The Shadows of our lives

Chapter IV

My ears rang as Elena landed another hit. This time her bare foot joined with the side of my face, nearly toppling me over. She was good, her fighting style unique. She put all her strength into her kicks, connecting brute force and fast strikes with elegant dodging. Her tactic made it hard for me to get a hit on her but nowhere near impossible.

It took me a bit to get back to my full senses, almost earning another kick to the stomach. As I dodged and blocked, again and again, I soon saw the small openings Elena granted me in between each of her attacks. I had no time or care to figure out whether it was intentional. There was a wall not far behind me and she was pushing me towards it. Smart strategy, she would have me pinned. But I wouldn't give her the time.

The next kick took me off guard, aimed lower. A distraction. I glanced in front of me and ducked. Elena's foot missed my face. Not wasting a second I took the opening and launched myself forward. Her eyes went wide, crossing her arms in front of her to block my follow up attack. I took her surprise in an advantage as I shot my leg in the air and it collided with her side. A small yelp escaped her before her form crumbled onto the ground.

Elena grunted at the painful fall. I was on top of her in a second, keeping her down with my knee on her lower back. Our erratic breaths accompanied the silence of the ended match.

"I surrender," Elena puffed out and I got off her. She slowly pushed herself up and accepted my hand as I lifted her back on her feet.

Small applause erupted behind us. Delta, Micah and Mist all stood on the opposite side of the gym, watching us.

"You're a good fighter." Elena stretched next to me and smiled widely. "A strategic one."

I nodded in a silent thank you, acknowledging her compliment. "You surprised me," I admitted.

We were both a mess. Elena's chest heaved as she slowly regulated her breathing, sweat glistened her forehead.

Elena chuckled, "Damn, I wanted to land that hit."

"Maybe next time," I voiced before thinking. My hand slid through my hair, combing it back. The sparring seemed a lot shorter in my mind, but the way my shirt stuck to my back and chest told me otherwise.

Sounds of footsteps sent an echo that collided with the walls surrounding us. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. Micah approached in a steady stride, a calm and relaxed pace. Then, a shiver rushed down my spine. I heard a sudden change of speed in the last few footsteps. Micah's fist collided with my palm as I blocked the unexpected attack. The two of us locked eyes.

"Nice one," Micah chuckled. "Good reflexes."

When I searched for Elena, she was already a few steps away. Which indicated she either predicted her colleague's next move out of experience, or this was planned.

"Eyes on me," Micah warned and threw another punch.

I dodged, forcing some distance between us. This time I wouldn't get distracted. I felt blood pumping in my ears, the adrenaline from before started to rush in. This wasn't just training anymore, no, this was personal. I wanted to win this. I needed to see this mountain of a man crawling, defeated. I was not about to let another egotistical, indifferent bastard step over me, not when I could do something about it.

I tried my best to not get blinded by anger as we circled each other. The room stilled around us, only our steps on the gym floor were breaking the silence. Neither of us made a move, waiting for the other to start our match and make themselves vulnerable. I was already at a disadvantage, Micah saw me fight, caught a glimpse of my combat abilities. And although it was nowhere near all of it, he knew more about mine than I about his.

I caught the corner of Micah's lip twitch before another wave of shivers ran through me like lightning. One step and he was in front of me, and man was he fast. I had no time to react when he started throwing punch after punch, blinding me with his broad frame. His attacks forced me back. Dull pain shot through my forearms whenever they collided with each of Micah's blows.

It wasn't an even match in the slightest, however, I was not about to give up. But each attack I threw, he dodged. I wasn't balanced, my concentration blinded by rage and hunger. I wanted him gone.

"Come now, don't tell me you can't throw a punch."

He was provoking me on purpose. I knew it and yet I noticed my nerves slip and my right mind collapse. I was furious and didn't know whether it was for a good reason anymore.

"Just shut up!" I yelled out through gritted teeth, caught Micah's fist and twisted it to the side, earning a grunt of pain from his lips.

But my abrupt and mindless decision caught up to me in seconds when Micah took advantage of my fully open left side and pushed me forcefully against the wall. The next strike hit beneath my chest.

The air rushed from my lungs and anxiety overwhelmed me. I gasped, desperate to get back the breaths which were stolen from me, my vision blinded by tears. Micah didn't waste a second, victory and pride mirrored in his eyes as he pushed his fist back, his knuckles white. But his fist bore into the wooden wall when I yanked my head to the side just in time. My chest heaved as I let out a pissed growl and slammed a punch into his jaw.

Micah stumbled back, hand on the place I marked. The way my knuckles tingled told me it was nowhere near a light hit. When our eyes met again, our hatred matched. And then, I was too slow. My face flew to the side.

"Micah!" I heard Elena's voice.

A loud CRACK made everybody in the room freeze. I didn't realize what happened before I felt iron on my tongue. Blood flowed in two small ripples from my nostrils, filling my somewhat opened lips.

"That is enough," a firm deep voice called out and fast footsteps approached.

I held my hand out towards my nose, only to be stopped and grabbed by the wrist. The person pulled my hand away from my own face and grabbed me by the jaw, pushing my face up to look at me. Two ice cold gray eyes bored into me like snakes. Santiago.

"Making friends, Thatcher?"

If that was Santiago's form of a joke, I didn't get it.

"Get him some tissues, he's bleeding all over the floor."

My eyelids were heavy. I couldn't feel my nose, which was the only thing I was glad for. Adrenaline kept the pain for later.

Santiago held me up, as if I was about to collapse, while barking something at Micah and the others. I couldn't concentrate and didn't care enough to listen in on their conversation. I was tired, so damned tired. And eventually, my eyes fluttered closed.