Chapter 30: Deception - The Pit

H-K

(Rais' Pit in the Slums, Harran, Turkey, The Middle East, Europe - 20:01...)

They say that it was the sense of terror that hit you. The strong smells of blood gradually drew me out of the fading darkness, accompanied by the distant but loud cheers of an audience. What the f*ck?! As my eyes slowly adjusted to my blurry surroundings (which were briefly blinded by bright lights), I was able to make out three figures looming over me.

"Stand him up," Suleiman ordered the two bandits and the latter roughly hoisted me to my feet. Where the...! Jade, Libby, Rahim and Henry - where the f*ck are they at?!

It didn't take very long for me to spot them and once I did, my heart sunk. Oh, f*ck me running - no! Far above my reach proudly stood a yellow platform where I counted four bandits aiming their rifles at my defiant yet fearful loved ones on the right side. Not only that, but ... guess who was also being held hostage on the left? Whilst she looked visibly frightened, the redheaded girl was staring down at me with what seemed to be... boiling anger?

Jade must have filled her in on what's happened, then. Why am I not surprised?

My adversary interrupted my thoughts by proceeding to scold me like an impatient high school teacher. "You come to us, like a snake in the grass. Here, in a city of lies," A bony finger was jammed in my face. "You are the biggest liar of them all,"

"What're you talking about?! Answer me, motherf*cker!" I demanded fiercely, violently lunging at him - before the two bandits forced me back. Argh!

"Yes," Rais scowled, unfazed. "Lose control. That is what you Americans are so good at, after all. If I—"

F*CKING STOP! I furiously shoved my arm against him and the goons, luckily managing to break free and earning a shocked glare from my adversary ... mere seconds before he smirked. "Not bad,"

Oh nonononon—

OOOW! A hard kick to the forehead sent me falling back with a scream of agony - and it didn't take very long for Suleiman to violently snatch a military rifle from another bandit's hands and open fire on the two goons, sending them tumbling after me and falling lifeless in pools of blood.

"Clear out the corpses. Leave Crane,"

"Yes, sir,"

And just like that, it was lights out once more.

(20:05...)

"Kyle, you've got to wake up!" A little girl's distressed voice greeted my ears, giving off a familiar presence. Hannah? "Suleiman's about to unleash a horde of biters on you!"

"You're not just going to lie there, are you?!" Raegan's concerned voice joined the commotion.

"Get up!" Adam's equally worried voice cut through the darkness. Kids, I appreciate the heads up about Suleiman - but Jade, where the f*ck are you?!

My girlfriend suddenly drew me out of consciousness by roughly shaking me. "Kyle, get up - for god's sake!"

"Jade!" I found myself blindly fumbling for my machete in a sheer panic - only just managing to catch Libby, Rahim and Henry also wielding machetes out of the corner of my eye. Right, they're okay. Good.

She thankfully helped me unsheathe my melee weapon and handed it over. "Here, and get ready!"

"Where's Zere and the kid?!" I demanded worriedly.

"They're still on the platform!" Jade answered. "And in case you were wondering, that kid's name is Melanie - I'll introduce you two properly soon!"

"Good to know, then!"

Alright biters, let's do this.

It didn't take long for said drunkards to be unleashed and just like that, it was Mission: Survival. What I'm about to tell you are another two moments which I find hard to remember and if you ask Libby or Rahim, they'll tell you the exact same thing. However, we were glad to know that Henry had some experience in this sh*tty arena - so at least, we had him to help us out. He didn't hesitate in taking the lead via warning us over the infected's positions or pointing out several containers we could use to our advantage, as did everyone else. Even Zere and Melanie had a hand in providing warnings from the platform and with their assistance, the five of us just about managed to come out on top after we took on the biters one by one - despite getting splattered in fresh blood.

Looking back, the carnage toll was much higher than the Fishermen's Village.

"Word of your feats here will spread. Such a shame you all will be corpses, by then!" Rais calmly announced, having to raise his voice - so he could be heard over the deafening cheers of the satisfied audience. Now if any of us hadn't be struggling to regain our breath, one of us surely would have thrown a remark back in his face to shut him up. And he still kept going, this time by directly addressing me: "Is this your first feeble attempt at controlling your own destiny, Crane?! Too little, too late, I fear!"

