Another Day - Chapter 20

Two large men then entered the ring through the fighter's entrance. One held a sledgehammer, the other wore knuckledusters. Seemed like Matt had no hope until Daniel shouted to him.

"Matt! Catch!" he called to him, throwing the long knife to Matt.

Grabbing the knife from where it landed, Matt readied himself as the two fighters faced him. The long knife in his right hand and the smaller in the left, Matt put his body in a defensive stance as the raider with knuckledusters launched himself at the tall boy. Matt countered the man's swings with slashes to his hands. The raider blindly jabbed at Matt's shoulder, the blow landing hard.

"Jesus Christ!" Matt shouted, the pain unbelievable for a single punch swung in retaliation.

The man then started throwing more punches at him, Matt dodging each until he saw the blur of the other man's sledgehammer being thrown down at him. Matt took a step back before he kicked the raider who just tried catching him off guard.

"Crap, they work as a team" he thought "As long as they're both hitting me; I'll have to keep aware about both of them are."

While Matt was catching his breath, the knuckleduster raider threw a hard hitting punch at Matt, landing in his chest. Luckily for Matt, the blow only cut him a little. One inch to the left and he would have broken his ribs.

-----

Back in the medical wing, Daniel had been given a light sedative. He had attacked the guards so he could throw the knife to Matt. Fortunately for him, Samuel had spared his life again. Rather than having him killed, he was sedated and taken into the medical tent for treatment. As he awoken, Daniel saw Shaun being treated for his dismembered finger. The screams of pain as he had a burning pipe pressed against the wound confirmed that the raiders couldn't find his finger.

Daniel got off the table and looked over at Shaun who was whimpering as the operation was finished. He then started to make conversation with his friend.

"How are you feeling?" Daniel asked

"Well I've had the crap beaten out of me, my finger sliced clean off by a machete and then my wounded cauterised without any sedation. So pretty shit. What about you?" he replied "How did your fight go?"

"Well I'm alive so okay I guess" he laughed, trying to reassure himself "I'm just worried about Matt! The leader put him up against two fighters instead of one!"

"Shit! Really!"

"Yeah, I'm going to have a look, see how he's doing"

Exiting the tent, Daniel found his way back to the gate. Peering though, he saw Matt thrown into it. Beaten and bloodied, he had taken a real pounding by the fighters who didn't look to well off either. Matt was holding his ground well but he didn't look like he could stand for much longer.

"Come on Matt, get up!" Daniel said "They'll kill you if you don't!"

"I'm t-trying to but... I'm... too... tired..."

"Matt, focus on one of them! If you take one of them down, the other won't have any back up! Go for knuckles over there" Daniel ordered, pointing to the raider "Take him down and then the other one won't have a chance!"

Matt got his feet, running towards the raider. As he tried punching him, Matt ducked underneath the punch and stabbed the man in the back with both knives. Unfortunately, the longer knife became lodged in the body.

"Daniel! Try pulling the knife out" Matt called as threw the corpse at the gates. Unfortunately, Daniel had been restrained, the knife being taken by the guards.

"That's mine! Give it back!" Daniel barked

"You'll get it back when you have your next fight!" the guard replied.

-----

Matt was up against the other raider who was shaking violently, mumbling underneath his breathe.

"He killed the master. You shouldn't kill the master. The master loves me. I do what he says because he's the master. The master gets angry if you don't do what he says" the raider said quickly, rambling like a mad man.

"Stockholm syndrome" thought Matt. He'd read about this before. "When someone who has been held captive feels positive emotions about their captor. Fuck! And I just lit the fuse on a crazy bomb"

"YOU KILLED THE MASTER YOU BASTARD!!!" he screamed in a fit of rage, his eyes transfixed on Matt.

Swinging the hammer furiously, the raider was not just aiming to kill Matt but to make it as painful as possible. The hammer was swung with great force when it hit the cage, causing a massive dent in the side. Taking his eyes of him for just a second, the raider was took advantage of as he had the hammer pulled out of his hands. Matt then swung the hammer into the man's side, hearing the ribs crack it connected. The raider screamed as he felt the bones break, only for him to be silenced seconds later when Matt hit the hammer into his head.

The raider, lying on the floor as a crimson pool gathered around him, muttered one last thing as he passed on.

"Forgive me m-master..."

-----

As the raider died, lying in his blood, Matt looked around. There was again a sense of shock in the crowd, also a sense of fear. Nobody expected him to do it; even Matt seemed surprised that he did it himself.

Clapping then came from the seat where Samuel sat.

"Well done! What a spectacular performance!" he said, laughing and clapping.

"Matt!" came a voice from the crowd, followed by some commotion as somebody pushed their way forward through the crowd.

"Kassi!" shouted Matt, dropping the hammer and running to the fencing where Kassi, Chloe and Shannon waited for him.

"I'm so happy you're alive! As soon as he said two fighters instead of one, my heart felt heavy!"

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine" he replied smiling.

"As much as I hate to interrupt this chick flick, can I get a word in here" said Samuel "That's all the fights we have for today everyone. Please return to your tents before I murder every single one of you"

"Matt, I have to go. If I don't then I'll get in trouble"

"That's fine but I swear I will see you again, I promise"

As the raiders in the crowd started to disband, Matt was dragged off to the medical tent before all three of the boys were taken to the fighter's tent. It was a lonely thing, as they were the only three in there. It was a grim thought think they were the only people who had survived the day. The guys got onto the mattresses the raiders had provided them. A good night's sleep would be essential for their next day in the arena.