Max Arena (52 page)

‘Go,’ sounded
Kris’ sharp command in his headset.

Instantly, Max
flipped back to his feet and in that split second, he knew two
medicine balls were already inbound. Driving forward, Max ducked
under the first two missiles and through his peripheral vision,
judged where the next two were going to come at him.

In a blur, Max
grabbed the first two javelins, one in each hand and squatted down
to let the next two medicine balls pass overhead. Springing up,
both javelins flashed out of his hands and immediately he had the
next two in hand. Springing upwards, the next two balls passed
underneath his tucked feet.

Moments later,
the second pair of javelins sluiced through the air to slam into
the centre of each target right next to the first two. As they
drove home, Max had already launched the third pair of javelins
while dodging past two more balls.

Spinning on his
right foot, Max plucked out another javelin and fired it forwards.
Then spinning back the other way, he let two more medicine balls
sail past, one of them brushing his upper arm as he grabbed another
javelin and hurled it.

With one
javelin left on each side, Max looked up to see two more medicine
balls plummeting in, dead centre on his midriff. With millimetres
to spare, Max dropped flat onto the turf on his stomach to let the
heavy missiles fly past. Then quick as a blink, he sprang back up
and reached out to both sides to claim the last two javelins.
Taking a single step forward, he powered them away, just as the
twin shadows of two more medicine balls grew on his torso.

This time he
did not budge or try to evade the balls. As the javelins flew away
out of his hands and his immediate field of focus, Max refixed his
attention on the two incoming missiles. Taking a stride forwards,
he drove his two fists out in front and literally punched both
balls back and away in the direction from which they came. With
resounding thuds, both balls flew like they were hollow rather than
the solid masses they were.

‘Keep them
coming,’ Max said in a low tone into his microphone.

‘You heard the
man,’ Kris said. ‘Fire at will.’

Max fixed his
sights on the two canons twenty metres away and watched as the
assistants pulled their triggers again. Two more balls launched and
Max stepped forward to meet them. This time, he spun and kicked
out, smashing the balls way with his right foot. As he
straightened, two more balls were already coming. This time he
punched them away again.

Slowly, step by
step, Max progressed down the lawn, smashing away every ball as it
assaulted him. Fifteen metres away. Ten metres away. With every
step he approached, the assistants lowered the angle of the barrel
and the power of each ball grew stronger and stronger, but still
Max marched on. Balls flew at him and he whacked them away with
even greater power.

Like a colossus
striding through a maelstrom, Max kept ploughing forwards. The
balls came faster and harder and Max belted them away even faster
and harder. Kris did not realise she was holding her breath and
that her mouth had slipped open.

Nine metres.
Seven metres.
Five metres
. The assistants fired one more
ball each.

‘Move!’ Max
bellowed.

The two
assistants baulked only momentarily before they registered what was
coming next. As a pair, they sprang off and away from their canons,
abandoning their posts. Five metres in front of them, Max stared
down the last two medicine balls as they barrelled towards him,
coming in hard at chest height.

With one final
step forward, Max shot out both fists, his back leg driving all the
way through his core and up through his back and into his
shoulders, the full force of his body erupting out along his arms
and ultimately into his fists.

A body thudding
sound emanated from the contact as he hammered his fists into each
ball, sending them thumping backwards in straight lines back along
the paths they had come. Each ball flew back and crashed into its
own canon, smashing the apparatus in showers of debris.

As the ruckus
settled, Kris dragged her gaze away from the broken canons to find
Max still in his final, powerful pose with both fists out and his
body braced. A few moments later he straightened to look down upon
his mechanical victims like a victorious gladiator. Max’s voice
sounded in Kris’ headset.

‘They had it
coming,’ he said. ‘I should’ve done that the first time you pulled
them out.’

It took Kris a
few moments, but finally her smile broke free and she nodded. ‘I’m
surprised it took you so long,’ she said.

‘Just being
polite,’ Max replied as he turned to look at her.

Kris put her
hands on her hips and looked at both her cowering assistants, still
lying on the grass nearby their ruined canons.

