Serena was standing with her fingers through the holes of the cage, slowly looking around at the competition. The battle of the queens was about to start and this year she was one of the chosen eight. They weren't queens as the name of the competition suggested but they were all considered potential queens now they were there.
She had been training for this since she was eight. It had started when she had killed another girl in her village. They had been talking about the competition and the other girl had said it was stupid and that she hoped she would never be chosen for it. Serena had always been fascinated by it so the other girl's words had angered her. They had started shouting at each other. Serena had gotten so mad at the end that she had taken a rock and smashed it into the other girl's head three times. The girl had went down. She was dead. Serena didn't feel remorse. Her father had found her sitting next to the dead girl, smiling at her work.
"Look daddy, my first kill. I wanna be the queen one day," she had said, still smiling.
Her father had understood right away that this was serious. He had taken care of the body. Where it had ended, Serena never found out. She didn't care. Next day her father had started training her to fight.
Her second kill was at the age of 14. The creepy man living next door had been noticing her slowly grow into a woman. One day when she was home alone, he had come to her house and tried to force himself upon her. He had no idea that she could fight. She had beaten him until he went down. She ran to the kitchen and grabbed the rolling pin. She had finished him off with one single blow to the head. Again her father had come to her aid and gotten rid off the body, and again she didn't know where to. It didn't matter.
Now she was 18 and in a cage. Men had come into their house that night and taken her with them. She hadn't fought back. She knew the battle of the queens was about to take place and she wanted to be a part of it. She felt lucky that the king had chosen her. Each year eight women were chosen and they had to battle each other till death until only one was left. The winner then had to battle the reigning queen in order to become the new queen. The reigning queen had been on the throne for five years now. Her fighting skills were amazing.
There he was. Serena's eyes caught the king walking into the room. King Sheamus, the great red. She had been watching him for years when he came through the town looking for his next eight chosen ones. She wanted to be his queen. She wanted him.
King Sheamus looked around at the eight cages and smiled. This year is was a split down the middle. Four girls seemed confident and happy to be there, four girls cried in their cages while begging to be released.
It was pointless to cry and beg. There was only one way out: kill or be killed. Sheamus knew that the four crying girls wouldn't stand much change. Normally the crying ones went down first but every once in a while it happened that a scared girl found some inner strength and pushed through and won over a stronger girl.
The four confident girls would meet the crying girls one on one to start with. It was best to put them up against each other. One year a former king had made the mistake of putting two scared girls against each other and they had refused to fight. The reigning queen at the time had ended up taking her bow and arrow and shot them both on the spot.
King Sheamus stood up on a ledge, looking down at his people. He spread his arms out to the side with his fists closed.
"Time to get this battle started!" He shouted.
Everyone around him shouted of joy, except for the eight potensial queens. They were dead quiet, awaiting their faith.
"Joy and Rose will go first," king Sheamus declared and sat down on his throne.
A whimper was heard from Rose's cage while Joy just stood there looking evil at her opponent. Men went to open the cages. Joy came out on her own but Rose had to be dragged out. The fight was fast and Joy came out as a winner as everyone expected her too.
"Carla and April," king Sheamus shouted out.
Same story as before. The strong girl April came out on top.
"Serena and Candy," king Sheamus shouted out.
Serena smiled. She was ready to show him and the entire room who she was and what she could do. She wanted the crown, the throne, him. Many nights she had dreamed about him, about being with him. She stepped out of the cage ready to fight. Candy made a crusial mistake. She turned her back on Serena and looked up at king Sheamus.
"Please let me go. I don't wanna be here," she pleaded.
"Turn around and fight," king Sheamus shouted back.
Candy turned around but it was too late. Serena came running full speed, jumped up into the air and slammed her knee full force directly into Candy's face. She heard a loud crack from Candy's nose. Blood was running down her face and she fell to the ground. Serena lifted her foot and stomped on Candy's throat, crushing her larynx. Serena dropped to her knees and put her hand over Candy's mouth and nose, sufficating the poor girl to death. She stood up, smiling, searching for king Sheamus eyes. She found them. He smiled back at her. She was led back into her cage.
"Linda and Piper," king Sheamus shouted.
The tough girl, Piper, came out on top.
All four weak girls had been killed. The four strong ones were left in their cages, eyeing each other. Tomorrow they would have to meet each other in round 2. That night they had to spend in their cages. They didn't talk to each other. There was no point in being friendly. They would have to kill each other no matter what and they needed their sleep.