The Arena
The scoreboard glared down its foreboding warning, the seconds ticking away. The home team led by two, and the girls on the court battled for position with tenacious determination, not really hearing the roaring chants of 'defense', and 'let's go Cardinals' cascading from the crowd. The district championship was on the line, and a conclusion to the contest was fast approaching.

Picking up her dribble, Debbie was trapped by a double team. Julie broke to the top of the key, cutting at such an angle that Debbie was able to slip the ball past the harassing defense into her awaiting, and very capable, hands. The double team followed, almost instantly smothering her with suffocating defense, but Julie threw a head fake, suckering the opposing two guard into leaving her feet. She launched herself into the leaping defender, creating contact, hung in the air long enough to regain her balance, and released a perfect shot. The ball bounced off the back of the rim on its downward arc, dropping through the net with a sweeter music than the most practiced orchestra could ever hope to produce.

The whistle blew and the ref signaled a defensive foul. Julie pumped her fist, gave a few high fives to her teammates, and strode to the free throw line with an air of confidence that was chilling. Drawing a deep breath, her steely, cool blue eyes focused on the rim, blotting out her surroundings. In her mind, she was back in her driveway knocking down free throws, easy as shooting fish in a barrel. It was second nature. Countless hours of practice paid off, as she raised the ball and stroked it flawlessly through the net.

A glance at the scoreboard revealed the visitors now held a one point advantage, and less than twelve seconds separated them from victory. Neither team had a timeout remaining, so there was little time to celebrate, and Julie galloped down the court to D up. Number twenty-five, the lightning quick dark-haired girl she was saddled with guarding, caught a pass mid court and dribbled towards her, weaving ever so slightly left to right, then left again.

The offense spread out, running an isolation attack, leaving the lane open. The only thing between number twenty-five and the basket was Julie. A fake to the left, where Julie was leaning, followed by a dazzling crossover dribble left Julie in the girl's wake. Turning on her heels and hustling like the devil, Julie struggled to make up ground, but it was hopeless. She was beat. As she gave chase, number twenty-five went up for a layup and Julie leapt with everything she had, knowing it was too late, knowing just as well that she had to try. Swatting at the ball, certain she would miss, she surprised even herself as the tips of her fingers made contact with rubber, and the altered shot bounced harmlessly off the backboard.

As she came back down to earth she spun around, trying to locate the ball, and saw that Teresa had already claimed the rebound. Her six foot two teammate hunched over, protectively wrapping both arms around the rock, and the buzzer sounded. Stunned, the crowd fell silent, and Julie felt a surge of triumph blotting out rational thought, and in that moment she was a rock star, the biggest sensation since the Beatles. Her team mauled her, whooping and hollering. It was pandemonium, and every Parker girl felt a high that is impossible to articulate with any words.

The game was over; the Parker Bulldogs were district champs, and Julie couldn't believe it.
Mariah Carrey belted out hit after hit from the confines of Erika's boom box, helped along by Julie's badly out of tune but enthusiastic Soprano voice. Her pitchy lyrics were masked amid a myriad of other equally unharmonious voices. The atmosphere was euphoric, everyone laughing and in good cheer. Julie had thought the elation would subside, but on the contrary it only seemed to intensify. This was the best she'd ever felt in her life, even better than when her parents built a basketball court in the backyard for Christmas, better than being kissed by Omar Sifuentes in the schoolyard back in seventh grade, better than the first time she discovered her sexual organ and the thrills it could produce.

They had only been on the road for less than an hour, and that evening's events had replayed in her mind countless times. Her break to the top of the key, her foul drawing jumper sinking like a dagger, her cool as ice free throw, her game saving block. All this on top of seventeen total points, eight assists, two steals, and five rebounds. It was a heroic tale with which she would undoubtedly regale her children, her children's children, and, God willing, her children's children's children for seventy or eighty years to come. Her heart swelled with pride as she anticipated how her parents would receive the news, and how she would share the story with just the right amount of humility when the subject presented itself at school. All this passed through her head as she belted out the chorus to Always Be My Baby. Life was good.

It was on the third and final set of do do doop do do doop do doop da dum's when the evening took a turn for the south. A God awful noise rose from the floor of the bus, and the entire vehicle shook as though the smooth blacktop upon which they were travelling had suddenly turned to rubble. Mariah missed her line as the CD skipped, but no one noticed. There were some screams, some horrified faces, but no more gleeful singing. The bus fishtailed, then entered into a skid. While girls around her panicked, Julie braced herself for the impact that would come when the bus tipped onto its side, which judging by the inertia tugging at the roof was now unavoidable. The sounds from below, first of rubber shredding as the tires came apart, then of metal grinding against pavement, drowned out the panicked shrieks of her teammates, and just when it seemed they would roll, somehow the vehicle righted itself, and the driver, a square little man named Mario with greasy black hair, a walrus mustache, and a raspy voice that was the product of twenty six years of heavy smoking, was able to grind to a halt on the shoulder.

"Holy fucking shit," Erika breathed. "What the fuck was that?"

