Backstage Pass to Mortal Kombat

Chapter 34 - Day Three & Day Four

[[Hey guys! Just wanted to say that I drew the picture that's on the side; it's Zak after her hair cut. I draw pictures for this book all the time, so there will be more to come, I think. Enjoy!]]

The third day was brutal. I was training full speed, doing my best never to stop unless I was forced to. I lunged as if I was ducking weapons and fists, I flipped backwards as if I was escaping an attack, and I spun as if I were dodging a kick. Everything I did was one-hundred percent, and every move I made was calculated and air-tight. However, this was also the hottest day since we came to this place. The temperature had to have been over one-hundred, maybe one-hundred-nine. Sweat didn’t just exude from me; it poured in buckets from my skins. Sunburn covered my shoulders, arms, and the back of my neck.

Every time I tied my hair into a pony tail with a piece of cloth from my t-shirt – which I didn’t dare wear in this heat – continued to fall out of my silk hair each time. I was growing angry and contemplated pulling my hair out, just to have it out of the way. It was only noon and so many things were going wrong; the temperature, sunburn on my back, lack of energy, and my hair! I growled loudly when it fell down yet again, taking the piece of cloth and just throwing it into the ocean.

“What’s wrong?” Johnny asked from behind me. He walked over, covered in sweat as well. He was lightly training, just in case he had to step in at any time.

“My hair is driving me crazy.” I barked.

He smirked at me, driving me further to want to slap someone or something. “Wow, you almost sounded like a girl just now.”

I glared sharply at him as I walked to our equipment. I picked up the canteen and took a large gulp of the warm water. It was warm from sitting in the sun, which annoyed me, but I still drank it. Something flashed in the sunlight as I drank.

My daggers twinkled up at me, lying patiently in the sand. The canteen lowered as the wheels in my head turned. Quickly, I screwed the cap back onto the canteen and grabbed one of my daggers. As I stomped over to the water I heard Johnny ask what I was doing, but I didn’t answer him as I leaned over the tide and sliced the blade through a chunk of my ink black hair.

“What are you doing?” He demanded.

“Updating my hair style,” I replied as I swung the blade through another chunk. Foot-long strands fell into the water by the handful, quickly washing away with the seashells and small white stones that flipped with the pull of the tide.

I continued to hack at the hair until I stood, satisfied, and looked back at Johnny who seemed stunned, still slightly thrown off by my behavior.

My hair now barely reached my shoulders, sticking out in uneven layers that made my hair look spiked with gel, even though that was clearly impossible out here. Even though I didn’t have a mirror to see, I knew I would like it. I could already feel the slightest breeze on my neck, cooling me off more than I could imagine. My head felt lighter, like it always does when you get a haircut, and I couldn’t help but smile and shake my head, whipping my much shorter hair around.

Johnny smiled, “I like it.”

“I like it, too.” I waggled my eyebrows. “Now, time to keep training…”

The third day was brutal, but it was easier to take now that I’ve ‘shed my winter coat’, so to say.

I didn’t sleep at all. Johnny hardly got any sleep. The sun fell and rose within seconds, it seemed, and I was now on the fourth day; the day. It seemed cruel that the sun shone so brightly, that the birds flew freely, that a crab happily scattered across the sand; I would possibly die today, and the earth moved unfazed.