‘That’s a wrap,
people,’ she said, clapping her hands. ‘Let’s get it all back in
the truck...or the bin.’

Kris then
turned to look back up at the balcony overlooking the lawn. There
stood the whole gang. Elsa, the kids, Abdullah and Joe. She waved
and they all waved back before turning to go back inside out of the
heat. Only one remained. Abdullah. She kept her eyes on him and he
kept his on her’s. Though too far apart to hear or even really see
each other clearly, their unspoken moments were enough.

Finally, Kris
gave a little wave and a smile and turned away. Making her way back
through the training course and weaving past the equipment and
scurrying assistants, she walked over to the Pain Train. At the
foot of the ramp leading up into the trailer, a sun shelter had
been set up with some fold-out chairs and a big cooler box full of
ice and drinks. There sat Max, gulping down a bottle of electrolyte
drink. Two empty bottles already lay at his feet, while sweat
poured off him.

Kris stepped
into the shade and pulled up a chair next to Max. Grabbing a drink
of her own out of the cooler box, she cracked the seal and said, ‘I
don’t think we should expect snow on New Year’s Eve.’

Max drained the
last of his own drink and took in a breath. ‘No,’ he said as he
reached across and pulled out another drink. ‘Just as well we
didn’t go with team beanies in the uniform then.’

Kris nodded and
took a swig of her own drink. She then added, ‘Hey, I forgot to
tell you, you broke another record this morning. Mike Powell’s
eight point nine five metres for long jump. You cleared just over
nine metres and you didn’t even need a sand pit.’

‘Awesome,’ Max
said flatly as he swirled his drink, watching the bright red liquid
swish around inside the bottle.

‘Yep, you’re a
walking record book. One hundred metres. Two hundred metres. Four
hundred and eight hundred. Long Jump. Javelin. All the power
lifting events. If the world was a normal place, you’d be a shoe-in
at the Olympics for a bag full of medals.’

‘If the world
was a normal place?’ Max mused. ‘Pity I’m not eligible.’ Kris
looked sideways at him. Max slid a look back. ‘Alien hybrid.
Remember?’

Kris nodded
slowly and then pulled another gulp from her bottle.

Max rose and
dropped his empty bottle onto the ground with the others and
reached down into the cool box to grab another. Cracking the seal,
he walked across to the edge of the shade to look out at Kris’
assistants as they cleared the equipment away.

‘Are you
scared?’ Max asked.

Kris looked up
at Max’s back for a few moments and then out to her assistants as
well. ‘Terrified,’ she said.

‘It doesn’t
show. You’re putting on a brave face and it’s impressive.’

‘You should see
me when you’re not around.’

Max looked down
at the ground. ‘He’s the best man I’ve ever known and even though I
haven’t known many, I reckon he’s about as good as a man gets.’

Kris flicked
her gaze back to Max’s back. ‘Abdullah you mean?’

‘Yeah. You two
have only been seeing each other for a couple of weeks, but
already, he’s rubbing off on you,’ Max said. He then turned to face
her. ‘I know you’ve struggled with the whole end of the world
thing. We all have, but I think you’ve had it really bad. I don’t
know why and it doesn’t matter, but since you let Abdullah in,
you’ve seemed stronger. You spring a little higher. You smile a
little more and when you do smile, that hint of sorrow isn’t there.
Instead it’s exactly what it is. A smile and it’s great. I wasn’t
sure I’d ever see you genuinely happy, but maybe, just maybe I can
see it now.’

Kris smiled and
looked away.

‘There it is,’
Max said, ‘and it looks good on you. Oh, and hey, you’ve rubbed off
on Abdullah too.’

‘How so?’ Kris
asked, looking back.

‘He’d started
to slow down. The man’s a naturally pretty fluid kind of mover, but
bit by bit, he was starting to just become slow. Worn down, but
now, he’s back, but he’s different too. He’s back to normal speed,
but now when he talks, he reminisces more. He talks about his
homeland. The desert. The seasons and even his family. You could
say he was a bit of a closed book before when it came to his
personal life. He’d easily sprout all sorts of wise words and deep
and meaningful thoughts about life in general, but his own life?
Off limits. Now he’s an
open
book. Last night I sat with him
for a couple of hours and I must have said maybe five words, while
he rattled off story after story about his father. It was great. It
was
really
great and that’s
you
, Kris. That’s
you
bringing out the very best in the man. Up until now, all
we’ve seen is the best in him. Now we get to see the
very
best, so thanks.’