The f*ck is that supposed to mean?

"Impressive - for a walking dead man!" Suleiman then insulted me, which only made my anger boil to 100%.

"Yeah?!" Libby yelled furiously. "Well, why don't you come down here and fight all of us, you bl**dy rinsepot?!"

Hearing this, Rais curiously raised an eyebrow - whilst a construction crane's firm rumble greeted our ears from behind. Oh god! "Tempting - but I'm afraid someone else is up for the challenge!"

The five of us whirled round to find ourselves glancing up to see a large blue container with a... white bow painted on it, like a f*cking present? Jesus Christ, how far gone is he?! It didn't take long for it be allowed to tumble freely to the ground with two thuds, accompanied by a third which narrowly threw the mock exit right in our faces. F****ck, what are we about to face here?! My question was answered in a flash when a thunderous roar echoed throughout the arena and out sprung a f*cking huge zombie clad in amour! Libby and Rahim both screamed as they speedily darted out of the way, as did I with a frightened yell. "HOLY MOTHER OF F*CK!"

"What is that thing?!" The older kid demanded in shock. I'd like to know too, bud!

"It's a bl**dy Demolisher, that's what!" Henry shouted worriedly, despite being completely unfazed by the horrendous looking thing. He's fought them before, hasn't he? "Get ready, guys!"

The two teenagers did as instructed, whilst he, Jade and I readied our bloodstained machetes. Okay, see if you can head for the unarmoured places without getting yourself killed. Go. My teammates appeared to sense what I was thinking and at once, we all dived for the Demolisher. One hit, two, three, four. Libby also helped us by bravely surprising our opponent by jumping from a nearby bloodied container and repeatedly stabbing it in the head with her machete, whilst Rahim didn't hesitate in joining us. Four, five, six—

A huge fist suddenly swung in my face and sent all of us flying back and hitting the ground in thunderous pain. NO!

I groaned upon impact, before dashing to my feet and lunging at the Demolisher with a p*ssed off scream. "C'mere, you f*ck!"

Seven, eight, nine, ten, get ready to dodge in case it tries anything again, ele—

Rince, repeat = murderous fury. "Argh, f*ck off!"

Hoarse screams then ripped through the arena, followed by another horde of virals! That's f*cking cheating, Suleiman!

"You've got to be KIDDING ME!" Henry screamed hatefully, violently taking on one by cleaving its' head into two and repeatedly stabbing another in the neck. Jade, Libby and Rahim were equally furious as they too were brutally decapitating some of the virals and slitting their throats. Took the words right out of my mouth there, dude. The next thirty to eighty seconds were a blur, so much so that when the Demolisher and the infected were left bleeding out - all we could see was red. The smells of rotting flesh had grown far too strong for our liking and... thinking about it nowadays, I honestly felt like we were in another scene from a horror movie!

It's just like Zere's court all over again...!

"Haven't you put them through enough, you f*cking monster?!" We heard Melanie scream at Rais in protest, who stared down at our group of five with a sinister smirk. He's not done.

"This madness needs to stop!" Imran agreed angrily. "Think about Hassan for one second! What do you think he would say if he saw you now?!"

His words had visibly struck a nerve, but Rais ignored them and addressed us with a proud "You have all provided some quality entertainment for my men. Too bad it will merely be a one-time performance!" Suleiman then fished out a first aid kit and threw it into the arena. "This will only prolong the inevitable. But try to make the best of it, and let no one say I never gave you anything!"

Cue Jade to kneel down and pick it up, whilst eyeing Melanie and Zere with a worried yet reassuring glance. The two of you are gonna be okay, we're gonna get you out of here any minute now.

But as I suspected, Rais was not finished ... and the words that spilt out of his mouth were enough to increase my self-hatred. He knew it, too. "Your skills no longer come as a surprise, Crane. The GRE selects its' operatives well,"

Now, it was my turn to have a nerve struck. All I could do was stare at him in complete and utter horror, even as he gestured for the platform to be lowered and stared me down with a pleased grin. How the f*ck do you know that?!

