Paintshark Part 16

"G.o.d KNOWS...BUT THEN MAYBE NAYAN CAN ASK G.o.d FOR HIMSELF."

"NNNOOOOO!" The cry of pure emotion from the teenager even rocked the bloodthirsty crowd. "WHAT WILL YOU DO TO US? WHY ARE YOU KILLING US?"

The majority of the crowd fell silent, antic.i.p.ating the reply from Big Man, he held his microphone closer to his mouth.

"YOUNG LADY, PEOPLE KILL OTHERS FOR VARIOUS REASONS, SOME KILL IN SELF-DEFENCE, OTHERS PLAN AND PREMEDITATE FOR REVENGE OVER AFFAIRS.

THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO BUTCHER WHEN THEIR MINDS HAVE SNAPPED AND THEN THERE ARE THOSE WHO ARE BORN EVIL. I WASN'T BORN EVIL, I'M NOT EVIL, I'M A BUISINESSMAN...YOU WANT TO KNOW THE REAL REASON I KILL? NOT FOR REVENGE, WELL JUST REVENGE ONCE WHEN I CATCH THE MAN WHO MY WIFE RAN OFF WITH, BUT SKIPPING THAT MISDEMEANER, THE REASON WHY I STAGE THESE GAMES? THE REASON I BUILT MY GLORIOUS STUDIOS?...IT'S JUST SOMETHING TO DO."

Elias was able to stand back on his feet as Apollo drew in the reins, his whole body was covered with mud from the few occasions when he did stumble, but it did mask the blood from his battered frame. He stumbled and fell, looking up from the ground he barely heard what Big Man had said, he was almost out of it, he lay on the dirt and whispered, "Kimberley." n.o.body heard him as Big Man spoke on.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, I APOLOGISE FOR THAT LITTLE CHAT AND FOR KEEPING YOU WAITING BUT HOPE YOU'VE ENJOYED WHAT YOU'VE SEEN TOINGHT SO FAR. BUT FOR SOME OF YOU YOU'VE ONLY SEEN IT ON THE SCREENS, SO NOW I WELCOME YOU TO THE *THEATRE OF SCREAMS', I WELCOME YOU TO...THE *STADIUM OF FRIGHT'."

The crowd roared with applause, as Big Man took in their howls of excitement.

"WE'VE SEEN BEETLES, GIANT SQUIDS AND CANNIBALS SO FAR, BUT WE'VE SAVED THE BEST TO LAST, NOW UNFORTUNETLY, DUE TO INJURIES SUFFERED BY THE CANNIBALS THE DRAGON LADY, Ca.s.sANDRA PAINTSHARK, ISN'T FIT TO FACE HER FINAL GAME."

The crowd booed, so he quickly continued.

"BUT AS YOU JUST HEARD AND SAW, WE HAVE THE GIRL WHO SURVIVED THE LEVIATHAN SQUID, WE CAUGHT HER TRYING TO ESCAPE AT THE LAKE EDGE."

Elias again mouthed, "Kimberley."

Big Man couldn't hear him but suddenly realised something. "He isn't miked up, he hasn't got a microphone on him." Again he turned to his a.s.sistant. "That man's been dragged around this area almost at death's door and he's not wearing a microphone, we've missed everything, get someone down there IMMEDIATELY."

The a.s.sistant took out her phone and spoke to a colleague. Even amid the humongous crowd's roars, Big Man held the look with Apollo and put up his hands in a *wait' motion. Another one of Big Man's a.s.sistants ran on to the arena floor and hooked a microphone to the tattered clothes of Elias. The young a.s.sistant gave the thumbs up to the executive box, and in response *Big Man' put his own thumbs up. Apollo acknowledged this by making the horse go faster, sending the now standing Elias toppling to the ground and being dragged again, he mouthed again, "Kimberley."

Everyone heard his groans amid the mud also being caught on the mike. Kimberley wailed in distress, the screaming crowd behind her not even registering her plight. "SIRRR," she screamed again.

"SIR, MR GLAUCAS...PLEASE STOP IT, YOU'RE KILLING HIM."

Felcey also had a microphone on his body, and finally spoke. "LET MY TEACHER GO."

