Chapter 2 The Arena
Andrea looked at the long line at the testing station. As usual, it was lunch time, and she had no appetite. She knew even with the pill her mother gave her this morning, she would be chosen. After Essie was asleep last night, Andrea came up with her plan.
"Mom, you and dad need to get out. Take Megan with you. Any other suspicion on us and they'll arrest you both, and then Essie will be in a government home when hers starts. Do you want that?
"No, but we have another job here, not just taking care of you girls." Her mother said, hissing in the cool night air on the roof terrace.
"Mom, Essie will compromise you, especially if I'm positive tomorrow." Andrea said.
"She's right, Elaine, it is time for us to get back…" Andrea's father said.
"And take Megan. She can't heal, he'll rape and kill her in there." Andrea said. Her father nodded.
"Not you too, Gene," Elaine said. "I can't give up one daughter to save the other."
"Mom…I've thought this through. One, I'm like him, he can't kill me." Andrea said, ticking points off on her fingers. "Two, you said he's a friend, I'll let him know who I am. Three…."
"NO!" her parents shouted in unison.
"Why not, you said he's a friend."
Elaine looked at her feet on the floor. "Because, when you were born I sent your DNA back with one of the rescue teams. I wanted you tested against other known mutants. It is hard for us with Feral Mutations to find our mates. Gene and I didn't know each other when we both infiltrated, we met when I Tested him. I covered for his mutation, but I knew I wasn't going to be able to hide much longer. He tracked me down by scent, and our mating instincts went into overdrive. I'm not exactly as young as you think I am, me or your dad."
"Well how old are you?" Andrea asked?
"I'm almost eighty." Her father said. "I was born during the Human Mutant war."
"I'm one hundred and twelve." Her mother said. "I was actually one of the last students at Xavier's School for Gifted Youth."
"But you said you were both class two?"
"We are, we have healing factors, and they just work much slower than the class fours and fives." Her mother said. "We still have an expanded life span."
"Okay, what about that DNA, why is that a big deal?"
"But you said you were both class two?"
"We are, we have healing factors, and they just work much slower than the class fours and fives." Her mother said.
"The only results I got back was one word, and three people died to get it to me." Elaine said, "That word was Creed."
"What does that mean?"
"It means you have a ninety eight percent chance of being his mate." Gene said, glaring at his wife. "And you didn't fucking tell me…" His subdued roar made them all jump, and look around to see if he'd been heard.
"Because you'd react like this." Elaine said to her husband. "It doesn't matter, his mutation is so far gone there's no real hope to save him, now, anyway."
"Save him?" Andrea asked.
"The Feral mutation never stops evolving. It pushes the body more and more toward the animal side, the longer the mutant is alive. James, Victor's brother, had his progression arrested with the bonding of metal onto his skeleton, and then subsequent discovery of his mate a few decades later, cemented his mutation at a sane and controllable level."
"The stronger the mutation, the faster the progression goes. Your father and I probably have another three to five centuries before we reach the point Victor's at now."
"You mean, I'm his mate, but he won't know it, because he's too far gone in the mutation?"
"Yes. Unless he's found another way to arrest the development, but watching him over the last few years in the arena, I don't see how he has any control left." Elaine said, sadly. "We're all going to miss him, but somehow, someone is going to have to put him down, or in a cage he can never get out of, and soon."
"Mom, I'm going into that arena, I don't see how I can prevent it. The pill you gave us, the one that you said hides the X-Gene, I don't think it is going to do any good." Andrea said. "I'm going to have to go in there with him, maybe being his mate will save my ass."
"Young lady…" Gene started.
"Don't." She glared at her father. "I'm legally an adult, and this is what we ARE going to do." She growled, and watched the blood drain from her father's face. He was actually afraid of her.
"You two are going to get Megan, sedate Essie, and get all four of you out of here. I'm going to rip the place apart. Mom, I'm going to need you to gather enough blood from everyone to make it look like a wild animal went nuts in here." She said firmly. Elaine tried to protest, but Andrea silenced her with a glare.
"I'll create a distraction at the Testing station so that they won't immediately go looking for my family or friends, and when they get here there'll be blood everywhere and it will look like I dragged bodies off into the woods to dispose of them. They'll be tied up with searching for bodies for at least two days, that's long enough for me to be selected for the Arena."
