Milo shot into a sitting position as a bell rang, the sound of it echoing into his ears. As the bell fade, he began to register the sounds of cheers and jeers surrounding. Squinting into the sunlight, he adjusted his glasses, which had moved to a funny position on his face while he slept. Pushing himself to his feet, he looked around in wonder. High in the stands were hundreds- thousands- of kids, screaming and yelling, though Milo couldn’t understand anything they were saying.
A few feet away he saw Colborn doing much the same as he was, getting to his feet and taking in his surroundings. Milo’s heart rate spiked as he realized what this all meant, and he glanced to the doors desperately, only to find them closed as he suspected. He didn’t need to go and check to know that they were locked in…
Colborn felt his head throbbing before he even fully woke up. Cheering, screaming, shouts of profanity filled the air around him. His body was stiff, flat on his back in the dirt. He turned his head and opened his eyes to see Milo, laying beside him, also in the process of waking up. Colborn sat up, leaning back on his hands, and looked around. They were in the center of the baseball field, the stands surrounding them filled with… children. Teenagers. He couldn’t tell what they were saying, but they sounded quite riled up.
“What the fuck is happening?” He asked Milo, who only shrugged in response. They made their way to standing, and noticed their weapons not too far off to the side. Colborn’s natural instinct made him walk over to his ax, which was oddly wiped clean. As he bent to pick it up, the crowd got louder, as if they were waiting for him to grab it. Milo walked over and grabbed the small sword, and the crowd went even crazier.
“Don’t panic. Let’s just see what happens if we start to try and leave.” Colborn said and Milo nodded, following Colborn to the exit.
“Ah, ah, ah.” A voice over a loudspeaker said, making them stop dead in their tracks. “Where do you think you’re going?” Colborn turned and raised his arms out, physically asking what the voice wanted.
“I’m afraid only one person gets to leave this place alive, friends!”
Upon hearing that, Colborn sighed and turned to face Milo. “You know, I am sorry it had to come to this, little buddy,” Colborn said, his tone almost regretful as he continued to advance forward. “I was starting to enjoy having you around.”
Milo said nothing, continuing to back up, trying to keep some distance between himself and the boy from Seven. He wasn’t sure what he was going to achieve with his evasion tactics, but at least they might buy him some time to come up with some kind of plan.
The crowd of kids surrounding them began to get rowdier the more Colborn spoke. His tone was genuine, but there was a crazed light in his eye that only seemed to shine brighter the closer he got to Milo.
“Come now, don’t make this any more difficult than it has to be,” Colborn began to take longer strides towards the other boy, and Milo could feel his heart pounding faster. “I can make it quick. I don’t want to hurt you, but there’s only room for one of us to leave, and it’s going to have to be me.”
With Colborn closing in on him, it became harder and harder for Milo to think. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, that would protect him from the advancing threat that was his ex-ally.
“Come on, just hold still. I’ll make it quick. Just one swing, and it’s all over. No need for you to suffer if you don’t have to. Why draw it out?”
Milo was visibly shaking, now, and beads of sweat began to form on his brow as he shuffled to the left, still backing up, but careful not to let himself get cornered. There were kids hanging down from the stands, yelling and screaming and beating on the wall, waiting for something to happen, and he had no doubt that they were rooting for Colborn.
While Milo knew Colborn was big and strong, he had no idea how fast the other boy could be. As he glanced over his shoulder once more, Colborn took advantage of his distraction, lunging forward and swinging his axe with a mighty heave.
The sound of the axe cutting through the air was the only thing that alerted Milo to the oncoming attack, and he lurched to the side, but not before the blade was able to cut onto his calf on the downswing, just barely missing taking off a chunk of his foot.
Milo screamed as he lost his balance and fell to the ground. hough the damage wasn’t much more than a moderately deep cut, he was unaccustomed to physical harm and the attack had caught him off guard. Out of fear and an overwhelming sense to stay alive, Milo gripped his rapier and, as Colborn drew closer, stabbed it forward, the blade piercing deep into Colborn's shoulder.
“You little shit. After how I’ve helped you? You’ve got some nerve. I hope you’ve enjoyed your life so far, because it ends now.”
Quickly rising to his feet, Milo stared at the boy from Seven, his eyes wide. Milo’s fear grew as he took a few steps back, he then charged into a dead sprint around Colborn and headed to the center of the diamond. Colborn laughed, ready for a hunt. He instinctively began to jog after him, keeping an even distance from his prize.
“Don’t get too tired, little guy. I’ve got all day to make sure you end up dead.” The crowd was on their feet. Colborn pointed at a few girls as he ran, and winked, resulting in excited giggles. He began to run faster, closing the gap between predator and prey. With his ax in hand, Colborn swung and released. Milo suddenly changed direction, sending the ax flying almost to the other side of the diamond. Upon hearing the sound of the axe flying through the air, Milo fell to the ground, scared out of his mind. Colborn cursed under his breath as he put forth extra effort to retrieve it.
