Return to Kombat

Chapter 12 - Fall of the Queen; Black Fox's Story

Like Mila said, the fight wasn’t so underground this time. Standing in the middle of a football stadium in some city I didn’t know, I looked around at all the fighters that were warming up with each other; kicking and swiping hits at their opponent. I sighed; part of me really wanted to fight today. Maybe I could get rid of some of this stress? But no, I shook my head; at least Johnny wouldn’t be fighting today.

“You coming, Zak?” Chutar asked. I turned and followed her to the sign in desk. I stood with her in line and we commented on some of the other fighters. She nodded her head at a man standing nearby. “I’ve seen him before. I think he was at that fight Thorne crashed.”

“Is he any good?” I asked, curious.

“Obviously, if he’s still here.”

I shrugged, “Liu is still here.”

She laughed and nudged me in the arm. We moved up in the line. “What happened, anyway? Johnny was so pissed he couldn’t see straight.”

I shrugged, “He insulted me, like always.”

“Then what’s so different about this time?”

“The line moved,” I croaked, trying to avoid this. I didn’t want to think about Liu right now. Thinking about him led to so many other thoughts; like when he kissed me, when he told my scarred face that I was beautiful, or that night in the hotel. And thinking about that night in the hotel made me think about what could be growing in my stomach. I mentally shook myself and tried to read the warning signs over the sign in desk. It was the usual; you might die here. I frowned. “When do they start fatalities, anyway?”

“In two weeks.”

I raised my eyebrows at her. “That soon, wow.”

She shrugged, “Where I come from the fatalities start right away.”

“Where the hell are you from?” I hissed.

“The line moved,” she chuckled, copying me. I rolled my eyes and continued to read the signs.

“So if this argument wasn’t like any other fight why does Liu look like a lost puppy over there?” she asked, pointing a few feet away from us.

Sitting in the stands, looking right at me, was Liu. I expected he would be glaring, like he always is, or muttering curses under his breath, but…he wasn’t. In fact, he just stared at me, looking almost depressed. I quickly looked away and stared at the back of the person in front of me.

“If you don’t tell me I’ll just ask Kenshi,” she threatened when I didn’t say anything.

I sighed and began walking off, “I’m getting a soft pretzel.”

Yeah, this fight wasn’t like any other I’d ever been to. Usually there were water stands and cool towels for after the fight, but here there were snacks and even souvenirs. There were foam fingers with #1 written on them, and even a couple t-shirts with fighter’s names written on them. I looked them over and saw a green one with Chutar’s name on it and giggled to myself. Maybe I would buy it.

But then I saw a red one with ‘Kill The King’ written across the front in bloody letters. There were only a few; this was obviously a best seller. And knowing exactly who they meant by ‘king’ I wanted to cry.

And then, to make matters worse, sitting next to the shirt was a book. And on the front of the book was a bright blue wolf’s eye. Written in bold letters across the front: FALL OF THE QUEEN; BLACK FOX’S STORY

I glared at the cover of the book for so long I could swear the wolf in the picture was breathing. The man running the stand walked over, “Lady, can I help you?”