Twisted, Demented, and Ready to Kill
Copyright 2018 Albert Oon
Published by Albert Oon at Smashwords
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A song I thought would be best as the theme song for this story.
Contestant 1 – The Dying Joke/John Doe – The Clown Who Fights Against the Joke of Life
Life is a funny thing. It messes with you. It kills you every second of every day. Life is one long cruel joke, and I might be the only one who laughs, but I don’t laugh because it’s funny, I laugh because I’m going to end the joke. I’m going to kill everyone that lives to free them from this terrible joke. If you think about it, I’m doing everyone a mercy. The good people will get to Heaven faster and the evil will get their punishment in Hell before they can do more evil. I’m not evil. Life is.
William is a devilish genie of sorts. He holds a contest every year, which started in nineteen-ninety-five. It’s a car combat competition where fifteen people bring whatever vehicle they want, outfit it with guns, and kill each other. We are brought to a battle worthy area called a Killing Zone sanctioned by the governments of the world. The final survivor then fights a clone of the previous winner that William has created or sometimes the original winner. The winner gets to wish for whatever they want. Many people have wished for many things, but most get screwed over if they leave room for interpretation in their wish. There is other interpretation of my wish nor is there any evil in it.
My car of choice is an old ice cream truck, a relic from a past long forgotten. I attached a minigun on it and it holds several missiles with another special function to it I won’t spoil. In the event of an emergency, I put some extra guns in the back of the truck. With this bad boy, my victory is assured along with the death of my opponents.
I’ve killed plenty of people, so this should be easy for me. It doesn’t matter that they’re all driving metal death machines. They’re just little presents for me that I need to get to the blood-filled center of. The contestants are supposed to drive to this blimp to get our vehicles together. We’re not allowed to kill each other on site until the game begins or else everyone can kill the aggressor and the survivors will get their wishes. This rule is the only thing restraining me as I pass by all my soon to be victims. They don’t look like anything special. Some are normal people. There are a few cops and government agents here who seem to recognize me. I give them all a friendly wave as I drive my truck into my temporary cage. All of our vehicles are lifted into the blimp before we take off.
Four big monitors descend from inside the blimp and William shows up on them with his grinning face. His face looks like it was burned by the fires of Hell. Maybe he’s one of my victims that I accidentally didn’t kill. Despite his looks, he dresses in a nice black suit with a red bow tie. He obviously has a high opinion of himself.
He says, “Welcome to High Octane. You should all already know the rules coming in, so I’ll be brief. Survive, and you will obtain your heart’s desires. Good luck.”
Our vehicles are dropped from the blimp by a trap door underneath us to a town that looks like a war zone or Detroit. I hope there a still people in it. We’re dropped separate distances from each other. I see that a few unlucky idiots were destroyed by the drop, but I happen to find a poor soul to murder near me to satisfy my immediate bloodlust. My car rams them through several homes while peppering them with machine gun fire. Their car is catching fire now, so my fun with them is done, and I pull away from the car spins out of control and blows up near another car.
This one is still alive after the blast, which allows me to have the pleasure of ending them. Now, this is off to a good start. I feel at home here. A SWAT car with two drivers come barreling my way. One is driving while another is on the mounted gun. I thought there was only allowed one driver per car, but I guess everything is fair in death and war.
I retreat for cover while dropping grenades behind me. There has to be a way to shake them off my tail. Their car is able to drive through houses just like mine and their guns are starting to break my truck’s armor. Oh, what’s this? People are heading towards a sport’s stadium. I wonder…Oh, yes! This stadium is where everyone in the city is hiding. They’re the perfect cover as the cops hesitate to fire even one shot at me. That’s right, now I have you! It takes only a few missiles and a light peppering of machine gun fire to blow up their heavily armored SWAT car.
This is just proof that I’m a good person because who could ask for a better gift as this? I drive around the stadium and let loose. Every soul I release from this world will thank me later. Now my pink and white ice cream truck is covered in red. I haven’t had a rush like this in weeks! Now, back to the game. I hope there are still more for me to kill. Oh, it looks like my spree attracted someone and they look pissed. Good.
Follow me little birdy. For finding me, here is your reward. I use one of my truck’s special controls to make a robotic arm come out of the right side. It takes the little birdy and crushes it. The sound of bones breaking and screaming is such a joy to hear that I should’ve added it to my truck’s music playlist. This robotic arm is only a taste of my truck’s surprises. Four down. Seven more to go.
The noise of fighting draws me to an interesting sight. Three people have totaled their vehicles and are about to fight each other on foot. I might as well play fair, so I park my truck in a back alley, take my special machete, and join the fight. I surprise one and chop off his head. Another one tries shanking me, so I cut off his hand and then stick my blade through his chest. The last girl tries shooting me with her snub pistol, but I take her by the throat, which makes her drop her pistol. I then throw her to the ground and cut off both her arms as she begs for her life.
“Oh shut up and bleed you mother-”, I say to her as I stick my blade into her head.
