6: Lucas

L O U D  R Y H T H M I C  D R U M M I N G  sounds filled the vicinity and the people inside the dark compartment began to act up, feeling the strong psychic vibe fuelling their athletic bodies.

The drumming intensified, almost sounding like ancient war themed music, encouraging warriors to battle.

Which was actually what it was. They were the Warriors Football Team.

The tall and lean quarterback with short dark hair finally opened his eyes that had been closed in the dark compartment as light began to pour inside, illuminating the black and white jerseys of the world's greatest football team.

Lucas King put on his helmet and proceeded to march out from the compartment and onto the field with the rest of his teammates.

The field was unlike anything he'd ever seen. It was a lush green overrun with white thin stripes and numbers, marking the end zones and the scrimmage line that cut halfway across, dividing the opponents’s zones.

It was fortified into a stadium that was magnificently designed to support a capacity that must have been almost over a hundred thousand, with fans lining all around the field, stacked on forms that towered high above the field towards the sky which was visible only under a small opening.

Lucas was taking position when the drumming died down and a new sound replaced it.

A sound of a horn blasting so loud it must have been heard all over every nook of the gargantuan stadium.

The sound made Lucas's hair to slightly stand on end underneath the helmet, a chilly sensation creeping down his back.

Something was telling him that this was not going to be just like any other game he had ever played.

Looking at his teammates, Lucas did not recognize any of them.

He could not even see Scott, the guy who'd been the captain of the Warriors back at North Atlanta High-

Another chill ran down his spine.

Why don't I know anyone here? Wait, where am I...?

Lucas was starting to feel uneasy, especially after realizing that he had no idea how he had gotten to this strange stadium.

The horn stopped blaring and a loud thumping sound followed soon after, causing even the fans to go quiet.

It was a gradual thumping, like something huge...walking. Lucas and his teammates then saw them.

Out on the other end of the field, a horde was soon marching out-their opponents.

Lucas was beyond terrified and could not see what excited his teammates who were flexing and chatting confidently when they watched the towering figures step into the field.

Towering over seven feet! The opposing team aligned itself on the other end.

They were bulky and sinewy, with their wide exposed chests busting out as their pectoral muscles rippled in a sort of mockery to Lucas's team.

They were horrifyingly tall—all eleven of them.

Lucas was not surprised to find out that the team was actually identified as the Giants.

There's no way we're gonna beat them!

A whistle was blown and Lucas could not see where the sound had come from.

The game kicked off.

As Lucas had mused, the Warriors were in for a slaughter after the captain had passed the ovoid ball to him from under his feet.

Grabbing the ball, the quarterback broke into a run, charging fast to the left side of the field and trying to find the fullback-the fastest player on the field.

This tactical move however, was short lived when he watched to his horror as the fullback was suddenly body charged by one Giant. He watched his puny body get hurled into the air and he fell far back into the field, the fall breaking his head.

What? That's a fowl—no! That's-that’s a murder!

Lucas was still running with the ball, desperately trying to spot the umpire but could find none and neither did any medical assistance come running into the field as more of his teammates got wasted.

His teammates ran over to him when he was hit from the side by one massive opponent and the ball flew from his hands and into the air.

The team captain leaped high up and caught it. He then tried to use his strength to break through three Giants that were forming a wall, obscuring his path just as he made a run for it, with the opponent's end zone several feet away.

It was never going to work.

Lucas watched the captain get trampled on and squashed like a bug under the enormous pillars that were the Giants’s feet, breaking every bone in his body.

What was even more despicable was that the fans were cheering on after every deadly tackle as the Giants were garnering points, edging closer to victory.

It is still a game-a game of DEATH!

The captain was one with the grassy carpeted ground and the ball had rolled away from him.

One of the Warriors tacklers had lunged himself toward it, managing to grab it.

Lucas charged to the far end of the field, signalling for a pass after seeing a possible window for a touchdown.

