Fighting, Surviving, & Hopelessly Lost

Chapter 1

"In one corner we have Kathy King! And in this corner we have Jul Anderson, the two-time qualifying championship winner and the undefeated fighter!" the announcer shouted through the microphone. At the mention of my name, the huge crowd of people in the abandoned building cheered wildly. It echoed all the way to where I was sitting.

"Listen Jul. You're gonna beat her. No mercy. Just fight. Remember our training and the things I've thought you. Pain doesn't hurt. Embrace it and use it as power," Joe, my trainer for street fighting, said. I nodded my head, gritting my teeth.

"I've got this Joe. You better have bet big money on this one, 'cause I'm not losing," I said with attitude. That made him laugh and I eyed him with a small gleam in my eyes. I made sure my wraps were comfortable on my hands and stood up from the hard wooden chair. That's one of the things I've learned to live with. Life isn't always fair nor comfortable. Suck it up and do what you gotta do.

"Get 'em good Jul," Joe whispered. He was the only one that knew everything about my life. My hardships. My past. But Joe helped me block it all out, forget about everything and be the person I am today. My walls are under construction, but they are getting there. Joe gave me a good slap on the back as I headed through the dark tunnel. I cracked my knuckles and I kept my head low. I had sweatpants on along with my jacket and the hood on my head.

"There will be three rounds!" the announcer yelled. "One of the fighters must win two or more in order to claim this season's title!" The crowd went wild. I reached the end of the tunnel and waited for my name to be called. "Here we welcome to the ring Kathy King and Jul Anderson!"

"No mercy, no mercy," I whispered to myself as I walked out of the tunnel. Most of the audience consisted of men. There were women in the stands but men overpopulated the building. I walked over to my corner and took off my sweats and sweatshirt, revealing my black spandex shorts and my grey sports bra. I tied up my hair; some girls like to fight using nasty hair tricks such as pulling, twisting, and so on. I climbed up onto the ring and jumped around, warming up my muscles. My opponent Kathy King was a decent fighter. She came all the way from New York to Iowa. I heard she was undefeated in New York and I could see why. She wasn't as beastly as some of the other girls I've faced before, but she definitely had muscle. Her biceps and triceps were bulky and so were her legs muscles. Her abs looked pretty decent. She was also super tall which gave her a huge advantage. She was somewhere around 5"11, almost 6 feet. Her weight was probably around 200 pounds. I was smaller than her. I was 5"8 and I weighed 145 pounds. But I already formed a sketchy plan in my head. Being smaller than your opponent was a bigger advantage; at least in my case. Joe was one of a kind. He was the best coach in the entire U.S except for for Florida's coach. He came a close second.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Let the fight begin!" the announcer yelled as his voice boomed through the arena like building. I shook hands with Kathy and she looked me in the eye and growled. Okay, so she wanted to play rough at the very start. I could easily take her down.

"3! 2! 1!" the crowd counted down and as they reached one, the bell rang and the fight started. The two of us started circling one another and I waited for the first punch. I knew Kathy wanted me to throw the first punch. But I studied her. Joe told me that she was weak when she had to throw the first punch. I always like to put fighters in their biggest weakness. Then the real fight began. Kathy threw the first punch at my face but I ducked easily, side-stepped, and swung at her from the side. My fist contacted with her cheek and instantly I knew she tasted blood since her face went sour. Another weakness. When you taste blood, you are supposed to embrace the pain. Let the power surge through you. Kathy here was scared at blood. Her face cringed and before she could recover from her state of weakness, I spinned and tried to kick her. She recovered faster than I expected and caught my foot mid-air. She flipped me and I landed hard on the mat. It sucked the air right out of my. Embrace the pain. She thought I was done for so she came at me but right when she was about to grab me by the waist, I rolled to the side. In the process I hit her ankle which was a big weak spot for lots of fighters. Her knees instantly weakened and I grabbed my chance. I jumped up at her back. I climbed up and wrapped my legs around her neck. She staggered close to the fence and I grabbed it and pushed us away from it. Kathy tightened her grip on my thighs which almost felt like painful pinching so I squeezed my legs tighter. She couldn't breath and fell over. She was slamming her hand on the mat and I held on a little longer. The referee rushed over to pull me off but I already untangled myself from her. She gasped, taking in the sweaty air.