Doug Fight

There comes a point where wearing less clothing does nothing to deal with the heat. Doug ran out of clothing to remove ten degrees ago. The only thing left to remove was his own skin.

The extra weight he had gained over the years left him feeling like he was melting into the couch. He used to be a fighter, but after taking a few too many blows to the head, he retired. Being only a halfway decent fighter didn’t leave him much for retirement though. All he had was his dog, a cheap apartment, and a beer gut.

Muffin whined at the door to go for a walk, but even breathing was too much effort for Doug in this heat. If he had money he could have had an air conditioner, but instead he was left to suffer.

“Shut up, Muffin!” Doug’s temper was getting the best of him.

Muffin gave up on the door and walked over to him, placing her head on his lap. She was very affectionate for a dog who grew up in a dog fighting ring. Doug pushed her away.

“It's too hot for that.”

He had been on the couch since the beginning of the day. His flesh was fusing to the fabric. When he heard a knock at the door, he slowly untangled his skin from the sofa. After throwing on a pair of pants, he answered the door.

“What are you doing here, Gabe?”

“I’m here to answer your prayers.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I can’t believe you’re still living in this crappy apartment. Oh! Is that Muffin? Come here Muffin.” Gabe crouched down as Muffin trotted up to him. She rolled over to accept belly rubs.

“Give me a good reason not to kick your ass right now.”

“I can tell you, but you’ll have to come with me. The walls in this place are too thin.”

“Is this another one of your scams?”

It hurts that you think about me like that. I have run quite a few honest businesses. How long have we been friends, Doug?”

“Long enough for me to go broke.”

“I might have made some mistakes when it comes to money, but this is different. It’s the real deal.”

“What are you messing with now?”

“As much as I can’t wait to tell you, this needs to be discussed somewhere secure. We can talk at my place. What I’m about to show you will blow your mind.”

“Why should I trust you?”

“We are blood brothers. I know I have hurt you in the past, but are you really willing to throw away such a deep bond over a few poor choices? It’s time to move forward. Forgive and forget.”

“I’m not as stupid as you seem to think I am.” Doug grabbed Muffin’s collar and pulled her away from Gabe. “Good luck and I will pray that this isn’t the scam that gets you locked up in jail or killed.”

Doug tried to close the door, but Gabe used his weight to keep it open enough to step into the apartment.

“I don’t care that you hate me, but this will be great for both of us. Listen, I’m going to give you five hundred dollars to hear me out. Whether you agree or kick me in the nuts, the money is yours.” Gabe pulled out five $100 bills out of a bulging wallet.

Doug stared at the money. "You're willing to throw away five hundred just to get me to talk to you?”

“Five hundred to listen to what I have to say. What I’ll tell you for free is that this is something only you can help me with. I don’t have much time, are you coming or not?”

Doug took the money. “Fine. I’ll listen to what you have to say.” He turned to his dog and said, “I’ll be right back.”

He gave her a kiss on the head before following Gabe down the street. Parked half a block away was a cherry red Ferrari. Gabe pressed the button on his key fob and the taillights flashed. Last they spoke, he was driving an old Ford.

As soon as the car roared to life, a cold blast of air hit his damp skin. Doug began to regret not putting on a shirt. They pulled out into the street. Riding in it was everything Doug imagined it would be. He felt he could get away with anything.

“How did you get this?”

“Bought it. It’s fully paid off too, all thanks to my little secret. I told you, I have the answer to your prayers.”

“What’s the game this time?”

Gabe laughed. “Can’t tell you yet. Once we get to where we’re going, you’ll find all about it.”

Gabe put on some heavy metal. The base from the speakers rattled Doug’s bones and changed the beat of his heart.

They raced through the city, the car drawing envious looks for much of the drive, but as they got closer to the rich side of the city, people started noticing less and less. They passed a few neighbourhoods where every house had a car this nice until they reached a heavy, ornate gate set into 12ft high brick walls.

“Don’t tell me you live here.”

“No, it belongs to a friend of mine. He’s the one I’ve been making deals with lately. Why would you think it was mine?”

Before Doug could answer, Gabe pulled out his phone and dialed a number. A moment later the gate opened up and they began the five minute drive up the driveway.

They reached a castle of a home. It looked as if it could house enough people to fill a small town. While Dough was stunned by the scale of the building, Gabe walked in as if he owned the place.

“Micky! I’m in,” Gabe yelled into the house.

When Gabe realized that Doug was not following, he waved him over. “Come on in. My friend here is going to explain the plan. It might be the best thing to ever happen to us.”

Doug followed. Inside was just as impressive as the outside. The house had a foyer with marble floors and a chandelier above. It was the kind of house he had only seen on television. As soon as the door closed, Doug realized how comfortable it was. Even though he was painfully underdressed, the room felt at the perfect temperature.

A young man came from around the corner. “Gabriel, I didn’t think you were making it today.”

“Micky, I told you to call me Gabe. I had to make some last minute adjustments, but I brought you your fighter.”

“Wait, I thought this was some sort of business,” Doug said.

“When did I say that?”

“Are you walking or playing?” Micky asked.

“Playing.”

“Tell me what this is about.”