The brutality intensified after the tackler tossed the ball over just before a huge opponent knocked him from the back, sending him crashing to the ground face first.

The ball was then literally in Lucas's court when he grabbed it.

He glanced back to his side.

Only three teammates left standing.

They're too far.

He then went on with his initial plan, to dash towards the end zone and perform a touchdown.

Lucas was never going to make it as the Giants were on him like wolves, this time all of them charging at him from all sides and forming a tight circle of death.

Lucas felt a powerful jab from his left tricep, forcing him to fall forward while still holding onto the ball that hit his sternum when he touched the ground.

He groaned, turning to look up at the figures towering over him.

Oh shit...!

The quarterback watched as a large foot was raised before violently coming down on him and he felt his head get crushed from under the helmet, his brain squelching and sloshing through his fragmented skull...

Lucas then opened his eyes with a low yelp that was inaudible from the loud rhythmic drumming sounds that filled the dark compartment.

The darkness parted and light began to pour into the compartment, giving the quarterback a view of the great stadium.

As if from instinct, Lucas found himself feeling his head, rubbing his short dark hair.

Nothing broken.

He looked at his helmet, expecting to find some sort of dent. It was all but white and smoothened.

What was that?

Inhaling deeply, the quarterback put on his helmet and broke into a march with the rest of his teammates.

The drumming had stopped once Lucas and his team had positioned themselves on the field and the loud blaring of a horn had followed, inviting the massive humanoid opponents onto the pitch.

Following a brutal and bloody defeat, Lucas had soon found himself lying on the ground, trying to reach the ovoid ball that was about three feet in front of him on the opponent's side.

He was crawling and his body ached all over with one of his legs probably broken.

He never got to the ball as a Giant had beat him to it.

It set a huge leg over the ball which surprised Lucas as to how it was able to support all that weight and not let out in a burst of air.

Raising his head, Lucas looked up at the Giant which was grinning down at him.

The rest of his teammates had been destroyed: some of them disembodied from the torso, the limbs and the head while others had had their heads crushed, all of them lying on their side of the field in a bloody heap.

Lucas then knew it was his turn when the Giant had gone on to hit the ball with its bare massive foot, sending the ball darting towards Lucas across the ground like a bullet.

It moved so fast that tiny patches of grass were thrown aside as it sailed above the ground.

The impact had been fatal.

He had felt the tip of the ovoid ball connect with his forehead with such great force that it smashed into his skull, fragmenting it into pieces...

Lucas was not exactly sure what had just happened but he found himself standing in the dark compartment yet again.

The Warriors would march onto the field and get slaughtered by the Giants, with every death counting as a defeat.

The game was unwinnable-as Lucas had put it, which had had his team a little perplexed as they had no idea what he would talk about when they were in the compartment.

That was when Lucas had then realized that he was the only one reliving the entire game. None of his teammates were.

The drumming had led them onto the field and the Giants were stomping their feet on the other side of the scrimmage line.

Lucas had grabbed the underpass from the captain after the game kicked off and was fast running with it when he noticed how the opponents were slamming their bodies against his teammates given the advantage of their sizes.

He watched as one teammate, the halfback, was suddenly sandwiched by two Giants from either side, both of them using their mighty elbows to crush the halfback.

Blood poured out of his mouth and had been rendered completely immobile, with his shoulders dislocated and his clavicles fractured from the sternum so that they tore out of his chest and stuck out above his head before he finally breathed his last.

Lucas went on to witness more gruesome deaths and tackles happen to him and his teammates.

He was beginning to grow weary of doing this over and over again, feeling as if he had been carrying all the bruises of the previous games in this crazy world that was hellbent on keeping him here to play the same game that would end with him dying every single time.

There was even one time when one of his team's tacklers had been knocked unconscious with a body charge and then used to pound the rest of the team like a human club.

He had seen this as one of the huge opponents had come at him and struck him across his chest by swinging the already dead teammate by his legs.

