Max Arena (53 page)

Instead of
saying anything in reply, Max turned and wrapped his arms around
Kris. She responded by hugging him back just as tightly and for a
few quiet seconds they stayed together as the summer heat stirred a
gentle sea breeze across the lawn.

Stepping back,
they unlocked their embrace and Max gestured towards the mansion.
‘Dinner time,’ he said. ‘We’ve been doing a week of last suppers
and tonight’s my choice, so it’s roast lamb. Elsa’s a star in the
kitchen, which is just one of the reasons why I love her.’

‘Yeah, she’s a
good woman alright,’ Kris agreed. ‘Got room for two more at the
table?’

‘You and
Abdullah?’

‘Yep.’

‘Shouldn’t you
be off having a romantic candlelight dinner or something?’

‘Nah,’ Kris
said, waiving the comment away and starting to walk towards the
mansion. ‘Not that kind of girl, besides, lamb roast would be my
last supper too, so make sure there’s plenty of gravy.’

Max nodded.
‘Maybe I should’ve married
you
?’

Kris shook her
head. ‘Forget it, champ. You can’t afford me.’

At that moment,
Elsa stepped out onto the balcony to wave them in for dinner and
stopped. Folding her arms, she smiled and shook her head. Out on
the lawn, Max had wrestled Kris up over his shoulders into a
fireman’s carry and was jogging back to the house. There was no
talking and no shouting. Only laughter and it was the sweetest
sound Elsa could hope for. With just two days to the arena,
laughter was what they all needed. It proved they were still alive
and holding onto hope.

5pm, 31
^st
December (2 days later).
Final Reflections

The thick,
green carpet of the mansion’s north lawn pulled away as the
helicopter’s wheels lifted off, the shuddering shadow of the
aircraft’s rotating blades making the turf flicker beneath the
afternoon sun.

As Joe looked
out the window of the helicopter, the aircraft slowly spun
clockwise to reveal the Pain Train on the edge of the lawn, the
truck’s iridescent orange bulk flaming against the rich green
foliage behind. Then as the craft rose higher still, the deep,
bottomless blue of the sea flowed into view beyond the palm trees
fringing their tropical hide away. The Pacific Ocean. So vast and
so humbling that Joe had no words in his mind to describe it, so he
let his thoughts fall silent, his mute appreciation the highest
honour.

Then as usually
occurred when he was in the air, Joe’s mind wandered into
reflections of his own personal circumstances and the history of
his life. However, this time instead of lamenting the death of his
parents when he was an infant and the loneliness of his orphanage
upbringing, Joe’s thoughts instantly found a much happier refuge.
The present.

Yes, the world
was facing an imminent and likely doom, but right now, right here,
Joe had finally found what it was like to have a family. Not
through blood or birth, but family nonetheless. Max, Elsa and of
course their children, Millie and Jason as well as Abdullah and
Kris and not forgetting Peter too. Together they were his kin. They
were his siblings in this time of need and even though it had taken
his whole life to find this happiness, Joe was grateful for it. His
world was a better place for having become close to these people
and if his world ended now, that was fine by him. His last six
months had been the best of his life and finishing now would be
finishing on a long awaited and much deserved high.

From his seat
across the cabin, Peter saw the smile creep over Joe’s face as his
Prime Minister looked out the window. It was true. The man was
happy and Peter knew that true happiness had been as elusive to
Prime Minister Tollsen as the sun is to the moon. Peter had been
with Joe now for the last six years and in that time had grown to
respect the man more than his own father

Peter had been
a broken man after discharging from his SAS regiment. Losing five
of his men on his last mission had brought him undone, completely.
Alcohol, drugs and finally a trip to emergency after swallowing a
bottle full of pills had been his response to the trauma and
ceaseless nightmares.

