“The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemy’s.”
Napoleon Bonaparte
Zero.
As the whisper left Bethany’s lips, an explosion rocked the exit of the supermarket. The shoppers closest to the blast were torn apart in an instant, and their flesh littered the floor in a gruesome rain. The sliding doors rocketed into the crowd, glass shattered, and smashed through those who were unfortunate enough to be in its path. Fragments of cinderblock wall rained down upon them, crushing skulls and covering the area in fine grey dust.
Bethany watched in helpless horror as a man was impaled by a fragment of rebar, and a middle-aged couple were crushed under a boulder-sized block of wall. There hadn’t been time for the victims to scream. When the final piece of debris fell to the ground, the supermarket was filled with a stunned silence, broken only by weak, desperate cries for help.
“Nobody move,” shouted Rocky to their team. His hands flashed with healing light as he struggled to follow his own direction. “Stay in your positions. This is just the beginning.”
The silence was broken by the sound of quick footsteps. A young man in a Pink Floyd T-shirt suddenly burst from the bread aisle, running full speed towards the exit. He jumped over the bodies that littered the bloody floor below, ignoring the groans of the injured. His eyes were fixed on the exit and set with grim determination.
“Now there is a young man we should have recruited to our group,” Zee remarked to Bethany. “It’s too bad he won’t make it. He should have been more patient.”
The young man was ten steps away from freedom when an arrow pierced the man’s skull through his eye. He fell dead to the ground, his body skidding to a stop at the threshold.
“Tough luck, kid,” quipped Zee.
Bethany wasn’t listening to Zee. Her gaze was fixed on the creature that stepped over the young man’s body as it entered the supermarket.
It was a humanoid figure, six feet tall and extraordinarily muscular. It wore a bronze helmet that left only its glowing red eyes uncovered, and let its long, black hair flow behind. Two slender horns jutted from its forehead through the helm, as if the helm had been fashioned around its head. It wore a black skirt with a leather belt, tight-fitting leather sandals, and a long, crimson cloak that cascaded down its back. The man – for it seemed to be a man – was bare chested and extraordinarily muscular, as if it had been training since birth. It carried a bronze spear in one hand and a rounded shield in the other, painted with the Greek letter lambda in red and yellow.
At its side stood a giant grey wolf. It looked half-starved, its mangey grey fur telling of disease and hardship. Saliva dripped from its canines as it surveyed the bodies lying on the ground.
“Is that… a Spartan?” Rocky said with disbelief.
“Balboa, I think we’ve wandered onto the set of 300,” quipped Zee, though Bethany thought she could sense his confidence waiver, if only for a moment.
The Spartan glanced around the supermarket, then raised his arm and made a small, silent gesture. Eleven more Spartan warriors and three more wolves entered the store through the blast hole. Four of the Spartans carried bows instead of spears, and each looked stoic, verging on bored.
An injured woman had dragged her body out of the rubble and was seated against the shattered wall, her legs broken. She was in shock, hardly comprehending the scene playing out before her. The lead Spartan glanced at the wolf and gave a silence command. The wolf leaped over to the woman, who tried to scream, only for the wolf’s teeth to sink into her neck. It shook her like a rag doll until there was a sickening crack. Blood dripping from its muzzle and it pulled, ripping out her throat and swallowing its prize.
Gabriel dropped his spear in absolute terror. Bethany cringed as its clatter threatened to shatter the bravery of the others.
“Kill them all. Show them the glory of battle, and honor me by spilling their blood,” Ares commanded. The deity’s words were directed at both the players and the Spartans, indifferent to whom did the killing.
The Spartans split into four equal teams. One team stayed behind to stand guard over the exit point while the others moved into the aisles. The silence was soon broken by the clang of metal and the screams of the dying.
The three Spartans guarding the exit occupied themselves by indiscriminately slaughtering the injured players that lay on the ground, still stunned by the blast. Their actions were slow and methodical as they slipped their blades into bellies and throats, as if disappointed in their assigned task.
Bethany’s blood boiled as she watched them move from victim to victim.
“Pick up your spear, Gabriel,” Bethany said softly. “They won’t show us mercy, so let’s not show them any either.”
Bethany’s Oracle Eye flashed gold, releasing the tendrils of light from her palm. The light snaked around her ball-peen hammer, forming into her hammer of light. She felt its power – her power – in the quick pulse beating in her heart and hands. It grew easier each time she called upon the light, and it helped keep her fears at bay.
