Page 43 of Us Dark Few

Without a word, Khalani lowered herself into the fighting pit.

Khalani glanced at the torn picture on the dirt. The last thing she cared for in the world was destroyed, and rage was another entity beside her. There was no thought. No logic. No strategy. Just an innate need to hurt.

She placed herself in the center and held her fists up. The crowd’s laughter turned to violent cheering, but she blocked out the sound. Her only goal was to inflict maximum pain.

Dana slowly circled her. Khalani moved the opposite way, eyes locked on her target, wanting her blood to coat the floor next to the broken pieces of her heart.

“Let’s go, Dana!!”

“C’mon, Khalani!”

She shuffled closer—not as gracefully as Brock—and tried to take the first shot at Dana’s face. She didn’t know how to properly punch, just closed her fist tight and swung upward, yelling out.She put her whole body into the swing, but missed entirely, her punch connecting with nothing but air particles.

Dana shifted to the right and retaliated with a vicious right hook. Her fist connected with Khalani’s head, slamming in her ear. She immediately lost focus and stumbled back. The pain didn’t register. She had too much adrenaline flowing through her.

She regained her balance and rushed forward, throwing a haymaker Dana effortlessly ducked. Dana threw a counterpunch that sent Khalani spinning to the outer edge of the circle.

Blood trickled down her nose and grey spots entered her vision.

She tried to catch her breath, but the prisoners behind her leaned down and pushed her back into the center. She stumbled forward unable to see the fist before it slammed into her nose, knocking her flat to the ground.

The crowd roared.

“Finish her!”

“End it!”

“Get up, Khalani!!”

She could still fight. She couldn’t let Dana get away with this.

Don’t give up.

Don’t give up.

Khalani spat out blood as she stood on shaky legs.

The crowd hollered at an ear-splitting volume, and she vaguely recognized Takeshi standing on the perimeter with a scary expression. She thought she saw him pointing to the ground as if telling her to stay down. But she couldn’t be sure because the room was starting to spin.

Why were three Dana’s suddenly standing before her?

She shook her head, trying to clear her vision. Dana held a hand before her, gesturing as if to say “Come at me.”

She held her fists up and pushed forward, the spectators going wild. Dana gave an ugly smile as Khalani put her head down and charged ahead. She tried pushing Dana to the ground with her body this time. It seemed like a decent plan in her head, but Dana used Khalani’s body weight against her, shoving her to the dirty floor.

She was on her hands and knees, and cool drips of blood ran down her face.The red droplets crashed to the ground—weakness leaving her body—in slow motion. The thick drops cascaded around her, like the picture of her parents.

When it cracked and tore, it was really her ripping apart.

A foot connected with her face, and she couldn’t see anything anymore.

13

When you face death, give the cold bastard my condolences.

Beep…Beep…Beep.

Like a whisper in the distance, the incessant noise slowly grew louder. Khalani felt like someone had drilled a hole in her skull. Her chest clamped down with considerable force as if someone were actively pushing her down on a bed.

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