"But once you're in there…" Elaine started.
"Elaine, shut up and look at your daughter's eyes instead of your feet." Her father growled.
Andrea knew what he was talking about, adrenaline was flowing fast and heavy through her veins and she knew her eyes were pitch black.
"You two will get the others out, and not come back. Somehow, I'm going to hook up with Victor, and see if we can figure out a way to get him out too. I'll be with him."
"He won't go, he hasn't found Mystique yet." Elaine said.
"Well, maybe he will just have to fail at that, at least this time. And who the hell is Mystique?"
"The woman I told you about, the one he came here to rescue in the first place." Gene said. "Another good friend and one who is sorely missed."
"Well shit, I'll have to work that plan out when I come to it." Andrea said slowly.
"You are throwing your life away, baby." Elaine said.
"Mom, you said it, strong mutations evolve faster, but I'm only eighteen, I've got centuries to get out, not as long as you, but if it takes three months or three centuries, I will get out." Andrea said with a determination that she didn't recognize. It was like a part of her that had been asleep was suddenly awake, aware, and ready to do what had to be done.
Her mother just nodded, and the three of them slipped down from the roof. Andrea stopped to pick up her music player with the banned music on it. If she had to go and fight for her life, she was going to have a damned good soundtrack to listen to while she did.
The rest of the plan hadn't taken long to put in place. Her mother actually had a few bags of blood from each of them except Megan, something she'd done since the girls were little so that if they had to go to a doctor, they'd have their own blood to avoid testing. It didn't take long to wake Megan up and draw a pint of her blood as well.
It was a good thing Essie wasn't active yet, the sedatives worked perfectly, and she wouldn't even know they'd left until she woke up in some safe haven for Mutants, then they would have to work on the undoing all the Theocrat's priests brainwashing.
She watched as the line shortened the others around her hanging back, afraid, as they watched nearly fifty of their friends rounded up in the transport area and forcibly loaded onto the transport bus. What she'd always questioned, was why those who tested positive just meekly followed along, walking to their own prison – and eventual death – without even a token of a fight.
Well not today, the house was ready, Megan and Essie had been excused from school by a recording her mother made, claiming they'd come down with the flu. When the police went to the house they'd find what looked like a murder scene, with blood trails going out the back and into the nearby woods. She'd used sandbags that were close approximations of the weights needed, and smeared them with blood to make the drag marks. She'd opened the sand into the creek and dumped it out, making sure it quickly moved down stream in the fast current. The bags – she'd dumped them under a rockslide she created. That way even if they used dogs, they'd have to dig for a couple days to find they'd been tricked.
The line was down to only one or two people, and she knew she had to act soon; she didn't want to put any more in danger than she had to, and the next lunch group would be coming to the cafeteria in about five minutes. The guards were relaxed, too relaxed. They'd given up being alert, not expecting any threat. She let herself have a closed-lipped grin. They were easy prey.
She wasn't sure when she'd started thinking in terms of prey and predator, but, with the adrenaline running through her, she was very much ready to execute the next stage in her plan.
She stood up and carried her half empty lunch tray to the cleaning station, she stretched, her arms up over her head, and then, with a steady stride, sauntered over to the Testing station.
"Name."
"Andrea Wilson." She said, hands lazily hanging at her side.
"I need a finger." The Tester said. Andrea didn't even smile as she extended only her middle finger at the woman. She didn't flinch at the small prick, but let out an almost chuckle as the woman tried to get any blood out of it.
"Let me try a new needle." She said. Andrea just shrugged.
The next prick was deeper, and actually beaded a small red ruby of blood. Andrea waited for the Tester. The woman shook her head, confused, and then tried to get another drop of blood out of Andrea's finger.
"This can't be right." The woman said.
"Problem." Andrea said, voice dripping sarcasm.
"I've never had a response like this." The woman said.
"What, never seen the real thing before…" Andrea said, very slowly extending her claws, lips drawn back in a feral grin, she knew her fangs were gleaming in the florescent light of the cafeteria, and here eyes were pure black.
Her voice was low as the woman looked up at her. "You…you're…GUARDS!" The woman screamed.
"Now see, that hurt my ears." Andrea said, claws slashing across the woman's throat, cutting her larynx and stopping the scream. She watched, almost fascinated as a pool of blood formed on the desk where the woman's head had dropped.
