Chapter 17: 5.3 The Battle for Teetering Hill

  Waves of light fall towards Red, increasing in frequency. A moment later and there are other spot-lit figures standing around her on the featureless black landscape. The crowd’s roar is more intense.

  Red’s eyes pass around to the other competitors. There are nine others spaced about fifty-feet from one another and arranged in a circle. She spots Big Rick across from her as her grip tightens around the tape on her batons.

  He’s noticeably taller than the others around him, especially the white-haired kid next to him. Big Rick is shirtless, and his barrel chest makes him look like the result you would get if you built a snowman but put the larger ball in the middle…and used muscle instead of snow.

  Red smirks at his stupid glare. With a face like that, she thinks, I bet you can’t find a right side of the bed to get up on.

  Seeming in response, Big Rick meets her gaze from across the circle. He lifts the giant club from his shoulder and bats the end against his palm.

  Looking to either side of her, the nearest fighters are looking at her with grins. One has a staff, and the other has a sword. The staff-wielder has short hair and a dirty complexion giving the impression of someone living life on the streets. The sword-wielder is altogether different, wearing a martial arts gi and holding his sword at his side as if he was accustomed to holding a scabbard there. The sword-wielder seems to have a fighting discipline, but his amusement betrays a cocky, rebellious side.

  Laugh it up, asshole, Red thinks, smiling. You’ll be getting your chance at disappointment soon enough.

  A disembodied announcer comes over the air as the arena becomes illuminated. They’re on a square platform with wooden obstacles arranged around the center. Several horizontal beams are scattered about, standing waist-high and supported on each end by short pillars. There is also a ten-foot wall with a ramp to one side. A solitary pillar stands at the platform’s midpoint and has ropes hanging from its top. The emergence of the obstacles quickly obscures the fighters across from Red, but she’s distracted from that fact as she listens to the announcer.

  “Our next match will be The Battle for Teetering Hill!” The crowd roars. “A fan favorite and for good cause! Each time a contestant is eliminated, the arena will shift in the direction of the eliminated contestant’s starting point. As each shift occurs, the pitch will increase until only one contestant remains! Now, who’s ready for the tumble?” The crowd goes wild.

  Red reaches into the collar area of her looped scarf and pulls out a set of earbuds. She sets them in her ears, then adjusts the music player strapped to her upper left arm. She finds a track she likes and nods. “Come on, Billy. Talk to me about that rebel yell.”

  Her head begins to nod to the beat as she moves one of the batons like a subtle drumstick. She looks over to the sword-wielder as he says something in her direction. His face is angry, but she continues looking through him.

  The spotlights shut off and the match begins.

  Red lunges at the angry face, then takes a counterbalancing step towards the arena heart as it shifts towards the opposite side.

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  The angry face lunges, and she steps aside, striking the back of his sword and driving it into the ground. She leans away as the staff swings down, missing her but striking Angry Face in the back.

  Red knocks aside a last staff strike and jogs towards the arena center. She takes another counter step left as the arena shifts again.

  Two other fighters have interlocked swords at near the wooden wall, and she vaults over a horizontal beam, kicking them into the wall. The fighters separate, collapsing against the wall as she turns back to the rushing staff-wielder.

  Red leans away from an attack and blocks another. A quick flurry of jabs commences as she alternates blocking with each baton. She bats away a final jab, then strikes the knuckles of his hand. He quickly releases that grip and withdraws the hand only to then get struck in the nose. He collapses, clutching his face.

  The two fighters are back on their feet and charging her as the floor shifts again. They backpedal, and Red crouches as Angry Face falls over her. He rolls to the feet of the other two before climbing up again. He says something angrily to the other two and points to her while she continues to crouch.

  Red stands again, leaning back into the slope and readying the batons. They each charge her. She alternates blocking attacks but takes a hit on the forearm and drops a baton. She quickly knocks aside another strike, then kicks the falling baton into Angry Face’s head.

  Red blocks a strike with her remaining baton and folds her arm into a shield to absorb another before pivoting to strike Angry Face again in the forehead. He goes down and she takes a hit on the back of her shoulder. She winces, then leans away from a strike as she watches her other baton tumble down the platform.

  Another strike swings for her and she leans away from it, turning to run across the slopping floor. The two fighters quickly pursue her, and she grabs a rope as she runs past the tall pole in the center. She continues to run away when the floor shifts again, sending her sailing out over the surrounding void.

  The fighters stumble and struggle to right themselves as they watch her fly out. She swings high in a teardrop-shaped arc, a pendulum poised to return. Red’s rope rotates back from the surrounding abyss as she turns back to the other two fighters recovering from their over-zealous pursuit. She lifts her knees as her return accelerates.

  The fighters raise their guards to defend when her knees collide with their upper bodies, knocking them to the ground in a bounce before they roll down the slope, their limp bodies catching on obstacles. Her feet reach the ground again and she runs forward awkwardly while holding the rope until she grabs another pillar for support.

  She rises and looks around, taking stock of the battle. Where’s Big Rick, she thinks as she begins to look around. Then…blackness.

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