Rowdy Dead Productions

By David C. Daoust

Craiden’s left eye was sealed shut, his nose was broken, blood and sweat were blurring his vision. The throng of cheering men, of the crowd that surrounded the make shift ring he found himself within, was deafening. He felt no pain, but this was not a thing that registered in his mind. Not at the moment anyway. He finally broke free of a long onslaught of thundering blows- saw his opening. Ferociusly he growled as he dove back in, brought his right in a wide arc. His fist crushed against his opponent’s chin- still no pain. The crowd reacted more to broken fist then he did. He followed through wildly with a spinning kick, caught the man by surprise… Unfortunately, this was all against a tower of a man, two foot taller than Craiden, and twice as wide, thus the surprise kick to the combatant’s chest barely moved him.

Craiden didn’t care. Craiden couldn’t think. The more pain he received- the more damage his body took- the less he felt, the less he thought. At this point all he could think about was survival. He had no comprehension whatsoever, that this was the nanites at work, shutting down the pain receptors in his brain, inadvertently shutting off areas of his brain, which might actually help him in better ways. That is, if the nanites had not ruled the excess pain a distraction.

His opponent’s skin was leathery and dark, which, back when Craiden could still think, told him he was fighting a Jinn. The Jinn’s fists were thrice the size of a normal mans. The knuckles protruded from his flesh, like a ridge of rocks, rounded smooth. These patches of rocky protrusions appeared sparingly over the Jinn’s body, mostly in the bony parts of the body; shin and knee, elbows, collar bone, and spine. At this point, Craiden was as familiar with the elbow and knees as he was with the fists. There was a rough ridge that covered the Jinn’s nose, the fist-crushing chin, and its white teeth were solid and sharp behind its cocky smile.

Craiden was fast and reckless. A full on berserker. It had been some time since the towering Jinn had landed a blow. The dumber Craiden got- the more feral and primal- the more he, instinctively, began to aim for the soft spots. Mostly the throat, a few well aimed kicks to the crotch, however, changed the Jinn’s demeanor.

The Jinn got angry with the quick succession of attacks to his groin. The massive rock covered fist came in hard and a lot faster than the previous attacks- caught Craiden square in the head. The crowd cheered as warm blood gushed down the side of his head. The assault sent Craiden reeling back, slowed him long enough for the Jinn to grab him up by the waist, grasping him in a massive bear hug. Craiden could feel his body constrict under the massive pressure of the genetically altered human.

The Jinn had lifted him high up into the air. Craiden felt his head come in contact with a hanging chain that was previously out of reach. Craiden desperately reached above, found the chain hanging over head, and pulled it down into the fray. He wrapped it around the Jinn’s neck, forced the behemoth to release his waist, all in an effort to stop the chain from constricting its own throat. To late though, and now Craiden was free to move around the Jinn’s back, kneeling on its shoulders, letting his weight pry the Jinn’s head back, forcing the chain to dig deeper, cutting off the air supply.

It struggled to pry its fingers under the chain as it gurgled and choked. Finally it dropped to the ground, unconscious. Craiden rode it to the floor. The crowd went wild. Exhaustion, from blood loss, set in, Craiden crumpled into a pile.

Moments later two men approached, grabbed him before he could react. One lifted his upper body, as the other took his legs. Craiden struggled, threatened to fight, but they were ready for him. They lay him onto a medical bed that was set up nearby. No sooner had they secured him within, than it began to heal him. Craiden could feel the pressure as the devices ‘force fields’ set his bones perfectly, before the ‘healing light’ knitted them back together. The gash in his head sealed, and the blood instantly dried up and crumbled away. The swelling around his eyes receded, and he was able to see clearly again. Most importantly, he was able to think again.

This was how he had been spending his days since he’d been thrust aboard the pirate ship. What started out as the crew taking turns beating information out of him… changed quickly, once they learned, not only how feral he got when injured, but how fast he could recover after.

It was common knowledge, that if you used healing tech, you’d go into a deep sleep until you recuperated your inherent molecular energy the tech used to speed up the natural healing process. For some reason, no matter how much damage Craiden took, his body did not need to recuperate.

The crew’s discovery of this led to the ships hold being transformed into an arena. Craiden was forced to fight more and more of the crew, as the rest placed bets on who would win. Many of the crewmen were still sleeping off the effects of being healed after their fight with him.

In all honesty, Craiden hadn’t won all the fights, but it didn’t matter, they could just heal him up, and put him back in the ring. He just kept going. They didn’t know why or how, and neither did Craiden. He didn’t know anything about the nanites moving out of his lungs, and into his body proper, nor why.

Craiden sat up to find the crew cheering at him. They were still amazed at his resilience, despite having witnessed it again and again. Even those who had just lost money on the bout, cheered all the same. On the other side of the hold, the massive Jinn could be seen sound asleep on another medical bed. The crew had moved the medical beds to the hold, closer to the action, for all to witness their captive’s ability.

Craiden was pushed to his feet, as the men started to arrange the next fight. Taking bets, not only on the victor, but how long it would take for him to go full on berserker mode.

Zhou appeared on the catwalks above, leaning over the rail, she took in the scene. Her gaze rolled over the unconscious Jinn that still occupied the medical bed.

“Wow,” she said aloud, “He finally won one against Cragfist… that is impressive.”

The men reacted to her, howling their victory, many flashed the cash they made off the fight. Zhou was strangely cute no matter what the situation, how angry she was, or the fact that she was surrounded by roughneck thugs that’d just as soon crack someone’s skull as not. Craiden imagined that was where the ‘Sweet’ nickname came from. She was anything but sweet- Craiden could still remember all his broken bones to prove it.

“As much as I appreciate you entertaining my crew,” Zhou sneered down at him, “I hope you’re ready for what’s next…”

Craiden didn’t know what that entailed, though found himself somewhat relieved that it might mean, the endless beatings might be at an end.

“Good news,” the Pirate Queen announced to the surrounding crew, “We’re home!”