I step on her head for the added satisfaction before heading back to my truck. This is turning out to be the best day of my life. My previous life was so monotonous filled with false feelings of happiness and goodness, but now I truly feel happy by doing what I know is right. I just hope there are more souls to reap because I can barely hear anything now. It’s a good a time as any to use my truck’s special ability to get a better view. I throw a couple switches to transform my meager ice cream truck into a robot and fly up into the air. I threatened several mechanics and their families with death if they didn’t do this for me. Of course, I still killed them anyway. I needed someone to test my new toy on and I think release from this world is a reward in itself, so it was a win-win if you ask me.
Let’s see where is…Ah ha! There you are. Driving a large pickup truck makes you a well armored but slow target. My robot form may not be able to take as much punishment as its truck form, but it sure is faster and can deal more damage with its hands and legs. The robot tears through the truck’s armor as it struggles to shake me off. I eventually manage to tear off the front of the car then squish the driver like a pimple with my robot’s hands. Oooooh, that’s the stuff!
Anyone else want to face me? I hear sirens going off. I think I’m the final survivor.
“I hope you still have some fight left in you,” I can hear an announcer saying from the speakers in the city, “Because the winner of the last High Octane is here to test your mettle. Welcome back Retribution!”
I’ve heard of this guy. Retribution tried fixing the world but ended up extending its suffering because he didn’t think through what his wish meant. I won’t make the same mistake. This guy has a pieced together red mustang with armor and weapons welded onto it. It’s a wonder how this guy survived-oh, now that’s interesting. Part of the car transforms into a sort of robot like mine, but his doesn’t have feet. Damn, it has missiles that can track me. Staying in the air like this isn’t safe, so I transform my truck back into its original form and fight him this way.
There’s no reason why I can’t destroy him easily, and yet, his armor and speed are admirable. Did William do something to this guy because his car shouldn’t be this good? Shit! He got me, but just because my truck is done for, doesn’t mean I am! I get the guns in the back of my truck and unload everything I have starting with my rockets, which makes Retribution fly into the air. My grenades hit the under of his car when it lands, disabling it. Every bullet and shell I have goes into his car because I am not going to lose. Nothing is going to stop me from winning.
I’m completely empty of everything including my pistols and magnums Retribution is seemingly still alive. Stupid motherfucker. Just blow up already! I throw my machete into the hood of the car, which finally blows him up. I’m not going to question it because I won!
“Where’s my wish, William?!” I excitingly scream towards the sky.
I see him descending from his blimp with his personal helicopter. He has guards with him. If I still had a weapon on me, I would be able to kill him. That will have to wait for later.
“Calm yourself, good sir,” William says as he gets out of his helicopter to meet me, “Should I call you by your proper name or your other name?”
“Call me the name that you know won’t get you killed,” I tell him.
“I’m just making sure, Mr. Doe. Now, what does your demented heart desire?”
“I desire the extinction of all life on this decaying world.”
“Then your wish…is granted.”
William’s eyes shine a black light as the world shakes around us. Parts of the world around us start falling down as earthquakes and the weather destroys everything around us. I can hear people dying in the distance. It’s as if I can hear the collective screaming of the entire world, and it’s beautiful. William and his lot leave the area and that’s fine with me. Even if I don’t survive, I’ve got what wanted.
In a past life, I had a wife and kids who died to unfortunate circumstances and now, everyone will be together. No one will die. No one will suffer unless you’re in Hell of course. No one will do useless work to get by in the joke that is life that will kill them anyway. Death is all there is now, and it’s beautiful.
Contestant 2 – Mason Smith – The Lone Rider Against All Odds
The world is ending because of that damn clown and I was beginning to have a normal life. This all started when the governments of the world deemed certain cities to be Killing Zones for a devilish man simply known as William and his bloody contest. They say the devil himself threatened to take away their friends and family from them and also everyone the friends and family knew and so on and so forth. We’ll never know if the devil was lying or if they just made the excuse up to take away some of the guilt from their actions. I swear this was part of the devil’s plan if what they said was true.
Parts of the ground levitate up in the air while others have fallen to the molten center of the earth. Few places are safe to inhabit including the city I live in. When the apocalypse started, William announced the winner then all of this happened in the blink of an eye. My wife and soon to be born child died in the chaos and I was left with no one left to care for in this world. The only thing that I have to remember them by is my motorcycle that my wife and I took long rides on when we were younger. Everyone in the world is now trying to either get by on scraps, killing each other or killing themselves. I seem to be the only sane person left on this world who is looking for a solution to our problems.
William has the nerve to keep his contest going for one last time, so I’m going to enter it and wish for the world to be restored. I’m only allowed one wish so this one will have to do. I wish I could wish for the world to be filled with better people, but I doubt William would grant that. My motorcycle is now outfitted with machine guns and missiles in the sidecar with a special ability to it that allows blades to come out from the wheels to take out the wheels of my opponents. I also have a grenade launcher strapped to my back and a bag full of grenades and other explosives that are tied to sickles so they can stick to cars. My vehicle may offer me no protection at all, but there are few that are operable in this world now and I don’t know any car mechanics that would fix one up for me. This is all I have. I hope that my wife and child will pray for me to grant me protection.
