Free Nano Z by Brad Knight

crowd.
    Rednecks. I’ve been captured and imprisoned by rednecks. Mack passed several armed men. None of them looked like soldiers or even police men. Unlike the ones back in Wydell, they didn’t wear any SWAT gear. No, they were dressed in hunting gear over out of shape bodies.
    The camo wearing man poked the barrel of his assault rifle into Mack’s back. It was to herd him towards a set of push-open double doors. He opened them and looked down the long narrow, twisting hallway before him.
    “Keep going.”
    Mack heard the camo clad man behind him. He poked with the barrel of the rifle again. Then he spat saliva from what Mack deduced to be chewing tobacco. There was no stereotype left unfulfilled.
    Walking down the hallway was hard. For the previous three weeks, Mack hadn’t used his legs. They were weak and wobbly. If given some time he could’ve maybe achieved some stability. But there was no patience in the man marching him to what was surely his end.
    Where are you taking me? Mack approached a bend in the hallway. The sounds of a crowd got louder the further down he went. Once around the curve he smiled for the first time since being abducted.
    Amber. Standing in the hallway with an armed escort was a very familiar teenage girl. She could barely stand up. Her clothes were dirty and hair wild and unkempt. Since she was facing a gate at the end of the hall, Mack couldn’t see her face. He didn’t need to.
    Mack reached the gate. Through it he could see and hear throngs of blood thirsty spectators. They were seated above a circular dirt floored arena. High walls separated them from whatever went on below.
    “A fucking rodeo?” laughed Mack. There was no joy in the brief laughter. It was born of frustration and hopelessness. At that point someone could have put a knife to his throat and he would have found it humorous.
    “Shut up!” The camo wearing man hit Mack in the small of his back with the butt of his assault rifle. That was enough to make the big Viking recoil a bit, and grunt. It brought a toothless smile to the redneck’s face.
    “Are you ready for your two next combatants!?” There was a voice over a public announcement system. It crackled a bit and would cut in and out every few words. Mack figured that the place was powered by generators. The power must’ve gone out wherever they were.
    The crowd was eager to see the next match. Only a handful of weeks had gone by since the outbreak and people already reverted to the barbarism of ancient ancestors. They actually came out to watch other human beings die.
    “Tonight we have a special event. Father and daughter try their luck against our champion, The Buuuuuuull!”
    Be strong girlie girl. Mack heard Amber quietly cry. She tried to hold it back, not give their captors the satisfaction, but she was just a scared teenage girl. At least she’s not a sociopath. That’s something I guess.
    “Here,” said Amber’s escort. He dropped a machete and a lead pipe on the floor. They landed with a loud clang. Both he and the camo wearing man backed up with their guns still pointed at Mack and Amber.
    “You take the machete,” said Mack as he bent over and picked the weapons up. He handed Amber the machete, which had a nicked and slightly rusted blade. But it was still sharp enough to cut. Plus the pipe would have been too heavy for her to wield.
    “Open dat gate and walk on through,” ordered the camo wearing man.
    “I don’t want to,” whispered Amber.
    “Just stay close. We’ll be fine.”
    Mack pushed on the gate at the end of the curved hallway. It was heavy. Two hands were required.
    The gate opened. Mack was the first to step out into the dirt. As nervous as he was, he couldn’t show it. Amber needed him to be strong. They needed him to be strong. Or else they wouldn’t survive the night. Part of him thought that might’ve been a mercy. It was only a small part though.
    Survival was all Mack cared about as soon as he fully entered the