Chapter 4

As he ran, the world around him seemed to be moving in slow motion. The timer on the watch counted down to thirty minutes. He wasn’t going to make it to the safe house, and that was when it hit him. "What's the damn point? No matter who is chosen to go with them, hiding won't do a damn thing. They were able to travel light years to get here, like hell a damn concrete wall is going to stop them from getting their target.” Rainer turned the next corner into an empty alley, and sat leaning against a building gasping for air. 

The timer reached the five-minute countdown mark, and he sat there thinking this wasn’t the end. Out of the billions of humans, there was no possible way anyone he knew would be chosen. He began to feel confidence well up inside of him, and watched the timer slowly reach zero.

The holographic screen of the Coliaran ship reappeared and so did general Dolmi. “This is a rarity, no one dares to volunteer their life?” He paused for a moment, expecting something to happen. “What a pity. A majority of you must vote amongst the humans in the list. If a majority does not vote, then we will kill a majority of you. There is no chance for volunteers now, you must vote.” A new list appeared in place of Dolmi on the screen, and the timer on the watch changed to one hour. 

Rainer calmly reached to scroll down the list. Most of them were people he never knew or heard of, but there was one name in the middle that made him tremble in fear, his own name. “What the hell?” he said in a whisper. Slowly, he stood up while using the wall as a crutch. 

Rainer reached for his phone to call Fleur, only to find the service wasn’t working. “What the hell!” He yelled as he threw the phone against the opposite wall. Anger flooded through him as he stared at his name on the list. “It's fine, there are thirty people here, it won't be me. It can't be me!”

He sat back down, and looked at the list of names. Scrolling through, he found the name of a man, the head scientist of M-Tech. “The man who experiments on kids, this would be a nice way to kill you.” Rainer tapped on the name, and the prompt disappeared, but the timer continued. With only forty minutes remaining, Rainer thought of all the ways he could to calm down. 

          “I won’t be chosen. A lowlife like that scientist or a politician is a better choice. People always go for the ones they recognize or hate. It won’t be me; I know it can't be me.” His stomach was in knots, and his throat felt like it was closed making it harder to breath. Alone with nothing but his own reassuring thoughts, he was unaware of his surroundings. Before he knew it, the timer was only two minutes away.

A loud beeping woke him from his thoughts. Heavy rain was falling from the skies, he rubbed his eyes, and was able to clearly see the timer and the ship above. He looked at his dirty hands and clothes, and sighed. Feeling oddly calm, he stood up and waited for the final seconds to pass. “Three, two, one.” The timer had finished, and general Dolmi reappeared.

“It seems you respond well to threats; the results have been most favorable. It’s always a pleasure to see a herd sacrifice one of their own so readily. Well, enough talk, why don’t I just show you the results.” A roulette of names appeared in front of the ship, and it began to spin. Fear seemed to disappear from his body, as if he already knew the results and accepted whatever was going to come next. 

The world, however, seemed to slow down with the roulette and so did the rain. Until time froze for him, and a hooded man dressed in a black cloak appeared before him. Rainer lowered his head from the roulette to look at him. There were no emotions on Rainer’s face, just a defeated look.

“It’s time,” said the cloaked man. 

“...For what?” Rainer asked softly.

“The beginning.” 

The cloaked man disappeared; Rainer stood staring at the opposite wall as time resumed. The roulette stopped to reveal Rainer’s name. He continued to stare at the wall in front of him, until a unit of Coliara in white armor flew down from the ship to surround him. There were blue streaks eerily glowing throughout the helm, their armor looked light, and showed the strong figure of the aliens. Dolmi was the last one to teleport to the ground in front of Rainer. 

Dolmi was wearing similar armor except the glowing streaks were on his gauntlets. He confidently approached Rainer. “You should be proud. An opportunity has been given to you from the prestigious Coliaran empire. To be able to fight in a tournament of champions is but a dream for most.” Dolmi proudly told Rainer.

Rainer continued to stare blankly at Dolmi. He quickly drew the gun from his holster and pointed it at Dolmi, only for the guards to instantaneously raise their weapons in response. 

Dolmi tauntingly smiled. “Come now. You don’t expect a primitive weapon like that to do damage.” Rainer attempted to shoot the bullet, only for a guard to disarm him and pin him to the ground.

“Good attempt, but if you killed me then another would simply take my place. What were you hoping to accomplish with that?”  

“I just wanted to know if I was still able to make my own choices. Looks like even that’s been taken from me.” replied Rainer.

“Oh, you have a choice alright, in the arena you may choose to live or die. Fight and you live, run and you die. Though I doubt a human without any power could win a single fight. Nevertheless, you were chosen.” Dolmi nodded his head and the guard that had pinned Rainer to the ground, lifted him back up, then handcuffed him with cuffs that seemed to be made of light.

“Let us be off, we have plenty of work to do before the show begins.” 

Rainer didn’t struggle, or rather he was unable to with how tightly they gripped his arms. He walked out of the alley with the rest of them and there lay a small ship, ready to take them aboard the larger one above. As he boarded, he took a look around to find so many faces staring at him. They seemed relieved, and some stood joyous to the occasion that they had been spared.