It was all over in seconds. Blood dripped from Shane's fingers as he stared at the life less body of the biker that lay on the floor of the bar. A knife protruded, in an angular fashion, from the biker's ribcage. Shane ran through the scenario in his mind, over and over. He had no choice, he had to kill the biker or else he would be the one laying on the floor bleeding out.

It took only a few minutes for the police and the ambulance to arrive. As the police began taking statements from the witnesses around the bar the paramedics wheel in a stretcher and black body bag. One cop grabs Shane by the arm and leads him outside to to a group of squad cars. As Shane steps out of the bar he notices heavy flakes of snow creating a blanket over the landscape. Shane's left standing next to one of the cop cars and the officer that led him out turns and heads back into the bar. As the snow continues to pile up on the ground and on top of the surrounding vehicles Shane begins thinking to himself in two conflicting strains of thought.

This was something beyond my control. He didn't deserve to die.

That bastard had it coming to him. It's a wonder someone didn't off him sooner.

Shane's realistic side, his human side tried to understand the killing. His other side, the side that over the years had been desensitized by violence and the endless tragedies portrayed on the news, tried to put a justify what he'd done.

There must have been another solution, a way for me to have ended it differently.

If you hadn't killed that motherfucker then you'd be the one being zipped up in black plastic.

This isn't right. Fighting someone in a ring is different from this. In the ring you know how your opponent will react you know how far you can take things before you cross a line.

You've already crossed the line. Fuck the biker, fuck his friends, fuck the cops and the paramedics, you did what you had to do. Survival of the fittest. You're the lion bringing down the sick antelope. You're top of the mother fucking food chain.

As Shane thought about his actions his inhuman side began to make more and more sense.

Think about how great it felt to know you'd won. To know that it was one opponent that wouldn't be getting back up. You've done something few of your opponents will ever experience. You know how far you can take things if you need to. You killed him in self defense but in the end you still took his life, justified murder.

That man's death was a tragedy, something that should never have occurred.

A tragedy would have been standing there and letting him drive that knife into your side. You had one option and you took it.

Shane's rational side became softer and quieter.

He left you no choice. Just like Paul Sterling. He's leaving you no choice but to bury him. Your career or his. Which is it going to be?

Shane looks down at the blood, still fresh on his hands.

Shane: It will come to this at Epic. I've got no choice but to destroy Sterling. His way of life, his ideals, his attitude, they all need to be taken away. He can preach about being the future, if I stop him now then it won't matter what his future may be. I'm PRO Champion and I'll stay PRO Champion until I decide otherwise. I have no reason to fear Paul Sterling or CSM. After tonight I have little reason to fear anything. Nothing Sterling can show me, nothing he can say, nothing he does is going to convince me that I have any other choice but to bring him to a halt on Sunday. CSM will cry as their leader falls.

The blood on Shane's hands has begun collecting snow. In only a few moments Shane's palms a covered in a thin layer of snow. As the heat from Shane's hands melts the snow it slowly begins washing away the blood.

Shane: The ICWA is dead, and so to is Sterling.

As the snow continues it's descent to earth the doors to the bar swing open. A stretcher with a black body bag is pushed out into the crisp Alaskan night. In minutes the stretcher is loaded into the back of the ambulance and the two paramedics climb into their in the front. As the ambulance drives off into the night Shane is left standing, alone, in the snow next to the squad car.