Big Man applauded. "SO THE BEETLE GEEK HAS A VOICE, ABOUT TIME, THIS GIRL KIMBERLEY HAS MORE EMOTION IN HER LITTLE FINGER THAN YOU'VE GOT IN YOUR WHOLE BODY, DO US A FAVOUR, NERD BOY, KEEP QUIET."

Felcey hung his head low and mumbled, "I'm not a geek, my name's Felcey."

Big Man sn.i.g.g.e.red over the mike. "YOU'RE A GEEK, DEAL WITH IT, IN FACT LET'S PUT IT TO THE TEST, EVERYONE KNOWS YOU'RE A NERD WHO READS COMICS, SO WHO WOULD WIN IN A BATTLE BETWEEN *LAZER BOY AND' POWER BLOKE'?"

Felcey wriggled with his chains and managed to give Big Man the *middle finger' in defiance; in an instant Big Man replied to the one-fingered salute.

"WHAT'S THAT THEN? THE AMOUNT OF GIRLFRIENDS YOU'VE HAD IN YOUR LIFETIME? COME ON, WHAT'S THE ANSWER?"

The audience laughed hard again as Felcey spoke as loud as he could. "LAZER BOY."

Big Man imitated a buzzer from one of his own game shows. "WRONG ANSWER, THE COREECT ANSWER IS...WHY DON'T YOU GET A LIFE?"

The audience were in hysterics as Big Man put his hand over his microphone and whispered to his a.s.sistant, "Besides, we all know that *Power Bloke' would totally kick Lazer Boy's a.s.s." They touched fists jokingly.

The horse began to gallop now as Elias's body started to tear, Apollo looked behind at his diligent handy work and then snapped the reins harder.

"STOP IT, YOU'RE KILLING HIM," Kimberley yelled.

"THAT'S THE GENERAL IDEA."

The crowd laughed again at Big Man's reply. Kimberley ignored them, all she could hear was the sound of her teacher being dragged to his death. Apollo stopped the horse to take on water, and as the horse drank, he got off to see the condition of Elias and was surprised the teacher hadn't pa.s.sed out from shock yet, but even he pulled a face at the condition of Elias's back. The stones had done their job and dug deep into his flesh and his back was quite red. Apollo bent down to speak to Elias.

"I'm impressed you're still alive, Mr Glaucas and if I'm honest...quite glad, you've had your school threatened, house burnt down, been kidnapped, imprisoned with killer beetles and now you will watch your students die...all we have to do is find your daughter and put her in the games."

Even in complete agony Elias tried to roll over to Apollo, his lip, cheeks and forehead a mask of crimson, he tried to shout but only a choked cry came out.

"Don't you touch her, don't you take her, if you do I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I swear."

The words from Apollo hung around in the floodlit night like a horrible smell. Elias was too tired for anything else and failed to notice Apollo jump back on to his horse to ride along and drag him to his doom. Another two circuits of the track should kill him, Apollo thought.

Through her chains Kimberley wiped the tears from her eyes as she watched the horse pick up momentum and Elias now leaving a trail of blood behind it. Kimberley pulled harder at her chains. "PLEASE LET HIM GO, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?" The horse picked up more speed. "WHY WON'T YOU ANSWER ME?" Elias's body smashed into the advertising boards. "WHY AREN'T YOU SAYING ANYTHING?" The crowds got their voices back as Kimberley protested more to Big Man. "WHY AREN'T YOU SAYING ANYTHING?"

Big Man noticed Kimberley's hands starting to glow white and grabbed his a.s.sistant. "SHE'S TURNING, DROP THEM NOW, DO IT NOW."

The frightened girl did what she was told and leaned over to a control panel to her left, pressing another b.u.t.ton. The crane positioned above the stadium swayed again as the portacabin's contents began to move. Big Man shouted again. "DROP THE LIONS NOW."

The bottom of the cabin fell away and some large creatures contained inside dropped to the ground.

Three lions landed on the ground, they were *Beak-nip' lions, they had enormous heads with parrot-like beaks, capable of biting through steel. They had huge manes, with a streak of fur running from head to tail.

This is what the crowd wanted and they launched from their seats and cheered the arrival of the lions. The huge feline beasts sniffed the air, trying to acclimatise to their new surroundings, one of them bolted from the group and went straight for Kimberley's pillar, the great cat leapt up at her, and just missed her dangling legs. She screamed and pulled her legs up further to the crowd's delight, they could see and hear everything.

