Fight forever

The van cut through the first tree before the second tore the engine in two. The remains of the vehicle tumbled down the small embankment before finally settling upside down. Shattered headlights illuminated a spiderweb of blinking shadows as the alarms dying wheezes filled the night.

Chris emerged from underneath the wreck first. Shards of glass showered the forest floor as he struggled to his feet. The taste of blood filled his mouth, and his head felt like someone had used a gimmicked blade to get color.

He spotted the driver trapped between the sagging remnants of the airbag and his seat.

"Give me a minute..." Chris's vision blurred, instead of one car he could now see three.

His numb fingers left bloody marks upon the door as he reached for the handle. His eyes stung as tears mixed with blood. Chris shook his head, fighting to remain conscious. Before passing out he wandered how many concussions this made.

"1,2," Chris pushed his shoulder up and pain tore through his body. His scream drove the birds from the trees and drew an all too familiar laugh.

"Kick out at 2! Canada goes wild for its hero!" closing his eyes Chris took stock of his injuries. He had built up an extensive road map of scars, breaks and tears. He knew where each one was, and when something hurt that shouldn't. He gingerly touched his forehead, the skin was tacky, but the wound clotted.

"What happened to the boy?" his throat felt like it was full of rocks.

"Went to get help," the voice had now lost the faux southern accent.

Blinking, Chris slowly sat upright, leaves falling from his back. If not for the smell of wild garlic, it could have been thirty years ago. Bryan taunting him from the far corner of the ring as Chris pulled his knee up and rested his chin upon it. A tableaux that had been repeated nearly every day since in magazines, videos and his own head.

"The good news is the luggage survived," the bloated husk of Bryan wondered past. If Chris squinted he could just about make out the cocky prima donna he had once known. Bryan still projected that aura of someone who could go toe-to-toe with men twice his size.

It was one of the many things neither man would admit to having in common.

"I might have guessed you would slither your way out of danger, or are you just on so much Oxy that you wouldn't feel it if your back broke. Again." To Chris the money the convention organizers had offered no longer seemed enough.

"Screw you!"

"I see you've let your promos slip as well as your appearance." dragging himself to his feet, Chris began searching for his own bag in the back of the car. He would need his heart medication soon and wanted to make sure his leather jacket had survived the crash.

"Said one broken down old man to another," shuffling around Bryan treated each step as a trip hazard, one unnoticed tree root and he would shatter. Chris had seen better men succumb to addiction, the fact that Bryan Meltzer got to live was an irony too bitter for him to swallow.

"I thought Captain Canada was all but impervious, how did you manage to get the cut on your forehead?" Bryan raised an eyebrows "Wait, you haven't finally figured out it was all made up have you? That your opponents LET you win."

Bryan laugh was cold and cruel "I only wish I could have been there that day."

Sighing Chris ignored the belligerent fool and carried on searching for his pills. The little brown bottle calling to him, guiding him through the neatly packed clothes. Touching the ridged plastic of the lid immediately made him feel better.

The relief was almost palpable. His brother had died alone in front of millions of strangers, out of reach of those who loved him. Chris thought his wife, the woman who had packed his case with care and attention that he didn't deserve. The woman who had saved him from the same nihilistic fate as so many of his generation.

"There are bottles of water in there somewhere," Chris was about to thank him when he saw Bryans longing, his tongue sliding over his lips.

Swallowing his medication Chris put the bottle safely in his front pocket.

"How long have we been here for?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. I don't even know where here is. It actually reminds me of back in the day, travelling around the territories....but when was the last time you saw a printed map? Once the kid driving the van realized his phone didn't get signal out here..."

Chris had a vague memory of colliding with a tree and set off to find it. He hoped he would be able to follow the path of destruction back to the road but it seemed as the ferns and grass had conspired to keep them lost.

Bryan trailed along in his wake. Chris half expected a sneak attack, a rotting log crashing onto the back of his head like a steel chair.

Instead all that came was another attempt at getting cheap heat "You looking for your brother to make some kind of hot tag, jump out of the undergrowth and save the day..."

