Rick was driven to Charles' small mansion, which was well known, but far enough off the main roads to get many visitors.
In fact, you had to drive into the back woods before you could reach it and it was surrounded by a wall.
At the mansion, Rick was treated rather nice to be a prisoner.
He was fed a good meal and then taken to a room where he could rest.
But the food might as well have been ash and he couldn't rest thinking of the sick things Charles' probably had in store for him.
His clothes were taken from him and he was forced to put on a red singlet.
Charles told him he looked good in red.
He noted with a shudder that in Charles' halls and rooms he had pictures of bear hugs from various wrestling organizations.
Some well known ones, like Kevin Nash versus the Rock and ones given by Bruno Sammartino.
Others Rick had never seen before and were often of naked men, some even pornographic.
Charles also had a statue in his foyer of Hercules bearhugging Antaeus. It looked expensive and well made. Both of the men portayed were nude and the muscles were well crafted.
The look of pain on Antaeus' face was one of extreme pain.
- "Ah, Antaeus," Charles said when he saw Rick looking at the statue. "I like to think of him as history's first jobber. He didn't stand a chance in Hercules' mighty arms....you'll know that feeling before tonight is over...or will you be a lucky one?"
Rick was taken by Al Manson and Charles' body guard, whose name was Jason to a flight of stairs and led down to what Charles said was the arena.
Charles followed at a slow pace, leaning on the rail and carrying his cane.
He said his elevator was out of order.
The "arena" was a large room that didn't go well with the rest of the mansion.
Where the others rooms Rick had seen were well cared for, this one was rather grungy and looked more like something you'd see in a ware house than a mansion.
There were mats on the floor, but they weren't very comforting.
- "This is a room where I like to see what a jobber can take," Charles said.
He sat down on a chair that was in a small closet sized space in the side of the room, just big enough for him and two others to stand in and watch the fights.
Jason stood to his right and Al Manson stood to his left.
They closed a gate that would protect them in case the men fell that way, but still allowed them a clear view of what was going on.
Jason removed Charles' coat when he complained about the heat.
Charles wore an a-shirt underneath.
Rick was a bit surprised to see the old man actually had some pretty big guns for his age.
He'd though Charles was a frail old man, and though he was getting old, he still had some muscle to prove he had been strong at one time.
Charles reached over and pressed a button and some brighter lights came on.
- "Introducing your opponent: Standing at 6'4" and weighing in at 247lbs....Van 'The Truck' Carson!" Charles announced.
The door at the other end of the room opened and a big man stepped into the room with Rick.
He wore a shirt that said "mack" across the front, a trucker cap and torn jeans.
His boots were old, worn biker boots.
He had short, curly brown hair that was almost black.
The man looked like he had gone almost a week without shaving and his stubble was showing gray around the muzzle and side burn areas, so Rick guessed he was probably in his forties.
Rick instinctively backed against the wall. The bigger man was intimidating and had a mean look in his eyes and a lopsided smile.
- "'What's up boy?" he said in a deep, southern accent.
Van looked like the stereotypical red neck truck driver and when he came in the room, Rick could smell the road on him: Sweat, oil, exhaust and cigar smoke all clung to the man's dirty tee shirt.
Van pulled the cap off and then removed his shirt, tossing it aside and putting the cap back on his head as he came closer to Rick.
Rick saw that Van's torso, from his broad, powerful chest down to his semi flabby stomach was covered in thick, curly hair. And from the look and smell, he was pretty sure that Van had been on the road without a bath for at least a few days.
Rick had fought before, even against bigger opponents, but never in a situation like this, and never against someone with this much of a size advantage.
Van made a deep growl and charged Rick.
Rick managed to roll along the wall just in time to avoid the elbow that Van aimed at him.
The bigger man left a dent in the wall and rubbed his elbow.
- "Sorry boss," he directed at Charles with a shrug.
Charles waved it away.
- "No matter. But don't kill the boy right off, play with him a bit first!"
Van nodded, still rubbing his elbow.
Rick knew that if it had connected it would have caused some serious damage.
This was for real. He had to fight to survive and use his speed and athletisism to his advantage.
To be continued....
Rick's Fight against Van is Continued and Concluded in Part 3