Julie looked at her friend and busted up laughing. "Oh my God, you almost shit your pants."

"I did fucking shit my pants," Erika shot back, which sent Julie into a fit of hysteria that neared delirium. "Yeah, yuck it up, bitch, but we both know you got skidmarks in your fucking panties too."

Giggling too hard to respond, Julie only shook her head. Once she finally got herself under control, she answered earnestly, "No, I wasn't scared, I was more worried about someone getting hurt so they couldn't play in State." It was only partly a lie.

"Yeah, fuck dude, that would fucking suck."

Around that time Coach Lopez started making her way down the aisle, and when she asked Julie and Erika if they were alright they told her they were. A lot of the girls were a little shell shocked, but no one seemed to be harmed.

"Alright, so listen up," Coach called to them. "We blew out our tires."

"All of them?" Teresa asked.

"Mario's checking it out, but it looks like we're going to have to wait here for another bus to come pick us up."

"Nice," Lori, the backup small forward, chimed in sarcastically.

"I need for you all to just relax, take it easy, and stay on the bus. Okay?"

There were some unenthusiastic replies of, "okay," but Julie wasn't too put off by the whole ordeal. She was among friends, and they could laugh, tell jokes, gossip, and just be teenagers. It would be like a big slumber party. She was getting used to the idea of spending a few hours on a deserted highway when there was a cry of horror from the front of the bus.

It sounded like Jessi, their mild-mannered team manager, who used to be a descent player before she became more interested in boys and beer than basketball. Standing up to see what was causing the commotion, Julie's heart jumped when she saw several masked men, clothed completely in black rushing into the aisle. They were all armed with rifles, and when she looked to the rear door in hopes of making an escape, she saw that some girls had already tried that way and been met with more of these mysterious gunmen.

"What the fuck is this shit?" Julie whispered to Erika, and her friend gripped her hand, squeezing so tightly her knuckles turned white and her bones ached. The men were asking some of the girls to stand, and when one of them pointed his rifle at Julie and told her to step into the aisle, her heart almost stopped.

No way, no fucking way is this happening, Julie thought, but she stepped forward on numb legs, legs that didn't even seem to exist. She recognized the sound of Debbie's voice squealing in terror from somewhere behind her, and cringed. Debbie was their starting point guard, and quite possibly the sweetest girl in the entire world. You bastards.

The gunman led her to the front of the bus, where Jessi and Alicia, the team's utility guard, were already being escorted off onto the dark highway. Before climbing down the steps to join them, Julie cast a quick glance over her shoulder and saw Becky and Lori being shoved along behind her, with Debbie and a final masked highjacker bringing up the rear. The fact that the six most attractive girls on the bus were being abducted did not escape her, and her mind immediately began speculating as to the motives behind their capture.

Rape was the first thing to occur to her, but rape didn't require such intricate planning. These masked men were professionals, and a lot of money had been spent on this undertaking, which lent plausibility to her next theory - their kidnappers were involved with a human trafficking ring. Her conjecture did not stop there, however. Although they were almost certainly the fabric of urban legends, the thought of snuff films crossed her mind. Perhaps they would be gruesomely murdered, their deaths filmed, all to please some wealthy businessman in a foreign country who got off on this type of shit. Julie was surprised to discover that her hopes were riding on the human trafficking scenario; before now she had never realized just how badly she wanted to live.

Once they were all shuffled off the bus, the girls were herded into a boxed in cargo area on the back of a military style vehicle. The truck was designed for off road terrain, and the box was shut off from the night with a sliding door, leaving its reluctant passengers in utter darkness. Before all light was extinguished, Julie got a good look at her comrades' faces, and they appeared to be every bit as terrified as she was. Jessi was weeping quietly, Debbie's lower lip was trembling, Lori's eyes were wide as saucers and Becky was ghostly pale, the color drained from her face. Alicia had the look of a girl in a waking nightmare, who could not accept what she was seeing.

The truck began to move, and judging by the bumpy terrain they were travelling into the desert, away from the highway.

"Where are they taking us?" someone asked in a small voice, and Julie thought it might have been Becky, but her nerves were too frayed to properly identify the speaker. No one bothered to reply, and seconds later Julie's eyelids felt impossibly heavy. To her amazement she felt herself drifting off to sleep, despite the chaotic turbulence stirring in her belly.
The first thing Debbie noticed upon regaining consciousness was the foul stench of body odor resonating in her olfactory lobes. This was followed by baking waves of heat on her skin, and on the heels of that, the realization that her skin was bare. Recalling her last waking thought before passing out - the bewildered terror of being abducted with no known cause - Debbie sat up with a lurch, taking in her surroundings.

Her teammates were with her, all of them still asleep on sweat-stained cots, all equally naked, and they were enclosed in a room with dimensions not much larger than their locker room shower back at the gym, fifteen feet by fifteen feet, concrete walls, concrete floor, concrete ceiling, the only way in or out being a steel door with a small slot in the bottom and a four inch by four inch grating at eye-level.

