It Rained Red Upon the Arena by Kenneth Champion Page B

yourself from that fight...” He paused as he put his hand on a bag full of food and started tapping it with his fingers. “See, you just have to get down on your knees and admit to me that I am your king. And beg for my forgiveness of your rudeness earlier.”
    “No,” Nick replied. “My king sits on his throne in Genold City. I do not bow for a fake king. I do not beg. I do not regret anything I have ever said to you. You are an inmate like myself, nothing more.”
    The man’s face swelled up as he moved towards Nick. He threw Nick across the room like a doll, knocking over a stack of bagged goods that fell on top of him. Nick got the worst beating of his entire life that night. The man’s unrelenting punches thrashed upon Nick until he became unconscious.
    ***
    Nick’s eyes opened. He had no idea how he got back to his cell; he only remembered being punched mercilessly. His face was pounding with pain and his body was bruised all over. As he tried to move, he felt pain like he had never experienced resonating throughout his whole body. Nick struggled to stand up as the cells were being opened for the walk to breakfast. He motivated himself by remembering that Phillip had fought yesterday, and it was his first chance to meet with him.
    He stumbled and winced in pain as he made his way onto his feet. The Refect made their way down to his cell and said nothing of his mauled face as one opened the gate. Nick painfully made his way to the kitchen where, as usual, he got his food, but on that day he had no appetite. He still decided to grab a plate of food and sat down at an empty table. Phillip made his way over to Nick after he spotted him sitting down.
    “Who did you piss off? It looks like you barely made it out alive of an arena match. What happened?”
    “I didn’t respond politely to the self proclaimed king of the arena,” replied Nick. “So he set me up to be alone in a room with him last night where he beat me after I refused to bow to his dirty feet.”
    “That man has numerous Refect on his pay roll. Apparently he has connections to get the Refect their money, so long as they do as he says for certain things. He was rich before he was convicted, and, unfortunately, even in here money buys power. He is one of those most of us would rather avoid a confrontation with.”
    “What is the scum’s name?” asked Nick.
    Phillip looked around nervously and said, “Body Bags. His name here is Body Bags but recently he likes to call himself king. Don’t let anyone hear you call him a scum. If the wrong person hears you, there is nothing I can do to stop him from killing you.”
    “He told me last night that I will fight him after my next fight. I look forward to sending him away in his own body bag.”
    Phillip covered his face with his hands. “Nick, he has been here for a year and a half. He is one of the few men in here that have a great chance at living through their two year sentence. He is a savage, and a natural born killer. Nobody wants to meet him in the arena, nobody. Just look at what he did to you with his bare hands last night. Give him a weapon and you might just be dead in a minute.”
    “I’m not scared of him, Phillip. Like I said, I’m looking forward to that fight. For now, I’ll focus on my fight next weekend, then I’ll prepare for him.”
    Phillip was confused at Nick’s confidence. He worried that his head was overflowing with an ego developed through one win in the arena. But he decided to drop the subject and agreed that the next fight should be the focus.
    Nick didn’t touch his food at first but finally attempted to take a bite. His mouth was swollen and full of cuts. His whole face hurt as he tried to chew the mushy protein filled breakfast. He could only swallow a few bites before giving up.
    “So, enough about me. How was your fight yesterday?”
    “It was a fast match,” replied Phillip. “The man I fought had limited combat abilities. I was able to beat him with only