Second Wind

Chapter 4: We're All Mad Here

AN: Multi-media is Zero.

We entered a hallway as we exited the stair well. "This way, Vyper," Angel said, turning left and walking down the remainder of the hallway. We entered the meeting of the four upper hallways.

"You should see this place when people are in the Arena. They're so crowded you'd think they'd fall right in the middle of the fight," commented Angel as she walked over to the hole in the place. There was a wall that came up a little past my waist to prevent people from falling. You could look down and get an overhead view of the Arena.

"I can see it happening, too," I agreed, leaning over to get a better look. I saw the spatter of blood that Angel had left after I slammed her head into a pillar. I also saw the smear of red where she had banged my head into the floor.

"Come on, it's almost hazing hour," she told me. Angel crossed the upper convergence to the hall directly across from us. She pointed up to the threshold of the hallway we were entering. There was a name of the hall spray painted on it. "Our hallway is Midnight," she told me.

"You name your hallways?" I asked.

Angel shrugged, "We can't have people getting lost during the night. Bad things happens to marauders."

That sounded reassuring.

We walked in silence down Midnight until we came to a door, which we went in to. Inside, there were a bunch of bunk beds filling the room. There were three rows, running vertically through the room. "Welcome to LRB number 3!" Angel said, trotting to the back to the room. There were people already there,

"LRB?"

"It stands for Lower Rank Barrack," Angel explained. She sat down on the bottom bunk of a bed near the back of the room. I assumed that I got the top bunk, so I tossed up my bag upwards.

"What are the ranks anyway?" I asked, "I've heard about ranks, but I don't exactly know them?" I plopped myself down beside her as I asked the question.

"They represent how good you do in the Arena," she started. I turned my gaze towards her. "If you just got here, or you're just really bad, you're a marauder or ravager rank. Marauder is the lowest, and ravager is the second lowest.

"If you're pretty good, you're a liberator. That's the rank in the middle. Now, if you more than pretty good, you've got to be a vindicator. They're the second highest.

"And if you're the best, you get the highest rank... Renegade."

The way she said the word was so full of reverence that I felt that I had to respect it too.

"How do you rise ranks?" I queried. I had the slightest inkling that I was being annoying with all the questions, but I'd rather be impolite and ready than polite and in the dark.

"If you're a marauder, you need to win ten consecutive fights. After that, the amount of fights you need to win rises by one every rank," she explained. I rolled my eyes. Deadlock was just a pocket full of sunshine.

"What rank are you?"

"I was halfway through the ravager rank. But I started back at the ravager rank with zero wins because you beat me," she said. I thought I would detect at least a little bit of bitterness, perhaps a little anger. But there was only a light conversational tone to her voice. I made a face that I thought made it clear that I wasn't lying, "Uh, sorry 'bout that..."

She shrugged it off, "Like I said before. Things happen."

I yawned, and then when I stretched I found that I was sore.

"We should get to bed. You never know when you're gonna fight," said Angel. I nodded in agreement and climbed into the top bunk.

Yawning and beginning to feel stiffness in my limbs, I laid down and closed my eyes. Soon, I fell asleep to the sounds of thumping music and fighting people.