The Gladiator

<p>Zac lay half-conscious on the floor, his ears ringing like a bell- his face swollen and numb and he could barely see out of his bloody left eye. The room was echoing with continuous yelling and shouting. The ref was thumping his fist on the ground- "8 – 7 – 6 – 5- 4 –". With all the remaining strength in his body, Zac lifted his right arm to let the ref know he was good to go for one more round. Somehow he pulled himself up and stood up on his feet. He looked at his opponent- a hulk of a man snorting and grinding his teeth, rather annoyed that he had to beat him up one more time. The ref held Zac's gloves and asked him one more time if he was ready, Zac simply nodded and stepped forward and the ref got out of the way, yelling – "fight!" His opponent rushed at him and Zac immediately got out of the way and turned around to face him. He put his gloves in front of his face to spar. But his opponent was ruthless, for the next minute or two Zac could barely stand his ground against the volley of punches and kicks. He felt like he should simply surrender- his body could take only so much pain. But giving up was not an option- El Jefe wouldn't like it- not one bit. And he would rather die fighting in the ring than face his wrath.<br/><br/>And then, like thunder, his opponent punched him straight in his nose, and Zac felt like his soul left his body. His opponent had already turned around and was cheering with the crowd. But to everyone's surprise, Zac wasn't knocked out this time rather he swayed back a little but was still standing on his knees. Zac felt a sudden rush of adrenaline rise through his spine. He suddenly felt a rush of confidence and raised his head and yelled-<br/><br/>"Hey! Fatso! We're not done yet!"<br/><br/>The opponent turned around and said-<br/><br/>"You have a death wish mate? All right come on then, I'll finish you proper this time!"<br/><br/>Something snapped inside Zac, time seemed to slow down. He could now see his opponent move rather slowly. He felt no pain, fear, exhaustion- just confidence- he felt like he could take him down in one blow. His opponent rushed at him with his left arm. Zac dodged it and immediately retaliated with a mean right uppercut to his left jaw. The crowd was stunned- everyone went silent as his opponent came crashing down like a stack of dominoes. Zac was surprised too- did he win? His opponent wasn't moving- did he just defeat the strongest opponent he faced with just one blow?<br/><br/>The referee suddenly came to his senses and began his countdown, slamming hard on the floor- "10-9-8-7-"Then the crowd came alive and chanted together"-6-5-4-3-2-"Zac stood there in shock- taking in the moment. Suddenly he heard whistles and sirens- <br/><br/>"This is the police- you are surrounded- do not try to escape!!"<br/><br/>The crowd went berserk- everyone began to run for their lives- the place soon went up in chaos. The police showed up in their cars and began rounding up anyone they could catch. This was an illegal underground fight- chances of getting caught were pretty high. Amidst the mayhem, El Jefe disappeared with his men. The referee left the unconscious man on the ground and ran away. <br/><br/>"Damnit!" remarked Zac and began to run away while pulling off his gloves. He picked up his bag which was lying on the corner. He had to make sure that he didn't get caught this time- or else this would be his third strike. Even if he had won- he had to forget about the money- for now- <br/><br/>Then suddenly out of the blue- a police officer appeared, blocking his way. Before Zac could think of anything, the officer tased him. Zac's body went stiff as he began to shake violently and came crashing down hard on the ground- the last thing he could remember was seeing blurry images of people running off shouting and yelling and the commanding voice of the police officer yelling-<br/><br/>"Stay down!!"<br/><br/>It was around 6.30 in the evening, 20 miles away from the city- two park rangers were carefully making their way along a deserted trail in the forest. It was getting dark, and the cicadas sang incessantly. The deafening cacophony of bugs and critters and the ever growing darkness around was making them all the more anxious to get the hell out of that place.<br/><br/>They paused for a few seconds and looked at each other – there was no point in moving any further. It has been 3 hrs since they started their journey. A teenage girl was reported missing in and around this area- a popular hiking destination for the locals. The girl supposedly came with four of her friends and after a few hours, she allegedly disappeared as they were making their way across this very trail. <br/><br/>The two park rangers decided that they would need a bigger search party to cover more ground. They were about to make their way back when they heard a low humming sound coming from all around them. They paused and looked around in confusion- the sound became louder and louder and was becoming unbearable by the second. They covered their ears with their palms and crouched on the ground in pain. The sound was disorienting and nauseating. It lasted for almost two or three minutes but to them, it seemed like an eternity. And after a while, the sound stopped. The rangers now sweating and breathing hard looked at each other with confusion and fear for they knew this was the legend they had heard of since they were kids- the legend of the Siren Head – a monster that resides in these forests waiting for its next prey. It was allegedly 20 feet tall and had a huge siren for its head, its body long and slender, human-like and yet not completely human. The rangers hurried back to their path hoping to get out of there as quickly as possible but then another loud hum began emanating from behind them and before they could turn around, huge branches came flying out of nowhere and impaled them from behind. The men could hardly make sense of anything, all they could feel was pain and darkness….<br/><br/>The branches dragged the bodies of the rangers deep into the dark abyss of the forest…. The night was dark and humid and the woods were silent now…the moon hidden behind the clouds ... it started pouring heavily...<br/><br/><br/><br/></p>