"Break his legs," A familiar voice entered my head, influencing me to recall a distant memory. "Then, take him to Rais,"

"Haven't I seen you somewhere before?" Great, now I want to personally throw Tahir in a fire for ratting me out!

This was one of the few moments where I truly felt frightened. I couldn't bear to look up and see what I presumed would be the disappointed and hurtful looks on my loved ones' faces; I mean, f*ck, I deserve it for lying to them, getting two of their closest loved ones killed and another captured!

"Kyle," My girlfriend tried to address me in shock. "Is this... Is this what you wanted to tell us?"

I could only nod with remorse, blinking back tears of shame. I'm so sorry...!

"Kneel," Suleiman's voice cut like a sharpened knife. "All of you," Cue him to threaten Zere and Melanie behind him. "You two join them,"

With no choice, we did as instructed and I focused solely on the ground in front of me. I'm such a f*cking *sshole.

"Chaos, Crane," He began to explain to me. "Chaos is the one true order of things. To pretend otherwise is the sheerest folly. Allow me to demonstrate,"

Rais then switched his radio on, prompting me to whip my head up with distress. "Baasam, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear," A man's voice came through the other end.

"Publish the file,"

DON'T, NO!

"Right away, sir. Annnd... there. It is sent,"

I unleashed a tyraid of abuse on him. "You maniac! You've just doomed thousands of innocent people! That's what you get with your f*cking chaos!"

"You don't know what was in that file, do you, Crane?" Suleiman asked me calmly, not giving me any time to answer. "You only prove my point for me. The GRE plans to weaponize the virus, not cure it,"

"What?!" I cried out with horror, unaware that tears were now streaming down my face and that my breathing had painfully glitched.

"They're only interested in profit, not saving lives," Rais got right in my face, secretly brandishing a knife. "And by following their rules, you have become their trained monkey. Pathetic!"

Suddenly, out shot his right arm and throbbing agony surged through me, ripping a yell of agony out of my throat. Screams from my loved ones thundered against my ears as he repeatedly plunged his knife into my side, relishing in our cries ... until my body gave way and I collapsed to the ground in a pool of blood. To my sheer terror, Zere of all people came tumbling after with a knife punctured deep in his chest! NO!

"Doc...!" I gasped, blood spilling out of my mouth.

"Crane!" Imran breathed heavily. "S-Save these people..." Life fading slowly. "They don't deserve this..." He was gone.

Heaving hoarse gulps of air, I fought to the best of my ability to prevent the rest of my energy from escaping.

But ... like last time, I couldn't hold on any longer.

The last person I saw was Libby, whose tearful eyes were locked onto mine with a combination of frantic terror and desperation - the latter was almost she was mentally begging me to stay alive. I tried to offer her a reassuring smile, but in the midst of the battle between my mind and the darkness...

The latter had won.

I'm so sorry...

Author's Note:

Well, here we are. Season 1 has officially come to a close.

A Big Thank You to everyone who has supported this half of the story (whether you've been here from the beginning or came across this), it really means a lot and I hope you all enjoyed the ride! :)

There may be a bit of a wait for Season 2 and if you're still interested, there's always the prequel - The Cured : Nightmare Row, which focuses on Libby during the Pre-Outbreak days and the build up to Kyle's arrival. You can also listen to a playlist I've made on my YouTube channel: MeganRidyard and playlists for Nightmare Row and Part II are on there too. :)

Finally, here's a little teaser summary for the next season:

Libby Mason, an 18 year-old survivor on the autistic spectrum, takes it upon herself to deliver Dr. Zere's packages to Camden in Old Town, the scene of the Outbreak. Accompanied by Henry, Melanie, Jade and Rahim, they meet the Embers and they soon discover that Harran is a target of annihilation. Meanwhile, a victim of a prior attack is out of commission...

As always, feel free to leave your thoughts in a review and I'll see you again in Season 2! :)