Chapter 5

He was forced to sit down near the pilot side of the ship, the door began to close and Rainer couldn’t help but stare at the ground he would never see again. 

“Is this all there is? Is this how it ends for me? Thrown aside like a rat by my own race.” He thought to himself. “Fine, then I hope you all suffer with me.” Anger began to flood his body, he continued thinking about how he wished he could kill the type of people who landed him in this situation. 

The small ship began to soar towards the larger one, and in almost no time at all they had landed inside the ship’s hangar. He was escorted to a dark room with metal walls, where they provided him with new clothing to wear. His new clothes were similar to what the guards were wearing without armor. A white short sleeved shirt and white pants to match. 

He felt like a prisoner being prepared for an execution, although he tried to keep calm and not show how frightened he was. Once his clothing had been changed, one of the crew dressed as a doctor, walked in with a large needle. 

In a monotone voice the doctor tried to calm Rainer. “Please be still, this won’t hurt but it will if you move.”  

“I’m not fond of needles, would you mind not coming near me with that?” replied Rainer with a nervous smile. The doctor ignored him as the chair Rainer was sitting in automatically locked him in with metal straps. Unable to struggle, he closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the needle to pierce through his skin. 

The doctor gently pushed the needle into Rainer’s left wrist, he screamed loudly at the pain. “I thought you said this wasn’t going to hurt!” he yelled loudly. 

“I may have lied to reassure you, but we are done and you are still alive, for now.” He tapped the spot where he had inserted the needle. To Rainer’s amazement, a bright blue light began to glow and then faded.

“What did you do to me?” he asked with concern. 

“I simply embedded a chip inside of you, not to worry, it won’t do anything harmful. It’s just there to track you throughout the tournament and serve as a translator. The chip number is also your contestant number for part one of the tournament, you are number seven hundred.” The doctor explained.

“What does it matter? I’ll be dead soon anyway.” 

“Nevertheless, you are a contestant. I have another patient to attend to, so if you would be so kind as to not be a rough guest, I would greatly appreciate it. Oh, and there is a message waiting for you on the monitor.” With those words, he left the room and the straps on the chairs released Rainer.

He was free to walk about the room, there was not much in there aside from the chair in the center and a bed in the corner. The monitor was attached to the wall near the bed, a blinking light caught his eye.

He tapped the light and the monitor turned on, it was a video of kids he had known on Earth, those who he protected. The camera turned and a familiar face showed itself. The face of his father, a man with long messy red hair and a thin choppy beard. He was smiling as he spoke “Well Rainer, it looks like I finally got rid of you. These spacemen said I could leave a message to you, so I thought the best way to send you off would be to tell you how everyone here voted for you.” He laughed hysterically “We all want to see you fight for your life! Make it a good show.”

Some teenagers in the corner looked away from the camera but one of them said “Sorry Rainer, he threatened us, and well, you always would have given your life for us anyway. So, it’s just sooner than it would have been.” 

“Isn’t that hilarious!” The man laughed.

            The monitor turned off as Rainer punched the screen screaming, “How dare you! I hate you! All of you! I’ll kill all of you!” it didn’t break but he hurt his wrist. However, he wasn’t able to feel the pain over his frustration. 

There was plenty of time to think, and all he was able to think about was how he felt betrayed. Even those he had trusted had abandoned him and left him to rot like an already dead carcass. For the next few hours, he tried to tell himself that dying wasn’t so bad. Unfortunately, every fiber of his being told him to live, wanting to die was easy to say but not easy to accept.

He lost track of time, but was greeted by a new guest. A guard in blue armor and a visor covering the top half of his face, entered with a sword strapped to his waist. “So, you’re the fresh meat? They were right, you don’t look like anything special.” He teased.

“And who are you?” asked Rainer, trying to hold back any rude remarks. 

“I’m your guard, from now on I will assist you in getting ready for matches. Well, not that you’ll live long. Unless you have some hidden power by any chance?”

“Not that I’m aware of, sorry to disappoint.” 

“Shame, you don’t see it.” whispered the guard so Rainer couldn’t hear. “First thing’s first, I need you to sit down on the bed so I can check to see if the chip is working.” 

Rainer decided not to argue, and sat down on the edge of the bed with his left arm resting on his leg. The guard walked over and tapped the chip, it began to softly glow. Suddenly Rainer began to feel sleepy, he couldn’t keep his eyes open. “Wha- what did you do to me?” he managed to say.

“Don’t worry, I’m just checking on your blood.” said the guard as Rainer’s head fell on the bed.