I was standing there, Dominic and Eli in front of me, both of them smirking widely in amusement at my fear. I could see Christian leaning against a wall with his arms folded across his chest in the corner of my eyes. He looked bored. That’s when he spoke, “Eli and Dom are two of our main fighters, besides me, of course, here we will test your speed and sensitivity.”
“You’re going down, babe.” Dominic winked at me, and got in a running position along with Eli.
“You can do it, Kimberlee!” I could hear the voice of Emma cheering me on from somewhere within the large dark stadium we were all standing in, me having no idea how we got here, all I knew was it was underground. It was almost pitch black, with nothing but a single dim light above our heads. I could barely see the faces of my two opponents.
That’s when I grinned in my own amusement, realizing that if this wasn’t a dream, and I would really be doing this, I might as well give it all I got, right? What’s the worst that could happen? “I don’t think so,” I shot back at Dominic, who just chuckled deeply and waited for Christian to signal the test to begin. I narrowed my eyes at them, pacing my lungs at an even rate, bawling my fists, and dropping low into an attack position. Suddenly, everything became a shade brighter.
“Start!” Christian signaled the test to begin, and once he did, Dominic and Eli weren’t in sight anymore. Confused and terrified, I jumped forward, feeling a hand grasp for me from behind. At its fail, it tried again, and I swung around with my leg out straight and kicked the body away. Hard.
I heard a grunt as the body hit the floor, then felt another hand on my shoulder. I swiftly spun around with my hand like steel bawled, ready to fist at the person behind me. But my fist was caught in the air, and I could hear a low groan escape the mouth of my opponent.
Then for a moment, I was in the air, my feet lifted off the ground and my body being lifted above the persons head. Then, I was thrown, far across the open field of dry dirt. I landed roughly, my forehead hitting the ground before any other part of me. The breath was knocked straight out of me. I groaned, my muscles aching in soreness, my head already throbbing in pain.
But with the sick feeling of someone rushing towards me, I got up quickly and ducked before a kick could contact my chest. I grabbed for the other leg and pulled it forward, sending the person toppling over onto the ground with a loud thud. Another one behind me, a hand on my shoulder to spin me around and throw me away. But before it could, I got on my hands, flew my feet into the air and kicked away the body.
I didn’t know what it was taking over me, maybe the strong sense of adrenaline that was soaring through my veins, or maybe it was plainly my man survival instincts, but either way, I was pumped and ready to face anything head on.
Pain vibrated through my entire body, but that feeling was quickly ignored when a severe blow to the stomach had me on the ground. I rolled over onto my side, groaning softly in pain, scrunching the dirt in my hand. It was wet now, no longer dry. Wet with patches of thick, red blood. I had forgotten that my forehead was still bleeding, it was weird, it wasn’t even hurting much at all.
Just then, a voice: “I told you, babe.” Dominic. His warm breath fanned over my face and into my ear, making me shudder against the ground. That’s when I’d had it. I pushed off the dirt as hard as I could, stumbling to my feet. With every millimeter of strength left in me, I pounced, and attacked. My arms, they wouldn’t stop punching, and my legs, they wouldn’t stop kicking. My breath was being knocked out of me, but I knew the feeling would go. I just had to survive.
“Enough! Enough!” I could hear Eli yell, his hands groping around my waist and pulling me off of Dominic. Once my feet touched the dirt, the lights came on. Yup, we were deferentially underground, a large foot-ball stadium sized room where everything from the floor to the walls was complete earth.
