Finally, the doors’ payloads were revealed. There were four of them, yellow with black spots, thin, as if starved, but all the more deadly for it. They were jaguars — real ones this time.
The crowd cheered as the four beasts prowled toward us at a low crouch. I gripped my gladius, ready to jab the first one that got too close. Makara stood next to me, doing the same with her spear, while Samuel and Anna stood nearby.
“Bring it on,” she said.
The first jaguar sailed through the air right for Anna. But that was a mistake. She held her sword aloft, and with a cracked yowl, the jaguar impaled itself through the gut. The crowd oohed, unable to help being impressed by Anna’s skill.
However, holding her sword that way left Anna’s side exposed. A jaguar dashed from the side, going for her exposed abdomen. I rushed forward, scaring it off with a swing of my blade. The other two jaguars, with lightning speed, circled around me, going for my back. Samuel and Makara stepped in from behind, keeping my back protected. The three jaguars that were left encircled us.
The five of us formed a circle as the three deadly cats stalked around us.
“Stay in formation,” Samuel said. “Don’t break for anything.”
It continued this way for five minutes. The heat of the sun baked my skin, turning it red. My throat was parched, and every part of me ached. But I did not lower my shield. Not for anything. This was a waiting game, and we would not be the first to break ranks.
The patience of the cats was unsettling. I tried hard not to stare into their black, hypnotic eyes and become transfixed. I could see their mouths salivating in anticipation of their meal, sticky saliva dripping from their jaws and onto the dirt. The crowd had deadened, now talking amongst themselves. I told myself to be ready for anything.
Still, they circled, and none of us spoke. We had been standing here at least fifteen minutes, maybe longer.
The crowd started to get bored and restless. I glanced up at the Emperor’s box, noticing that the rich men were talking to each other. I saw one man nod, and disappear into the arena. What was going on?
One of the cats yawned, settling itself into the dirt.
Five minutes later, the crowd started booing. But I couldn’t let that break my concentration.
Then, something happened that we could not ignore. It came as a steady clinking of chains from our right.
“The gate is rising,” Anna said.
The gate was halfway up, and from the darkness behind it I heard a high shriek. It was a familiar, horrible sound — cold and unyielding, making you want to run, scream, and cower.
“Oh no…” Makara said.
Then they came out of the gates, at a low, dead run. It was a part of my home that I didn’t want to be reminded of.
“Crawlers,” I said.
The first to fall were the jaguars, not us. If there was anything that could knock the boredom out of them, it was crawlers. These were big ones, too, not like the ones in the Wasteland. They were long, serpentine, and scuttled about on multiple legs. Their three eyes were haunting white orbs, without pupils so that you could not see which way they were looking. Their long tails swung back and forth like a scorpion’s. How the Empire had managed to capture them and transport them here, I couldn’t guess.
There were three of them, and that was more than we could handle on foot. The first crawler surged out of the tunnel, leaping right for one of the jaguars. The cat gave a pained yowl as the crawler swiped it with its tail, red blood spewing into the air. The crowd gasped in shock as the torrent of blood fell, splattering onto the dirt. The cat fell lifeless.
The other two cats, hair on end, tried to slink away out of sight. It was pitiful to watch them as they were put against the walls, the three crawlers surrounding them on all sides. The crowds in the stands pulled back as the hideous monsters approached, flexing their tails to strike. In tandem, they stabbed the jaguars, over and over. A fine mist of blood collected in the air from the momentum of the stabs. The cats, after giving a few pitiful wails, fell silent, and the crawlers began to feast on their flesh.
The five of us stood in the center, weapons ready. It was only a matter of time before they lost interest in their fresh kills and came after us. Samuel motioned with his hand, taking a step forward. He meant us to follow him. I saw that he meant to take them by surprise. We had no other shot, anyway.
We snuck forward, and with our movement, the crowd began to get excited. Still, the crawlers dug into the fallen jaguars, the sounds of their chewing and gnashing sickening. Flesh ripped and bones crunched, and nasty slurps sounded in the air. As we neared, the monsters’ stench made me want to retch. I had almost forgotten how horrible everything infected with xenovirus smelled. It was like corpses dead for weeks, like garbage, like untreated sewage.
The crawlers didn’t seem to have much intelligence, even if they were powerful. We were ten feet away. Up close, they were even more giant, still munching away at their prey even as Samuel gave the signal to attack the one on the far left.
Letting out primal yells, we charged forward, hacking at various parts of the crawler’s body. Anna slashed at the tail, giving a good chop that only went halfway through, causing the tail to hang askew. The creature shrieked, turning on us and glaring at us with those white orbs. As it reared up, Makara and stepped forward, stabbing it in its soft, white underbelly, where its dark crimson scales were not so impenetrable. Purple blood gushed from the wounds. It thrashed about, catching Julian with an insect leg, sending him sprawling to the dirt.
Now alerted to our presence, the other crawlers encircled us, blood dripping from their fangs. Their mouths opened, revealing forked tongues and rows of sharp, yellow teeth. They gave unearthly bellows, their breath smelling of rot and decay.
Samuel dealt a killing blow to the first crawler. He swung his mace down, pummeling its head into the dirt. Dazed, the creature remained still as Samuel hit it, again and again. The creature twitched and grew still.
There were two crawlers left. One broke from the other, going right for Samuel, mouth agape. Anna jumped forward, but the crawler tackled her, sending her to the dirt.
The crowd was on its feet, cheering. As Makara rushed to help Samuel, and as Julian was getting back onto his feet, I ran to Anna. Anna tried to force herself up, but the crawler snapped its face downward, its mouth opening…
“No!”
I was too far to save her. I hurled my gladius toward the face of the creature. I had a lucky throw; my gladius spiraled, connecting with one of the crawler’s three eyes. The creature roared in pain, turning to face me. It stamped the ground with its front four legs, and scuttled toward me at an alarming rate.
I dove to the side, but it wasn’t enough. Its teeth snapped at me, grabbing me by the shirt. It picked me up with its mouth, swinging me left and right. The bottom half of my shirt ripped, and I flew through the air, landing right on top of the body of the downed crawler Samuel had killed just a minute before.
I crashed into the armored creature, wincing in pain. I had barely missed landing on the row of spikes jutting from its back. I thought the crawler was going to leave me alone at this point. I was wrong. It was dead set on killing me, here and now.
Just as it was nearing, I heard Makara scream. She now stood right in front of it.
“Makara, no!”
The creature tore into her. She screamed in pain and toppled to the ground, her shirt wet with blood.
“Makara!” Samuel shouted.
The evil creature flashed its teeth, as if in a triumphant grin. But that wasn’t to last. It didn’t even scream in pain as Anna stabbed downward, right into the back of its head. Closing its eyes, the crawler slumped to the ground.