Crazies

Chapter Thirty-Five

~Chapter 35~
(Unedited)

I peek around the huge tree trunk I have my back pressed against, ignoring as the rough bark scrapes against my exposed arms and legs, to find nothing.

Where the heck did he go?

Ducking back behind the shadow of the tree, I hold my breath and keep as still as possible as I listen. Raven earned the nickname Russian Giant for a reason and no amount of academy training can help him completely conceal his hulking frame moving through the trees.

After a few adrenaline-pumping heartbeats, I hear the crunch of leaves over to my left causing a smile to lift the corners of my lips. I press my body more into the rough bark of the trunk to allow its enormous shadow to hide me as RG slowly moves into view. His steps are cautious and precise as he attempts to silently move over the fallen leaves but even without my awesome hearing, I would have picked up on his heavy footsteps a mile away.

"Feya," RG begins to taunt, ultimately giving up on trying to hide his momentum through the dried, dead leaves. "you cannot win if you hide."

I don't rise to his words but wait until he's in the perfect position for me to strike. I've already tried a head-on attack back on the pathway but that just gave Corey an entertaining spectacle of this big lug throwing me on my butt multiple times.

Granted, I gave as good as I got which surprisingly was more than my boys were ever willing to do with me when we sparred. They always handled me with kiddie gloves with everything involving training but Raven doesn't hold back.

And it's exhilarating.

He's treating me like an equal and it brought out this new side in me that I've never thought I had.

One that strives to win against someone in a physical challenge.

So when I couldn't best him head-on I started this cat and mouse game we've been playing for the last ten minutes.

Kota once told me that sometimes it's not about overpowering the person you're fighting against but using what you're best at to even the playing field. Especially when that opponent has more advantages like Raven has over me.

You're tiny and fast, Kota once told me when he and the others were teaching me self-defense. Strike fast and keep moving until you wear down your opponent. The memory sends a sharp jolt of desperation down to my chest, making it hard to breathe for a moment until I'm able to lock it back up with the other memory of my boys deep inside my mind.

I mentally shake myself from my thoughts and focus back on taking down Raven, needing more than ever to work off the months of built-up negative emotions.

My attention zeros in on him when he finally reaches the spot I need him to be and quickly kick out my left leg. My foot connects with the back of his knees and his heavy weight brings him down hard, pulling a grunt from him at the unexpected impact.

I leap to my feet and rush him, throwing my full weight against his back as I lock my arms around his throat like Nathan taught me. I was hoping to pin him down on the ground but RG catches himself and begins shaking violently to throw me off. I wrap my legs around his thick waist and lock every muscle to keep my grip on him.

"Do you give up?" I ask as I tighten my arm around his neck, cutting off his air supply in hopes to end this quickly but he just calmly turns his head to look over his shoulder at me. The lack of oxygen I'm allowing his lungs to take in has his face turning red but he just smiles like it doesn't affect him.

"Nyet," he gasps out before using his brute strength to pull my arms away from his neck. I try wrestling against his constricting hold but RG's muscle mass probably weighs as much as I do and I can't break free. Then I sailing over his shoulder to be roughly pinned to the dirt floor beneath him. "Are you giving up?"