A Little Bit Ninja

20: Midnight Marauding Meltdown

A/N: I just wanted to say thank you so very much for all your votes, and comments, and support. You all are absolutely awesome, and it got me all the way to the Wattpad front page. I definitely couldn't have gotten there without the super, duper awesome commenters and voters that you are. *Happy Dance for You*

Also, for those of you wondering, will we ever actually see the concert? To you, I say, "Heck yes!" I just had lots of setting up that needs done before the big event, and we're almost there. I'll get to it, promise.

My heart beat went from zero to sixty within the two seconds I stood frozen, watching somebody sneaking into my room in the middle of the night. All I could do was remember the hulking monster that showed up last time someone unexpected came into my house. What if Sr. Head Case was jumping the gun and wanted to take me back tonight?

Suddenly my thought process kicked back into gear and I raced silently across the room to stand behind the door.

Clutching my shaking hands to my chest, I held my breath and waited to sabotage the midnight attacker.

As the door creaked open inch by inch, a dim light spread across my room in a sliver, just enough to illuminate the silhouette of a man at least a foot taller than me. Not as gargantuan as the last one, but he was still pretty massive.

I tried to stifle my exhale as I let out my suspended breath, but he heard me. His head turned toward me just as I aimed a phoenix-eye punch at his carotid sinus. I intended to knock him out without giving him a chance to damage me.

But he caught my fist an inch away from its target.

Chapter 20: Midnight Marauding Meltdown

I attempted to yank my fist from his grip, but couldn’t, so I immediately changed tactics. Instead of pulling back I pushed with all my strength, just to throw him off balance while I struck with my other fist. It wasn’t enough to get a hit, but at least I got my hand back.

My heart began jack hammering against my ribcage.

The near darkness boosted the difficulty level of aiming my fists, and circumventing the parries a couple notches. I’ve seen Wing Chun masters do fights blindfolded, for real. And they win. Once your skill level reaches a certain point, you no longer need to see your opponent to know which attacks and blocks they do. Your instincts are honed so tight that you can feel what they are doing.

I am not at that skill level. My plan was simple; land a blow in the general area of any of his nerve centers, hit as hard as possible, repeat as many times as I can. So far I wasn’t faring well. Every time I tried to hit, kick, grab, or throw the guy he dodged, or blocked, or grabbed me instead. Then I had to expend my waning strength to maneuver out of his reach.

I faked a jab with my left, while I tried to grab his head with my right. He blocked and evaded.

He was making these really strange noises though, as we fought in the darkness, kind of like grunts but closer to words. But I didn’t have time to focus on that. I was losing.

I tried another knee to the groin. I know that’s a low blow, but like I’ve said, they’re going to have to haul my dead rotting corpse back to The Boss, because that’s the only way I’m going. If a few hits below the male belt line are required to prevent that scenario, then so be it.

But my knee didn’t connect. He blocked with his own knee. My breath was catching in my throat and my movements were getting erratic. I knew I was capable of much better, but I was getting so freaked out of my mind that my limbs weren’t responding like they should. They were positively quivering.