Page 44 of Creatures of Chaos

A loud beep fills the air when the timer reaches zero and I snap my attention to Jules, who’s shifting her weight back and forth on the other side of the cage, looking unsure of what to do, concern clearly shining from her eyes.

I jump into action. Reaching Jules quickly, I land the first blow with a jab right to the center of her face. My fist connects with her nose and her head snaps back. Blood immediately starts pouring from her now crooked nose, filling me with satisfaction. That hit was a long time coming, but it snaps Jules out of her funk, and she rushes me with a rage-filled scream.

It’s immediately clear Jules doesn’t have any real fighting skills, which is what happens when you get lazy and rely too heavily on your magic in a fight, but what she lacks in form she makes up for in pure unfiltered fury.

I duck her sloppy punches easily and practically dance around her as she comes at me with pinwheeled arms. The crowd starts screaming, which distracts me for a moment, and Jules lands her first hit, an open-handed slap to my cheek that leaves a sting. There’s a small reaction from the crowd, but I’m assuming most of them are focused on whatever is going on over in Talon’s cage, which is probably far more entertaining than watching me evade Jules’ untrained attacks.

Landing a hit seems to give Jules some confidence. She starts trash talking me again, but her barbs don’t find purchase. Little does she know I’m just wearing her out, biding my time, and it isn’t long before she starts lagging.

A roar sounds from the spectators, but I learned my lesson the first time and it’s Jules whose focus slips with the ruckus. I take the opportunity to kick out, landing a roundhouse kick to her face, which causes her to do a half-spin before hitting the concrete below us.

I should really follow up that hit with another, but instead I sneak a glance at the cage next to us to see how Talon’s doing, which from the looks of it is well. Talon is hunched over his downed opponent, delivering a series of brutal punches as the crowd goes crazy. Once again, the distraction costs me and I don’t even see Jules coming until she tackles me to the ground.

She has the upper hand and manages to get a couple of shots into my ribs before I buck her off. We grapple on the ground while I hear the crowd chanting, “Girl fight,” over and over again.

I’m not used to matches in front of this big of a crowd and the distraction is hindering my performance. I force myself to shutout the noise and concentrate on Jules so that I don’t end up knocked out, or worse.

The crowd erupts, and Talon gets declared the winner of his fight, but I’m finally focused on what I should be—my own match—so I only vaguely register the sound.

Jules manages to squirm out of my hold and we both pop to our feet. Sweat runs in rivulets down the sides of her face. Her nose is crooked, and her mouth and chin are covered in blood. One of her eyes is also swollen shut, but I’m hardly winded. Besides the slight sting on my cheek and a little tenderness around my ribs, I feel great.

With a shout of fury, Jules barrels at me, dropping her shoulder to catch me in the gut, but I twist out of the way and her momentum takes her past me, right toward the spiked bars. Without thinking, I reach out and grab what I can to keep her from face-planting into the spikes, and with a fistful of her ponytail and one strap of her sports bra, I yank her off course. She stumbles, falling and rolling into the bars. She screams and pulls away. When she stands, six puncture wounds dot her shoulder and arm, weeping blood, but she’s lucky it wasn’t her face.

Jules snarls at me, looking extra grotesque with the blood covering her face and teeth from her other injuries. “I’m going to rip you to shreds,” she yells, but at this point the threat is laughable.

She’s out of gas, so it’s time to end this.

At the gym, we’re not specifically taught how to knock an opponent out, because it’s considered unsportsmanlike, but I know a hit to the temple or middle of the chin are the best options.

I come at Jules, not worrying about broadcasting my moves in the slightest anymore. I swing wide to build up power, hitting her in the temple with a cross, and then immediately follow upwith an uppercut blow to her chin, nailing both vulnerable spots one after the other. I’m not leaving anything up to chance.

Jules’ body folds like an accordion to the floor. Blood still drips from her nose as she lies on the gray concrete, out cold.

Fifteen

I won.And it feels amazing.

The moment I let my guard down, sound comes rushing at me. Whistles and shouts pierce my eardrums. Some are even chanting my name.

I blink, looking around in shock. I was so far in the zone I blocked out the world around me, and now that I’ve let it back in the sensory overload is overwhelming. Or maybe I’m just experiencing the effects of the crash after the adrenaline rush.

I don’t know, but whatever the reason, I’m disoriented until I find Becks in the crowd. He’s standing only a few feet on the other side of the spiked bars.

“Are you okay?” he asks, his voice elevated to be heard over the crowd behind him.

“Yeah, I’m good,” I call back.

He lets out a breath, and the lines of tension on his face soften. “Good,” is all he says, but I sense there’s something more behind that word.

I’m announced as the winner, and then the game master immediately reminds the crowd that all of the fighters will participate in at least one more fight to determine who thewinner is and the competitors who will be eliminated. I’m not happy I’m going to have to fight again, but now that I know I’ll be on an even playing field with my opponents, I’m not as stressed.

Someone has to go into the cage to drag Jules out, and then they try to revive her, but I don’t stay to watch as I make my way back to the temporary locker rooms. My body starts to feel heavy. I’m definitely experiencing a crash from the adrenaline rush.

“That was some impressive fighting back there,” Talon says as he falls into step with me. I guess he stayed to watch the end of my fight when his was over.

His hairline is slicked with sweat and there’s a small bruise high on his cheekbone, but he’s grinning down at me as if he doesn’t have a care in the world. In fact, if anything it looks like the fight invigorated him.

“I’ve been taking self-defense and kickboxing lessons since I was eight.”

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