“Possessed?” Jeanine repeated, not really understanding what the strange man was saying.
“Yeah, by some lesser devil we conjured up. It’s made him freaky fast, and as strong as me, so I’d watch my ass if I were you.”
“You’re serious?” Jeanine half-asked, half-joked.
“Deadly. We provide entertainment for the wealthy that can be had nowhere else. The devil agreed to it so long as we let him have the boy if he won three fights.” The man said. He looked at Jeanine and winced a little. “Just to warn you, this is his third fight.”
“And he won the last two?” Jeanine asked sarcastically.
“Yeah, it wasn’t pretty.”
“Well you have a possessed person fighting, what, normal people?” Jeanine asked, waving the Morningstar once more to test its grip.
“Oh no, everyone we kidnap has some experience in fighting. You’re currently our only Marine in stock, but I heard through the grapevine we’ll be picking up a Green Beret here in the next two weeks. Maybe you’ll get to meet him.”
“How often are the fights?” Jeanine asked, trying to come to terms with the fact she was going to have to fight a possessed child.
“Once a week. Gives the winner a little time to heal up. You cooperate and we won’t store you in the hole like the others either, no siree, we’ll put you up in a penthouse.”
“A penthouse? How do you know I wouldn’t escape?” Jeanine asked, going back to that again.
“A bracelet we attach to you with a detonator. If you can escape with a blown off arm, then congratulations, you beat the last five who tried.” The man said with a deep chuckle. “I actually saw one go off, it was pretty nasty.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen grenades take people out too.”
“Then we have something in common!” The man said with a laugh, swatting her on the shoulder. “Let’s go, we have a fight to get to.”
“Just like that? Pick a weapon, brief explanation and go?”
“Pretty much. We find that the first time people fight, they rarely believe us,” the man explained, moving over to a blank section of wall and pressing a stone that turned out to be a button. “So we’ve figured we can just throw you on in and you’ll learn or die. Either way, the bets are made.”
A ding sounded from the wall, as two panels opened up, revealing a plush elevator with dark stains on the floor.”
Jeanine turned and looked back at the man, who merely smiled. “What can I say, don’t stay in the elevator. It’s not going to close until there’s one opponent left up there, and it’ll only close then once you’ve boarded and pressed the button. I’ll see on a panel down here through that little camera,” he said, pointing up into the corner of the red plush booth, “and we’ll bring you back down. Easy as can be.”
“Except you want me to murder a kid.” Jeanine groused.
“Hey, the United States made you into a killer, now put those skills to use and save that skinny little ass.”
Jeanine just rolled her eyes and walked into the elevator, shouldering the Morningstar as she did so. “So these doors open up top and we just what, go at it?”
“That would be a big 10-4!” The man said, pressing the stone button, causing the doors to slowly slide closed.
Jeanine half expected quiet elevator music to start, but instead she heard a voice coming through the ceiling reciting statistics about her, amazingly enough.
“-skilled in both Sambo and Muey Thai, Jeanine Crawford spent eight years in the Marines as a special operative and sniper. Her success ratio for her missions is above ninety five percent and her special skills lend well to hand-on-hand combat.”
“That’s right Kent, but she’s going up against Malcontent, the Devil Child with a two punch winning streak. He may only be in a twelve year old Italian boy’s body, but he’s hardened by the wrath of the Almighty, and has a host of counters to anyone foolish enough to try and grab him. Right now the scoreboards are flashing that he is the favorite in this fight, with further bets going on in how long it will take him to kill Ms. Crawford, all measured in seconds. What do you think Brandon, do you think she’ll be able to provide a challenge to the Child of the Pit?”
“Well Kent, her hand-to-hand skills may be able to overcome any of Malcontents natural predation abilities, and her being a Christian will cause him to become overconfident in the matter. You remember the last fight where he was forced to face down the Al-Queda Freedom Fighter, don’t you?”
“I do indeed Brandon, it was not pretty. I suppose it will depend on what weapon she selected from the arsenal she was provided. As always we don’t inform the contestants about any of the weapons special abilities, though she can only hope she picked up something blessed or heavy.”
“Hold that thought Kent, I’m getting a green light from both elevators. In the next one minute we will close all betting and open the doors, to the next FRIGHT FIGHT!”
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