While going to the pickup area, I notice that most of the fifteen contestants are cultists that worship that clown as some kind of god. After the earth was torn apart, some crazy people decided to worship the clown as a god because of what he did. At least I won’t have to feel too guilty about killing them. Everyone else here doesn’t seem too nice either. Some don’t even act like the world is ending. Whatever the case may be. I have to win.
We go into our cages and are lifted up into the blimp above. Four monitors descend from the ceiling of the blimp and William shows his smug face.
He says, “Welcome to High Octane. This may be the last one ever depending on what the winner wishes, so make this one the best there ever was! Win and you will have whatever your heart desires. Good luck.”
The doors below our cages drop us back down to the earth. I land on a nearby floating piece of land then go from piece to piece to make my way down to the battlefield. Four contestants aren’t lucky or smart as they fall past all of the floating lands and fall into the earth’s core. At least that’s some of them out of my hair. With each death, the land shifts slightly as if reacting to them. Unfortunately, all of the cultists have survived. One tries landing on me, but I move out of the way in time. They then fall into the earth’s core. Good riddance.
I’m almost to the main city Killing Zone, which appears to have been a suburban town. All of it is wreckage and burning fires so no one not involved with the contest should be alive down there. Watching from a distance, I can see that the cultists have teamed up with one another to kill the remaining contenders who aren’t them. That ain’t fair at all, but now, they’re talking to one another. One by one they kill themselves by driving off into the earth’s core. They must be selecting who is worthy to face the clown and receive their wish. Whatever they want can’t be good, so I have to eliminate them myself. I could wait for there to be one left, but where’s the fun in that? Great, now I sound like a psycho.
There are seven cultists left as I make it into the suburban town. They notice me and rush me in an attempt to quickly take me down. There isn’t much cover here, so I’ll have to always be dodging their bullets and missiles. I drop a few grenades and mines behind me, which takes out three of the cultists. The other four split off, but I manage to stick one with a grenade that blows them off the land. Three more left. One gets in front of me to slow me down while the other two try to crush me.
To counter this, I use my motorcycle’s special ability to give me some space. I then break and use my missiles and machine guns to destroy at least one of them, the others are more armored. Neither cars have mirrors to look behind them, so this is my chance to get some distance from them. Where to go, where to…Ah! I go up a hill and follow them until they come to a stop. While they’re looking around with their binoculars, I unload my grenade launcher while throwing a couple more grenades to make sure they die. As soon as they recognize the grenades at their feet, it’s too late for them. Okay, I might’ve overdone it with the explosives with how big the explosion is. It’s like a fireworks display. My explosives even manage to take out some of the land. That should be all of them.
A siren sounds off in the town as an announcement comes from them. “I hope you still have some fight left in you because the winner of the last High Octane is here to test your mettle! Welcome back, John Doe!”
What the hell? I see a flying ice cream truck flying towards the town. That must be him.
“You must want to die faster than the rest if you’re here to face me,” I can hear the clown saying from the speakers in town.
He must be the real one and not one of William’s creations if he’s making an intro. William’s creations don’t do that.
“Come and be rewarded with a quick and painful death,” the clown says.
I show him both of my middle fingers to show him my appreciation for his “reward”. I’m sort of glad that this isn’t a clone so I can kill the psycho that started the end of the world and killed my family. The clown launches a barrage of missiles and machine gun fire at me. There’s no way I can hurt him from here with my weapons, so I evade him for now while I look for an opening and hope that he comes down here.
I’m not going to lose now that my wish is so close. That damn clown has to be close to running out of ammo by now. He’s been firing at me non-stop for two minutes so far. Fucker almost got me! I got to find some way of getting to him or bringing him down to me. Aha! I’ll draw him closer to the hills then drive off and fire from there. It’s a bit risky since most of my cover is gone, but it’s my only option.
Come on, come on! This pressure doesn’t scare me! I’m going to get you now you son of a bitch! Here I go! Now I can get at him! I launch all of my missiles at him and toss a couple grenades while I’m at it. This heavily damages his robot making it crash to the ground. After flying in the air, I manage to land in the rubble of a building that breaks my fall.
Is he dead? The roaring of an engine denies this. From a distance, I can see the flaming cone on his truck screaming as if it has his soul in it. This is fine. I didn’t have my fill of killing you yet. I use my vehicle’s size and maneuverability to dodge whatever he throws at me as I return fire. My sidecar is shot off, so all I have left are three sickle grenades. One misses and another one throws him off. I say a quick prayer as I lobe the last grenade in a Hail Mary throw.
Yes! I got him! The clown’s truck explodes in an explosion so huge that the ground is destroyed beneath him, sending him down to the earth’s core. A burning place similar to where he will be spending all of eternity in. William descends from a helicopter with a group of armored guards.
He steps forward to me with a smile and his hand out.
I cautiously shake it as he says, “Congratulations, Mr. Smith. You’ve won, now tell me, what is your pure heart’s desire?”
“I wish for the world to be restored to the way it was before, so it isn’t destroyed.”
