The Mars Arena: Book Summary
The novel begins with the group near the western islands. They are being attacked by a large number of Brush wooders and are trying to escape. Right from the start they manage to kill quite a few of the men, and some women as well.
At the same time there is the head sec man for a powerful baron scouting for a team of combatants to use in an upcoming great tournament that is to take place in eight days time. The team that wins the tournament wins the baron that controls them a full year control over the five baronies. He is named James Ball Daugherty.
Krysty and Doc find a cavern that is opened up after a minor quake. Inside the cavern is the wreckage of a rescue helicopter. Krysty goes in and strips out the medical supplies, as much as she is able to. While she is inside the wreck, she has a powerful vision about Dean fighting for his life and she warns him, surprised that Dean actually seems to be able to see her.
Almost at the same time, Dean and another boy named Calgary Ventnor are trying to sneak into a girl named Phedra Lemon’s room, as they heard that she sleeps in the nude. It’s Deans way of repaying the boy for the help that he has given him with his schooling over the year.
Slipping inside the room, Dean goes to peek under the blanket when the girl begins to stir. To prevent her from screaming Dean puts his hand over her mouth. She’s a fighter. Instead of screaming, she punches him in the nose and then demands to know what he is doing in the room.
Dean decides to tell her the reason why he came in. She flips out and attacks him, but much to the boy’s delight, he discovers that sure enough, she’s naked. His hands are full and she begins to scream, so he does the only thing he can. He uses his mouth to shut her up. She only struggles for a moment but then gives it up and returns his kiss.
The girl Phedra calms down and they start talking again. She doesn’t bother to cover herself up. Next thing they know Calgary falls from his hidden perch. Phedra’s room mate wakes up and begins to scream at the top of her lungs. He decides to make a run for it and meets up with Calgary who isn’t hurt badly from his fall. They try to make it back to their dorm but are caught by the sec man Jake.
Ryan, Jak and JB find the corpse of a man. He’s only been dead for a short period of time. They take the gear from the body and notice an odd tattoo on him. They also find a man that he was carrying which is marked. It appears as if he started out in Montana, in a place called Heimdall point. It is marked with two X’s and a name.
Krysty is still having hallucinations, this time it’s of Ryan. He’s attacked by some sort of mutant and like with Dean, Krysty is able to warn him. And, again, Ryan is able to see her, just like Dean had been able to. There is a woman who is with her who says that both father and son will survive and that she did well.
Doc has been getting rather concerned for the woman and is about to come for her when she shakes free of the trances embrace. She is about to get out of the wreckage when it starts to slip from it’s grave, threatening to take her with it. Ryan and the others arrive at this time and he risks his life to save Krysty’s. They then make camp for the night.
The next morning Ryan and his friends head out. Next thing they know they are under attack by a man using a Sharps .50 Caliber buffalo rifle.
Dean is taken to see Nicholas Brody about his nights little adventure. The girl actually shows up and claims that Dean had been returning an earing that she had lost. The Phedra is then excused and Dean comes out and tells him what really happened and that she should not be held responsible for his actions. The headmaster admires him for his honesty and then sends him back to his room, where he is confinded. Dean learns that the other boy, Calgary has been thrown out of the school for the incident.
Back at his room, a boy named Perry asks Dean to join his group for a special exercise that is to be held late that night. A man, who happens to be a physical education teacher. Despite his being confined to the room, he agrees to join them.
Jak climbs the hill and attacks the sniper, but doesn’t kill either. The two men are named Hoyle and Bernsen. Ryan and the others arrive and start to interrogate the men. The next thing they know, the surviving brush wooders attack, using a mortar. Ryan and his friends, as well as their two captives beat a hasty retreat.
Their only way to escape is through a cave behind where the snipers had hidden. Deep in the cave is an underground river which due to the melting snow, is over flowing greatly. They use a raft as it’s the only way that they can escape. The river is too powerful for the raft and they are all knocked into the water. Only Jak is able to stay with the raft.
Even though they are battered from the trip down the river, they all survive unscathed. They finally meet up together, and Ryan is attacked by a pair of mutant fishes called Skikes. Luckily for him, he’s able to kill both before he’s attacked and before they are able to bring more of the mutants back to attack.
They get a chance to talk and learn more about the Heimdall foundation, and what they’re looking for. Turns out that they are looking for a Russian space station that is about to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere. They want to explore it’s remains and see what treasure’s it contains.
That night, Dean and the boy’s arrive at the hidden location and the training exercise begins. They are split up into two separate teams and given their goals. Dean soon finds one of the boys, out like a light. He finds himself under attack, and races back to Solomon to warn him what happened. It turns out that Solomon is part of the group that are attacking the boys.
