AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Francis pulls away from me, startled as the announcer states the rules. I walk back up to Francis as he spins in something like confusion, taking in the savage screams of the crowd around us.
“What did you do?” I shout at him.
He can’t really be fucking here. This isn’t happening.
Something close to tears fills my best friend’s eyes. “I didn’t do anything.”
I’m shaking my head. We have to stop this. Even as I think about it, I know that’s not possible. Only one man ever leaves the Pits. I’ve never heard of a fight being stopped while two people still breathe the same air.
“I’m sorry,” Francis says, and I have no idea why until he rushes me and lands a solid punch into my jaw.
Pain and shock send me rolling to the ground. Sand and sound rise as my back collides with the pit floor; the sand is no cushion against the concrete below the thin surface.
Francis opens his mouth and lets out a battle cry but doesn’t charge. I’m watching him lose his mind with what he must do—with whatwemust do. Only one of us is leaving this cage.
I stand against my better judgment and turn to my father. I know everyone is watching, but I can’t do this.
“Please,” I mouth.
A body collides with my side, and I find myself eating a mouthful of sand. Francis’s fists pound into my skull in a rage I never thought he could possibly achieve. This is Francis, my cool, chilled-out friend who makes me drink more than I can handle, who makes me laugh though I’ve spent most of my life in misery. He’s my anchor to sanity, and now he’s unleashing hell on me.
The roar of the crowd turns to chanting. They are chanting my name. They want me to get up. They want me to spill his blood.
“Make it quick.” It’s a whimper on a plea that’s brushed against my earlobe.
I almost wonder if I really heard it as Francis’s fists slam into my ear, and the sound around me turns into one high-pitched, buzzing note. I’m climbing to my feet, clinging to the cage as my balance is completely thrown.
Francis’s wild green eyes are screaming at me, and even through the pain and disorientation, I shake my head. I can’t kill my best friend.
He charges, and my back slams into the cage. Greedy hands touch my bare flesh from the crowd behind us.
“End it,” Francis roars, no longer hiding what he wants me to do.
Anger propels me forward, and I take him to the ground. My body slams on top of his. Francis rolls to the side and spits out a mouthful of blood. I’m still on the ground, and I’m debating with myself. I know only one of us can leave this cage. Francis is a better man than I am.
He charges, his foot rising and connecting with my face. Pain smashes into my skull, and the pull of the pain rolls me several times across the sand-covered floor. I have a moment of blindness, the world growing black as metallic taste floods my tongue.
Francis slides beside me, madness dancing in his eyes. “If I kill you, I will live,” Francis says.
I nod. “Then just do it.” I cringe at the words. I’m not on a suicide mission, but killing Francis wouldn’t just end his life. It would end my life, too. There would be no coming back from that.
Francis grips my neck and squeezes. “I’m not here to live, Luca.”
Confusion floods me.
“Even if I walk out of here, I won’t make it far before I’m dead. So just fucking do it, or they will.”
I rise on one knee. I want to ask who they are, but the crowd wants blood, and what difference will it make at this moment? The weight of what Francis wants of me is almost too heavy to bear. I take a final look at the VIP box. My father is no longer there. He has abandoned me once again. I look into the faces of all the men who demand death, who demand to be entertained.
Francis’s leg rises, and he kicks sand toward me. I spin and get to my feet, and the world seems to go wild. The rattles of the solid cage bars make me fear they will break them and the entire world of death will pour in on top of us.
Francis bounces like he knows what he’s doing. Adrenaline and pure fear have me getting up to my feet. My best friend flexes his neck from left to right, and his gaze tells me he’s ready. No one is going to stop this, and apparently, if I don’t kill him, someone else is going to do it.
Why, I don’t know. But I’ll find out. I’ll find out who, and I’ll find out why, and I’ll kill the motherfuckers.
A roar rips from me as I charge, and before I collide with Francis, I see the quick flash of his familiar, beloved grin.
I hate him for making me do this. He knows this will destroy not just him, literally, but me in every other way there is. I take my best friend to the ground, and I can’t look at him. I spin with an arm around his neck and drag him to my chest, where I picture my father as I tighten my arm on his windpipe. Francis keeps his hands clenched into fists at his sides, doing nothing to stop me from killing him.