Chris shut his eyes, trying to push away the unpleasant memories his brother's name always conjured.

"Sorry, I didn't mean...It's the drink..."

"Don't, just don't. I can see your hand shaking from here, you haven't had a drink in a while." The moon light illuminated the burst capillaries of Bryan's bright red cheeks. Chris was struggling to stay mad at the pathetic creature.

"The ironic part was he was better than both of us. Hell he was the best of both of us." Bryan all but whispered. Chris could only smile and nod, his brothers abelites was one of the few things the two ever agreed upon.

Chris had no idea how long he had been searching but eventually he came upon a small ravine that led up to a single lane road. It had been raining before the crash but the ground was now dry. An uncomfortable feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. The rain had washed away skid marks but it had also made the time they had been out there all the more ambiguous.

"You sure the kid's not been gone long?" Chris shouted to the hovering specter of Bryan at the edge of the tree line.

"Yeah...well maybe...I did dose off for a bit, but it can't have been any longer than a couple of hours at the most." Bryan sounded anything but sure.

"Just for once could you tell the truth? Would it really be too much to ask? It's just you and me here, there is no one's ass to kiss. No one to show off in front of." Chris flexed his fingers trying to calm himself down.

"Why stop now? We both made careers out of it, only I never did it to myself. I knew exactly what I was, a wrestler !" Bryan had found a red rose and was waving it around.

"A show-man maybe, but don't pretend you were ever a wrestler." Chris spat.

"At least I could main event without you! Or was there some other reason your career stalled when you crossed the Rubicon and headed down south? " Bryan kept slipping back down the small incline.

"I think you have your timeline a little messed up, you just worked with the guy who drew the money. I bet that jealousy was the reason you agreed to screw me over that night..."

"No, I just wanted to see the great hero fall in front of his adoring fans! I only wished I could have seen you look in the mirror, when your biggest fan saw how far you had..." Launching himself down the embankment, Chris tackled Bryan to the ground.

Rolling around in the dirt, aging limbs flailed around, perfectly choregraphed punches where now poorly timed clubbing blows and old injuries began to wake. Vicious slurs and bizarre insults spat from between gritted teeth.

Eventually he got hands around Bryan's neck, just as the other man grasped Chris' throat. A life time of insults, betrayals and jealousies powering an insatiable need to bring their feud to an end.

The headlights of a car illuminated the road above them, before stopping a few feet away from the scuffle. Three young people stretched and as they emerged at the end of a long journey.

"Is this the place?" Phil asked.

"According to this it is." John was trying to read an old paper map by the light from his phone's screen.

"Look, other people have left flowers" placing her own bouquet down, AJ began reading the cards.

"To Chris Striker, you where, are and always will be the GOAT"

"Bryan Meltzer, I have yet to see anyone outperform you even after all these years."

"Hopefully you're still battling for the title in that big promotion in the sky."

Hugging herself AJ looked up at the stars, determined to enjoy the last few moments of peace.

"That's the only way Chris is getting himself a world title, if he teamed with god!" Phil scoffed.

"Unlike Bryan who just thought he was god! You do realize that the reason you are mid-card for life, is because you need more than technical skills these days. Until you up your personality game..."

Gasping, Bryan let go, a weary Chris followed suit a few seconds later. Struggling to get his exhausted body to respond, Chris willed himself to roll over. The smell of rotting leaves filled his nose as he slowly pushed himself up on his palms. Letting out a pained grunt he finally managed to stand, his knees giving a defiant pop as he did so.

"Thank god you're here," He panted, trying to obscure the bruises around his neck and his torn clothes.

"He tried to kill me," Bryan muttered, his attention on the pill bottle clasped tightly in his fingers.

"Shut up," Chris snapped, "We've been in an accident and we need your help to get back to..."

The kids said nothing, instead they got back into their car and took off down the road. His body pleaded with him as he tried running after them, his heart beating frantically. As the distance between Chris and the kids became insurmountable he fell to his knees and clutched his chest.

He heard a tiny bell ring out in the darkness before he took his last breath.

"1,2," Chris pushed his shoulder up...