Gabe finally turned back to Doug. “It’s a fight. Right now I’m betting on you to win.”

“I’m not fighting.”

“Just so you know, the prize pool is at a million dollars,” Micky said.

“You hear that? If you win we’ll split it down the middle.”

“Just give me my five hundred. I’m going home.”

“I don’t think you did the math right. You’re asking for five hundred when you can be getting five hundred thousand.”

“I told you I’m not fighting anymore. I’m too old for this.”

“Unfortunantly, your agreement at this point is unnecessary. If you don’t follow me willingly then my staff can help you, but believe me, you would prefer to use your own two feet.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“Yes, and I am able to follow through on that threat. The fight starts in ten minutes.” Micky turned around started heading further into the house.

Doug turned to Gabe, who gestured for him to keep moving.

The hall ended in a metal door with a heavy lock. Micky opened the door and held it as he waited for Doug to go through.

Gabe put a hand on Doug’s back and gently pushed. “If you go down now I will think about a 60/40 split.”

Doug walked forward. The door closed behind him. Below he could hear people. Barely audible talking and the sound of bare fists destroying flesh. It was a sound he knew well from his fighting days, although he was usually on the better end of it.

The room at the bottom of the stairs looked like it was carved out of the dirt. The longest wall opened to an arena with heavy bars keeping them in their cell. Outside he could see all sorts of things like pick axes, crowbars, swords, and baseball bats. The smell of blood, dust, and dispair reminded him of when he was wrapped up in Gabe's dog fighting ring.

There were about 30 people crowded against the far wall of the room, keeping as far away from the source the sound.

A lean but muscular twenty something held a man by his throat. The man’s face was caved in and the young man’s fist was bloody. The young man turned towards Doug with the same look as a child who had found a better toy.

Before the deranged man could take a step forward, the long wall opened up.

Micky’s voice echoed on a speaker. “Last man left alive gets to leave here. No one leaves until everyone else is dead.”

Micky had not even finished talking before everyone started to run out of the starting gate to get the best weapons. Instead of trying to get a weapon, the young man came running at Doug, fists swinging.

Doug barely reacted in time and took a heavy punch to the shoulder. His arm ached and tingled as memories of old fights started to come back to him. He put up his guard and charged at the man with an uppercut to the stomach.

The man tried to recover and come at Doug again, but Doug fought against people like him before. They always threw in some amateurs who fought like rabid animals. The man’s nose shattered against Doug’s fist. He landed like a bag of sand.

Doug stepped out to find something to finish him with. The arena was already covered in blood. Several people were dead and dying, and most others were heavily wounded. A 2x4 board was the closest to him.

Doug cracked the man’s skull. He wasn’t sure if the man was alive or dead after that, but he stopped moving. Outside more people died and above them a crowd watched. Micky sat in a special seat like he was the emperor in a gladiator movie. Doug had met the type before, usually through Gabe. People with the money to do whatever or be whoever they wanted. Comfort wasn’t enough, they needed excitement.

Gabe looked down from the stands. Doug pointed his bloody weapon at Gabe. A silent promise to kick his ass when this was done. Another man charged at Doug, so he swung his board and another man went down.

Doug hung back. Only attacking people who charged at him first until there were less than ten people remaining. Everyone kept an eye on each other. The rabid animals among them were already put down, and it was only the ones with skill who remained.

“Time is up,” Micky announced, “We now go into the double trouble round. If your fighter can escape the blob, you receive a double payout.”

A hole opened in the middle of the arena and a white, fleshy monster came out. It looked like a dozen people were painfully crammed into an eight foot humanoid shape. It looked around the arena with the eyes that covered its body.

No one dared to move as the blob started picking up the bodies on the floor. Flesh melted as each the creature absorbed each corpse.

A few people were only playing dead. They screamed and fought as the blob engulfed them.

Doug slowly started to inch along the wall toward the starting room and the stairs. He knew the door was probably locked, but hopefully the stairs would be too small for the monster to fit.

One of the people who had picked up a sword decided to try and fight his way to victory. The sword sunk into the flesh. For a moment the fighter thought he had won, but the sword was pulled from his hands as the blob absorbed it. The man tried to run, but the blob moved faster than anyone expected. More screams as the blob held the man like a toddler would an insect.

Doug reached the starting room, but sometime since the fight started, a gate had closed over the stairs. In a desperate attempt to do something, Doug tried to squeeze through, but he was almost trapped when his arm became stuck.

Outside the blob still had the sword, and had begun playing with it. It had fused the hands of a survivor to its arm and poked the man with the sword. The man kicked uselessly in the air.

The arena was nearly empty now. Doug tried to move to the other side of the arena, but someone grabbed his ankle. The bloody fisted man clung on with both hands. Doug tried to kick him off, but the man wouldn’t budge.

“Come on you idiot,” Gabe screamed from the stands, “Don’t you dare lose me two million dollars.”

The blob noticed their struggle and walked over to them. The lumps of flesh bounced with each step. It dragged along body parts it had not finished absorbing.

Doug scrambled to run away, but the anchor on his body made escape impossible. The flesh surrounded him and it burned as he melted away.