D-Sport

'What is this,' confused, and crouched against a wall with a broken window to the right. Guns arranged neatly in front; on a table. [Match start in -02:00] a countdown till the match began. 'Kill or be killed,' standing up to take a peek, '-no idea, can't see anyone.' Shaky, "-can anyone hear me?" he asked with a troubled voice.

"Yes, stop bitching," voiced the opponent, "-kid, I swear, you're going to die if you don't make up your damn mind. I'm going to come with all I have, you better get ready. I won't say this again – you're in fucked up position. Some people need me in the real world, I'm going to kill anyone who gets in my way. I've family who desperately needs money – it's unfair. I never asked to be born this miserable," the sound of a magazine jammed into the gun clicked, "-to choose this path, you must be desperate." Loaded, "-listen up, everyone here in this underground fighting arena is desperate, don't think you're precious. We're dogs serving to entertain sick minded people outside, relaxing in their seats while we kill one another off. I've met many people, and killed even more – one thing has remained consistent; my life became better, I provided the necessary commodities for my family. Paid off my debt, helped my dad – at what cost," the clock rang, "-at the cost of someone else's life," muted, the match began.

'What should I do?' a rumbling was heard, '-that's a bike,' lifting dust, the lady charged to take mid-control – a watchtower with an easy view into the opposite team's spawn point.

*Pak, pak,* bullets whistled past the head and hit the wall across. 'She's going for me,' warm, '-my arm is grazed,' blood splatted across, *POOF,* a smoke grenade paired with a flash and *BANG,* shot in the head, no time to react, [Hun 1 – Player One 0] respawned, '-I died,' the injury felt real.

[First to reach three kills] came upon the interface, [Round Starts in -01:00]

'I d-died,' fear settled in, '-what's the point of fighting back?' he thought and remained behind cover without trying. 'Hiding or not, she'll kill me,' the same rumbling, a bike charged towards the middle. 'It's painfully obvious,' he sighed and stood, '-the first one to reach three kills, wins. The other dies,' holding his arm, '-the injuries aren't healed unless life-threatening.' Jumping through the window, he walked with hands in the air.

"I GIVE UP," he yelled, the bike rushed the middle and stopped.

"Are you stupid?" the girl got out, "-don't you realize that this game is to kill or be killed?" pulling out a pistol, "-guess you don't have anything worth protecting or is it that bullshit about not hurting a girl or killing a human being. You're a good person," she smiled, "-I'm relieved to see there are still people who care about others in this world," *Click,* trigger pulled, the lifeless body fell.

"Hep, you've brought in someone worthless," complained Cherry, the lady who spoke into the Pod earlier. Sat in a monitoring room with screens all around. Wires dangled from the roof, a window to the right in which rested the fighters and their pods. To the left, faceless bodies of people assisting the match using a live-feed bounced around so that the location was untraceable.

"Not that it matters," standing behind the girl, "-Scarlet is going for the tenth win. After that, she can go to participate in the real Death Game. Let' s just say I used that student as bait; the organization ain't going to question what happens as long as she has ten confirmed kills."

"You're a fucked up human being," shook the girl with a sigh, the last round resumed.

[Hun 2 – Player One 0]

*You don't have anything worth protecting,* resounding through his entire body, the words the lady spoke had a deep impact. 'How selfish can someone be,' thirty seconds before the last round, '-I swore to protect Elise. Just because I can't stand the idea of shooting another human and ending their life, that doesn't mean I should risk hers either," lingering past the weapons with the fingers crawling across the table, "-I've made up my mind," resolved, he picked the DLS-40. 'If this is anything like Mantis,' relaxed, '-I'll focus. Think of it as a game, nothing else, focus on the task at hand. I need to win, I have to win, I'm tired of being weak and having people look down on me. I'm tired of crying every night, I'm tired of having to suffer because I was dealt a bad hand in life – the only path before me is," safety off, "-to fight." Adrenaline rushed, the heart rate increased, jumping through the same window, resting against a broken wall, '-she thinks I've given up,' finger inches away from the trigger – through a gap at a distance of 2.8 Kilometers. Dust lifted from the bike she used, '-one-shot,' *BANG,* '-one kill.' Her body fell off the bike the moment it drove onto the bridge.

*BEEP,* [Hun 2 – Player One 1] the round restarted.

"YO!" screamed Hep, "-what happened?" spectating his point of view, "-I didn't even see Scarlet, did the system bug out?"

"Shut up," fired back Cherry, "-here's the kill," replaying the clip, "-0.14 seconds reaction time," she said with a frightened face. "The average for humans is 0.25 seconds," the chair turned, "-that's fast, a whole lot fast," her eyes opened wide.

"Probably just a stroke of luck, look the next round is starting," he pointed.

'This round, I'll take the bike and charge the center, smoke as a decoy, and jump into the bushes. She's going to hold back. When players are confused, they tend to go on the defensive and re-evaluate what happened,' *Beep,* blazing across spawn towards the middle, smoke out to block the bridge linking each sector, '-breathe,' laid behind a bush with her spawn in view, he waited.

"Scarlet is confused by the smoke," voiced Cherry, "-this dude is experienced," her astonishment grew, "-taking the initiative, your precious fighter is about to bite the dust," switching the point of view to Sayer. "He has the window on lockdown," she voiced, meanwhile Scarlet readied herself to charge.

"What's the distance?" asked Hep.

"From Sayer to Scarlet, 2.8 Kilometers."

'There's only one way to move, and that's to the right. The smoke grenade has served their purpose, to stop your advance. The idea in your mind is that I'm going to go up the tower and look down, *-click,* [Player One 2 – Hun 2] *Last round,*

"WHAT THE FUCK!" screamed Hep.

