Z 2134 by Sean Platt, David W. Wright Read Free Book Online

the axe into his palm and started swinging it in the air instead, tossing it from his left hand, then back to his right, like a hot potato.
    Jonah circled the man beast, ready to die but not willing to fall just yet, keeping far enough away from Bear that the giant would have to throw his axe to hit him. Jonah was quick enough to duck, but in rough enough shape to miscalculate and make a fatal error.
    “It’s over for you now, Mr. Officer Man!” Bear laughed, then shook the axe above his head and brought it down hard against the Mesa’s metal surface to show Jonah he could hold the rattle in his arms.
    Jonah continued to circle.
    Bear laughed louder. “Watch, listen, and report this!” Bear cackled, mocking the City Watch signs posted around each of the Cities.
    Bear then swung his axe in a wide arc, probably not intending to hit Jonah, but rather scare him. Bear swung the axe through the air a second time as he glanced to his right, still laughing.
    There was something horrible and knowing in his laugh. Jonah followed the giant’s gaze to the left and over the Mesa’s lip. Fifty feet down, on the ground, were nearly a dozen zombies, moaning their banshee cries as they ambled into the clearing, quickly crossing the empty land to the base of the Mesa. Jonah wondered if the zombies had found the entrance he’d used, or if the Network opened up other doors along the wall surrounding the clearing. He didn’t have time to look, however. He had to keep his eyes on Bear and his mighty axe.
    Death was a matter of preference: the killer without mercy before him or the walking dead below. The cage had never opened during a final battle before, and he hoped the Network wasn’t introducing a new wrinkle to add to the Wow Factor — a cage battle plus zombies!
    But as the zombies began to ascend the same ramp he’d just come up, he was almost certain that something bad was about to happen. Really fucking bad.
    Once the zombies reached the Mesa, they’d be able to walk around the lip of the cage, and likely reach inside, which limited how much room each man would have to move around. One step too far, and the zombies might reach in and get them.
    Jonah imagined the audience back home and how much they must be cheering through the streets. He hated that Adam and Ana were probably watching from wherever they were.
    The Final Battles were almost impossible for civilians to avoid; even four-year-olds knew when it was Finishing Day. It was the biggest day for the State-run television, always on a Sunday so everyone could watch, and was also a huge boon to the gambling industry — the legal, and illegal, ones.
    Death was life, and entertainment for the masses.
    But this was his life, and his death — and knowing his children would probably see him torn to tatters, either by zombies or man beast, was something he couldn’t accept. That they might be rooting, along with many others, for him to receive Darwinian Justice, cut him deep.
    Jonah wasn’t guilty.
    The City was guilty. From the esteemed “one true leader” Jack Geralt to the leaders of the Inner Circle, to the Directors to The Watchers — everyone who had played along in the charade was guilty.
    And in that sense, Jonah, who was part of the machine for so long, was guilty .
    He hadn’t killed his wife, but nobody would ever know of his innocence if he didn’t make it out of The Darwin Games alive.
    He screamed, then charged at Bear. Bear was expecting the rush and didn’t care. He moved aside, surprisingly quick, and avoided Jonah’s blade. Not only did he avoid the machete, he managed to wrench it from Jonah’s hand as Jonah stumbled forward.
    Bear threw the machete through the bars, where it fell 50 feet to the snow-covered field below.
    Jonah fell to the Mesa floor, and Bear laughed as if it were the first joke at the end of the world.
    Bear threw his arms into the air as four orbs circled above and around them, then hurled his axe into the corner, as if to say