Sighing, the quarterback walked into the field once more.

Another devastating defeat had been planted into his memory and this time, it had come with a few points to note that would lead to a change in game play.

A change that Lucas had taken some time to explain to his team while they were inside the compartment.

"I've seen this guys," Lucas had said, "they're big. Like really big."

The Warriors still confused at how he had learned all of that but then they weren't called warriors for nothing.

So, back on the field; Lucas got into position, right behind the center as quarterback.

The big-bodied opponents had been roaring and jeering, mocking them.

The invisible whistle had been blown and the game was underway.

An underside pass from the center to Lucas . . .he grabs the ball, dashes to the far left where the fullback is in full sprint, charging fast towards the scrimmage line. . .Lucas tosses the ball and the fullback catches it and suddenly comes to a halt at the scrimmage line. . .two Giant tacklers who had already been charging at him, do not anticipate this move and their residual kinetic energy garnered by their large bodies finds another way out and they end up crushing to the ground, hitting each other and missing the fullback.

Grinning, the tall and dark kid then crosses over to the opponent side and Lucas crosses with him. . .he's just crossed the first yard line and passes the ball to the captain who feigns a throw, sending yet another Giant the wrong way and it dips into the ground with its large body, unable to maintain balance . . .the captain charges forward. . .Lucas is only five feet away from the end zone, thrilled that his plan is actually working.

"Use their own strength against them!" he had said back in the compartment and that was exactly what they were doing.

The captain moves swiftly, playing keep-away and avoiding coming into direct contact with the opponents so that there's no challenge that will result in a jab to the rib cage or a smash to the face. . .he heaves himself and tosses the ball over to Lucas who grabs it with precision, careful not to drop it and give points to the opponents. . .four feet away from the end zone. . .Lucas is fast charging towards it. . .two Giant linebackers are coming at him. It's now or never! . . .The first linebacker tries to ram into him with its broad shoulders but Lucas does a quick spin, missing the linebacker by just inches. . .the other linebacker has extended out his arms. . .Lucas goes down on his knees, having seen an opening and slides underneath the Giant, emerging on the other side, the ball still tucked under his right arm. . .he is in the clear. There is nobody ahead of him, except for the one foot between him and the end zone. . .it only takes the quarterback one great leap as he dives towards the end zone and he lands right over it. . .TOUCHDOWN!

Wild cheers followed from the fans all around the big stadium and Lucas could spot his teammates jumping excitedly on their end.

They had done it! The Warriors had beaten the Giants at the first move, earning them six points.

Would the game continue?

Lucas was just getting up from the end zone when he heard the loud roaring coming from the Giants.

It was so loud that it drowned the cheers from the stadium.

The game was going on but not as Lucas had expected.

Ahead of him, he watched the eleven Giant players grab at each other and to his bewilderment, they started getting sucked into one another as if they were being absorbed until they all morphed into one massive towering figure.

There was one of them in the middle into which all of the others seemed to be getting absorbed. The team captain.

Its seven foot tall body then began to grow even bigger and taller about three times of that.

A giant of a giant. . . Just great!

Lucas's teammates reared from their end, cowering and stepping farther back until they were out of the field.

The giant had its eyes fixated on the tiny person standing far down below it who dropped the ball he had in his hand and it rolled over the ground.

Lucas watched, feeling like a cornered mouse as the giant raised one of its legs before bringing it down and the entire field trembled as if experiencing a tremor.

It was approaching him.

One more step and it was towering high above him. Just one stomp and Lucas would be no more.

Staring up at what would be the death of him, something caught Lucas's eye.

It was some sort of bright light, flashing in the middle of the field.

He narrowed his eyes, trying to make out what it was when he finally saw it.

Red streaks of lightning cut across the field and flashed around him, literally wrapping themselves around his arms and torso.

What the. . .?

He felt himself get pulled back and was out of the field, with no stadium or giant towering over him but a blank darkness. . .