She was grabbed by two guards, but she ripped her arms out of their grasp, they gasped, but only for a second as her claws rammed home, puncturing both their hearts. She held on for a few seconds until she felt the last stuttering beat of their hearts and then dropped the bodies at her feet. The other tester came at her, a long piece of wood in his hands. He swung it like a baseball bat at her head and she caught it easily, pulling on it until he was in range of her claws, and ripped his throat out as well.
"Idiots." She growled, her voice's rumble startling her.
"It's a Mutant!" Someone yelled. She grinned, no more hiding, not now. She felt the blood from the second Tester as he bled out.
"Well this outfit's a total loss." She said, grinning. "Bloodstains won't come out."
Six more guards rushed into the cafeteria, she grinned at them. They had guns, but the bullets only caused momentary pain, and then light pings as they fell to the floor, her body pushing them out and healing. One of them had a long noose on a pole, the type they used to catch rabid dogs. She grinned even wider. She rushed them, claws out, and managed to take out two more, and coating herself with their blood in the process. She actually had her mouth open, trying to catch drops of blood as the last four rushed her. She felt the noose drop around her neck, but she ignored it. The last two, she took out with her toe claws that had ripped holes in her sneakers. She let the last two drag her to the transport and chain her to the wall.
There was no way in hell she wasn't going to be in the Arena group now.
XXXXXXXXXXX
He walked among the frightened cubs, flinching at the stark terror he smelled, one room after another. They'd culled almost two hundred and fifty thousand this year. Only ten thousand would make it to the arena, the rest would be gassed. He shook his head. The Theocrat had to be a mad man. This was insane.
He thought back to another mentally disturbed leader of a nation and wondered if Hitler would have eventually created an Arena as well, if left unchecked. He had to get out of here. Myst wasn't anywhere to be found, and he'd been in this prison too long. After this event he was cutting himself loose…and the first tie was going to be that damned publicist.
He was thinking about the hot blood dripping from his hands, when he realized he wasn't imagining the smell. In the back of the room chained tightly to the wall, and growling like a cornered she-cat, was the source of the smell. It was covered in drying blood, so thick he wouldn't have known it was female if he hadn't already identified her by smell.
He looked into her black eyes and grinned, giving the cameras what they wanted, but down deep, where he hid the things he didn't want to face, he was trembling. That was one angry feral, chained up there, and he knew she couldn't wait to add his blood to the pool at her feet.
Her teeth suddenly appeared stark white against the reddish brown stains on her face. She grinned at him, and he felt a stab of…discontent, he didn't know who she was, but he knew she would be a challenge tomorrow.
He let the guards lead him away, but looked back…she was still watching him. Where the hell did she come from? How the hell did they catch her? And why the hell was his neck itching, right in the spot where neck meets shoulder? It was like he could feel her fangs sinking in, and he gave a slight shudder…and not of fear. He was definitely going to have to use a frail tonight, or he'd be jacking off in the Arena tomorrow every time he caught her scent.
XXXXXXXXXXX
She'd seen him last night, and he'd seen her. More than that, his scent was driving her crazy. There was no way in hell she would be able to kill him. The only hope she had was the surge of lust she'd smelled as he walked out of sight.
She was in another cell, shackled to a column and surrounded by thousands of others. She could smell three or four true carriers, and one other full blown mutant in the room, but the rest were all just normal kids. She knew the bloodbath would start soon, and made her decision. She knew how she was going to play this, as the floor below them began to rise. Her column was near the end of the section, and slightly elevated from the floor. Everyone could see her, and she wasn't hiding a thing. Claws, out. Fangs, flashing. Eyes, black. Murder and mayhem the only things on her mind.
She struggled to control the animal part of her. She'd figured out that was what had finally woken up, and it wanted more blood. She'd get it, too, but not until Andrea was ready to let it take over again. Right now, she had to get through all these kids, to be in the final one hundred that The Animal would get to fight.
The huge door over their heads opened up, revealing the crowded stadium, a converted football field, she was at one end, and, as the floor locked into place, she could see him sitting on the other end, glaring at the field of prey below him.
"Culls – you are here to die." The announcer said. "You are not human, you are not made in God's image, and your only salvation is death. You may pray for Merciful God to have mercy on you, but that is no hope. You will burn in the fires of Hell forever…unless you can defeat the undefeated Champion of the Arena – The Animal."
