Sammy Lee’s body fell to the mat. He was laid out like a fallen rag doll.
Broken, like a worn-out piece of machinery.
Fresh blood had been shed.
The white mat was brilliantly painted with crimson red flower petals.
Sammy Lee’s forehead. Golem had split Sammy Lee’s forehead with a headbutt.
The “No more bets” light went out. The tide in this fight had changed, again.
Cheers and laughs of victory flew out from the crowd. In the center of the ring stood the heaving Golem. Looking at him, he could easily pass for a giant from a myth or fairy tale.
Sammy Lee escaped. He rolled off the mat, under the apron, and out of the ring.
Golem raised an angry roar. He raised his arms and chased after Sammy Lee heading toward the rope he had just slipped under.
As if in answer to Golem’s cry, from among the ringside tables several burly men began bustling and getting up. They were all wearing some sort of black uniform.
They rushed over to the groaning Sammy Lee, who was had ducked under the corner post. They were all trying to pull Sammy Lee out and get him back into the ring.
“It’s a Lumberjack Death Match. Instead of starting a count if a wrestler leaves the ring, the club bouncers toss him back in,” Jeff told us.
The Lumberjack Death Match—the name had been around for a long time. In the old days they would get a few dozen lumberjacks to form a ring, and the two combatants would be closed into the center. Until the fight was finished, neither were able to leave. Escape was never allowed… a real harsh rule.
Sammy Lee wasn’t actually trying to get away. That’s a fact, but he did refuse to immediately reenter the ring. He wanted a rest, taking into consideration the way he had been injured and was bleeding.
There was a jostling back and forth with the bouncers who were trying to toss him back in.
In the end, Sammy Lee was able to wrestle a little time from the ornery bouncers.
Golem was furious. He was this close to victory, and to let the challenger take a rest would only bring things back to the starting bell.
Golem voiced his frustration in a pointed growl and dove under the ropes and down off the ring onto the floor.
If Sammy Lee wasn’t coming up, then Golem would go to him. Even if he KO’ed him out of the ring and then tossed Sammy Lee back in, that would signify the end of the bout. There was nothing in the rules against it—and it looked like Golem knew that clearly.
He swooped down on Sammy Lee. The bouncers and ref tried to hold him up, but he plowed through them like an out-of-control bulldozer. There was no stopping him. In fact, being tossed away brought even more injuries to the bouncers.
Having cleared away the referee and bouncers, Golem caught up with Sammy Lee.
Sammy Lee had no choice but to take on The Golem. There was no way to escape. Turning, he stood, looking straight at Golem’s approach.
The battle began again. Sammy Lee was not able to counter Golem’s rush. He was pushed backwards with no way to stop the giant.
They slid and crashed into a ringside table. The table was thrown up off of the floor and the chairs around it were smashed. There the two now-horizontal wrestlers began throwing fists at each other as hard as they could. The fans circled the wrestlers, and heated shouts and angry remarks were flying left and right.
“Uh oh!”
Yuri stood from her seat.
“That was Landis’ table!”
I looked to confirm. She was right. The two wrestlers were now grappling where the person we thought was Landis had been sitting moments before. The last thing we needed right now was for Landis to go injured or missing. Now it appeared that it would be best for us to give him the protection he needed.
Yuri and I kicked off of our chairs and set out onto the floor. We slipped between the other tables and tried to make our way to the front.
But on the way there we were stopped.
“Where do you think you are going?”
There were two bouncers in black uniforms standing face to face in front of Yuri and me.
“Ringside,” I responded. “Out of our way!”
“You can certainly understand that in the interest of fairness, we cannot allow you to get any closer to the wrestlers at this time. Please accept our apologies. Now, if you could please return to your seats…,” answered the bouncer. His words were polite, but his tone grated on my ears.
“Fairness has nothing to do with it! My friend just got crushed in that brawl! Are you telling me I can’t go make sure he’s all right?!”
“These are the rules. Now, please, return to your seat. We ensure the safety of all our clientele.”
“Kei!” Yuri yelled out. “The ringside is a disaster area!”
I peered over the shoulder of the bouncers who were blocking my view.
Hoo boy, this was a mess. Without distinguishing between customers and bouncers, Golem was tossing bodies every which way.
It was pure pandemonium in front of the ring. People, tables, it was all the same to Golem.
“Get back!” said the bouncer standing in front of us.
“If you don’t get out of the way, you are going to be eating a knuckle sandwich!”
“Say, say, we got a feisty one,” the bouncer laughed sarcastically.
“So tell me, how is that knuckle sandwich served?”
“Like this!”
I unholstered my heatgun. At the same time, I checked to see where his feet were, and fired one shot.
An orange heat ray blasted the floor.
The burn just reached the tip of the bouncer’s shoe.
“!”
The bouncer seemed to have lost his voice. His hair stood straight on end and he must have jumped two meters straight into the air.
“Goddamn you!”
The other bouncer’s mood suddenly changed, and he came my way.
This one was Yuri’s responsibility. Sprouting from her silver hot pants, one of Yuri’s long legs swung forward for a horizontal kick.
Her leg met directly with the bouncer’s face.
The seven-centimeter heel of her knee-high boot smashed into the bouncer’s chin.
With a painful shout, the bouncer fell back. He spun into a table. The table top broke in two, sending all the glasses and plates smashing to the floor in a loud and spectacular crash.
The bouncer with the burned shoe was hopping around on one foot in circles.
The obstacles had been removed. Yuri and I looked toward the ring and restarted our search for Landis.