09.01.08
Orphan fighter, pt. 10
I woke up a while later in the infirmary. I took a quick survey of the room, looking for someone who could tell me what the hell had just happened. The people who I’d seen lying on the floor unconscious during my bathroom visitation were also lying in cots, a few them still unconscious. Not seeing anyone else around, I figured I’d get up and find them myself. I tried to stand up, but when I got on my feet, I got so dizzy from the blood rushing to my head that I had to sit back down.
“Hey, Doc! Where you at?”
I decided that if I couldn’t go find them, I’d have them come to me. After a minute or two, a bespectacled head popped in the door.
“You’re awake, are you?”
“You’re the doctor. You tell me.”
He sighed. Maybe he didn’t like my attitude.
“Sorry, It’s just that I’m a little confused right now.”
He came over and told me that I had taken a blow to the head and suffered a minor concussion. He also asked me if I remembered where I was or what had happened.
“I can kind of remember what happened, but I never got to see the bastard’s face who got me.”
“It sounds like you’re going to be fine. I recommend resting here a bit until the swelling goes down, but it’s your call.”
“It’s cool, doc. I gotta question though. Did you catch the guy who did this?”
“I’ll let Dale tell you that. I have work to do.”
With that, the old guy left again, leaving me to sit there feeling like a fool. I felt someone watching me, so I took a quick look around. My eyes met with a kid sitting upright on the cot to the right of mine. He looked like one of the guys who was in the bathroom at the time.
“Hey kid, can I ask you a question?”
He nodded slowly, tentatively.
“What happened to you guys?” I gestured toward the other kids in the room.
He didn’t answer. Maybe he was embarassed.
“Come on now, I’m in the same boat as all of y’all. I got my ass beat, too.”
He snickered, but he didn’t answer. What a cheeky little bastard.
I was about to go over and smack him when Dale came into the room.
“Jack, you feeling okay?”
“The doc says I’ll be fine.”
“Good to hear it. You mind if we talk outside?”
“Sure, it sucks in here anyway.”
We were in a hallway I’d never seen before, but Dale knew the way and I followed him as best I could. The dude walked fast, what can I say?
“Hey Dale, did you guys catch the dude who got me?”
“Yeah, we got the sucker,” he said. Then he laughed.
“What? Something funny about him?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. If you really want to see him, we’ll swing by solitary before we head back out to the city.”
“I just gotta ask though. How big was the guy? Must’ve been huge, right?”
Dale laughed again, but this time he ended with a sigh. “You’re really curious, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, sorry. I can’t help it.”
“Alright, alright. Let’s go and see him before we go back to the gym.”
We changed our course and ended up in a basement somewhere. It was dimly lit, but I could make out heavy wooden doors with bars over the windows and a slot for passing food. We stopped in front of one of the doors, and a guard unlocked it for us.
“Let’s see what’s behind door number two,” I said.
When the door opened, I saw a little kid in there. He was huddled on the floor, chained to the cot behind him. He glared at me like I was his mortal enemy, but he didn’t say a word.
“You have got to be kidding me! This little shrimp knocked me unconscious? How’s that even possible?”
“He hit you with a pretty good-sized rock. We had to pry it out of his hands after we caught him.”
“Why’d he attack me, anyway?”
“No idea. He hasn’t said a word since we brought him here.”
“Was he one of the candidates for the fights?”
“No way. He’s way too small.”
“How did he manage to beat up all those other kids in the bathroom though?”
Dale shrugged. “Who says he was the one who did it? It might have been a fight or something.”
After Dale said that, I heard the rattling of chains, so I turned around to see the kid standing up and scowling. “I did it,” he said. “Those guys tried to get me, but I got them first!”
I have to admit that I was digging the kid’s attitude.
“Hey, kid,” I said, “you wanna prove it?”
“I got nothing to prove. I beat you, too, didn’t I?”
Dale looked a little annoyed that we were wasting our time with this kid, but I had a feeling about this guy.
“Hey Dale, do you mind if we take this kid to the gym with us?”
He sighed. I could tell he thought it was pointless.
“Fine. Let’s just get out of here. I tell you though, he’ll get crushed by the guys we’ve got line up.”
I laughed as the guard came in and slapped a pair of cuffs on the kid.
“It’s a win-win then, isn’t it?”