When the dazzling light faded, he opened his eyes and realised he was no longer on the space station. Instead, he found himself in an enormous coliseum, filled with an audience of thousands of hideous green- scaled creatures. The aliens roared a sudden cheer and a chill ran down his spine. He turned and saw an enormous monster with dark red skin and three cranial horns, running on all sixes towards him.
He scanned the area for weapons. Feet away, he saw them: spears, knives, firearms, scattered across the arena floor. He scrambled forward and too late, the creature turned to follow. He lifted a rifle, turned and fired. An energy beam exploded from the muzzle, knocking the beast to the ground. He ran back towards it.
“Please,” it groaned. “I’m the…”
Taking no risks, he fired again.
The audience cheered and a blinding light flashed behind him. He turned and saw a purple creature, smaller than the first but with five legs, standing in the middle of the arena.
“Is this the afterlife?” it shouted. “I’m the last of my kind!”
The spectators guffawed, and suddenly he realised why. The nuclear war at home had finally killed everybody else. He too was the last…
And he would stay so. He took aim and fired.
The creature collapsed, fatally wounded by the energy blast. The rifle flashed “Empty Battery,” and he dropped it, kneeling to pick up a knife instead. He understood the game now. When this creature died, another would appear, and they too would duel to extinction.
The light flashed and another creature appeared. Like him, it had two legs, but only two arms instead of four, and brown fur covered its head but not its pasty white skin.
“It looks weak,” he thought. “Like an easy kill…”