Then a former
commanding officer had fished him out of his hospital bed, guided
him through rehab and found him a job on a government security
detail. Peter had turned up to work, insecure, lacking all
confidence and ready to throw in the towel before he started. Then
out of the car stepped the Prime Minister of Australia and before
he knew it, Peter was shaking hands with one of the world’s most
powerful people as he accepted the role of leading Joseph Tollsen’s
personal security team.

It was a good
thing Peter had had no time to think as he probably would have
refused the role and run straight back into the nearest dark
shadow. As it turned out, Joseph Tollsen saved his life. The man’s
honesty, wisdom and humility demanded respect and Peter gave it in
spades. Joseph Tollsen was the proverbial man amongst men and here
at the possible end of it all, Peter could think of no finer person
to be with and then Max had come along.

Kris looked
forward to the seats in front to find Peter looking across at Joe.
She knew Peter looked up to Joe more than anyone else in the world
and felt happy for him to have found that respect in someone
else.

She then looked
down and thought about who that person would be for her and found
her father’s face filling her mind. He had always been her guiding
light. It was her father who had encouraged her to leave home and
find her own life, even though he was never far away to help her
when she stumbled. It was her father who had supported Kris in
starting her own personal training business. It was her father who
had helped her through the messy breakdown of a long term
relationship and it had been her father who had been on the other
end of the phone whenever her single life became unbearable.

Sure, Kris
loved her mother, but she had built a special bond with her father.
All those times she and he had spent out in the yard of their north
Queensland home, cutting the grass and drinking lemonade
afterwards. The simple things. The things that really count.

Then Kris
realised again whose hand lay clasped with her’s right now. Kris
felt the warmth inside their entwined fingers. She felt the
softness of the man’s skin and the comfort it radiated. Nestling in
closer to Abdullah, Kris let the image of her father sitting on the
back steps of their house in the bright summer sun drinking
lemonade linger as she squeezed Abdullah’s hand. The wind tossed
waves of her sea of despair were long gone. Kris was free from fear
and life was good. At last life was good.

Abdullah
returned the squeeze and revelled in the closeness of Kris. These
next few hours might be their last together and even if they did
survive beyond the arena, any chance of enduring bliss together
would be severely challenged, but those thoughts were not for now.
Instead, Abdullah had cleared his mind and let his conscience
wander through the sacred passages of the Quran, soothing his mood,
while letting his body relax in the close comfort of his new love,
Kris.

If Heaven lay
just beyond the realms of this day, Abdullah knew eternal solace
was close at hand. He had almost wasted his life after the tragedy
of losing Fathiya, but with Allah’s divine intervention and his own
courage, Abdullah had regained control and found his destiny. Here
now and maybe at the end, he knew he had done all he could and if
this select group of wonderful people could not save the world,
then the world was beyond saving and so be it.

Abdullah had
searched the globe for worthy allies in his fight against injustice
and along the way he had found Joseph Tollsen and that had been a
rich day indeed. Then calamity had dawned with the appearance of
Macktidas and his alien horde and in that time of dire desperation,
these other individuals surrounding him had risen to the challenge.
Abdullah felt blessed. Truly blessed, for not only did he now know
these wonderful people, but he knew they considered him to be their
friend. Allah be praised. Peace was with him, come what may.

In the back
row, Elsa sat on one side with Max at the other end and their two
children filling the space between. It had been a surreal day,
struggling to find the right mood to get on with all the
appearances of a normal day for the sake of the kids. While Millie
and Jason knew that tonight their father was going to a special
place to fight some aliens and that was exciting and all, how could
she explain to them that their father might actually get killed and
if that happened, the world was going to come to a violent end?
What possible meaning could you give to that? What rationale?

There was
nothing, so she had kept up the half truths and the veiled
deception and the day had passed, slowly and painfully, but it had
passed. Max had been great. Every moment he had kept close to her
and the kids. A hug here. A touch there. Never far away. Always
there.