The other two chased after the cart dragging Elias, which was still whizzing around the stadium, his body was thrown around like a rag doll as the lions easily caught up with Apollo's cart.

Each lion stopped two or three feet from Elias to take a swipe at his body, they missed each time and had to regain the pace to catch up with him.

The lions ignored Felcey, he struggled again and pulled hard at the chains, his fingers felt wet and he looked up at his hands, the strange white liquid he experienced in his room was back and had begun to seep slowly down onto his arms, he yelled for help and the more he cried the more it flowed down on to him.

Kimberley had stopped trying to dodge the lion's beak-like jaws and instead attempted to kick at it with every leap it made, between kicks she could still see the battered body of her teacher, there was no resistance from him now, the groans and screams that came from within him had stopped, there was nothing now, just the sound of a body being dragged hard into the sand, amplified ten-fold by the microphone, her eyes glowed red, and her hands started to ripple with power.

"I SAID, STOP IT!" As she screamed there was a white flash from her hands and the chains and post exploded, sending metal and marble spinning aside, falling heavily to the ground she rolled on to her side. The stadium had stopped cheering and looked on in awe at the young girl's power, her hands still glowing white.

Kimberley rubbed her head and looked up, she was laying just yards away from the lion, who hadn't wandered too far away from the fallen debris.

She scrambled to her feet quickly as the lion bellowed a challenge and went for her, she held up her hands in defence and they beamed a terrific bright light, the lion fell completely in its tracks, dazzled by the flash, it shook it's head and wiped its eye with a paw.

Brushing her hair back she stood terrified at the giant cat, she looked at her bright white hands and remembered the swimming pool and the Leviathan squid. She flicked her right wrist...nothing happened, she tried again harder and a small ball of light no bigger than a marble sat in her now open palm.

The lion growled as it gingerly edged closer, this prey was different to others...this one fought back.

Kimberley's eyes widened in panic and she tried something, she moved the glowing orb up and down slowly in front of the lion's head, up and down, left to right and the lion's eyes were transfixed on it.

"Good boy," she whispered. She closed her eyes.

"FETCH."

Kimberley threw it as far as she could, her arms still ached from hanging down on the pillar and the orb didn't go far, but far enough for the lion to turn and give chase to it, as the orb came to a halt and came to a gentle roll, it picked it up with awkwardness in it's beak and after a several attempts it swallowed it.

Kimberley turned and ran away, but pulled up with a grimace from her fall, turning back to face the lion. She felt she was safe enough and began to silently mouth a countdown from five, four, three, two, one. The lion exploded on *one', and there was a flash of bright light, there was a b.l.o.o.d.y stain where the lion once stood.

Kimberley shivered under the flashlights and felt something warm stuck to her face, which then began to trickle down her cheek, hands trembling, she touched her face, bits of brain were falling off her face, while the lion's blood-soaked hair mixed with her own, her once tanned face was now crimson, she spat out something from her mouth and shook of the remaining bits of bone from her hair. She threw her head back and screamed a guttural cry of horror.

Still screaming she flicked both of her wrists and her hands were full of pulsing orbs.

"I SAID LET THEM GO." She reacted with pure fury. The orbs flew through the air and struck the cart dragging Elias and like the lion; after a few seconds it exploded, Apollo fell from his horse and hit the ground hard. Another Orb hit the ground just in front of one of the chasing lions, as it opened up with light, the force sent the beast spinning into the audience.

They screamed and clambered from out of their seats as the beast shook its head, dazed and very confused, but it was still hungry and the beak snapped at the fleeing crowds. Elias came to a standstill, unmoving and unaware of the carnage around him.

More orbs rolled along the ground and came to the post Felcey was shackled to. He closed his eyes in antic.i.p.ation, the bright light erupted from the base and it crumpled to pieces as Felcey yelled as the ground came hurtling up towards him. He tucked and rolled like he'd seen his favourite stunt actors do countless of times at the cinema, his bonds shattered, he stood up and felt the beetle movement in his stomach. He didn't have time to retch as the third lion edged closer towards him.

Felcey's hands were still wet from the white liquid on his fingertips, his green eyes narrowed slightly as the lion sized him up, his bottom lip began to tremble, as all around him the crowds carried on screaming as the other lion leapt from section to section, awkwardly trying to stay on its feet, stalking between the seats.