Her light filled the space around them, shining brighter than the florescent lights above, a beacon of hope reassuring them they could survive this.
“Impressive,” whistled Zee. “But do you know how to use it?”
He pointed towards the end of the nearest aisle, and Bethany heard the patter of nearby paws growing louder by the moment.
The first of the giant wolves came into view as it rounded the corner of the aisle, headed straight for them. Its muzzle was covered in fresh blood that dripped onto the supermarket tiles as it ran. Its eyes were fixed on Zee, who was still standing on the pharmacy counter, grinning like a madman.
Zee reached into his cloak and withdrew one of the iron daggers that had fallen from the ceiling. A dark fire quickly spread over the blade from his hands – an unnatural blackness. As the wolf reached their makeshift barricade, in a fluid motion, he hurled the dagger. It soared end over end through the air and struck the wolf high in the shoulder at the base of its neck. The black fire exploded across its shoulder, burning away a patch of fur.
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The wolf yelped and it collapsed to the ground, its momentum carrying its massive body into the barricade. The shelves were slammed inward half a foot, but the structure held.
Zee winked at Bethany. “Like I said, not my first Arena. And tell me, have you found the Emporium? They sell these marvelous potions that surpass any fascinating drugs I have tried.”
Bethany was not listening to him. She had felt the light of her blade flicker when the black fire appeared, as if her light and his fire were opposing forces, and the sensation had been unpleasant.
“Good for you,” Emily replied to Zee sarcastically as she rushed over to the stunned wolf and thrust a spear into its heart. The wolf gave a strangled yelp, then collapsed to the floor. “But you might want to save your self-congratulations for when you actually finish the job.”
Zee was about to retort, when two Spartans strode around the end of the aisle. They saw the dead wolf, and their red eyes flashed with anger. They dashed forward, spears and shields in hand and quickly closing the gap.
Ben and Marvin hurled their spears at the Spartans, but both flew wide. They swore and reached into their pile of weapons for another. The Spartans sped up, sensing the gap in their defenses, except they struck Anjali’s near-invisible moat of shampoo and gel and their momentum was broken as they tried to keep their balance.
The Spartans were forced to slow their advance to regain their balance. An ungodly, angry howl emerged from their mouths, and even from fifteen feet away Bethany could smell the stench of death that came forth. These Spartans – these creatures – were not human. Not anymore.
Bethany heard Gabriel drop his spear to the ground once again, just as Abigail and Anjali’s spears embedded themselves in the closest Spartan.
“Bullseye,” Abigail shouted, reaching for another spear. “Do you like that, you fucker?”
“A shot for the ages, my dear,” Zee praised from atop the counter, and Abigail beamed with pleasure.
“Nice job, Anjali,” Bethany whispered over to Anjali, trying to encourage the scared mother.
Anjali did not respond. She had not taken her eyes off the Spartan, and was reaching blindly for another spear, her palms soaked with sweat.
The injured Spartan looked down at the spears protruding from its chest. It grabbed their shafts and wrenched them out of its body. There was no blood. Only tiny, white maggots that began to flow out of the holes in its chest. It dropped the spears and started to stride towards Anjali.
“Oh god,” pleaded Anjali, finally grasping another spear. She held it protectively in front of her, arms trembling.
The uninjured Spartan signaled, and a sudden sparkle of light flashed in the periphery of Bethany’s vision.
“Shit, the archer!” shouted Bethany as the Spartan bowman, protected behind the half-empty grocery shelves, loosed an arrow towards Anjali.
Anjali twisted her head towards Bethany at her shout, and the arrow glided within a hair of her nose. Instead of its intended target, the arrow struck Ben in the shoulder and the elderly man fell to the floor in shock.
Bethany ducked behind the barricade, sheltering herself from the archer’s view. She realized their mistake when she saw everyone else had done the same thing.
The two Spartans suddenly burst forward, rushing the barricade that suddenly had no defenses.
“Everyone, get back to your positions! They are coming!” Rocky shouted as he dashed over to Ben, his hands wrapped in healing blue. He slid in beside the injured man as another arrow sailed over his head.