“Is that really what you want? I’m sensing other desires like having your family brought back to life. What about the salvation of lost souls? I’m sure people will continue to kill and damn themselves eternally if you just simply fix the world with your wish.”
“That’s right-but no.”
“Are you sure of your wish?”
“Yes, and that’s final.”
“Fine, have it your way. Your wish is…granted.”
The world around us repairs and puts itself together as William flies back to his blimp. Things aren’t perfect, but at least humanity will survive. I’ll have to keep fighting in William’s tournaments as the final threat to the last contender. I’m fine with that. As long as I can keep the crazy people away from obtaining their wishes, I’ll be fine. Despite being completely different from the clown, I guess I’ll have to be a killer too, but at least I’ll be killing for a good cause. God have mercy and protect me.
Contestant 3 – Emma Hill – The Woman Who Fell in Love with Death
What kind of woman wouldn’t fall in love with a man who could do the impossible? A man who was strong, charming, and intelligent. This man, of course, was John Doe or the Dying Joke, as he liked to be called. I was just a poor girl who was barely getting by in the world. The damn governments in the world thought they were doing the world a favor by letting William have his contests, but they only condemned innocent people to die. They couldn’t give them a quicker and less painful way to die and instead made them starve and lose hope in their impending journey into the afterlife.
John was the only one who did anything about the situation we were in. Everyone else who won High Octane either helped themselves, helped the world in a small way or got screwed by attempting. The clown god of death did what no one could do and used his wish to end the world. I was the leader of his cult in the mid-west of America. We were about to welcome death with open arms when suddenly, the world stopped ending. Another winner was announced, and he wished for the world to be saved. Most people call him a hero, but my cult and I know the truth.
Ten members of the cult and I are going into High Octane with the goal of finding John so he can lead us to the world of death he wants. Sure, we could wish for the end of the world like he did, but it’s not the same without him. We know he couldn’t have died when he was defeated by that man on the motorcycle. He is a god after all. He’s also the man I love. When I meet him, I’m going to get him to love me then we’ll get married. I can see it already. I’m already prepared for it with a wedding dress covered in the blood of my victims and a beautiful mask that perfectly adds to my natural beauty.
My tool of destruction is an armored Rolls Royce Wraith with two machine guns on it with a small stock of missiles. I have four other devoted girls with me who are armed to the teeth with guns and explosives and ready to die for the cause with explosives strapped to their chest. I’m the only one who doesn’t have any explosives, but one of them will take over should I be killed during the battle. With our numbers, victory is all but assured to us. Watch over us from Heaven John. Watch over us as we make you proud.
As we roll up to William’s ship, we find another group of five people there already waiting in their cages. They all have motorcycles and wear similar clothes to the last winner. None of them saying anything to us and just show us their middle fingers. I’m not concerned about them. They’ll be dead soon enough. Once we get into our cages, the blimp takes off.
Four monitors descend from the top of the inside of the blimp that shows William’s burned smiling face.
The door beneath our cages releases us into the Killing Zone below. The battleground is an old amusement park. It’s amazing that it’s still standing, but the earth being put back together must’ve weakened its rides. We could probably use that to our advantage. I wonder how the group in motorcycles are going to get down. The height alone would destroy a normal car. Oh, that’s how. They’re using gliders to make their way down. Since they’re moving slower, they’re able to shoot at us while descending. Two of us get shot out of the sky. As soon as we land, we try fighting back, but we can barely land a shot because they’re so small in the sky and they fly so fast. That, and none of us are expert shooters. We’re just normal people who are inspired by a god.
Two more of us are killed, but we manage to get one of them. Before landing, the last four riders drop a barrage of explosives on us, killing another three. Our heavy vehicles are gone, which just leaves people like me in our normal armored cars. Now that the motorcycles are on the ground, we’re on an even playing field. We started with an advantage, but now it’s three to four.
The last of us get serious as we fire at those who dare to follow a villain who disgraced our hero. We manage to kill another, but they’re too slippery and the explosives they drop throw our aim off. We’re passing by the rides and get an idea, so I point at it and the girls shoot at it. The rollercoaster collapses all around them. They struggle to dodge the debris from the large ride that must’ve been fun to ride years ago. I wonder if John will go on one with me once we meet each other. That moment can’t come soon enough.
I can hear one of the cyclists getting crushed. One manages to escape the wreckage, but one of us runs them over. Since I’m the leader of the cult group, the last two of our allies self-destruct to allow me to continue. The sirens go off in the park as an announcement is made.
I see the man who squandered my love’s dream arriving in the distance.
We can hear him talking through the speakers. “I was hoping one of the cyclists would win, but you of all people had to survive. There’s no way I’m letting you win.”
We’ll see about that. I begin to execute our plan as I let another girl drive for me. By the time he gets close, he doesn’t notice. To try to end this quickly, a girl gets on the roof of the car and jumps at him in an attempt to kill herself with him, but the explosion doesn’t kill him for some reason. William must’ve done something to him to give him some kind of protection against instant death. Even though we manage to get a couple of shots on him, his cycle is damaged and he’s a bit roughed up, but nothing too serious. The man’s speed to evade the girl’s attacks is astonishing. No wonder why John had so much trouble with him.
