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.
***
I had a restless night. There were sounds of struggles all through the night, and I knew there was hazing going on.
On time, a mysterious silhouette strode past my bunk. I stiffened, ready for a fight. But no blows came, and the person passed by without trouble
***
"Wake up, Vyper!"
I groaned, and rolled over until my back was facing the source of the voice. "Vyper! We need to eat before the mess hall is flooded!"
I remembered where I was instantly. I grunted and rolled straight off the bed. I landed straight on my ass on the ground about five feet later. I scrambled up and rubbed my eyes.
"Okay, okay. It's not that serious. I just wanted you to wake up," Angel confessed as she helped me up. Grumbling unintelligible words under my breath, I flipped her off. I grabbed my bag off of the top bunk and rummaged about in it until I found an outfit I wanted to wear.
"You don't mind if I change, do you?" I asked, glancing around. Mostly everybody in our room was still asleep, so I guess I wouldn't be disturbing anybody.
"I don't care," my new friend replied.
I stripped off my dirty hoodie, replacing it with a black, thick strapped tank top. I looked down and saw several bruises on my upper arms. I used to have to hide my injuries, but now that I was in Deadlock, I could flaunt my battle wounds with pride.
I took off my boot cut jeans and pulled on a pair of dark blue Nike shorts. I cracked my ankles before I shoved them back into my black Converse shoes. I brushed my hair, but I didn't have much to brush considering it was short. I smoothed the dark bangs that swooped over my forehead.
"You took less time to get ready than I thought," Angel commented, looking me up and down. I grunted a thanks as I zipped my book bag up again.
"Alright, show me where the food is," I said, going out of our room.
"Go back to the centre then follow me," she ordered from behind me. I gave her a thumbs up and took a left as I exited. We walked down the rest of Midnight until we got to the centre. I let Angel take the lead as she led me towards the hall across from Midnight. It was named Blood Moon.
Deadlock had such lovely names.
We went down the stairs we came up the previous night and we walked down the hallway until we were at the Arena again. There were only about twenty people there at the time, and they were exchanging numerous things.
"What are they doing?" I asked, walking towards the main hall.
Angel glanced over at them, "They're making money. Looks like they're betting on their fights."
"You can bet on fights? Doesn't Snakebite change up who fights each day, though?" I responded. Angel turned back ahead, "You can bet on whether or not you're gonna win in your fight. You can also bet right before the fight."
'I should start doing that,' I thought idly as we came to the first, less exciting convergence of hallways. I needed money, as I had only brought about forty dollars with me.p
She led me to our left as we entered the convergence. It there was a set of double doors that led to the mess hall. There was only a few people in there, but I had a feeling it wouldn't be so empty for long.
"You find us a spot to sit, I'll get our food," Angel ordered, heading towards the place where they served food. I scanned the place, looking for a good, safe location to eat my breakfast. I spied a table near the windows of the room.
I took a seat there and waited for Angel to get there with my well-deserved meal. About three minutes passed before a breakfast burrito plopped down in front of me. Angel slid into a seat across from me, with another one in her hand.
I took a bite of it to find it was pretty good. "Thanks," I mumbled with my mouth full. Angel, her mouth also filled with egg and sausage-y goodness, grunted in acknowledgement. We ate in silence for the first five minutes.
A person slid into a seat beside me quickly, causing me to start and elbow them swiftly in the ribs. It was a girl by the way she gasped, startled as well.
"Hey! Save that for the Arena, marauder!" she growled. I cut my eyes toward her in suspicion, seeing who had decided to sit down next to me.
She was a girl that looked a little taller than me, and a little slimmer as well. She had short, light blonde hair that was spiked into a quiff. The place where it curved upwards was streaked through with bright pink. The shells of both her ears were adorned with silver hoops and studs. Bluish teal eyes were cut towards me as well.
"Who're you?" I asked, swallowing the last of my breakfast. The girl ran her fingers through the quiff, making sure it was in place.
She then said, "Zero." Well that was helpful. Now I knew her name.
"Okay. What do ya want?" I questioned.
Zero gave me a knowing look, smirking. "I saw what you did to Angel in the Arena last night. You were good; better than her," Zero started. I heard Angel make an indignant sound. Zero shot her a look before continuing, "Everybody was surprised, and word goes quick around here."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I means that people want you as an ally. And so do I!"
"Well nobody seems to have confronted me about it yet."
"That's because how early it is. Now, what do ya say, Vyper? Friends?"
I gave her a look. That was weird, but what here wasn't? She could be trying to backstab me for whatever reason she had in mind. As I was deciding, Snakebite's words echoed through my mind.
'Make friends. You won't survive without allies.'
I couldn't argue with that logic, so I made my decision... "Sure, yeah. I assume you know Angel as well." I gestured to my other friend. Zero nodded, smirking again.
"Vyper's got friends!" Zero exclaimed loudly, throwing her arm around me. I felt rather uncomfortable, so I tried to wiggle out of her grasp as politely as possible. Who knew what would happen if I made her mad..
"HEY! Do you not accept my friendship?!" she shouted, to me now. A light misting of spit sprayed over my face.
I grunted and wiped it off. "I don't like being touched. It's not just you," I replied.
"You're a pretty mad person. You've got a mean streak, that's for sure," I continued.
Zero made a dismissive gesture with her right hand. "We're all mad here, Vyper."