Zee finally leapt down from the counter just as the third arrow struck where he had been standing. It ricocheted off the marble surface and embedded itself a computer monitor behind the desk. Priyanka gave a shout of fear as the monitor’s screen shattered around her, and Jaya started to cry.
“Don’t worry, Ben. You’ll be fine. Just grit your teeth and…there!” Rocky said as he grasped the arrow and yanked it from Ben’s shoulder. Ben screamed in pain, but Rocky pressed his healing hands against the wound to stem the bleeding.
The Spartans reached the barricade and leapt over it with their powerful legs. The injured Spartan landed between Anjali and Rocky, staring at Anjali with intent to kill. The second came down beside Bethany.
Despite her fear, Anjali struck first with a thrust into the side of the injured Spartan. She twisted the spear as she struck, and the Spartan’s side opened wide. Maggots spilled across the ground and the creature released a guttural scream. The smell from its breath was nauseating.
The Spartan knocked aside Anjali’s spear and raised its own, drawing back to impale her. Anjali closed her eyes in fear. Rocky, seated on the ground behind the Spartan, stopped healing Ben and grabbed his axe. He swung hard into the back of the Spartan’s knee and there was a sickening snap.
The Spartan fell to the ground, its leg severed. Rocky had sliced clean through the maggot-riddled tendons, and it made him sick to his stomach.
The sight distracted him, and he didn’t see the legless Spartan grab hold of the bloody arrow that Rocky had extracted from Ben’s shoulder and tossed to the ground. The Spartan shouted as he stabbed, murder in its eyes. Rocky saw the movement too late and tried to scramble backwards, but he could not move fast enough.
Zee’s dagger pierced the back of the creature’s neck at the base of its helmet before the arrow’s tip reached Rocky. The Spartan collapsed to the ground, dead.
“That was sloppy, Balboa. It’ll get you killed in this contest,” shouted Zee. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to save a pretty lady with a glowing hammer.”
Rocky’s eyes flickered over to Bethany, and he smiled. “I don’t think that’s necessary Zee,” he said, gesturing towards their northern barricade.
Bethany had taken the fight to the uninjured Spartan, her feather-light hammer sweeping aside its quick spear thrusts with ease. Her increased agility made her feel like she was dancing, and her enhanced strength made her the equal of the Spartan. Their weapons collided as if her light were made of steel, and the song of their battle rang out across their corner of the store. Emily stood nearby, struggling to find an opening.
The Spartan thrust forward hard, and Bethany danced nimbly to the side as she let the thrust sail past her without parrying. The move threw the creature off balance, and Bethany swung for its head. It managed to deflect her blow, directly her hammer into its shoulder. There was a crunch as hammer shattered bone, and it howled in rage.
The creature grew weaker with every attempted parry, and Bethany’s strikes began to break through its defenses.
Their weapons collided, and the Spartan’s spear snapped in half. Bethany pressed her advantage. She drove her light into its chest with the power of a sledgehammer blow.
The Spartan was thrown backwards to the ground. Before it could recover, Bethany stepped over it and landed a final blow directly onto its helmed skull. There was a sickening crack as its helmet was driven inward. The Spartan collapsed at Bethany’s feet, maggots dripping from its dead eyes and cracked skull.
Bethany gagged, her chest heaving from the effort. She looked down at the body at her feet, amazed at the newfound power she had gained from the Emporium.
Emily rushed forward and wrapped Bethany in a big embrace.
“You were amazing, Bethany,” she praised. “I can’t believe how you were moving. I tried to help, but you didn’t need it. You… were… amaz… ing…”
The arrow flashed in the corner of Bethany's eye as it loosed from the Spartan's bow. Her vision grew foggy. Time seemed to slow down.
It felt as it had at the construction site, when she could only watch as the shadow creature swallowed them whole.
The arrow flew towards them in slow motion, its iron head sparkling under the supermarket’s bright lights.
No, please. Emily, watch out! Fuck, I can't move. I can't speak.
Bethany was frozen in place, wrapped in Emily’s arms, and all she could do was watch helplessly as the arrow slowly pierced Emily’s heart and ripped through her body. The arrowhead emerged from Emily’s chest and had enough momentum to pierce into Bethany. Bethany tried to scream as she felt the tip rip through her shirt and strike her skin. It burrowed in between her breasts as if it were a slow-moving drill.
Bethany felt the arrow reach her own heart.
And all she could do was silently scream.