He throws one of his sickles at a girl who’s shooting at him and sticks her in the face. The ensuing explosion takes out half of the car. The girls still fight with everything they got. One of them jumps out to try to blow herself up, but the cyclist kills her before she can blow up. He then unloads his grenade launcher to blow up the car.
After the flames of the car settle, he looks around just in time to catch the rocket from my launcher in the face. I got out of the car and got to a safe spot to launch this surprise attack from. Everyone should have a rocket launcher in their car for a scenario like this. Now that he’s destroyed, William comes down in his helicopter.
He smiles as he shakes my hand. “That was a smart idea, Ms. Hill. I’m sure John would be proud.”
“Yes, me too! I’d love to be with him.”
“Unfortunately for the both of us, he has left this world. The real him died during the last tournament and he is currently burning in Hell.”
“That’s awful! He doesn’t deserve that fate!”
“It’s a tragedy, I know, but you can do something about it.”
“Yes! I wish him back to life!”
“Your wish is…granted!”
William heads back to his blimp as the earth shakes and screams ring out from it. The ground splits in two as fire bursts out of it. Dark spirits pour out of the ground as a singular spirit regains its flesh and clothes. It’s John in all of his glory! Actually…I think he looks even better now. His eyes are darker and glow yellow. His outfit has a mix of dark pink and jet black. Hell seems to have made him into a better man.
I go up to and bow before saying, “My lord, I am so glad that I finally get to meet you!”
John looks strangely at me before saying, “So, you’re one of the crazy cultists that worship me as a god. Bad news for you kid, I’m not a god, but I do like the benefits of being worshiped as one. What’s your name?”
“Emma Hill.”
“That’s a pretty plain name, but pretty nonetheless.”
“You’re too kind. Umm…If you don’t mind me asking…ummm.”
“Spit it out if you have something on your mind.”
“Will-can you marry me? Can we be in a relationship? I did save you from Hell.”
“Haha! I’m sorry for laughing, but sure, why not? The man is supposed to ask, so I’ll ask you instead.” He kneels with his arms out. “Will you marry me, my bloody bride of destruction?”
“Yes, I do!”
I run into his arms and embrace each other. Today is the happiest day of my life. I’m dressed in a dark pink and black outfit like his on the day of our marriage. Together, we’ll release everyone in this world from the curse of life. Nothing will stop us. Nothing will stop our invincible love.
Contestant 4 – Avery Young & Oliver Ross – A Pure Love Against a Perverse Love
Avery and I are just two car mechanics in a post-apocalyptic world. We tried keeping to ourselves by making and repairing cars especially cars for the people who competed in High Octane. A good number of cars we fixed won the competition and made their wishes, some of which were good and bad. After John won the competition and the world went to Hell, we had given up on living till we died, but then Mason saved the world. His recent death was a shame.
What’s also a shame is John. We used to know him before he went psycho. He was a real stand-up guy. When he was sane, he used to help people in need and those close to him even though he didn’t have much. He always found a way to smile or laugh at life, but when his wife and kid died, life seemed to lose all meaning to him. I tried comforting him and reassuring him that things will be alright, however, he thought that life was playing a big joke on him. This is when he snapped and started his killing spree.
His revival because of that crazy lazy has the entire world on edge since this means the two previous winners could inspire others to wish for the destruction of the world again. The number of cult members has significantly increased ever since his revival and so have the number of murders. A lot of people are losing hope again especially since the two are driving a new vehicle that’s deadlier than the last. I’m surprised you remembered our original designs John because Avery and I are going to destroy you with our original design.
Both of our cars are combined to form one supercar that has machine guns and a small stock of missiles. My side has a flamethrower turret on the hood while Avery has a turret with bullets that could shoot down a plane. If this isn’t enough, we have mines that we made ourselves. I also have my trusty magnum revolver while Avery has her desert eagle. A special feature of the car is that we can both drive the car from our seats, but we have to spin then release control in order for the other to drive. We also have another emergency feature that I hope we don’t use because it’s still finicky if it wants to work or not. With our arsenal, the only thing that could stand in our way is John, his new wife, and his cult.
We bring along a few people with cars we helped upgrade. When we get to William’s blimp, we see that John is hyping up his gang. Their vehicles consist of ice cream trucks, small compact cars, and pickup trucks. It’s four against eleven, but I think we can still beat them. Those people on motorcycles who followed Mason’s example managed to do a lot of damage to John’s cultists before they were taken out. We won’t make the same mistakes because we have better weapons, cars, and we’ve learned from them.
Since I know John can’t hurt me, I call out to him. “Hey, John!”
“Oliver! Avery! It’s been forever since we last saw each other. I think I remember telling you that if I saw either of you again then I wouldn’t hesitate to cut you down.”
“I’m sorry for what to you, John. I still am ever since it happened.”
“What are you going to do to make up for it? Help me achieve my dream of a world full of death?”
Avery says, “No, we’re going to put you down like the monster you are. We gave you all the support we could give you, but you don’t deserve mercy or any kind of help after killing so many people.”