"Julie? Becky?" Debbie called to her snoozing classmates. "Wake up!"

Julie was the first to stir from her slumber and join Debbie in wakefulness. Her facial expression when she realized none of them were clothed would have been comical, were it not for their grim situaion. Still, Debbie managed a smirk.

"We're naked," Julie exclaimed, beautiful blue eyes staring.

"No shit, Sherlock" Debbie replied sarcastically, and Julie burst into inexplicable laughter.

Debbie tried to remain serious, responding to her shooting guard's giggles with, "This isn't funny," but she couldn't help but chuckle. Julie's laugh was infectious.

The other girls were beginning to wake up now, and regarding the guffawing pair with wary eyes.

"What the fuck, I'm naked, why am I fucking naked?" Becky squawked. This sent Julie over the edge, splitting her sides to the point of tears.

"Why are you laughing?" Jessi asked, sounding more than a little annoyed.

Julie looked at her, recognizing the blatant disapproval on her face, and tried to control herself. "I' eeeeheeeeheeeee' I'm' ooooohhoooooohaaaaaa' I'm sorr'eeeeeeeeeheeeeeee." she squealed, then blurted out, "Oh shit, I can't help it," before losing it again.

"I think Julie's gone bye-bye," Debbie told everyone with a wry smile.

"Yeah, well I don't think this is funny," Jessi remarked. "We could end up dead, or raped, or something."

Slowly, Julie began to sober up. When at last her ability to speak returned, she said, "You're right, Jess, I'm sorry, you're right," while wiping tears from her wet cheeks. "Oh God, I don't know why I'm laughing." She chortled a couple more times, then managed a straight face. "Maybe that was laughing gas in that truck."

"You done," Debbie asked her?

"I think so," Julie said, then let loose another giggle. Once her laughter tapered out, however, dread began to set in, and Julie's sense of humor dampened.

"So why do you think we're here?" Debbie asked. "And where is here?"

Aside from the ratty cots, there was no other furniture in the room, and the only fixtures were a toilet mounted in the corner and a shower head with some recessed tiling and a drain beneath it, only one knob to control the water pressure, and a small indention in the wall which shelved a solitary bar of soap.

"Looks like we're in some sort of luxurious resort," Julie commented, grinning widely but maintaining her sobriety.

Becky laughed, but it was a nervous laugh, devoid of all good cheer.

"Good one," Debbie remarked, smiling out of the corner of her mouth.

"Do you think they... did anything to us?" Jessi asked.

"I dunno, I'm a virgin, how would I know if I've been fucked?" Julie asked. "Should my pussy hurt?"

Glancing at the smooth, creamy skin of Julie's inner thighs, Jessi speculated, "Well, if you were raped, either you're lying about your virginity or they did a hell of a job cleaning up after themselves."

"What makes you say that?" Julie asked.

"You're spotless," Jessi answered. "You do know why they call it popping your cherry, right?"

Julie glanced at her crotch for a moment, then blushed brightly when she realized what Jessi meant. "So I guess that's a good thing, cuz I'd like to be conscious when my cherry gets popped." Quickly shifting subjects, she asked, "did you all fall asleep in the truck, too?"

They all nodded, with Lori adding, "I think they gassed us."

"What do you think they're gonna do to us?" Jessi asked.

There was an awkward silence before Julie spoke up. "Have you ever heard of snuff films?" She wasn't sure why she led with that theory, when human trafficking seemed much more likely. Maybe because it was the theory she feared the most.

Apparently none of them had, and Debbie asked, "What's a snuff film?"

"I'ts like a porno for people that get turned on by death. They kill somebody and show it on camera."

"Oh God, Julie, don't even joke about that," Debbie said apprehensively.

'Who's joking?' Julie shot back.

"Who gets turned on by death?" Jessi asked, wrinkling her nose at the thought.

"Some people do," Julie said, withholding the fact that she was one of said people.

"That's crazy. So you think that's what they're gonna do to us? Kill us and tape it so some sick fucks can get their rocks off?" Jessi asked, horrified at the thought.

"I mean, I guess it's possible. But I'm not really sure these snuff films even exist. Like, they're just like, urban legends," Julie answered.

"Maybe they're just holding us for ransom," Alicia suggested.

"Dude, Vicky's parents are loaded, why wouldn't they take her? My parents don't have shit," Julie said.

"You think it's a coincidence they took all the best looking girls on the team?" Jessi asked, cutting straight through the red tape and addressing the elephant in the room. "Maybe they just wanna rape us?" she said, phrasing it as a question. She looked hopeful. Julie couldn't blame her; remembering how appealing the prospect of forced prostitution had been to her when compared with certain death.

"Do you think somebody would hire all those masked men to hijack our bus, kidnap us, gas us, and bring us to this cell in God-knows-where, just so they could rape us? That's a lot of money and effort to spend when all you gotta do to rape a girl is slip a couple pills in her drink when she's not looking." Julie replied. "The good news is they want us alive, at least for now. Otherwise we'd already be dead."