"YES, WHAT INDEED," turned Cherry, she laughed maniacally,"-THAT SHOT WAS 0.13 SECONDS, BAHAHAHA."

*Begin,* going all in, Scarlet jumped onto the bike and rushed the bridge, Player One did the same. A frontal assault, "-he's going to die," voiced Cherry on the edge of her seat, "-no way is the DLS-40 going to work on a bike. Each shot takes 0.35 seconds whilst Scarlet is coming in with the STS-1."

Meters away from one another, she pulled out her gun, *click,* "-game over," *BANG,* an explosion followed.

[Player One: Victorious]

'What have I done?' jumping off the bike,'-s-she's d-dead,' knelt, the blood gathered in a puddle, her skull exploded, a body laid at his feet. Scared for many reasons, the hand trembled… -I k-killed,' a nauseating feeling rose from within,"-don't" managing to keep it in, [Virtualization ending 3… 2… 1…] *Tsst,* the pod opened, '-what have I done?' Come too, a not so good looking room with the opponent against him. Her pod, fogged up, opened, a red liquid dripped on the floor. Same as in-game, her skull shattered, "-WHAT HAVE I DONE," pushed out of the pod, he ran towards the lady and hugged the body, "-I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," tears flowed, "-I k-killed y-y-you, I-I'm s-sorry," shaking, legs gave followed by him blacking out.

"FUCK YEAH," yelled Cherry, "-Scarlet lost," wanting the boy to win from the start, her smile could but make Hep angry. To which a few banging on the window proved her point.

"Can you please roll back that last clip and explain to me how the fuck a weak-ass kid like him can carry a heavy gun like that as if it weighs nothing. Not only that, but he also shot my fucking fighter without using a scope and going 80 kilometers per hour," turning to Cherry, "-did you rig the game?"

"No need to get violent," showed on the screen, "-this dude is a one in a million find," her hands moved quickly through data, "-here," pointing, "-an average Pro Manticore player has reaction of 0.16-0.15 seconds. It's as fast as a blink. Now you have this dude, he shot at 0.14 and 0.13. The last shot was 0.25, pretty fast for someone who didn't use the scope, was on the move, and hit a moving target using the hardest sniper in the whole of FPS culture. Adjusting for the bullet trajectory in that short an instant is commendable. We might have struck gold," she stared out the window, "-too bad the kid isn't used to killing. He passed out at the sight of the first person he killed," turning to Hep, "-what will you do?"

"Nothing can be done," the head shook, "-I had money riding on Scarlet winning the fight. The kid made it big for the first fight," turning to Cherry, "-can you calculate how much he won out of that fight, that little bugger?"

"For participating, 10,000 Bits. Winning for the first time, a 5000 bonus. From the bets, 8500 and for killing a favorite, 4000. 27, 500 Bits for the first night. Low for what the top fighters are given, but hey, it's not illegal," she laughed.

"Not illegal?" turned Hep, "-it might well be legal. We've backing from the government, Celestials, and the organization. In no way will our secret be revealed," he laughed, "-people like C-sport but it's tame, this is D-sport, a game of life and death," walking over to the window, "-register him as a competitor under my name. All the money will be handled, processed, and handed to him as a gamer of D-sport. There's no law against people shooting one another – not in the virtual world. Killing in the real world is bad, but if each has agreed to our contract – no police nor law-enforcement will ever try to get in the way. That's how we operate, D-sport, the underground version of C-sport," staring Sayer, "-welcome to hell, kid, you're going to pay me back the money I've invested in Scarlet."

"Guess I'm off to go clean the pods," with a sigh, "-bring the cleanup crew, we need to get rid of yet another body," she stood and moved over to the left side. "The highlights are readied, I'm sending it to guests," on that, the screen turned off.

"I'M SORRY," wide awake, dawn came by, "-my arm," reaching for the injury, '-why am I naked?' thin sheets rolled off the body and fell. 'Who's that?' a sharp pain traveled from the neck upwards.

"You're up already?" turning, "-morning Player One," with a smirk, a girl with tanned skin, freckled cheeks, rosy lips, and short hair answered. "Before you ask, my name is Cherry," she sat upright, "-the tattoo under my neck makes it painfully obvious." Inside what seemed to be an apartment, one with a clean interior, blacked-out curtains, a holographic television, recreation of famous work of arts, and a feeling of luxury, he gawked.

"Why a-am I here?" the pain grew sharper which forced him to lay back down again. 'I r-remember,' a heaviness grasped the heart, '-I k-killed,' turning to Cherry who stood and moved over with body naked and breast exposed, "-that's the side effect of the pod," she leaned in and gave a kiss. "I've taken a liking to you," inches away, she breathed softly and bit her lips, "-I might have sounded like a child over the speaker, but I'm also a university student," not bothered by how she appeared, "-the way you used that sniper," caressing his cheeks with the index, "-it had me in a precarious state," a faint moan was heard.

"I-I'm sorry," sitting upright, "-please put something on," startled, "-I rather not remember what happened yesterday."

"Too late for that," a hug from the back, "-you killed," a scary whisper, "-whatever happens now, your life is intertwined with mine. A wrong move and you'll be sent to jail or the cemetery depending on the Organization's mood. I fought hard against Hep to gain your ownership," the screen turned on, "-500,000 Bits for contracting Player-One. I've bought you, and you're my property; do as I say or else," her head leaned against his back, "-all these stimuli and your heart rate haven't gone above 90 bpm, you're truly fit to become the next Kezal."