“Consider this as our way of helping you. I’m sure your sufferings in Hell are going to be worse when we send you back there,” I add.
“Hahaha. Is this how friends are supposed to act? What about mercy and love?”
“You’re set on killing everyone on earth. You don’t deserve mercy.”
“You’re right. I guess you do know me.”
“We always have, John. I hope this was worth it for you.”
“Oh, trust me…it was.”
With nothing left to say, everyone gets into their cages and William’s blimp takes us off to our destination. His face comes on the monitors in the blimp. I can never get over his ugly grinning face. It’s like I’m staring at the devil himself.
He says, “Welcome to High Octane. Isn’t this a great reunion for a memorable battle? Two old friends with their own little groups ready to fight to the death with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Will the world be destroyed or saved again? Good luck to both of you.”
We’re dropped to the battleground below. It’s a junkyard of cars from the previous battles. Because of our versatile cars, we’re able to control our falling speed and we shoot down a couple of John’s boys before they land. This time they have turrets on top of their cars to shoot above them-damn it! One of us got hit and exposed our secret ability. Our car and the car of our friends have two drivers. The cars themselves can separate into two miniature cars that aren’t very sturdy, but they are faster apart than together. They can also reattach if need be. This takes away from the surprise of our attack though it doesn’t change anything. We quickly land to the ground and separate the group.
Because they still have the advantage of numbers, two of them try double teaming us on a narrow road. These clowns must be dumber in the head than I thought. Avery takes care of the one behind us while I blow up the one in front. A truck comes out of nowhere to hit us from the side to spin us out of control while another one joins in on the attack. I swear John must’ve told them to concentrate on us for some kind of extra reward. This would be bad if we had a normal car. Instead, it’s bad for them as Avery takes control of the car and I light up my flamethrower.
“I’ll burn them to Hell and you’ll blow’em to it!” I say as we switch control.
“With pleasure!”
Neither truck can handle our firepower and blow up. With our success rate, our friends should be doing fine, but when we get to a more open area, we find all of our friends’ cars destroyed. Apparently, John’s followers also have transforming cars. Our friends managed to do some damage to them and leave the rest to us before they were destroyed. They’re still tough to bring down as one shoots at us from above while the other two chase us and try to break our car with their hands. It’s three versus one now, but I think we still got this.
Avery distracts them with her guns while I toss a bag full of grenades on the ground. This distraction costs them their mechs legs, which allows us to finish them off. Avery takes control as I fry them while trying to get up. She then finishes the one in the air with homing missiles. That’s it. Now, where’s John and his crazy bitch?
Sirens go off in the junkyard as I hear the jingle of John’s truck approaching. An announcement is made, “I hope you still have some fight left in you because the winner of the last High Octane is here to test your mettle! Welcome back, Emma Hill and special guest, John Doe!”
I see the two approaching in a singular huge ice cream truck that’s more like a monster truck.
John says from the speakers, “I was hoping one of my boys or girls would win, but this is unfortunate. Oh well, I have enough cannon fodder. One of them will eventually win the contest for us.”
I yell at John, “Don’t be so sure of your victory you son of a bitch!”
“Don’t call my husband that you creep!”
“Don’t call my husband a creep you freak!”
“Enough talking. Let’s just put him in the ground, Avery.”
“You got it, babe.”
I take control of the car and launch a barrage of missiles and gunfire at John. Most of it manages to hit, but his truck is mostly undamaged.
“It’s a great thing, ain’t it?” John says, “Metal forged from the fires of Hell is some of the best around!”
The car’s defenses are too strong for us to get through. Even though we are faster than him and land all of our attacks, we can only scratch his monster truck.
“Oliver, do you see that? They only have grating for windows. If we can launch ourselves up to them, we can shoot them through it.”
“But how are we going to manage that?”
“We could make some of the wreckage collapse on him. There’s a lot near that dirt hill we could use.”
“This is one of the reasons why I love you.”
“Tell me more about it when we win.”
I drive to the pile of cars and manage to trap John’s truck in the wreckage. We then drive off the dirt ramp to use our only shot against John. Time seems to slow down as this is going on. I pull out my trusty revolver and unload it at John as we fly past his window. Avery unloads her gun as well to take her piece of revenge. We crash and roll a couple times as we land since we hit a couple broken cars on the way down. At least our car is undamaged, and we don’t need to flip it once it stops moving.
“Is it over? Did we do it?” I ask as everything seems silent.
John’s voice breaks the silence. “You had to go and do it, didn’t you? You’re lucky that my wife is imbued with the same endurance as me or else we would’ve died from your stupid magnums. Now, it’s time to stop clowning around.”
Really John? His monster truck transforms into a large demon clown robot armed with missiles, guns, and flamethrowers. This is something I thought would never think to see in my life, but there are a lot of unbelievable things nowadays, so this shouldn’t surprise me. I drive away as John begins his attack by launching cars at us. We use our car’s special ability and split apart.
“What are we going to do now?” Avery asks me over the radio.
“Uhhh, oh! There’s a large truck shedder here we could crush them in. It should destroy him!”