Eyes wide and staring at the Lion, Felcey wasn't going to let the it strike first and pulled his hands back and thrust them defiantly at the beast. Jets of white liquid erupted from his fingertips, the lion was propelled back with so much force that it was flipped right around in mid-air and landed on its feet, skidding on the liquid which was rapidly appearing all over the ground.

Felcey tried it again and sprayed the white stuff in a sweeping motion all over the lion, it opened its beak and bit at the flow, Felcey looked on in astonishment and he stopped.

The lion bowed its great head and began to lick up the white puddles on the ground, and then seeing Felcey's hands still dripping, it casually bowled over. Before Felcey could pull them behind his back, the lion licked at them, and didn't stop, Felcey managed to get his right hand free as the lion licked away at the other. The teenager put it to his mouth cautiously and licked it.

It was the same stuff he tasted in his bedroom, but he had to make sure a second time, he put his fingers in his mouth and drank greedily from the tips.

Wiping his mouth he sighed, "I got milk."

Kimberley was still single-handedly taking apart the stadium with her orb bombs, she saw that Felcey was loose and was using his new powers too and had stopped another lion, she did a double take. *Is that lion sucking his hand?' It was the first time she smiled since she had been put in these games, but it didn't last long, She had powers, she finally had a clue as to when she got them but didn't know what had happened in the nightclub, and she wondered how Ca.s.sandra would sum it up. *We went to a rave, drank water, got superpowers... end of.'

She didn't know if her best friend was alive or dead and Kimberley needed to see her and speak to her and give her a big hug and make Ca.s.sandra tell her that *everything was going to be alright' like she used to say when they where at school.

Kimberley thought back to only last week at school when she'd had a debating compet.i.tion, and was worrying about what to say to her opponent.

Ca.s.sandra said, *All you have to do is to invent some words to confuse them like, "We really have to cut down on bullying at school and the only way is to Montrictilate the bullies and make them aware of their Kalunistgation against other pupils."

Ca.s.sandra said that whoever she was debating against wouldn't ever question her as they would not want to look stupid in front of the entire cla.s.s. Kimberley tried it and fooled the whole cla.s.s, except her teacher, Mr Glaucas, who gave her a detention. But Ca.s.sandra took it with her, as it was her suggestion in the first place and that was the type of friend she was, a great friend.

Kimberley would take detention any day over the mess she was in now, but not at this present moment in time as she knew she could blow things up now with her white time bombs...and she was determined to take this place down, piece by piece. She was in control, for the first time since Kimberley blew up the pillar and got free from her bonds, Big Man stood up and took note, he saw the *Nerd' stroking a giant lion, giving it milk from his hand and a girl was throwing little white bombs from her own hand and was destroying his stadium.

Big Man called for his production manager who was standing behind the female a.s.sistant.

"What are the viewing figures like?"

The man fumbled with his clipboard, unable to keep his eyes away from the melee outside.

"COME ON, MAN, WHAT IS IT?"

"WE'RE THROUGH THE ROOF" he shouted back, surprising himself and Big Man. "We've never been higher in the ratings...EVER."

Pulling the production manger to one side, Big Man leaned over and whispered into his ear. "Now we've established this girl has talent, we're going to give the viewers a show they'll never forget, it's time to release everything...let's bury this b.i.t.c.h."

The stadium floor clicked and whirled and slowly began to open, the ground gave way to giant nuts and bolts, twisting into thick greasy oil-filled platforms.

The audience members who hadn't fled the lions or Kimberley's bomb bursts sat nervously in the rapidly emptying arena.

The horse that pulled Elias had bolted but the teacher still lay by the side of the arena motionless, his body was, at the moment safe from tumbling into the gaping hole. Kimberley screamed as she fell into the one of the gaps.

Giant mechanical platforms extended and emerged from the centre, and that was what she landed on, they were hard and metallic and she rubbed her back as she turned around to look up in pain.

Two huge cannons pointed down at her and her gaze locked on the barrels as they started to glow red. She put up her hands in self-defence and suddenly felt the heat course through her body. "Please don't." She was going to *shoot' but the guns beat her to it. Laser bolts burst from the cannon blasted at the spot where she lay, the guns sounded like multiple claps of thunder shooting at the platform base and, on Big Man's command, the guns stopped and smoke began to rise...as did Kimberley, her hands still raised in the protective position, but they glowed brightly again, her power had protected her, the marble-shaped white orbs in her hands again, she spoke again with gritted authority.

