Chapter 3 Part 4 Born To Be A Winner

                                    

                                          

                          
I wake up to klaxons and immediate disorientation. I am in a large bed in a strange, sparsely appointed, cavernous room with a semi-clothed Titus in the bed next to me, watching me, eyes unreadable. 
                          
 "Did I go into a coma or something?" I ask.
                          
 "Yeah." Titus says, his mind firmly in his hands now, and closed to me. He still has hickeys on his neck and chest. "You slept for twenty-four hours.” 
                          
 I tried to close those mental doors, put him back into the "big brother" zone. It was difficult this soon after waking. I kept remembering. "Are you alright?" 
                          
 "I should be asking you that." He says evasively. 
                          
 I close my eyes and conduct a quick self-assessment. "I should eat something. After that I should be fine. Unless something happened while I was out." 
                          
 "You are in secure quarters." He says. "The Grand Producer was concerned with trade secrets getting out." 
                          
 "Are we still on camera?" I ask. 
                          
 Titus smiles. "No. We are a hit though. Our scene is being played all over the ship and for select subscribers."  
                          
 He swings out of bed and walks to a compartment and pulls out several plastic wrapped bars and a couple of pouches of juice. 
                          
 "Here you go." He says. "We're at Hellpit.  You should start getting ready. They’re going to start staging the contestants in a few hours." 
                          
 At "Hellpit" a spike of detectable fear and anxiety shoots through him, escaping his control. 
                          

                          
I begin. “’Hellpit’ is the world where…” 
                          

                          
“Bad shit happens.” He cuts me off. “And here I am again.” 
                          

                          
Kaiju World equals Hellpit. I say aloud. "Oh shit." 
                          
 "It doesn't matter that you've been modded up." Titus says. "Especially since you don’t even crest, Kryptonian, Daxamite, or Herald levels on your physical powers. " 
                          
 "Where do you fall?" I ask.
                          
 "Olympian." He frowns. "You aren't even that... well actually they won't tell me what your ratings are. They moved you into secure quarters after they saw the love bites and my limp." 
                          
 I mouth falls open, and he blushes and grins. "I told you to fuck me and I am damned pleased. I just don’t want to talk about it." 
                          
 I nod. "So, what am I supposed to do here?" 
                          
 "What did Rikkard tell you to ?" He counters. 
                          
 "He told me to survive." I reply. "I survive and my all my debt is paid." 
                          
 Titus frowns. "Wait... you don’t have a quota to bring in?"
                          
 I shake my head. "A quota of what?"
                          
 "No... don’t worry about it." He said. “This ‘Megafauna Spectacular’ is special production of a broader series called 'Bread and Circuses.' It is purest bloodsport with a very fluid cast. “
                          
 “And a very uncreative name.” I say.
                          
“Only because you remember the history.” Titus chides me. “Listen. There is a starting area of silos surrounding an equipment cache, which in turn is surrounded by a force field. The producers have also had operatives in the wild harrying the local wildlife so they are in a hyper-aggressive state. They will have benen driving local wildlife crazy.