“I’ll distract him while you get that shredder going!”
“Right. Good luck. I love you.”
“Love you too.”
Avery draws John’s attention while I quickly drive to the shredder. Once I get there, I exit my car and start up the shredder. Thankfully, the arm that can pick up trucks and cars still works.
I use my radio to tell Avery, “I’m ready. Bring them over here.”
“Be right over!”
Avery drives over with John right on her heels. Once he gets over to the shredder, I use the arm to catch John’s robot by the chest. His robot is a tight fit, but it goes in the shredder. He tries fighting it, but Avery shoots away his arms to prevent him from escaping. This is it! It’s destroying his robot!
“That’s right, go back to Hell!” I can hear Avery yelling over the radio.
Finally, his truck is shredded until it blows up. I run outside to hug and kiss Avery.
“We did it,” I say to her.
“Do you doubt we would?”
William comes down from his blimp with a somewhat disappointed look on his smiling face.
“Congratulations you two! You’ve beaten the odds and won my contest. Now, what is your hearts’ desire?”
I tell him, “I wish John’s influence on the world completely disappears. This means that all of the destruction he caused is repaired, the people he killed are brought back to life, and the death cult he started and the people he’s had an impact on forget about him.”
“As you wish but remember that people need to learn from history. If people forget about John, then a similar person might end up taking his place. Are you sure you want that as part of your wish?”
“I do.”
“Have it your way. Your wish is…granted.”
William flies away and…what did we wish for again? It must’ve been something good because the town we live in is more peaceful. I’m glad I installed ejector seats in our friends’ cars. William didn’t even notice that they survived the destruction of their cars. Who says you can’t fool the devil? Our friends managed to hide and survive the last battle, so everyone goes home safe and sound.
It’s back to being the nice place it used to be back when the government didn’t allow William’s tournament. With the contest out of the way, for now, Avery and I settle down and start a family that we’ve always wanted to. William’s contest made us afraid to bring kids into the world, but we aren’t afraid anymore. Avery says she wants at least three kids, but I’m fine with one, however, she can be a bit…pushy sometimes. This is one of the reasons why I love her.
Contestant 5 – Jonathan Doe – The Average Man
I don’t know why William, the “man” behind High Octane, came to me and wanted me to compete in his competition of death. He said something about me reminding him of a great man. I’m just a normal man who’s trying to survive in this tough world. The only good things I got are a wonderful wife and two kids. I can barely drive because I can’t afford a car. Maybe my job interests him, but then again, all I do is go around and fix the plumbing and electrical systems in people’s houses.
Despite not having a car or any car mechanic skills at all, he brought me to a car junkyard that has the cars of all his past contestants. He gave me a bunch of workers who I could command to make my own car. He also gave me a bunch of metal that he said was from his favorite contestant. I saw him take it from a pile of parts with a weird flaming head thing that looks like it was from an ice cream truck. The metal itself is weirdly warm. William added that I shouldn’t carry anything holy with me during the competition because it wouldn’t help me anyway. Since he said that, I’m bringing my rosary that I always carry around.
With what I found, I made a car with machine guns on the side, a compartment to fit a variety of missiles, a vent in the back that lets me release oil and mines, and finally a cannon in the front that I got from a tank. My car will stick itself in the ground with spikes when I fire the cannon, so the recoil shouldn’t be a problem. After making my vehicle, I test drove it for a few days before I was hurried off to William’s competition. He has my wife and kids, so he can “keep them safe” while I fight in his competition. I don’t trust him, but I guess I have no choice but to compete and win then wish for…something. I don’t know yet.
I hope I don’t fight the real last winners of the competition. They really helped fix up the world in some way. I don’t know why I’m so thankful for them or what they did, but I know for a fact that they did something great for us. Right now I’m waiting inside my cage in William’s blimp. I’m here in case something happens to my wife and kids. You never know with the kinds of people that willingly fight in this competition. The kinds of people that show up are the usual bunch with normal people with big dreams mixed in with the crazy ones. These all might as well be crazy people and I might be the craziest for being here even though I don’t have much of a choice.
The blimp takes off once everyone is in. William’s face is shown on the four monitors in the blimp. I’ll never get used to seeing his burned smiling face. I swear there’s something wrong with the vehicle he made for me. Does the special metal he gave me have anything to do with it? It’s way too warm here. The only part of me that feels comfortable is my pocket that holds my rosary. I take it out and hold it in my hand. The feeling is starting to go away. So, there is something demonic about this vehicle. I gotta get rid of it when this is over.
William says, “Welcome to High Octane. You should already know the rules going into this, so I’ll keep this short. Survive against your foes and the last winner and you will obtain your heart’s desire. Good luck.”
The cage below us releases us into-my hometown?! When did this become a Killing Zone?! Now I know why William is holding my family, but he can’t be doing this out of the kindness of his heart. Give a man his own personal car, protect his family, and make him compete in a tournament to wish for anything he wants. I’ll have to keep that thought off to the side for now as I’ve just landed in the middle of traffic. Civilians are speeding to try to get out of the city as people fighting begins breaking out.
