Chain Gang All Stars

Three days of Marching and restful evenings behind them, and Thurwar’s knee ached. She thought of the time when she wasn’t quietly holding this soreness, back before the world knew she was one of the greatest Links of all time. Hardly anyone had made it as far as she had, and even fewer had done so without any help—everyone knew that Nova Kane Walker had been shepherded to High Freedom by the producers, so that fans could see that the promise of freedom was real.

Yes, Sunset had almost done it the real way. His second stroke of great luck had been the Chain merger that had brought him and Thurwar together. From then on, they’d led together, kept each other alive. He’d been an honest man and had asked that they work together. But he’d slipped through her fingers.

So now Thurwar was alone at the top. A lot of people still thought Bishop had been better than her, she knew, even though she’d killed Bishop. And Bishop wasn’t even the kill that had cemented Thurwar’s legacy. That had been Lady ReckLass, the second Colossal Link she’d taken down.

ReckLass[*] was also the reason that Thurwar’s knee ached. When she’d swung to finish ReckLass off, the other woman had been kneeling and gasping on the ground. But somehow, in that moment, she’d mustered the life force to ram her mace, Vega—formerly Bishop’s weapon—into Thurwar’s left knee. The blow had been strong because ReckLass was strong, only a handful of fights from High Freed, and unlike Bishop, ReckLass had wanted to live, very badly. Thurwar knew that. Before the match had begun, Thurwar had looked at Lady ReckLass in her Keep. The other woman had been staring at her with a kindness and a fury. She wasn’t appraising her, or judging her, but accepting her for who she was, wholly. It was a kind of love. It surprised Thurwar because she had decided she hated ReckLass. Leading up to the fight, she had focused on the mace, on Vega, which ReckLass had acquired after Thurwar had killed Bishop. When the most popular Links were Low Freed, their weapons would go onto the Blood Points market. And when Lady ReckLass had chosen Vega, Thurwar had taken it personally, as if Melancholia weren’t satisfied with haunting Thurwar’s dreams, she wanted to strike out again in the real.

After that match, Thurwar was thee rising star among a small group of rising stars. But still, for a long while, people screamed “Fluke” at her from the stadium, from the nosebleeds all the way down to the seats that cost as much as a few car payments. Thurwar missed those days. When she’d let the people’s words lift her. She’d used their animosity to keep herself tethered to the world. Their anger was an enemy she could focus her hatred on, that allowed her, briefly, to forget her guilt.

She’d wanted to prove them wrong. And she had. Then they became her soldiers; she was the general of an army she despised. But for a long time, she’d played the game, played the part they expected of her. She’d given braggadocious speeches, she’d crushed skulls with flair. They’d come long ways to see her and, sometimes, she’d truly felt like she couldn’t let them down. And it was a fact that their support, their overwhelming energy, translated into something, an advantage of spirit on the grounds. And that kept her playing the games, made her believe at times that she was who the people thought she was.

Staxxx had broken that cycle of deception. Staxxx was real and gave Thurwar something true to focus on. Once Staxxx had settled into her life, Thurwar found it easier to shed the persona she’d created. She spoke less and less before fights. She stopped engaging with fan mail. She stopped giving them anything other than the carnage that was keeping her, and by extension, her Chain, alive. Staxxx gave her a new reason to live.

—

Thurwar turned now to check on the Links. Rico still beamed with excitement from their meeting. Sai and Ice and Randy Mac were chatting about sports they used to play, when they were athletes of a different kind. Gunny was brooding and Walter Bad Water looked as lost and afraid as always. And Staxxx was there speaking to him, trying to make him laugh. Staxxx was there, beautiful. The woman she loved. The woman who had killed her best friend.

They Marched.

The Chain continued with Thurwar at the head of their great circle, the Anchor trailing slowly behind her. They began playing one of their Marching games, as they had been doing on Marches for a long time, but there was a new kind of ease between them now.

Then Thurwar saw the Anchor rush past her and all the Links were forced to run to keep up.

“Fuck,” Randy Mac said.

“Everybody get ready,” Thurwar said. She felt the adrenaline rising up, masking her pain. “If you can, watch whoever is by your side. But protect you first. Rush them when we release.” They ran past splintered wood and pressed and pushed out of any damp earth. It was important to watch the ground you stepped on.

They were being pulled to a Melee, toward violence, and she was ready.

* Low Freed Link. Rachel “Lady ReckLass” Nape. Ranked Colossal.