"I said DON'T".

The orbs were thrown at the cannons, which exploded on impact, Kimberley rolled into a ball to protect herself from the fragments.

Standing up and wiping the bits of metal from her face she could just about see more cannons rising from the centre, they all swivelled round and targeted on her, she recognised their signature red glow before they opened fire and it wasn't long before they did.

Now the newly formed platforms with guns on top sprayed lasers at the s.p.a.ce where Kimberley stood, n.o.body who remained in their seats could see her, just the hail of laser fire from the cannons, the sound was deafening and even Big Man shrank back in his chair, covered his ears and winked at his a.s.sistant.

Once again Big Man gave the order for the guns to cease firing, all the cannons stopped their laser onslaught, only to reveal Kimberley with her hands still held up defensively, palms facing outward and now shining the most brilliant white light.

The remaining audience held their collective breaths as they were transfixed by the light glowing from the platform. Kimberley's body had transformed into radiant silver-like a bright metal. It shone brighter than the floodlights, the white light encased her body except for her eyes. They were black but not soulless, she smiled with her eyes and reached down on her top, n.o.body else could see any of her clothes but they were still there, she felt around for the Microphone and her hand closed around it.

"Ok you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds...let's see what you've got." Submerged in energy, Kimberley's light had adsorbed the laser cannon shots and she redirected them back to where they came from, the explosion rocked the audience as well as the centre of the arena.

Usually they were used to getting their own way when they viewed the Network's b.l.o.o.d.y game shows, they were violent and b.l.o.o.d.y, but the victims were frequently the contestants, they rarely ever had a chance...until now.

Big Man launched from his seat as if someone had just placed a thumbtack on it. "I SAID RELEASE EVERYTHING." He pushed aside his production manger who dropped his clipboard and his remote, Big Man picked up the small device and started hammering down on the b.u.t.tons. Instantly, more platforms rose from trapdoors scattered all across the arena.

Two popped up near the North stand, two giant armoured jeeps trundled towards Kimberley, who had climbed off her own platform and jumped on what she hoped would be firm ground.

The jeeps had six mechanical elongated arms dotted around the body; at the tip of each arm were chainsaws, already buzzing in unison like an army of killer bees, the arms swung erratically as the Jeep they were attached to b.u.mped over the ground towards Kimberley, but they didn't reach her. Orbs released from her hands obliterated the jeeps as soon as they drove off the platform, Big Man turned to his production manager. "Were those Jeeps remote controlled?" He nodded back. "Good, don't want anybody dead whose still on the payroll."

Apollo entered the executive box with a cut to his head. Another platform rose from the centre and on it stood seven armed soldiers, they had a huge a.r.s.enal of weapons; guns, spears, and axes a they looked mean and nasty enough to hold their own against Kimberley.

Apollo touched the wound to his head with a grimace but then gave a twisted smile when he saw the soldiers. "HA, THEY'RE MA BOYS, SHE'S GOT NO CHANCE," Apollo boomed with delight. Big Man raised a concerned eyebrow. "THESE ARE MY DOGS OF WAR, THE MOUNTAINS SHOOK WHEN THEY WERE BORN, THEY ARE THE CHILDREN OF CHAOS, THE REFLECTION OF PERFECTION, G.o.dS TREMBLE AT THEIR APPROACH, THESE ARE MACHINES OF WAR AND CANNOT BE BEATEN, WATCH AND LEARN *BIG MAN'. THESE INSTRUMENTS OF DESTRUCTION WILL BE THE END OF THIS *KIMBERLEY', THEY ARE EXTREME HEAVYWEIGHT."

Apollo's soldiers took aim at Kimberley but her orbs wiped them out before they could pull the trigger.

Big Man huffed, "Heavyweight? More like dead weight."

Apollo watched, open-mouthed as the commandos he trained were obliterated before his eyes.

"She wiped out my boys."

Big Man wasn't too concerned. "She's wiping out everything, soft lad. This is beyond a joke."

His manager was caught sneaking out of the door. "Before you leave and I give you the sack, Poindexter, what's the combination for the Chimera?"