Three people are already dead because of the fall and another two are eliminated with innocent people dying as a result of the crossfire. I’m just trying to avoid as much fighting as possible. I honestly don’t want to kill anyone, but I will if I have to. Another four people kill each other while two groups of people are fighting it out. More innocent lives are lost as a result, but the ending of the fight leaves one more person left. Their vehicle is on fire and I have him in my sights. He tries drives away but one of the drivers survived and blows himself up along with the last contestant. That was a lot easier than I thought it would be.
The sirens go off in the city as an announcement is made. “I hope you still have some fight left in you because the winner of the last High Octane is here to test your mettle! Welcome back, Avery Young and Oliver Ross!”
I’m speeding through the traffic to find a safe spot for us to fight. I can see the winners coming up behind me, but they seem different. They have this weird white that radiates off them. I’m hoping that they’re copies and nothing more. Even though they should be fighting me, they haven’t fired a single shot even though I’m in their sights. Maybe part of purity isn’t allowing them to fight or something. I can barely tell because I’m driving through parks and alleyways at high speeds. Okay, now I’ve finally made it to the football stadium. Since it’s empty, this should be a great place to fight. I deploy my oil and mines to make them slide and slip. Since they’re out of control, I unload my machine guns and missiles at them for several direct shots.
They’ve just deployed their vehicles special ability, so now I’m facing two drivers. This doesn’t affect my strategy as I switch over to fast homing missiles that take out Avery’s car in a few shots. Oliver’s car stops all of the sudden for some reason. Maybe losing his wife took all of the fight out of his clone. Whatever the case is, he’s a sitting duck for my cannon and I take him out in one shot.
The sirens go off in the city signaling my victory. I’m glad I managed to win without having to kill anyone. William descends in his helicopter with my wife and kids. They’re the first ones to get out. I get out my car to go to them-…he didn’t. I don’t want to believe it. He just killed my wife and kids. Shot them all in the head with one of his guard’s pistols.
“You fucking piece of shit!” I yell at him.
“What’s the matter, Mr. Doe? You won the competition and I’ve just freed you from the people that keep you shackled to this ridiculous idea of love. You know how much of a joke life can be. I know that you live a miserable life and kept telling yourself it was worth it as long as you kept your family safe and followed God’s ways. You and I know that’s all a bunch of bullshit to keep your true self hidden. You’re free to do whatever you want! Wish for all the wealth in the world! Wish for control of everyone in it. Wish for it all to end. The choice is yours.”
“…I’m not going to play your game, William. I’m not the person you think I am. I’m just your average Joe.”
“But your average Joe can change the world in one wish as my contest has proven.”
“You’re right, so I wish that your contest never existed and by that, I mean that everything that has ever happened because of it is erased. This includes the thought of it entering your mind in the first place.”
“What? Think about all the good that it’s done. My contest is a necessary evil to create great men like you.”
“There’s no such thing as ‘necessary evil’. My heart’s desire is final.”
“There’s no way I’m granting that wish.”
Light starts breaking out of William’s body. It looks like he’s bound to grant the wish of the winner no matter what William wills.
“It looks like you don’t have a choice.”
“No! This can’t be happening. Damn you!”
William explodes into light as it engulfs everything.
My phone’s alarm rings as a new day starts. My beautiful wife is still sleeping along with my wonderful kids. I give them a kiss on the head and grab my rosary before I go out to work. Today looks like another perfect day and I’m going to make the most of it.
The End
Extra Contestants – These are ideas that I had for other contestants, but since they didn’t fit the “average man” theme of it, I scrapped them. Their stories couldn’t even fit into the main plot of it even though I did plan at one point to include them. Here are their names, desires, and endings.
The Pimp Who Wanted All the Women
Desire: All the women in the world to love him and only him.
Ending: All of the women in the world converge on him and start fighting for him. He gets roughed up and the women start killing each other over him. One woman then kills herself with him because she thinks that if she can’t have him then no one can.
The Kids vs Adults
Desire: To wipe all adults from the world.
Ending: Because all of the adults in the world are gone, no one disciplines the children, nor does anyone teach them what is right and wrong. They fight and go after each other in a Lord of the Flies kind of way before war breaks out between the groups of kids. They then wish they still had adults around because they realize that they have become worse than them.
The Preacher Who Wanted a Christian World
Desire: Wants everyone to be Christian.
Ending: Everyone becomes Christian, but no one truly is. When he meets God for his judgment, he is told that people now act like they’re Christian, but they aren’t saved because they don’t believe in Christianity. He is then sent to Hell for his actions against the free will of mankind.
The Man Who Wanted to Be Evil Itself
Desire: He wants to be evil itself in order to enjoy all the delights of sin.
Ending: Becomes one of William’s guards until God and his angels start the final battle between good and evil. William and he lose the fight and are sent to Hell to suffer eternally.
The Woman Who Wanted to Be Worshipped
Desire: For someone to love her to the point of complete obsession and devotion.
Ending: Only gets one man for herself who is tied up in her basement and brainwashed. Shortly after, she is arrested for kidnapping and for what she did to the man.
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