Stumbling to his feet, Milo limped backwards, not taking his eyes off of his opponent. He already knew Colborn was a force to be reckoned with, but now that he was witnessing it himself..
“I’m sorry, I just got nervous! Please stop chasing me!” Milo pleaded, exactly as Colborn expected him to. Colborn wasn’t amused. In fact, he didn’t even stop running. Milo took his actions as a ‘no’ to his request. Milo decided to act, thinking maybe he could come out on top. Milo came to a dead stop, forcing Colborn and him to collide. With no time for Colborn to prep his ax to swing, Milo wordlessly swung his weapon around again, prodding Colborn in his side with the end of his rapier. Spats of blood stained Colborn’s stark white uniform, losing its pristine condition. Grabbing Milo’s weapon with one hand, Colborn collided the blunt end of his axe with the other, smashing into Milo’s nose. Blood trickled down, his glasses broken in half.
“You’re a peppy little spit fuck, huh?” Colborn taunted.
Dropping to his knees, Milo let out a piercing shriek as glass and bone formed a brutal cocktail, acting as shrapnel and blinding him in his right eye.
Colborn took as step back, wiping the his knuckles absently on his pants as he surveyed his prey. Surely now the other boy had to accept his defeat. Taking a step forward, he raised his axe, ready to make the final blow.
Contrary to what the boy from Seven thought, however, Milo was far from ready to give up. The complete loss of sight in one eye and the relative loss of sight in the other had given him an idea of a way to gain the upper hand.
Grabbing his rapier, the loud clang of metal on metal as he deflected the attack sounded through the arena. With his weapon significantly lighter, Milo was able to slip it free, allowing him to take advantage of Colborn’s position send him sprawling on the ground from a kick to the stomach.
Colborn saw red as he felt his back hit the ground, surprised by the sudden offensive attack. He would let the idiot tire himself out all he wanted, and then he’d make him die a horrible, painful death.
With blood continuing to dribble out of Colborn’s injuries, he is forced to cover it with his hand. Pain was apparent, but he fought through it. Milo could almost sense the anger radiating from his new found enemy. He couldn’t see very well, but knew he had to run because stopping wasn’t an option. Milo scrambled to his feet and put as much distance between the two of them as possible.
Milo knew he couldn’t keep this up much longer, though. He was starting to feel dizzy from the loss of blood from his eye, and his leg was aching with each step. Colborn was bound to catch up to him soon, and he had to do something before it was too late.
And suddenly there was sound again; the sound of an axe whizzing through the air. Suddenly, Milo felt the blade of Colborn’s axe rip through his right upper arm to the bone. The pain was like nothing Milo had ever experienced. Stars burst in his eyes and the burn of his throat told him he had screamed. The feel of fake grass and dirt told him that he had fallen due to the axe colliding with his shoulder area. He started panting, the pain too much to bear.
Was this it for him? Was this… was he about to die?
Colborn, swollen with pride, skidded to a stop right over him. “Well, well, well”, he taunted. He exhausted no efforts in grabbing a fistful of Milo’s hair and yanking his head up. “Please…” Milo choked out. Colborn laughed and looked over at the crowd. “What do you guys think? Should I kill him?!” The stadium erupted with chants, “KILL HIM! KILL HIM!”
Milo's muscles tensed. He glanced upwards and saw that Colborn was too distracted with the crowd to notice what he was doing. This was it; this was his last chance.
Holding the rapier by the blade, he swung his body around, feeling the axe cut through more of his muscle and bone as he tried to make out the layout of Colborn’s face in the split second he had. With all the force he could muster, he stabbed the rapier blindly, hoping it hit something. The sound of Colborn screaming in agony alerted him that he had hit something important…
Colborn's eye.
The boy from Seven screamed as the rapier pierced his left eye, causing him to go partly blind. As he struggled, Milo pulled the rapier and, along with it, Colborn's eye. In his one remaining eye, Colborn saw a red as deep as blood. It wasn't his blood that he was seeing, though, it was Milo's.
“Sorry, kid. It’s been fun, but if I’m being honest, I’m really going to enjoy this.” Colborn lifted the blade of his ax to this child’s throat. Milo began to struggle, grasping at Colborn’s hands, as the blade was pressed harder against him. With one swift motion, Colborn thrusted Milo’s head down into the dirt, the blade ripping and hacking through his neck. Colborn continued through the boy’s muffled screams, hearing the bones in Milo’s neck snapping as he thrusted him downward. His body jerked and thrashed for just a moment before becoming disturbingly still. Blood bursted in every direction and soaked into the dirt underneath his now lifeless body.
The cheering had grown to an almost painful volume. Colborn finished his service and grabbed Milo’s severed head, still warm and animated, and held it up like a trophy. He turned in a circle, taking in the glory of this moment. Colborn threw Milo’s head into the stands with the sound of the cannon emphasizing the void. Ax in hand, leaning it on his shoulder with warm blood still dripping from its blade, he turned to walk towards the exit of the stadium, blood thirst happily satisfied. Now all that was left was to tend to his injuries.