King of the World

Jason

Jason couldn’t remember the last time he got his ass kicked this bad. Three of Rose’s heart guards had been beating him for almost an hour. That he could deal with. Rose laughing and making fun of him in the background was starting to get annoying. 

“I knew you were dumb but come on, sweetheart. You didn’t really think we would let you leave after betraying King, did you? Oh, this is a beautiful sight. I wish Damon were here. He’d really have a good time watching this. Hell, he might’ve joined in,” Ross laughed.

“Do…you…ever…shut up?” Jason asked, panting. “It’s getting…annoying.”

Rose scoffed and walked over to him. She grabbed a handful of his hair and leaned his head back, so he looked her in the eyes. “What was that?” Rose snarled. You must really want to die.” She pressed her sword to his throat and smiled. “I want you to beg for your life.”

Jason scoffed. “Please, don’t kill me. There happy?”

Rose punched him in the gut and made him cough up blood. “You’re not funny.” She looked at her guards. “Break times over. Get back to it. I don’t want to recognize his stupid face by the end of it.”

“My stupid face has something to say to you,” Jason said, adjusting himself in the chair they had him tied to. “I know something that King doesn’t know. I’m feeling a bit weak, though, so you’ll have to come close.”

Rose burst out laughing. Her cackling rang in his ears. “You seriously thought I’d fall for that? I guess that serum made you a ******* instead. Not all of us got the genius card.”

“Worth a shot. Just thought you wanted to be the one to impress King. I guess I could tell Jessie. Hed love to get a one upon you. I don’t think Damon cares.”

Jason saw a glimmer of interest in Rose’s eye. “Oh yeah? What’s this info? I’m not coming anywhere close to you, but you can say it from there.” She waved her hand, and the guard’s fist stopped inches from Jason’s jaw.

“Much appreciated, Rose,” Jason smirked. “Alright, so–” Jason saw his opportunity and slammed his heel down onto the guard’s foot. Then he knocked the guard to the ground by hurling himself into the guard’s stomach. “Good thing you guys don’t know how to tie a good knot,” Jason thought as he was able to get his hand free and grab the guard’s gun, and fired. Rose stumbled back. The other guards went for their guns, but Jason was quicker. He shot both of them in their heads and turned his attention back to Rose. Aiming for her heart. “Any last words?”

Rose’s anger was boiling over as she tightened her grip on her sword. She took up a fighting stance.

“Come on, Roseanne. Do you think you can get to me for I shoot you? You should’ve killed me before I got a gun in my hands. You know you can’t win,” Jason said, picking up another gun. “I better with two.” He winked.

“Did you forget you’re hurt? I know it’s hell for you to stand right now. I bet I could still get to you before you ever pull the triggers,” Rose said, chuckling. “Even I can take you.”

“Now, who’s a *******?” Jason said as Rose charged him. He let her get close but then shot her once in the chest and once in the head. She dropped her sword and fell to the ground. Jason was running on pure adrenaline. The pain started to pulsate through his body. He knew he didn’t have too much time left before he passed out. He grabbed her sword and scabbard and limped towards the door. He wasn’t even halfway out the door before collapsing onto the hallway floor. “******, get up!” Jason said as he tried to stand, then crashed back onto the floor. 

Suddenly, he could hear footsteps getting closer. “They don’t sound like guards. Better be safe than sorry,” Jason thought, sitting up and aiming towards the noise. He was about to fire when he saw who it was. “Oh, christ,” Jason thought before laying back on the ground.

“And then there’s this ******** Josh said. “The hell happened to him?”

“I don’t know, but he’s the one who brought me here,” Ronda said. She looked over into the room Jason was in and gasped. “Hey, I know her. She’s The Heart Knight or was. They all have shots in their heads. Right in the middle.”

“Guess he’s better with a gun than Jessie was,” Franklin said. “What do we do with him?”

“Touch me, and you die,” Jason said, pushing himself up and sitting against the wall. “How the hell are you guys alive?”

“You’re mates aren’t as good at their jobs as they thought they were,” Josh said, showing off Damon’s knife.

Franklin pulled out Jessie’s gun and pointed it at Jason. Which made Jason laugh and say, “Put that down before you hurt yourself.” He looked Franklin up and down. “More.”

“From where I’m standing, you’re not in the position to make jokes,” Franklin said.

“I could kill all three of you faster than you can blink. Even like this. So don’t underestimate me.” Jason nodded towards the room. “They did.”

“Fair enough,” Franklin said. “Still not taking any chances.”

“Where’s Jasper,” Ronda asked. “You owe me that much.”

“I don’t owe you anything. But, since I hate King, I’ll show you only if you agree to help me. We’re not too far from an examination room. They should have medical equipment in there. It looks like we all could use it.”  

“We can find him on our own,” Josh said.

“Can you? Be my guest. See if you can get through King’s army. That’ll go well. That’s only if you can get through the maze of tunnels down here. I’m sure Jasper will be fine by the time you get to him. IF you get to him,” Jason said.

“We get the point,” Ronda said. “Okay, but if you do anything we don’t like, we’re leaving you.”

“Heh, sound good to me. Mind helping me up?” Jason asked, placing his guns in his holsters. “They’re not my special guns, but they’ll do.” He held the sword out to Ronda. “Here. You’ll need this.”

“I-I’ve never held a sword before,” Ronda said, taking it. It was heavier than she thought it would be.

“It’s easy. Just stab the thing in front of you. Slash downward or to the side if you want to get fancy,” Jason said as Josh and Fraklin helped him to his feet. “If it helps, think of it like it’s a video game.”

“Are all of you crazy?” Ronda asked, placing the sword in the sheath. 

“You have no idea,” Jason said as they walked down the hall. “Not surprising, there are not many guards around. Probably because they’re doing clean-up in the main building.”

“Oh yeah, The Hunting Game, right?” Josh asked.

“The what?” Ronda asked.

“It’s a ****** up finale King put together. Once he got his hands on Jasper, the rest were instantly deemed unworthy. A “mass execution,” he called it. They all think that they could still get out of here. I guess I’m glad Jasper couldn’t keep a secret to save his life. Otherwise, you guys would be dead by now,” Jason said. “They should be disposing of them now.”

“Who could come up with this ****?” Franklin asked.

“King. He could and did. When I brought you guys down here, I thought the others brought some players with them. I thought they wanted to get out. I was wrong.”

“Clearly,” Josh said.

“I don’t care if you believe me or not, but I didn’t know King set up that ambush. I wanted to hide you guys. I didn’t know they were waiting. They planned that too. I ran into a group of my guards. It wasn’t until Rose’s guards met us that I figured something was up. That and they killed my guards and took me. I was so careful. How did Lance…son of a *****! Don’t tell me Jasper told him!”

“He didn’t know,” Josh said. “Give the guy a break.”

“I swear to god if he weren’t related to her, I’d kill him,” Jason said, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. They walked for ten more minutes before entering the examination room. Jason instructed them to sit him down on an examination table. He grabbed some gaze and pain killers and started to fix himself. “Good thing those ******** can’t throw a punch. Maybe it’s the drugs talking, but I don’t feel that bad.”

“You look like you got hit by a truck,” Ronda said. 

“Hey, so, I’m sorry for kidnapping you. It was either that or…let’s just say it wasn’t a good alternative.”

Ronda winced at the possible alternative he didn’t mention. She already knew. “I’m not a kid, you know,” She said.

“Right,” Jason said, laying down and laying his arm over his eyes. “I didn’t want to have to kill you.”