman to the ground in one quick motion. He drove his elbow into my back twice and all I could do is strike at his face with four left hooks to his cheek not even feeling his elbow strikes on my back.

One of the many left hooks I threw at him slipped and landed right on his nose instead of his cheek, that caused him to be dazed a little as he blinked once slowly trying to regain his composure. I raised myself up on one elbow and threw all my weight into one powerful punch then as I was still on top of him I threw a right hook then a left hook both hitting his nose leaving him to scrunch up his face in pain. I was so pissed I couldn’t stop, so I punched him twice with my right hand then interlocked my fingers together raising my fists up above my head then driving them down onto Dinkerman’s face like a sledgehammer. That caused him to shake violently then gasp as he was knocked out cold from my last blow.

Completly shocked I was breathing hard and quickly got off him and went to his feet. I took back my shoes that he stole from me on my first day here and headed behind the other guys that came with Jarome and slipped my feet into my soft sweaty shoes. Then a alarm was raised and smoke piled into the habitable zone and everyone froze and stopped hitting each other. It was a weird smoke yellowish and smelled strong of crushed pepper flakes with a weird chemical smell sort of sweet and spicy, causing all of us to cover our mouths and cough violently at the chemical smog seeping into the habitable zone from vents high above the ceiling and down from smaller pea sized holes randomly placed at ground level.

My first instincts were to do what I saw on the screen that played while I was being transported into the arena. It showed us the general rules in the Arena when eating and shower time is also what to do when we’re being unruly. The screen showed a stick figure on his knees and had its head down on the floor, as smoke pumped in all around him and guard bots came in and whacked everyone who wasn’t in that position. The animation was kind of funny seeing the diffrent ways a guy can fail at putting his head down on a floor. I tried to get on my knees but ended up kneeling on someone who was knocked out. While I wasn’t sure who it was I hoped it was Dinkerman who was being crushed by my knees, but that person kind of blocked me from being able to place head down so I moved.

I moved to the best of my abilities but the smoke blinded me. Finally I was able to find enough space to kneel down and placed my head on the dirty floor just in time. Sure enough the guard bots came in and began to club anyone who wasn’t on their knees with large rubber sticks that I’m sure left welts as a few who didn’t get into position in time were quickly thrown to the ground from the blows delivered by the rubber sticks. Once the smoke cleared everyone was ordered into their cells half beaten or still coughing and a bit blinded by the smoke every one tried to walk back into their cells some helped each other navigate their way to their cells.

Charlie was still hurting pretty bad and I helped him into the cell and onto his mat to rest up. “Fuck Charlie what was that all about?” I asked him and he replied quickly and in between coughs from the smoke. “Nothing kid it’s basic law and order in the Arena. The old man must’ve bet against me in the next trip up and sent Dinkerman to make sure I lose by beating me half to death so I’m easy pickings in the Arena, or to piss Dinkerman off enough he’ll kill me if I survive the next call to the Arena.”

“Really? I bet he didn’t see me beating him and getting my shoes back from Dinkerman.” I said happily as I rubbed my jaw and checked out my shoes proudly a bit sweaty but finally my feet are more or less comfortable. Charlie chuckled lightly and layed back on his mat staring up at the ceiling.

“No, I’m sure he didn’t, who knew you was such a killer kid? I’m sure the old man won’t be to happy about the fact you knocked Dinkerman down a few pegs.” Charlie said as he tried to get up to wash his face clean from the dried and caked up blood. I heard Charlie speak of a old man before when we came back from the Arena, but I haven’t seen any old people in the habitable zone mostly killed for whatever they have on shoes clothes, they don’t tend to last long in the Arena so I wondered who was the old man that Charlie was talking about so I decided to ask him could be there is a much more dangerous person then Dinkerman I should be worried about.

“Charlie what old man?” I asked while looking out the cell and saw Jarome limping but smiling as he was being helped into his cell by one of the twins escorted by a few of the MMB. “The Ol’ man, the warden of the Arena. He isn’t really that old but he is in charge or as in charge as it gets in a place filled with criminals. See the old man takes a cut from everyone who lives in the Arena and then the crime bosses takes a cut too from every victorious returner from the pit so they die quickly and entertainingly you know for ratings.”

I looked back at Charlie who was washing the blood off his face with the toilet water our only source of clean water in this place. “The bosses every gang here has a boss a ring leader don’t bother learning their name they tend to die out at least one every week. You can bribe the Old man to give you a edge in the Arena but at a huge cost it’s not worth it especially since its never a guarantee you’ll come out alive. Always aim to kill but try to come out in one piece cuz medical services ain’t cheap here.”

I was a tiny bit shocked but not completely I knew their had to be some level of corruption in this place wouldn’t be the American way if someone wasn’t getting a kick back and another the shitty end of the stick but I was mostly shocked that someone claimed they had control of this place. Just as I was about to ask something else I noticed two trays of food were given to us by some prisoners who seemed to miss the brawl and the chaos that ensued after. It had two dry hard biscuits a slab of what I assume is meat like product covered in gravy and a side of soggy half frozen veggies. I was about to dive into the food as it is the first food tray I had in all week even though the video on the way here said we get fed every two days.

“Don’t eat all of it at once. They feed us only twice a week make it last.” Charlie told me as he tore a piece off his biscuit and chewed it twenty times before swallowing I did the same. “I lost a lot of weight since I been here, but for risking your neck for me I’ll buy you some food tomorrow in the credit hall.” I thanked Charlie and only ate the same amount of food as he did I’ll get some real food tomorrow.

After the quick bite to eat I layed back on my bed and thought about what happened today. Looking back it was alot that happened, I had my first sexual experience with some random chick, built my own weapon and fought with Dinkerman and won. A bit more then I expected I thought for sure I would’ve died twice today or at the most on my first week here, but after knocking out the top dog Dinkerman I felt completely different more confident in myself and well I know I can count on at least two people here Jarome and Charlie. The lights went out but the smell of the smoke lingered in the air still and it was hard to sleep even though I was physically spent my heart was still racing from the fight, well the royal beat down I gave Dinkerman. “Hey Charlie do you know them guys who helped you out?” I asked Charlie before he went to sleep who didn’t seem to mind the smell of the toxic smog that lingered in the so and was half asleep already in his cot.

“Yeah Jarome is in charge of the MMB the Motown Militant Brotherhood, it’s a gang of brothas they run all of cell block D we fought with Jarome in the pit remember? He runs a tight ship over there used to be some jackel named Victor used to run that block but Jarome took care of him on his first day here beat the guy to death and claimed leadership no one argued been in charge ever since. Who knows why he decided to help me out but I got to get him back he was probably sick of Dinkermans shit just like everyone else around here. The bangers are probably a few of my brothers men or in some of the latino gangs. My brother isn’t in Arena he’s still out taking care of the family business running the Texas border jumpers helping them make it to Mexico, but he pays a few of the latino gangs well enough to keep me safe in the habitable zone anyways. I’ll have to thank them sometime tomorrow hopefully they won’t ask for a bigger cut from me or my brother.” Charlie said as he turned around facing the dirty wall signaling he is done talking. I’ll have to find some way to survive the pit if Dinkerman is ever paired up with or against me because I’m sure he won’t ever forget or forgive the beating I gave him.

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