Fighters

A Story by Codename

A teenage boy is kidnapped and is brought into a world of illegal underground fighting.

Fighters

A student walking home from his high school with headphones on takes the same shortcut as he usually does. A path that leads through a some dirty alleys and a graffiti riddled neighborhood. He feels his phone vibrate so, he checks to see who could be texting him during one of his favorite songs. It's his mom telling him she’s going to be home late. He texts alright and resumes walking. He looks behind because he thought he saw someone follow him into the alley. But no one was there so he continues, thinking it's just paranoia.
He is then grabbed from behind and he sees a second man running toward him. The boy reacts violently and successfully breaks the grip and punches the other man in the face. He runs toward the street before a van halts in front of him preventing his escape. He turns around and is tackled to the ground before being punched unconscious.
The boy wakes up on the floor in the middle of a dark room with one light shining down on him. He finds himself surrounded by 4 men responsible for kidnapping him. He squirms on the ground before one of them questions him. “What is your name?” After the boy calms down he sees that his only option is to answer. “Trevor.” The men back away into the dark corners of the room. “Welcome home Trevor” The man replied. More lights flicker on and Trevor realises that he’s somewhere underground with a mysterious figure standing directly in front of him.
The person in front of Trevor appears to be the same age. The boy is shirtless and wearing only shorts and MMA gloves. Trevor sees his opponent get in a fighting stance and looks to his left to find more boys his age who seem to be in a large prison cell. He looks to his audience of kidnappers puzzled. One of them yells. “Fight!”
The boy approaches with a strong battle cry and flurry of attacks. Trevor parries most of them until he’s kicked in the chest. This sends him to the ground instantly. He bounces back up and receives another kick that pushes him toward a brick wall. He gains distance after getting a combo to land on his opponent. Countering then a quick jab, swing and kick to the head. The opponent hits the ground. “I don’t want to fight you.” Trevor warns. His opponent tackles him and proceeds to punching Trevor. In retaliation Trevor headbutts him and kicks the boy off. They both get off the floor then, assume their positions once more.
“That's enough!” The man who ordered the fight demands. “Introduce the rookie to his new family.” He says sternly. The others leave with him and the prison door opens. “What the hell is going on!... Who are you guys, where are we,... why is--” Trevor panics. What he thought was a normal day turned into a nightmare. “One question at a time dude, calm down for a moment.” One of the other boys continued. “I’m Axle, the blonde kid is Ronnie, and the guy you just fought is Dj. You like the rest of us have been kidnapped and forced to fight in this hell hole.” Trevor slides back toward the wall and sits down.”How long have we been here.” Trevor says. Dj and I have been here 2 months. Ronnie arrived a month ago.” Axle responds. “Have you tried to escape!” Trevor asks. “One of us tried…” Dj answers. “What happened to him?” Trevor askes. “He died.” Ronnie says. Axle crouched down next to Trevor. “Why do you think you’re here?” Axle remarks. “What do they want from us?” Trevor whispers. “My guess is that they get off seeing kids fight each other to the death.” Axle says sarcastically. “Every month they hold a fighting tournament with other kids like us.” Ronnie says. “So if you want to live, fight.” Dj adds. “So, what now?” Trevor asks depressed. “We practice.” Axle whispers.
The next few hours were spent teaching Trevor about the rules and fighting techniques. Trays of food were handed to them by the fence door by a small opening. The server observed Trevor’s physique before leaving. Trevor tried not to notice, but he just felt a bit uncomfortable. “That guy who served us we call him fat rick.” Axle said. Trevor looks at Axle with a smirk. “Because he’s fat and looks like a rick.” Ronnie adds with a mouth full of food. Trevor chuckles. For a moment he had forgotten he was kidnapped. “So what's your story Trevor, who are you?” Ronnie asks. “I’m a black belt in karate.” He responds. “And…?” Ronnie adds. “Uh...and I like magic tricks. How about you Ronnie?” Ronnie nods and responds. “I am black belt in Judo, red belt in muay thai and movie junkie.” Axle joins in using Ronnie’s shoulder as an armrest. “Since we’re sharing, I’m a black belt in kung fu and a juvenile delinquent.” Trevor turns toward Dj smiling and expecting a response. Dj remains silent and goes to the cell to sleep on the top bunk bed. “Don’t take it personal, he was really close with the other guy before you.” Axle says. “We miss him too...hopefully you’ll make a good fighter.” Ronnie pats Trevor on the shoulder and heads to bed. Trevor and Axle follow him moments later. The large cell had 2 bunk beds separated by a bathroom stall, sink and mirror. Trevor felt disgusted by his new living conditions.
Trevor sleeps on the bottom bunk under Axle. Next to their beds were Ronnie and Dj. Trevor couldn’t sleep because it wasn’t his usual bed. Above him was Axle and he kept moving. He wondered why he was moving excessively. “Why are you moving so damn much?” Trevor whispers. “Shh...I can’t fap with all this talking, just go to sleep.” Axle responds. Trevor begins to fall asleep moments later his only thought being, fight to survive.