The girls took turns showering, and within an hour of their waking, trays of food were pushed through the slot in the door. They were served small portions of runny scrambled eggs, stale toast, and cartons of low fat milk, but just as Julie began to dig in, Jessica put a hand on her.

"You're gonna eat that?" she asked.

"Why the fuck not? I'm hungry," Julie responded.

"What if it's drugged or poisoned or something?" Jessi asked.

"What if it is? If these fuckers wanna drug me they won't have much trouble doing it. Meanwhile, I'm gonna eat."

Convinced by this line of reasoning, the rest of the girls joined in and scarfed down their meals. A short time later a face appeared behind the metal grating that functioned as their window to the outside world, and explained their predicament.

"You all have been chosen based on a combination of athletic ability, youth, and a certain aesthetic quality," the stranger told them.

"But I'm not an athlete," Jessi protested. "I'm just a manager. I don't run or exercise or anything, I just drink beer."

"You were not scouted. You were a last minute addition; too cute to pass up, I suppose." The anonymous person told her.

"You should be honored," Julie said jokingly. Jessi elbowed her in the ribs, and Julie giggled.

"You will be escorted to an arena, where you will engage in gladiator combat," the stranger continued. "If you prevail, you will be rewarded with five hundred thousand dollars in cash, and your lives."

While her teammates were stunned to silence, Julie asked, "Prevail?"

"Yes, if you survive the combat by eliminating your opposition. You will fight as a team, and each survivor will earn her reward."

"So we're gonna fight to the death? Like kill or be killed type of shit?" Julie confirmed.

"That is correct."

"And after we kill a bunch of people, you're just gonna hand us a bunch of cash and let us go? Seriously?" Julie asked, the pitch of her voice rising with skepticism.

"Correct. We have certain methods to ensure our operation remains undiscovered, and I can assure you the cash reward will not be questioned... should you succeed."

Julie smelled bullshit, but she didn't see much of a choice here. She'd just have to play their game and hope to come out alive.

"Now, I am going to open this door, but if you make any attempt to escape, you will be shot down. The path to the arena is heavily guarded."

"I don't want to do this. I can't fight. I'm gonna die," Jessi cried.

"You're not gonna die, Jess," Julie assured her. "We're gonna be fine. Let's just do what he says." There was no time for further consolation as the door popped open to reveal a long corridor lined with armed guards, so Julie led her friends out of their cell.

"Put these on," the man from behind the door told them, handing out hide loin cloths. He was a short man, with a light build. His eyes were gray and watery, and his voice waivered when he spoke. His hair was salty and his skin was red and oily. He was altogether unsavory, and Julie wanted to punch him in the throat, but instead she took her loin cloth and donned it, as did her companions. They were given no tops, so they all bared their breasts as they made their way through the hallway.

Escape would not be an option, as the only directions available to them were forward, to whatever fate awaited, or back toward their cell, and they wouldn't get two steps in either direction without their escort before catching a bullet. So they followed the small, unsavory man until they reached a stairwell, and then they began to climb. After several flights they came to another iron door, at which point their guide faced them. "Beyond this door is the arena, where you will fight or you will die. Inside you will find your weapons, and you will be permitted sixty seconds to arm yourselves and find your bearings before you meet the first wave of attackers."

"First wave?" Debbie asked, her eyebrows raised. Their host ignored her.

Like the door to their cell, there was a steel grating which afforded them a glimpse of the hell awaiting on the other side. Julie managed to steal a peek, and what she saw was unnerving. A blonde girl, no older then Julie, was being drug across the ground by her hair. She was dressed as they were, her breasts and belly uncovered, and her stomach was open, her guts spilling in the dirt. And she was still alive. Her eyes were rolling in their sockets and she was clutching loosely at her fallen entrails. Julie quickly moved in front of the grating, hoping to shield her teammates from the unsettling sight, and addressed them.

"Whatever we face in there, we'll face it together. We back each other up, we stick together, and we can make it through this."

Becky gave her a nervous giggle and clapped her on the shoulder. "Okay, Maximus." This got a chortle from the rest of the group, and soon after the door to the arena was opened, they shuffled through.

The first thing Julie noticed was the blood trail leading to a door on the opposing side of the fighting grounds, and she immediately thought of the gutted blonde. Luckily the girl was no longer in sight. She then turned her attention to the weaponry scattered before them. There were a pair of small swords cast in a Japanese die lying in the center of the small arsenal which instantly caught Julie's eye. "Those are mine," she announced, and briskly made her way to the twin blades and scooped them up. She liked the weight of them in her hands.

Becky went tentatively to a spear and tested its fortitude, while Lori picked out the trident and cast net. Debbie, Alicia and Jessi remained reluctant to take up arms. Glancing at the three remaining weapons, Julie asked them, "Have any of you ever fired a bow and arrow?"

"When I was in Girl Scouts we had some archery classes," Alicia answered quietly.

"You wanna cover our ass?"

"I guess I could try."

Debbie picked up a mace and gave it a few tentative swings. "I don't know if I could kill anyone, Jules," she said.