Then the dream
Elsa had had of Max protecting her and the children and the rest of
humanity came back to her. She vividly recalled Max’s
transformation into the giant the world needed to save them, but
then she also remembered how the tide had dragged him away at the
end and left her alone. Scared and alone. Was it an omen? Was it a
portent of Max’s death, even if he did save them by winning
tonight? Elsa had not told Max any details about the dream, not
wanting to upset or unsettle him, so she had harboured this vision
within herself and now, here at the end, it haunted her still. It
was as if the images were shackled into her conscience to
deliberately torture her. Again she remembered Max’s eyes winking
out in the darkness as the sea sucked him into the void. How could
she rid herself of this fear and then she turned her head and there
was Max looking back at her.

Max’s bright
blue eyes burned back at her, their radiance maybe stronger today
than she had ever seen them before. There he sat, the man she loved
and the man the whole world loved. Their champion.
Her
champion. Max.

‘I love you,’
Max mouthed as he reached over their two children to rest a hand on
her shoulder.

Elsa felt the
warmth in that touch and in that moment, the haunting images from
her nightmare fractured and washed away. Her hero was here, still
alive and full of hope. They were all still together and this was
no time to wallow in despair. This was maybe their last time to
enjoy life together? Right now, life really could be too short to
worry.

Lifting her own
hand, Elsa laid it on top of Max’s and smiled back. She mouthed, ‘I
love you too.’

Max did not
smile back, but he held a gentleness in his expression that Elsa
adored and it was the last little thing she needed to beat off her
worry. Looking down, Elsa gave Jason a cuddle and scratched Millie
behind the ear, both kids giggling in return. A deep tingle rippled
across Elsa’s skin, quickening her heart beat a little. Joy. Pure
joy.

Pulling his
hand back, Max let Elsa focus on the kids for a bit. He knew she
was having a tough time today, so every moment that happiness found
her she deserved to hold on to it while she could. Looking out the
window Max cast a brief glance at the helicopter gunships
accompanying them to the arena island. Inside them, he could see
the soldiers who had remained loyal to Joe and Abdullah,
sacrificing their personal lives and families to see them all the
way to the end. On the arena island were even more soldiers making
the same sacrifices. Everywhere Max had gone in the last six
months, he had been surrounded by strangers giving up their safety
to protect him and his family and while he was now about to repay
them all through risking his own life, he still could not come to
grips with the depth and breadth of care being afforded him.

This was not
how he had wanted this to unfold. Max had spent much of his adult
life preparing for this day, knowing Macktidas would eventually
find him and now that the day was here, he was ready, but he had
inadvertently dragged the world and all humanity into it.
Civilisation had imploded and Death stalked the Earth, scything
down millions as law and order decayed. The world had become a war
zone and all the work Team Max had done to hold it together had
finally been unravelled. There was only one thing left to do. Fight
and fight to the death.

Max fought off
an urge to draw himself inwards and unleash his Nar’gellan blood
lust. There was still time for that. Right now he needed to be with
his family. They needed him too. Refocusing on the helicopter
drifting along next to theirs, Max reasserted his humanity and kept
his alien instincts at bay.

Next to him,
Jason giggled again and Max turned to look. Seeing Elsa tickling
their little boy, Max dug his fingers gently into Millie’s ribs and
she squealed as well. Instantly, they were all laughing and
squealing and like a ripple spreading across the surface of a lake,
that joy spread through the cabin of the helicopter. Unbidden,
matching smiles gilded the faces of everyone else.

Team Max was
together at the end and against all the odds that their doom had
stacked against them, still they found joy. Still they found the
courage to be happy and for them, this was a victory on its
own.

11pm, 31
^st
December (6 hours later).
Clash of Blades

Max walked
warily yet purposefully onto the flawless green turf of the arena,
his senses piqued and his frame tense. He was alone inside the
boundaries of the enclosure with no clear sign of his first
adversary, but despite the absence of his foe, he knew it was
close. The atmosphere over the island had become more and more
charged as the evening had drawn later.