After the ordeal on the river, They make camp again. During the next day Krysty and Ryan make it as usual. Brody learns that the boys were abducted and sends some of the sec men, including Jake to go and rescue them.
When they arrive at the location where the space station is to land, which is located at Honey lake, where they find a camp of Stickies and other mutants already there, as if they knew that it was going to re-enter at this exact location. Sure enough, they see it enter the Atmosphere in a blaze of glory. But when it re-enters, it breaks up into five separate pieces. Part of it lands right on the mutant camp, wiping most of them out.
The surviving mutants are wiped out by sec wags armed with .50 caliber machine guns. They also attack Ryan and his group. During the battle the attackers lose two wags, as well as a large number of men. But, they manage to capture Ryan, JB and Mildred. As the sec men race away, Doc Krysty and Jak are able to salvage one of the wags.
Dean wakes up and finds himself and nine other boys captive of Baron Vinge Connrad. The baron has Solomon Disarmed and hands Dean a Mossberg shotgun, ordering him to kill the man. Dean does so without hesitation, then aims the blaster at Baron Connrad. He pulls the trigger, but the blaster is empty. Dean wants to know if the baron is a slaver, and he informs the boy that he isn’t. He promises to let them go free when he is finished with them.
Six days later they arrive in the ruins of Las Vegas. The city wasn’t hit by any nukes but the population was wiped out by the radiation fallout from the war. Now it’s used as an arena by the five barons for their battle ground, to determine who gets to rule the five baronies for the next year.
The boys, as well as Ryan, JB and Mildred are shown around the arena. They discover that the main combat area is filled with not only the other teams, but mutants of every shape and size to make things all that much more difficult. Ryan and the others meet their other team mates. Right off the bat, they kill one, a huge man named Black Michael, as soon as they retrieve their blasters. He threatened to kill Ryan and JB, as well as do something even worse to Mildred. That’s why they had to put him down.
Dean and his team fire at the ceiling in the room where they are, using the Richochettes to kill and wound several of the sec men. Gasoline is poured into the room and then lit, forcing the group out into the arena.
The arena is brutal and the combatants are dropping like flies. They decide to head to the high ground, as it’s the best defensible position for them. On the way, two of Ryan’s team are killed.
Dean had the same idea, and they arrive at the building first. Inside they see fish tanks filled with little mutant fish and an explosion burst the tanks, letting the fish escape. A boy named Green Enrique is killed by the fish, and several other members are wounded.
Before they know what happened, the barons release a group of dangerous mutant monkeys into the building. Dean’s groups are attacked and several of his team are wiped out by the mutants.
Krysty, Doc and Jak, as well as the two men from the Heimdall foundation followed the slavers all the way to Las Vegas. They set explosive charges to help them escape once they meet up with the others. They then break into the arena to go and help JB, Ryan and Mildred escape. In a matter of minutes they are spotted by the baron’s sec men and are set upon.
The barons send in men armed with flame throwers to take care of the mutant monkeys. One of the sec men spots Dean and a surviving boy named Louis. He shoots and wounds Louis who dies from it shortly after that. But, Dean avenges the boy by shooting the fuel tank for the flamer, killing both sec men. He finds himself cornered in a room by a huge mutant boar.
Ryan arrives at the time the boar attacks and kills it, meeting up with his son. They decide to head out.
The sec men pay a heavy blood price for trying to get Krysty and Jak. They are able to get several mounts which they plan to use in helping them escape.
Dean and Ryan come across a couple of boys that are under attack by sec men. They kill the sec men and rescue the boys. Then they spot Krysty and Jak, and meet up with them. To help them escape, and take some of the heat off them from the sec men.
Doc is attacked by the scientist, Bernsen and is forced to kill him. The explosion nearly takes him out as well. He then meets up with the others and they race for their lives. Most of the group head for the trees, but Ryan’s horse is hit. He forces the dying animal to ram a sec wag, which happens to contain the Baron Connrad inside. The baron survives, and gets into a knife fight with Ryan. He wins and kills the man.
Sec man Le Marck shows up. It’s a Mexican stand off, but they let him go. Though Ryan promises that if they ever happen to meet again, he will not hesitate to kill the man without warning.
They then spot a arma wag driven by Jake and sec men from the school. They take the offered ride and head to the school in Colorado.
Several days have passed and they get as much rest as they can handle. Dean decides that he is going to go with them, instead of staying at the school any longer. They plan to leave the next day, but Dean has to say good bye to Phedra Lemon first.
End of Mars Arena