Description
“Don’t go to sleep yet, we’re having too much fun!”
With one hand, she grabbed me by the throat and lifted me up. By now, my entire body was aching and almost numb from the pain. I didn’t even feel her fingers around my neck. Everything was gray and blurry, apart from her evil grin so close to my face that she could bite my nose off.
The cold bricks of a wall pressed against my back and Zukova withdrew her fist.
“Looks like your abs recovered quickly last time.” She said. “Let’s make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Just as she spoke those words, she rammed her fist into my upper stomach. Again. And again. I had thought I couldn’t feel any more pain. I was wrong. Each of these strikes felt like they were going right through me. The thudding of flesh against flesh reverberated in my ears. My knees were jelly and soon my abs would be, too. Too weak to fight back or even stand on my own, I was held up by Zukova with one arm, while she continued to pulverize my belly. I retched and coughed with each agonizing strike, my entire body convulsing. Nausea slowly took a hold of me, each hit caused me to gag as I felt acid creeping up my esophagus.
Suddenly, she let me go. Without the support of her hand, I started sliding down the wall and falling forward. That’s when her boot buried itself in my tummy. Stars exploded before my eyes. The pain was so unbearable, she must have ruptured some organs. I folded in half and puked.
Slumped over, clutching my beaten midsection, I didn’t hear or see anything besides the pool of vomit in front of my being washed away by the rain. I didn’t dare to look at my stomach, out of fear I’d see a permanent dent there. How could it hurt so badly? My abdominals were twitching involuntarily, each time sending a jolt of electricity through my body.
I thought back to my training. Always challenging the best, always getting in way over my head. So many times I landed on the mat and got back up, only to be slammed down again. And now? I screamed at myself to get it together. I wasn’t going to let her win, not like this.
Zukova grabbed my ponytail and dragged me through the alley. The remnants of the destroyed crates scattered all over the street shredded my back like sandpaper. In the dim light I could see my blood mixing with the water seeping in between the cobblestones. It looked like a lot. My chest contracted painfully, just thinking what kind of injuries I must’ve sustained. I tried to free myself from her grip, but I couldn’t even reach behind me far enough. Thankfully, she stopped.
For a moment, I was lying there, limbs spread apart, looking up into the cloud laced sky. The water cleaned the blood off my face. The steady, rhythmic thumping of my heart and the soft rustling of rain drowned out everything else. A strange feeling overcame me as I lost all sense of time. Peace. Suddenly, all fatigue seemed like it was drained out of my body, the pain only a distant memory. I wasn’t done.
A shadow fell on me as Zukova leaned over me and grabbed my top. Not this time, bitch, I thought. I gripped her wrist with both hands, still lying on my back, then drove my left knee up, jamming it against her straightened elbow. She screamed, releasing me momentarily. How quickly the tables turned. While I stood up, she dropped to her knees, holding her forearm. I took a few deep breaths to gather my strength and buried the tip of my boot in her ribs. Her entire body trembled, yet she refused to go down. It didn’t matter. Sooner or later, she would. I brought my elbow down on her head, then shot a knee up into her jaw. Blood sprayed in the air as she let out a roar that would have woken up half the city.
“Fight, you worthless piece of shit!” I yelled, kicking her in the stomach.
When she finally dropped on the ground, I jumped on her, pressing my knee against her chest. She was breathing heavily, spitting blood and saliva, her eyes half closed. Despite everything, she seemed in worse shape than me.
“Admit defeat and I’ll make it quick.” I said, my fist ready for a knockout punch.
But Zukova only grinned. Out of nowhere, a sharp piece of wood appeared in her hand. Oh fuck. I tried to evade the blow and almost got away. Almost. The improvised machete slashed across my chest, leaving a faint red line in its wake, quickly followed by another one from my right obliques up to my lower ribs. Gasping, I fell off her. It felt like someone was simultaneously burning and freezing my skin.
We both slowly got to our feet, but I was quicker. With a running start, I leaped up and drop-kicked her square in the sternum. A mix of shock and surprise appeared on Zukova’s face as she was hurled through the air and landed in between several trash cans. Meanwhile I landed on my lower back and immediately sat up as pain shot up my spine. There was no way I didn’t just shatter my tailbone. But there was no time for damage assessment. Slowly, I staggered towards Zukova’s contorted body. As I approached, she began getting up, her movements erratic like the dance of a drunkard. She couldn’t have much fight left in her.
Or so I thought.
Joanne is my OC
Zukova is an OC of vrobx1
Vagabond is a joint venture of rtashkin5 , vrobx1 and Annakonder