"Whoever comes through that gate is not going to hesitate to kill you, so when the time comes, you do what you have to do."

Debbie nodded solemnly.

Satisfied, Julie looked at Jessica. "Jess, don't flake on me now."

"I'm scared, Julie. I don't want to die." Tears spilled down her cheeks as she stood there shaking.

"We're all scared, but we need you. Now if you don't pick up that sword, you're definitely gonna die. If you wanna have a fighting chance, then grab that shit and join us."

Jessi wiped her eyes and took the last remaining weapon - a gladius sword, a fitting weapon for this setting.

"Alright, our enemies will probably come in through one of those doors," Julie pointed to the pair of entrances on the other side of the arena. "Jessi and Becky, take the right flank. I'll take the front, and Lori and Debbie, you take the left. Alicia, stay back and pick off as many as you can."

No one argued or questioned Julie's command. The girls seemed relieved to have someone take up the leadership role, and they fell in as they were told. For nearly thirty seconds they stood in tense silence while Julie's stomach tied itself in knots, and then it began.

From speakers mounted above the surrounding stadium, Mozart's Requiem blasted loud enough to shake the ground. Meanwhile, eight men outfitted in boiled leather armor filed through the two doors Julie had pointed out to her comrades, all of them brandishing swords, with dirks sheathed on their belts, and they charged.

"Hold steady!" Julie shouted, but the music drowned her out. She couldn't even hear her own voice, so she stood her ground and hoped her friends would do the same. Before the rushing onslaught reached them, one of the men sprouted an arrow in his chest, and Julie wanted to shout praises at her backup guard. Alas, there was no time, so Julie steeled herself for the assault. Their attackers used a V formation, and Julie met the lead warrior head on, ducking under his sword and slashing at his legs as he passed. She felt her steel cutting through hide and skin and flesh, and felt the satisfactory wetness of warm spurts of blood on her arms.

With her free sword she fended off an attack by the second combatant in the right flank of the formation, and then the charge was past her. She turned and took the offensive, and a poor unsuspecting creature wheeled around just in time for her to sink both blades into his chest, bringing him to his knees. While she yanked her weapons free from her kill, the edge of someone's blade left a shallow furrow in her left side. Crying out, she raised her right sword just in time to block a crushing blow from another of her foes, and the blade nicked her shoulder as it glanced off her defense.

Julie shrunk back from the conflict, taking a moment to regroup, and she saw Jessi go down as a man hacked her legs out from under her, then knocked her sword aside and drove his own blade through her bosom. Well, we can still take state without our manager, she thought crassly. Sorry, Jess. Becky jabbed at Jess's killer with her spear, and quickly had the bastard on the run.

Lori and Debbie were undersiege on the left flank, Debbie on her back, blood trickling from her nose, and Lori's right tit sliced open. Still, Lori had managed to snare a short, unsprouted man with fiery red hair in her cast net, and as Julie watched she buried her trident in another. Alicia was quickly back peddling while trying to nock another arrow as a pair of combatants closed in on her.

Julie bounded after Alicia's assailants, opening the throat of the man she had first felled in one smooth stroke as she gave pursuit. She leapt and dodged a sweeping sword and then she was there, clashing steel with both men just before they could cut Alicia down. She was quickly overwhelmed, however, as the pair's strength of numbers gave them an advantage and they attacked her with reckless abandon. It was all she could do to fend off a flurry of strikes and give Alicia a chance to escape.

Before a blow could sneak past her defense, Julie took a calculated risk in the hopes of turning the tide. Ignoring the man on her right and shifting her momentum towards the attacker to her left, she used one sword to deflect his attack and the other to slash him across the chest. It was a successful counter, but it did not come without a cost. The man she left unguarded cut her across her right bicep, a deep wound that bled acutely. Still, she put her shoulder into the combatant on her left while shoving a blade into the bottom of his chin and up through his skull, and when she turned back, she saw that Alicia had put an arrow through the throat of the second attacker.

Meanwhile, Lori was in a fight for her life with one of the remaining combatants, and the only other opponent that was not wounded or dead was hacking his way free from her net. Debbie was sitting stunned in the dust, cupping her bloody nose in both hands, a sitting duck if the netted man freed himself, so Julie sprinted to her friend's defense. The small red head shook the remnants of Lori's net from his feet and took a swing at Debbie's neck, and a dive and a roll brought Julie to Debbie's side, where she thrust a sword in front of the attack, saving the girl from what would have been certain death.

In an impressive display of dexterity, Carrot Top pulled his dirk from his belt and jammed it into Julie's stomach, opening a nasty wound in her upper abdomen. Julie ignored the pain and took a swipe at the short man, who withdrew his blade and darted nimbly out of harm's way. She and the redhead circled each other, neither of them ready to chance another attack, when there was a sudden sharp stabbing pain in Julie's right leg. A quick glance downward revealed an arrow shaft jutting from her thigh, and Carrot Top sprung forward to sieze the opportunity.

