The cage door closes behind me and I throw my sweater to the side, keeping an eye on my opponent. We already know he likes to play dirty.
“Black Slaughter.” Wade calls out to me. I ignore him like I do all the others and concentrate on regulating my heartbeat and breathing. “I didn’t do it. I didn’t plant a knife on the man that conspired to kill me. If I didn’t do it, that leaves something you don’t want to even fathom. Right? Someone real close to you, betraying you and trying to kill you.”
I don’t let his words affect me. That’s what he wants so he can finish what he started months ago. I shake out my arms and legs, keeping my muscles warmed.
“I won’t take it easy on you, but if at any point you want to tap out and end this, I will oblige. I don’t want to kill you, I fucking respect you.”
His words don’t invoke the usual rage I feel when I am about to fight. It’s there in the base of my stomach but it’s not bubbling its way to the surface. Not that I need it, regardless of what shit spews from his mouth, he has to die for what happened to me. I can’t be seen as weak because I will never know who is watching and planning my demise.
I barely hear the MC calling the match to start, I’m already running at him. His eyes widen but then a smile spreads across his face. Once I’m in reach, his arms come out to grab me but I quickly side step and punch him on his right elbow. Imagine knocking your funny bone… now imagine that pain times one thousand. He yelps and jumps back out of my way.
My disadvantage here tonight is that Wade has seen me fight on a few occasions. And although I try to keep my fighting unpredictable, I do have moves I tend to rely on more with men who are bigger than me. This time, I know I have to switch it up. Where I usually play level headed and dodge in the beginning, I now have to flip and try to catch him off guard.
I swing my leg out for a roundhouse kick and he looks triumphant as he grabs and holds my foot. Perfect. Using the momentum and the strength of him holding my one leg, I swing my other leg off the floor and kick him on the side of his head. We both hit the mat with a loud thud. I’m already on my feet while he gets up to his knee. So far, he really hasn’t tried to hit me or act on the offensive and I need to change that up.
He jumps to his feet and I swiftly kick out again, catching him in the stomach this time. He bends over and I quickly slam my knee up and into his face, hearing the distinct crack of his nose.
“That’s it!” He screams as he stands to his full height, his nose dripping blood. “I was being easy on you, but that ends now.”
Wade may know some of my moves, he may have watched me and learned for just this moment, but he doesn’t know exactly what blood does to me during a fight. I watch transfixed as it runs down over his lips and drips off his chin. The red colour is so bright against his white skin. Time to take this match to the next level.
He flies towards me, and I dodge both of his hands as they reach to grab me. The heel of my hand shoots out and I hit him under his chin, driving his bottom tooth into his lip. Again, more blood he spits onto the mat. I bounce on the balls of my feet, trying to contain the surge of adrenaline rushing through my body. I want to pound his face so fucking bad but I need to keep a level head.
“Black Slaughter!” He laughs, “this is absurd. I don’t want to kill you.”
Then he’s coming at me again, his bare feet making deep slapping sounds against the mat, I move out of the way of his fist but I’m not fast enough and he clips me on my left cheek. I stumble and before I can right myself he punches the back of my head. I hit the mat face down, my hands breaking my fall. I flip quickly onto my back and see Wade is literally on top of me. This is a bad position to be in when fighting a man of his size.
I kick his left knee and he drops down onto it, his hand flies out to grab my neck but I quickly jerk it to the side. Using my core strength, I lift my upper body and headbutt him in his already broken nose. The headbutt does some damage to me too as I can feel the swelling start on my head. He falls back, both hands clutching his flattened nose and rolls across the mat, trying to get away from me.
I stagger to my feet and try to blink through the fog creeping into the edges of my vision. The motherfucker hit me good, I can feel the tight ball on the back of my head. He’s on his hand and knees, one hand clutching his shattered nose. I prowl up to him and quickly jump back when he tries to grab at me. I jump behind him and kick him on the back of his neck. He falls forward again and tries to drag himself towards the cage door. I take advantage and stomp down on his left ankle, the crack is satisfying but his scream of pain is euphoric.
Fucking