All the boys train heavily day after day until fight night. They wake up do some exercises then spar with each other and eat the half decent meals given to them. During the sparring Trevor notices that he is the least skilled fighter. As the weeks go by he tries his best to improve before fighting to the death. Finally, the it’s the night of the tournament. The boys were brought upstairs had a rare view of the place they were held captive. The boys have been held in the basement of an old cabin by the lake. Only two of their captors would be going to the event, the rest would stay and play poker. All they cared about was the money after all. The boys were all transported with black bags over their heads and handcuffed to another underground location. A few dozen people were there cheering the fighters. The rules were simple no tapouts only knockouts, no hits to the groin or eyes, no biting and absolutely no killing opponents while their unconscious.
The 1st fight was between Dj and a fat kid called Hugo. Dj wins after bringing his opponent down by aiming for his legs and directing all his attention to the face. Next fight was between Ronnie and a 6’4 athlete, Mon. Ronnie only won by choking him out after receiving a heavy beating. After that Axle fought someone who matched him in skill, called John. It ended when Axle did a clean roundhouse kick to the face after an exhausting power struggle.
Trevor was up next. His opponent was the same height and build as him. One notable difference was the tattoos on his arms. Abstract markings with seemingly no purpose. Before the fight Trevor remembered the other match his opponent fought. His opponent snapped someone's neck, then cheered himself along with the crowd yelling his name, Thomas. It was a chilling thought, Trevor could die and this competition would still go on regardless of how many lifeless bodies it accumulates. The ref yells for the fight to begin, Trevor on defense while his opponent keeps trying to land a hit. Trevor stops dodging and jabs successfully to the face. He continued with the same strategy 3 more times. Dodging jabbing until his opponent counters him and flips him over. Trevor rolls away and his opponent retaliates with a jump kick to the chest. Trevor falls into the crowd that surrounded the fight. They throw him back into the fight. Trevor springs back with a superman punch. While Thomas is dazed, Trevor kicks him in the stomach, swings at his face then stomach, before using an uppercut and finishing the combo off with a spin kick to the chest. The opponent, Thomas stands up with the crowd cheering and rushes Trevor. He does a brutal combo and finishes it with an elbow to Trevor’s back. Then, Thomas continues to celebrate as the crowd roars. Trevor’s face was pulsating and his body heavy from pain. Trevor get off the floor and faces his opponent once more. When Thomas attacks Trevor flips him over and breaks his arm. After Thomas screams in pain the crowd goes silent. Then Trevor proceeds to finish the match with a stomp to the head. Victory by K.O so the crowd switches their attention to Trevor and cheer. All the boys hug Trevor relieved to see he won the match.
On the ride home the kidnappers celebrate the stacks of cash they one. The boys remained silent realising they were still prisoners. However, this time was different and they were sloppy. This time their newest recruit would not accept imprisonment. This time they would underestimate both skill and determination. Trevor acted quickly, he removed the black bag placed over his head and stabbed the driver. The SUV spun out of control and flipped over. Everyone takes off the bags over their heads to see what happened in that instant. Trevor, Dj, Axle, and Ronnie crawl out alive.Trevor gets the keys from the dead driver and uncuffs his friends. “What happened?...” Dj asks. “I did a magic trick to get out of the handcuffs and stabbed the driver.” Trevor answers. Dj, Ronnie and Axle look at him oddly. “Stabbed him with what?” Axle asks. “I got knife by pickpocketing people in the crowd before we left.” Trevor says. “You lovable devil, you’re a genius! One of these days you should teach me one of those magic tricks.” Axle says cheerfully hugging Trevor. “Alright, what's next?” Ronnie asks. “Well, two of our captors are dead, so let's hunt down the other two.” Dj suggests. Everyone nods except Trevor. “I agree, but we don’t kill them.” Trevor says. Why not, we survived months of captivity and they killed one of us before!” Dj screams. Ronnie gets between Trevor and Dj hoping they don’t fight. “Listen, I know that you suffered...we all suffered but if we call the police, all their tournaments, all their Activities would end. It's time for them to be prisoners and it’s time for them to suffer.” Trevor says. Dj Calms down and waits for the silence to end.
“First we need to figure out where the hell we crashed.” Axle interrupts reaching into the car for the bag full of money. Approximately 3 minutes or so from the cabin, judging by the lights over there.” Ronnie says. Before any of the boys could speak they are silenced by a moan from the car. One of the captors was still alive despite the blood dripping from his head. Dj picks up a lighter and traces the fuel from the car. Trevor hesitates to stop him as Ronnie holds him back. “He’s already dead.” Dj says as he drops the lighter. Moments later the car ignites in a ball of flames. After watching the car burn for a brief moment the boys walk toward the cabin with a plan to finish their vendetta.
They were surprised no one was alarmed by the massive explosion. So, the mission continued. Dj and Axle lured out one of the men inside by throwing rocks at the house. While Trevor and Ronnie entered through the backdoor to take out the man inside. The man fat Rick was lured outside and beaten brutally by the Duo. Inside Trevor and Ronnie humiliated and beat upon the other man who happened to be taking a break in the restroom. The boys gathered them by the front porch of the cabin and called the police.
For the next month the boys aided in the arrest of over 50 people and rescued 73 kidnapped teens with the information they provided. Trevor, Dj, Axle, and Ronnie were allowed to keep the money won in the tournament. A total of about $575,000!