Julie just managed to deflect the brunt of his hasty attack, but as her foe moved past her he sliced her between her shoulder blades. With an arch of her back Julie spun around to face the redhead, and out of the corner of her eye she spotted reinforcements pouring through their opponents' entryway. There were a pair of archers and seven more warriors armed with an assortment of weapons ranging from morning stars to two-handed warhammers to Samurai swords. One of their bowmen put an arrow into Lori's wounded tit, knocking her off guard, and the man she had been fighting took advantage of the opening and drove his sword through her belly. Looks like we'll be short a small forward in state, Julie thought crazily. I wonder if I'll even be able to play after being stabbed in the gut and shot in the leg with an arrow.

As she mulled this over another arrow thudded into her back, and Carrot Top smiled as Julie gasped in horror, but his shit-eating grin vanished when Becky shoved a spear through him. Meanwhile, an ever plucky Lori wrapped one hand around the blade in her guts and with the other she drew her enemy's dagger from its sheath and rammed it into his gullet. Six teenage girls had just wiped out eight full grown men, but with the first wave of enemies vanquished, the second wave charged forward to take their place.

Pulling her spear from Carrot Top, Becky readied herself while Debbie scrambled to her feet. Lori struggled to pull the sword from her belly, and she might have succeeded had she not caught another arrow in the chest, sending her to her knees. Alicia responded with an arrow of her own, hitting one of the archers in the arm, but the enemy bowman with two good arms got off one more shot, which took Alicia square in the belly.

Then hell arrived. Julie was engulfed by a sea of enemies hacking and slashing and swinging at her, and for every strike she blocked three more followed. An axe blade bit into her hip bone, a sword sliced open her thigh, a dagger nicked her in the neck, yet she continued to fight them off. One of her blades found something soft, and then the other, and when she looked up to see a spiked ball hurtling at her head, she thought she was done for.

Once again Becky's spear saved the day, punching through the chest of her would-be killer, and one of the spikes on the morning star left a scratch on Julie's cheek, but she was left otherwise unharmed. The two of them had just thinned the ranks to four men, not counting the archers, and Alicia had downed another with a well-placed arrow, leaving three. Julie saw two of these men were giving Debbie more than she could handle.

One wielded a war hammer and the other a battle axe, and the axe had already split open Debbie's left side. As she hurried to her point guard's rescue for the second time that day, another arrow sank into Julie's right buttock, and before she could reach her friend the war hammer snapped Debbie's right leg like a twig. Debbie went down, her bone poking out of her leg, but she still managed to block a swing from the battle axe and stave off death for at least a moment longer.

It was all Julie needed to guide one of her blades through the bastard with the hammer, finding his heart and ending him. When she tried to pull back, the sword stuck, and the axe man turned on her, his weapon spinning like a pinwheel. Julie blocked the first strike cleanly, but it whirled back at her so fast she only glanced it with her blade the second time, and the axe cut a groove through her perky right tit. Her other blade finally came free of the hammer wielder, and she just managed to slow the third incoming strike enough that instead of taking off her left arm, it only bit deep into the flesh near her elbow. Julie was beginning to think she'd lose this fight when Alicia put an arrow into the back of the man's skull and through his eyeball.

She turned to express her gratitude to their utility player, and saw that Alicia had sprouted two more arrows in her abdomen. She turned to see how Becky fared, and was surprised to see Lori still in the fray. The dying girl had managed to pull the sword from her belly after all, albeit at a considerable cost; her intestines were spilling in the dirt and blood spouted from her gut like a busted fire hydrant, but in an impressive display of heroism she had used the last of her strength to run the sword through the back of Becky's enemy. Now only the archers remained.

Alicia got a shot off, but her arrow sailed wide of its target, and she earned an arrow in her right breast in return for her efforts. Becky and Julie turned their attention to the bowmen to see what would come next, and to Julie's horror she saw the bowman Alicia had managed to wound in the arm release an arrow, which buried itself in the left side of her chest. It pierced her above the breast, where she was all meat and bone, so she figured it could have been worse, but she wondered why this archer's attention was focused on her instead of Becky. Becky was still in perfect health, without so much as a scratch on her, while Julie had well over a dozen wounds, some of them quite serious.

It was a selfish thought, and it surprised Julie, but she was amazed at how badly she wanted to survive. When Becky chucked her spear through the center of the heretofore unwounded archer's chest, however, Julie was thankful it had been her and not Becky that was targeted. She doubted Becky could have made such a throw otherwise.

Badly hurt but still on her feet, Alicia loosed the final arrow in her quiver, but her diminished condition got the best of her and the shot fell pitifully short. The remaining archer nocked another arrow and took aim, and Julie grunted as his shot thrummed into her midriff, a few inches to the left of her navel. She clutched uselessly at the shaft, and she was beginning to fear she might have to charge, making herself an even easier target. Becky appeared content to let her take the brunt of their only remaining enemy's wrath, and Alicia was out of ammo.