‘You’re
welcome, I guess,’ Kris replied, tilting her bottle a little and
watching the bright blue electrolyte liquid angle inside. ‘I was
wondering where he was last night. If I’d known he was having a
boys’ night with you, I would’ve just dragged him out.’

‘It’s not like
there were cigars and brandy,’ Max said, turning back to the lawn
to watch two assistants push a trolley bearing the remains of the
medicine ball canons across the grass towards the Pain Train.

‘I don’t see
him as much as I’d like to you know,’ Kris continued. ‘He’s always
got something that needs doing. It’s like he’s trying to save the
world all by himself.’

‘You know if we
win, you’ll probably see even less of him?’

Kris looked
down between her feet and nodded. ‘Yeah. He told me. The world’s a
mess and even if you do win, it’s going to take a long time to put
it back together and he’s the perfect man to do that.’ She shrugged
and looked up. ‘That’s who he is. It’s what he does and I won’t
stand in the way of it.’

‘You know, it’s
fast turning out that if we save the world,’ Max started, glancing
across to see two Black Hawks appear on the opposite horizon,
flying in formation as they circled around the island, ‘it’s not
for ourselves, but for our children. Lots of people have said over
the years we should strive to ensure a better world for our kids.
Well, here’s
our
chance. Our grandparents did it after the
world wars. Our great grand parents did it after the great
depression and now, we get to have our chance if we beat Macktidas.
Let’s hope we’re up to it?’

Kris sat
quietly and just listened to Max’s words. As the silence deepened,
Max turned to look back to find Kris looking right back at him, a
softness in her expression. There was no smile as such, but a
gentleness in her face.

‘You’re just
like him, you know?’ she said.

‘Like who?’ Max
replied, squinting a little.

‘Abdullah.’

‘Not a chance,’
Max replied, shaking his head and taking a swig from his
bottle.

‘Yes, you are.
Whether you know it or not doesn’t matter, but you are. You’re a
natural leader, Max. Physically, you’re just plain inspiring, but
more and more, when you speak, it’s from the heart and you’re even
more inspiring. You touch people in ways that make them feel
recognised, acknowledged and that’s special. You’re deep. You’re
meaningful, but you’re more than that. You’re
genuine
. You
talk about Abdullah being the perfect man to lead the world, but
you’re the
complete
package. You could lead on and off the
battlefield if you had to. People would follow you where ever you
went, whatever the need and in a lot of ways, billions already are.
The world has placed their trust in you, not just because you’re a
giant physically, but because of the way you talk as well. The way
you think. The way you
feel
about things. What you said on
Sally Sainsbury’s wasn’t just a flash of brilliance. It was
awesome. You’ve got a natural talent to lead. Let’s face it. It’s
in your blood. You’re Nar’gellan royalty, but what makes you even
more special is your humanity. It makes you
real
. It makes
you...human. Just like the rest of us.’

Max looked back
at Kris as she spoke her final words. ‘Now
you
sound just
like Abdullah. He said something similar to me after I killed those
three blokes in the city.’

Kris got to her
feet and walked over to stand next to Max. ‘Maybe we’re all rubbing
off on each other,’ she said, ‘but I mean what I said. We all know
you’re unique in this world and I hate the fact that you have to
step into that arena and put your life on the line for all of us,
but I’m glad it is you. I also hope you win not just to save us all
from Macktidas, but because if you do win, you’ll be there on the
other side to save us from ourselves.’

Max looked
edgeways at Kris and silently appraised her. Her return look was a
mixture of hope and maybe a little desperation. It suddenly dawned
on Max that perhaps the way she felt right now was an exact
representation of how millions if not billions of people around the
world felt right now. Hope that maybe there would be life after the
arena, but desperate for it to be a life worth living.