Gauntlet

Gauntlet is the sixth chapter (in this case, Episode) of Deathmatch. It is preceded by Solo and succeeded by Gauntlet II.

Synopsis
The Participant awakens as Grendan's captive, and notices his wound is better dressed. Grendan explains his motives, saying that he will be the eventual winner of the Deathmatch, and is offering the remaining combatants peace and security until their time to die comes. When The Participant tries to goad Grendan into killing him, Grendan reveals that he has captured Mylan as well, and suggests that she may be still alive. Giving up hope, The Participant agrees to join Grendan's team. As a test of loyalty, Grendan sends The Participant out to recruit the last remaining combatants.

The Participant tracks the last five down to another crumbling building. He ventures inside a room and finds another cache of food rations, but is suddenly attacked by another alien. After a harrowing struggle where The Participant is nearly strangled to death by the alien's tentacle-like limbs, he breaks free and shoots the alien through the mouth, killing him. The sound of the struggle alerts the other aliens, and they begin to close in on The Participant, who knows he is in for a long night.

Behind the Scenes
While writing the fight scene, Asylum actually researched how to survive being strangled by a boa constrictor. Dissatisfied with the answer (uncoiling the snake instead of trying to pry it off), Asylum went with The Participant biting through the tentacle to weaken it, after researching how much bite force it would take to do so.