She made eye contact with her backup point guard, although considering Debbie's condition Becky had likely just been upgraded to starter, who offered an apologetic look but nothing more, then glanced back at their utility girl, who to Julie's amazement was plucking an arrow from her own stomach to place on her bow. Julie could have kissed her. Still, she had to remain skeptical about the girl's ability to hit her mark, so she began advancing in a serpentine motion, making herself a moving target. Alicia took her time, and understandably so, so Julie caught yet another arrow, this time in her right arm, up near the shoulder.

Her foe's bow now vacant, Julie broke out of her zig zag pattern and took a more direct approach. She attempted to run, but her injuries made her gait lumbering, and she wasn't closing as quickly as she'd like. She was still thirty feet away when her only remaining opponent nocked another arrow, and she began to panic. The range was such that she would never reach the bastard before he fired, but close enough that she made for an easy target. Her advancement faltered as the enemy pulled back the drawstring, and she prepared for the worst. Wincing in anticipation of the sharp steel that would no doubt pierce her heart, Julie was stunned when an arrow buzzed past her found a home in her enemy's chest. Alicia had done it!

The fucker's bow twisted slightly, and when he released the drawstring his arrow grazed the side of Julie's neck but spared her any serious damage. He was still struggling to nock one final arrow when Julie shoved a blade through his skull. A surge of triumph went through her, beyond even that which she felt on the basketball court in what now seemed to be a different lifetime. They were just kids, but they had fought like fierce warriors, and now if their captors held true to their word, she and Becky, and maybe even Debbie and Alicia if they could be healed, would be going home.

She was contemplating how she would spend her prize money when a voice came over the loudspeakers, temporarily superseding Mozart, and announced the final wave would now enter the arena. "Final wave?" Julie said aloud, and her heart sank as she looked to the entranceways through which her attackers had entered. Four more warriors appeared there, one clad in samurai armor and carrying a katana, another in a dueler's outfit brandishing a rapier and a dagger in his off-hand, a hulking creature in a loin cloth with a pair of chains draped from his massive knuckles, and a short stalky character in boiled leather and mail armed with a tomahawk.

Looking back at what remained of her friends, Julie saw Becky find a sword from amidst the combatants they had slain. Debbie used the same war hammer that had shattered her leg as a crutch, and somehow managed to stand. Alicia pulled another arrow from her belly and prepared to fire. It was inspiring to see, although Julie felt terribly pessimistic about their chances. Even worse, she was now some fifty or sixty feet from her friends, and she was the first line of defense against these fresh fighters. She had told her teammates that if they stuck together they could get through this, but she now might have to face all four of these men alone.

Julie backpedaled but remained facing her new opponents, not wanting to turn her back to them for fear of what they might stick in it. She glanced over her shoulder and shouted for Becky, but as before, Mozart's masterpiece drowned out her voice. The men had begun to advance, and they were gaining much more quickly than Julie was retreating. Before long they were on her.

The short man with the tomahawk attacked first, and Julie deflected his blow with her right blade, then barely managed to fend off the samurai with her left. One of the heavy chains blasted her in the mouth, splitting her lower lip, and the other nearly wrapped around her neck in a strangle hold, but Julie got her right blade up from where it had blocked the axe to stop the chain from closing off her throat.

This left her open for the duelist, who stepped forward and thrust his rapier into her soft belly. The thin blade pierced deep into her guts, entering her just to the left of her navel, so close that the edge of the blade actually touched the outer rim of her belly button. She gasped as the swordsman moved forward and ran her through, her blue eyes wide as sand dollars. With his off hand the duelist inserted his dagger in between the fourth and fifth ribs of the right side of Julie's rib cage, beneath her perky breast.

The breath tightened in her chest as her lung was gouged, and she felt her intestines being sliced to ribbons as she shifted ever so slightly on the blade, freeing the sword in her right hand from the chain so she could take a swipe at the bastard that had impaled her. She was too slow, however, and only succeeded in slicing the air millimeters from the asshole's neck, as he quickly withdrew his steel from her body and moved nimbly out of reach.

The samurai sword appeared in the corner of her eye and she leaned away, avoiding decapitation but taking a deep cut along her left jawline. This was followed almost immediately by the thud of the tomahawk in her back, making her go stiff, and then the chains were back, snapping across her stomach and her breasts, leaving red whelps of raised flesh in their wake.

Desperate to turn the momentum of this fight, Julie flailed wildly at the short man behind her, and managed to score a hit before the little fuck could pry his axe from her upper back. She cut deep into his neck, above his mail shirt and leather jerkin, and his blood began to spurt. His weapon came free from her flesh, but he was in no condition to launch another attack.

With one less enemy to worry her, Julie was just able to twist and bend as the rapier invaded her space from another frontal assault, and instead of stabbing her in the heart the narrow blade skewered right breast like a kabob, entering the left side and exiting the right. The sword retracted fast as lightning, and Julie moved to confront the samurai, who was in the midst of another attack.

Her movements were losing their fluidity as she sustained more and more damage, and she was able to feebly change the trajectory of the blade, but she could not avoid it entirely. A deep gash was opened along the left side of her midsection, and she felt some of her insides begin to push through the wound. Giving her no time to rest, the rapier was thrust forward again, and Julie once again moved just in time to avoid disaster, but still ended up with her left shoulder skewered. She took a swipe at the elusive duelist with her right arm, but the bastard was maddeningly quick.

