Next Up

Chapter 27

Poatan stood from the barstool abruptly, stopping all chatter from the grunts. He limply held the empty bottle of vodka by his side. He lifted the bottle, pointing toward a muscular man in a grey hoodie and sweatpants, sitting on the ground with one knee in the air; the hood pulled tight, covering his face.

"Hunter, you're next. But we will have a slight rule change."

'A rule change?' Zoe thought, 'Well, maybe if we're lucky....'

A shrill laugh came from the hooded man as he got to his feet. He leaned backward, reveling in the confused murmuring from the group across the room.

One of Fuji's group members spoke, "We didn't agree on any rule change!"

"No, you most certainly didn't, but this is for both of our benefits. After every 'fight,' there will be two new fighters for the next round. Whoever won the last round will be able to compete in the round after if they so choose."

Zoe bit her lip, 'So that means Ivy won't be able to fight until the end of this round. That may be a good thing since it gives her rest, but....' Her hand instinctively wrapped around her necklace, 'So it may be inevitable then. I always knew the risks of these missions, but I never thought it would be this soon,' a cold chill ran down her spine, 'I should get this over with, endure the pain now so I won't have to think about it if the trio comes back.' She glanced around the room, taking note of every item and all the furniture, 'Alright, I have an idea.'

"If you have an issue, feel free to complain."

Colson stepped forwards, slowly taking the bokken from its sling, "alright, I'm up next."

"Now, hold on just a minute," Fuji said, but Colson kept walking, his wooden sword fully drawn, pointing at the man Poatan called 'Hunter,' standing in the middle of the black floor pattern—flexing his muscles. The only thing visible under the hood was his bright white teeth and eyes.

Another laugh came from Hunter, "the next victim!"

"Colson, you don't even know energy yet. Are you sure you can handle this guy?"

Colson turned and nodded, "This'll be the best way to prepare for the main three, right?"

Fuji sighed, "Well, if you say so, just don't do anything crazy, okay?"

Hunter hopped from one foot to the other, "You kids have some balls, huh? You don't know who I am, do you?"

"Dude, no one cares who you are," Colson said.

His smile inverted for a split second, "You gotta lot of nerve, kid!" He cleared his throat, composing himself, "Listen up!" He pulled up the sleeves of his hoodie on both his arms, revealing tattoos of skulls with X's over their eyes. "You wanna know what these represent? Each of the twenty-three skulls represents someone I've killed! About nine of them are from the villagers here!" He started giggling.

Zoe broke out in a cold sweat, panic rising in her voice, 'he's going to have to fight a serial killer?'

"But look at this arm, though," Hunter said, holding up his left arm, "only eleven skulls on this one, but there's twelve on the other. I just need one more skull to soothe my OCD. You think you can help me with that, brat?"

Colson continued to glare at the man, not saying a word.

"So, we're gonna bet our lives on this one, you hear me, kid?" His voice barely above a whisper, "There'll be blood," he cooed, "brain matter on the walls," he gurgled, "Pain like you couldn't believe! It'll be great," he threw his head back and let out another loud laugh. "He's gonna be petrified," he thought, the grin on his face widening.