He stood, arms above his head, turning to face the crowd, the cheers and jeers made her nauseous. They hated him, saw him as the killer of their children, and yet, couldn't help betting on how long their own children would last. They were hypocrites, the worst kind, and she wanted to rip them limb from limb.
She felt the chains release, her hands and feet now free to claw through the sea of bodies to challenge him.
Suddenly, a girl to her left turned to her.
"Please, make it quick and painless." The girl said. Andrea was shocked, seeing her swollen belly.
"How far along are you?" She said.
"It doesn't matter, now. Please kill us quickly. He'd cut the baby from me and make me watch it die first. Just make it quick and painless." The girl dropped to her knees, one hand clinging to Andrea's clawed paw.
"Please…" Came another soft voice to her left. A boy and girl, clinging to each other dropped to their knees to her right. "We just want to go together. Please, quick and painless." She trembled.
In front of her two girls, obviously sisters dropped to their knees. "Kill my sister first," the oldest said, as they clung together. The youngest eyes were full of tears. "Don't let it hurt."
What began as a few, turned into a wave, thousands turned to her, dropping to their knees, begging her for the mercy they knew they wouldn't get anywhere else. She slowly nodded, and then found her voice.
"Any who want mercy - any who just want a painless way out of this Hell; all you have to do is ask." She shouted, grabbing the pregnant girl's hand and dropping it from her clawed paw. She looked into the girl's eyes, tears flowing down her face as she leaned down and whispered, "Are you sure."
The girl looked up at her. "Even if somehow they took pity on me, they'd kill us both. I don't want her to feel any pain."
Andrea nodded, and put one clawed hand under the girl's chin. She took a deep breath and with a sudden sharp snap, watched as life drained from the girl's eyes. She let the body drop to the ground, and then turned to the couple. They kissed each other one last time then turned away, so they wouldn't see her. She managed to get a hand under each chin, and with the same soft snap, let them drop to the ground, hands still linked. The sisters, she did the same way, knowing neither one wanted to watch the other die.
Most of the morning she spent in whispered goodbyes. Some of them were her schoolmates, a few friends she'd known for years. By the time the noon sun was high, she had a wide swath of bodies behind her, and only three hundred or so standing on their feet, in defiance.
As she snapped the last neck of the last person kneeling in front of her, and looked at the defiant ones. They were all older, at least eighteen, and several of them looked like they'd played heavy sports. Well muscled, defiant, and reeking of pure terror. She had no idea how she looked to them, and frankly didn't care. They were in her way, and she wasn't going to grant any more mercy.
Three of them rushed her as she dropped into what felt like a fighting crouch. She grinned at them, and then let the animal inside her take complete control. It was like she was a spectator in her own body, as it shifted into a better balanced position, and began blocking blows, ripping through flesh with her claws, and breaking skulls and other bones, narrowing down the field.
The sound of the gong, indicating the field had been narrowed down to one hundred survivors, startled her. She stopped, they all did, the rules of the Arena ingrained on them almost since birth.
It was time to stop, eat and drink something, rest an hour or so, and then the real fight would begin. It was also the time the guards used to collect the dead and get them out of the way. Everyone gave her a wide berth as she grabbed something off of the food table that rose through the floor in the middle of the field. A bottle of water, and a sandwich, she curled up against one of the stone columns and turned her gaze to the end of the field. His eyes were on her, and she knew he was deciding how to deal with her.
She'd shown her abilities quite well, and knew he was calculating exactly how strong they were. She glared at the guards, their guns trained on the survivors, waiting for one of them to make an aggressive move. The meal was not allowed to be interrupted. Two years ago, one boy decided he wasn't through fighting when the gong sounded; the rumor was there were so many bullets in his body, that when they cremated him, the entire base of the ovens were a solid sheet of lead.
She wolfed down her sandwich and drained the water bottle before getting up, stretching and grabbing another from the table. For a last meal it wasn't bad, but since she didn't plan on it being her last meal, she was going to stay light. She still had a long afternoon ahead of her.
She'd just finished the second bottle of water when the gong sounded again, and the table slipped under the combat floor. She stood, watching, as The Animal made his slow way down the stairs to the floor. The crowd was deafening, but she thought she heard him say. "You're mine, Kitten."