As Julie sliced futilely at thin air, the chains slammed against her back, snapping the arrow buried there. When the blade was pulled from her shoulder, Julie spun around to take a stab at the giant with the chains, and she saw that her own reinforcements were finally arriving.

Alicia had managed to put the arrow she had retrieved from her stomach into the big man's broad, muscular back, although he hardly seemed to notice. Becky and Debbie had advanced to within striking distance, and Alicia had taken up a sword and was not far behind. Julie jammed one of her blades into the giant's upper abdomen, and he snarled at her but barely flinched.

She caught movement from behind her and tried to dodge a sweeping slash from the katana, but took a deep, long gash across the middle of her back. The samurai moved past her and faced off against Debbie, who could scarcely stand and looked completely terrified, but who had somehow summoned the courage to fight.

Julie pulled her sword from the hulking mass of muscle, and gulped as the duelist plunged his rapier into her back. She saw the tip of the blade emerge, dripping with her blood, from the areola of her left nipple. Both her lungs had now been punctured, drawing breath was like inhaling shards of glass, and blood had begun to sputter from her full lips and dribble down her chin.

The giant with the chains then received a similar treatment from Becky, who stabbed him in the center of his back, and finally elicited a reaction that was more than casual indifference. The man roared and turned with his chains flying furiously, but Becky appeared to evade them.

When the sword was withdrawn from her bosom, Julie also turned, albeit with much less rage and vigor than the large man had, and tried to go on the offensive. If she could get in close to the duelist, his long narrow sword would be unwieldy and she would have the advantage. She slapped his rapier aside with her right-handed blade and moved in on him, jabbing with her left, but the bastard side-stepped her and slashed her belly with his dagger. It was a deep cut in her upper right abdomen, and as she tried to turn and follow the slippery fucker his rapier flicked back across her left thigh, drawing more of her blood.

Having made an about face during the course of this confrontation, Julie was now able to see how her comrades' faired in their matchups, and was dismayed when the samurai lopped Debbie's head from her shoulders with a casual swing of his katana. Her friend's detached noggin bounced and rolled to a rest a few feet away, and for a brief moment the two of them made eye contact. Julie could see the utter desolation in those glassy brown eyes, and she was surprised once again by her callous selfishness, but she discovered she had no remorse for her friend, and she could only wonder what that certainty of death would feel like; if she would soon experience it.

The samurai moved on to Alicia while Becky kited the big man away, ducking and dodging his chains. Julie's own battle continued, and her temporary distraction cost her as the duelist danced forward and poked her in the right tit, a shallow wound that Julie backed away from, and then the slender blade was out of her fleshy breast and slashing across her right forearm, quick as lightning.

For a moment Julie thought she was going to drop her right-handed weapon, but her fingers tightened despite the terrible pain and she retained her grip. Her attempt to counter was feeble, and the duelist deflected both her blows with ease.

She tried to close in on her foe once again, side stepping his next thrust and advancing. Her right-handed blade clashed with his dagger, and she had him. The deadly part of his sword was behind her, and he had no defense for her left-handed attack. Her blade plunged toward her enemy's unprotected chest, and Julie felt sick satisfaction as she anticipated the soft resistance of his flesh when she would pierce it. The half-cocked smile on her face faded, however, when somehow the progress of her blade suddenly stopped just short of its target. How did he... But then she saw. He had dropped his sword and caught her wrist with his now empty right hand. The bastard was quick. At least she had succeeded in disarming him.

Like a dancer, the man twirled behind her, raising her left hand up over her head by the wrist he held and pushing her right hand up with their interlocked steel. It was then that Julie saw what was happening, too late. The samurai, who was not at all embattled by the badly flagging Alicia, was able to disengage his enemy and turn towards Julie, her belly stretched taut and vulnerable, and with a flashing glint of steel and a spray of blood, he sliced her wide open. The sharply honed metal cut her deeply from the lower left side of her midsection, angling up just beneath her navel, to the upper right side. Almost immediately, pink intestines began to snake their way through the incision.

Alarming amounts of blood and gore spilled from her mutilated tummy, and for the first time Julie began to understand that she was going to die here. She was nothing if not strong-willed, however, and she refused to give up. As the samurai turned back to easily deflect a blow from Alicia, Julie spun around, wrenching her right arm free and sliding her left blade off the duelist's dagger, scoring a hit in the process, cutting him across his stomach. The man looked amazed by Julie's gumption, her guts draped over her thighs yet still she fought on.

She had the fucker on the run now, and she was relentless. Another swipe from her right hand was narrowly blocked, and her left came clean and buried more than twelve inches of steel in the bastard's side. She saw the rage and the shock in her opponent's face, and she smiled at him before he punched her in the mouth. A tooth loosened near the back of her jaw and she spat out a mouthful of blood, then with a ghastly grin painted across her breathtakingly beautiful face, she gave her blade a twist.