“They’ve noticed us, get ready,” Marco said and spread his feet apart.
“If you can get one of those swords, get one and start hacking away,” Thad said over his shoulder. Thad began to move forward, toward the oncoming prisoners. They were a sad lot, their eyes crazed and desperate. Their mouths were open and blood and spittle flew from the orifices as the men screamed. Thad knew that he had to use his body as a weapon if they were to have a chance. There were at least ten men heading their way and the rest had been left behind to die. The weapons the prisoners held were jagged bits of metal. They would not slice or kill cleanly and Thad suspected that was the whole purpose. To make death painful, slow and hard to accomplish. As the first man reached him, Thad bent one knee and struck out from the hip with his leg and caught the oncoming man in the gut and kicked him backwards, into the other men who fell around him.
The crowd erupted in a roar, but Thad didn’t hear them, his whole focus on the other men stepping over the downed prisoners. He didn’t look but Dean darted forward and snatched up the sword the man had been carrying. As Thad turned to face another oncoming man, Marco ran out and bulldozed the prisoner off his feet. Marcos then took the sword and began hacking at the downed prisoner. Dean was doing the same and part of Thad’s brain was frozen in shock. He’d never seen something so brutal and gaming didn’t count. The scent of blood stung his nostrils.
He looked over to Greg, who was frozen to the spot and he gave a rough shove and brought the younger man to his senses. There was another man coming at Greg and he dropped down and did a leg sweep. Greg had long legs and Thad was glad to see that he could take care of himself. He then turned his attention to another man, who had gotten dangerously close and he felt the sting of the sword and it slashed across his stomach.
“Fucking asshole,” he snarled and backed up and did a jump, snap kick, catching the man under the chin. Teeth flew out of the man’s mouth, along with the tip of his tongue. He screamed in pain as blood cascaded from his mouth and his eyes bulged from his head. The man staggered back and the sword was still in his hand. The man stunk badly and if it weren’t for the fact that he was fighting for his life, Thad was sure that he would have vomited from the putrid stench.
His balls ached, his body stung and he felt bruised and battered and he was angry now. He narrowed his eyes and ran toward the man. He caught him with his upper body and he drove his shoulder into the man’s gut. He heard the air knocked out of the prisoner and he fell hard to the ground. Thad thought he heard the man’s ribs crack. He quickly snatched up the sword and brought it down on the man’s neck and felt the heat of arterial spray, as it splashed across his face and chest. He felt the grit of sand as it clung to him and abraded his skin.
He jumped up and away from the now dying man and faced another man. His eye caught Dean and Marco and saw that they too had killed and Greg was fighting with a prisoner, hacking away at him. Greg’s face was frozen in horror, his eyes wide and wild, but he kept swinging the sword over his head. Thad jumped out of the way as the last living prisoner ran past him and then the man turned. His lips were curled back in a vicious snarl and he was screaming something, though Thad didn’t understand him.
The man came running back toward Thad and he waited, sword in hand. He was almost there when Marco ran over and rammed his sword into the man’s back. The prisoner screamed and swung his sword backward and caught Marco across the face, opening his cheek.
“Freaking hell,” Marco screamed and Dean came forward and hacked at the man, leaving Marco to hold his bleeding face. All four men were panting hard and it was then that Thad realized that the people above them were cheering and laughing and waving their arms. Greg walked over and threw the bloody sword down and Dean joined him. Dean placed a hand on Greg’s shoulder and said something and the younger man nodded. Thad walked over to Marco and looked him over.
“Brother, you okay?” he asked.
“Dammit, it hurts,” Marco hissed.
“What in the hell do we do now?” Dean asked as he looked up into the crowd, who were still cheering.
“Hell, if I know,” Thad said and they all turned when they heard the gate squeak open and saw Appuleius head toward them, a sardonic smile on his face.
“I’m gonna put my foot up that fucker’s ass,” Marco snarled, blood streaming through his fingers from his cheek wound.
“Better save it for another day, bro. Your face is gonna get infected if it doesn’t get cleaned up,” Dean said.
“He’s right. It’s a damn good thing we’re all up on our tetanus shots,” Thad said.
“Very good. You’ve lived to fight another day. Scauras will be very pleased,” Appuleius said, a wide smile on his face.
He stood aside and pointed to the gates and the crowd cheered them on and the four men walked back into the bowels of the Colosseum. Appuleius lead the way, confident they would follow. He’s right, we have no place else to go, Thad thought darkly. He suddenly felt old and his body hurt badly and the bottoms of his feet burned. His body was now shaking violently as the reaction of
