17.

Damien Meadows bounced from foot to foot and from side to side in the corner of a four-sided competitive ring, a ring surrounded by the heavy meshed steel of a cage, ready to go to work. Standing six feet ten inches, weighting two hundred and ninety-five pounds, and looking as if he has been genetically engineered, Damien indeed awaits his next opponent.

His opponent on this occasion is a man who generally is able to hold his own being five foot eleven and two hundred twenty pounds and also being of considerable build though entering the ring through the open steel door which is soon locked behind him ... he is about to go against a man who is undefeated in forty-eight encounters, none of which have lasted more than five minutes. Those that have come close to the five-minute mark have done so more out of the fact that Damien was having fun, having fun with another soul unlucky enough to enter Damien's yard.

A bell sounds to indicate the beginning of the contest though many wonder why there should be a bell at all as any contest involving this beast of a monster most always is completely one sided and when Damien has his opponent defeated any sounding bell would not deter him from continuing to have his way and no one ever dares to confront him to say enough is enough. It is enough when Damien decides that he has had enough.

The crowd of no more than five hundred people are loud, and betting furiously takes place right up to that sounding of that first bell, though bets are not placed upon who may win or lose but rather how long a contest may last to the second and as to how long Damien will have things his way so if there is a purpose to the bell then that is it.

The opponent on this occasion is an unknown, a regular Joe as far as anyone is concerned. Everyone how enters this ring needs to have a history in fighting and a successful history at that. This regular Joe has that successful history, still he comes as much an unknown as anyone can. No one has seen him previously compete and as such is not expected to do particularly well. No one every comes here and does well in Damien's ring other than when Damien is off duty.

As the bell does sound both men move quickly and head straight for each other, Damien a little more quickly than his opponent. They lock up and Damien throws a head butt immediately opening up the smaller man just over his left eye and once again this is to be a completely one-sided contest. The newest soul to be claimed is lifted up in the air and thrown across almost half the ring and right into the steel mesh. Damien turns, lifts both his arms in the air, and reacts to the noise of the crowd, expecting the referee counts the smaller man out.

When he finally turns back, Damien is first surprised to see that his opponent has not been counted out then is angered when to see said opponent in a stance which suggests the question ... is that all you have got?

Little time is wasted. Damien is quick to move in, fully expecting to connect with a flying kick. It doesn't connect. Regular Joe has dropped to his knees and connects with a blow to Damien's mid-section. This hits the crowd as much as it does to the venue's champion. The place has gone so quiet that a literal pin drop could be heard. This ... this is something new.

Getting up after a second or three on the canvas, Damien gets up and looks out to the crowd on three sides of the caged ring. Do you all doubt me? ... he wants to ask ... after all I've done in this ring? Regular Joe's big mistake is not directly following up on his own successful maneuver. Damien goes all out on a vicious attack. Referee attempts to break it up without success. It takes three further officials to remove Damien from his opponent.

Damien may have a forty ninth consecutive win though he is not done with his newest victim just yet. Circling the ring Damien continues to react to the crowd and it is only when the cage door opens for him to make an exit, that Damien turns his attention back to his most recent challenge. Before this smaller man can be properly attended to, Damien grabs him by his left ankle and pulls him into the center of the ring before picking him up and lifting him high into the air.

The crowd cheer noisily and a lot of them are on their feet though their noise would soon once again go quiet, when Damien would drop the smaller man onto his own raised leg breaking the smaller man's back. Those in attendance indeed have gone quiet. They have experienced something more than what they are used to.

Many a stunned look on the faces surrounding the cage suggests that no one expected things to go as far as they just did, and it hadn't taken much either. The sudden sound of silence only adds to Damien's enjoyment of the moment. Question me now are his thoughts, the expression on his face only shows anger and distain.

It didn't come straight away but upon confirmation of regular Joe's death, an arrest warrant is put out for Damien Meadows. Combat sport or not, planned or not, murder is still murder and a trial would only end with one outcome.

***

Dolph Anderson, thirty-two years old, has spent most of his adult life in one prison or another and that never particularly bothered him. He probably felt more at home in any of these places than anywhere else he has ever been. Not the largest of guys but most definitely as tough as or tougher than anyone he has ever come in contact with. He knows no fear and actually enjoys moments of conflict and there have been many moments of conflict in his life, moments of conflict where he usually comes out on top.

Working out on a bench press in the prison yard of his latest incarceration venue, Dolph would be approached by three men. Dolph would continue for a moment or two to work out though he would soon stop, sit up, and take notice.

'Can I help you?' Dolph would ask directing his question towards these three men with having absolutely no intention of actually helping anyone.

'Yeah' spoke the largest of the three men, who stood in the center of the three, 'you can move yourself along now, you are done here.'

'Is that right?'

'It is, yeah.'

Dolph would take another moment before getting up off the bench. The man who had spoken to him would then lay on the bench to begin a workout of his own, but Dolph was not about to go anywhere just yet. He would circle the bench leaving plenty of room between himself and the other three.

'So, who do we have here? Larry, Curley, and Moe?'

'I thought I told you that you are done here' spoke the man who had spoken to Dolph once already as he began to bench press the weights that are part of the equipment he is currently using.

'I say when I am done here and guess what? I don't think that I am anywhere near done here.'

One of the other two standing men would make a move towards Dolph and would get a kick to the groin and a punch to the face for his efforts and would end up on his back only to curl up in a fetal position on the ground. The second standing man was about to make a move towards Dolph but when Dolph turned towards him, he thought better of it and back away. Dolph would then move to press the weights onto the chest of the man on the bench.

'I don't like being told what to do. I do not like when others prance around like they are someone important. You and your useless friends are not anyone important. Bother me again and I will be sure to bother you in a more serious and permanent way. Now, having got that off my chest, so to speak, ... I think I am actually done here.'

Safe to say that after this particular moment that Dolph Anderson was not bothered again.

***

Dara Cunningham is a forty-two-year-old martial arts and fitness instructor, well maybe that should be former martial arts and fitness instructor. His dojo and fitness center burnt down, sabotaged by some troublemakers he had known about for some time. The insurance company refused to cover the damage, so Dara is left with nothing. He had to sell his home and move in with a friend to help make ends meet though he is still left in heavy debt.

An envelope arrives at this friend's home specifically addressed for Dara. Before even opening the envelope, it has Dara stumped for he hadn't been staying there long and had not informed many people at all as to his current whereabouts let lone any company or business that if such a business or company may need to contact him by mail, they would be able to contact him.

However, the envelope, along with its contents, had not come from any specific company or business, it was an invitation to a fight to the death, winner takes all, online show called BEAST. It also promised that upon acceptance, all Dara's debts would be cleared and that all evidence of his recent extra-curricular activities would be destroyed.

At first there was no way, no way in hell that Dara was going to accept this invitation, but thinking about it, someone seemed to know about the revenge he acquired upon those who had plagued him for so long. He has assumed he had been as stealthy as anyone could be, but apparently not.

He had never even heard of this show prior to receiving the envelope which carried the invitation. He checked out the links to previous airings which came with the invitation and what he saw was quite gruesome to say the least. The more Dara thought about it and the more links he watched, the more he was getting into the idea of actually taking part, for as far as he was concerned, he had absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain, so his reply to the invitation would be a most definite and convincing acceptance.

A big part with Dara making the decision that he has is the fact that over the years he has won many physical competitions with some of them going as far as being full contact competitions and to even take that further, many of his wins came easily and were won by large margins and knock outs. Not only that for Dara has gone on to train and coach many other competition winners. Add onto that, the taste of death can be addictive. He had avoided consequences so far, with the law at least, so this island ... it does seem tempting.

Damien Meadows, Dolph Anderson and Dara Cunningham, three very different men yet three men with so much in common, for these are just three of the many competitors going forward to take part in the online reality show where only one will win and survive though as with the year previous there were two survivors and one of them had just become a two-time winner, something of course was and is previously unheard of.