The Blood In the Beginning (21 page)

‘You owe for the pads,' he finally grumbled.

I nodded and swept up the mess. My knuckles were flushed and starting to ache as sensation returned.
What the hell just happened?
I tossed the sweepings into the garbage can and went to the bench. Jess had an icepack on her wrist. Her eyes were teary, her face streaked.

‘You need anything?'

Before she answered, Dom called out. ‘Ava, work the kicking bag, on your own.'

I hesitated in front of Jess. We weren't friends, not as in hang out together anyway. But we were often matched in class, being close to the same size. There was mutual respect, or had been, before I hurt her.

‘Just go,' she said without looking up.

‘Sorry.' I padded away.

Without anyone to brace it, the heavy kick-bag swung wildly, and I wasn't even using full force. A few heads turned. My body jarred with each strike, the shock going from my leg up my spine to my shoulders and head. I used the sensation to distract me. It helped to picture Rossi on the kick-bag. What had he done to me?
What did I just do to Jess?

‘Sparring, class. Let's roll.' Dom called us in.

I looked over at Jess again. Beck, her friend and another training partner, sat by her side, holding the icepack. She caught my eye with a ‘you've done enough' look. I didn't know how to fix things. I didn't even know what had happened.

‘Line up!' Dom yelled, snapping me out of it.

We sparred in a cage, twenty foot diameter with industrial-strength, vinyl-covered fencing made of posts and wire netting. It was the only way to keep fighters safe, otherwise they might fly into walls or out the windows. It kept the onlookers safe too. Our school's octagon was pro and a lot of members trained here because of it. Dom called Jeff up first, and I almost rose, thinking we might be paired together, but Dom called on a newbie instead. Jeff made short work of the guy who outweighed him by fifty pounds. A few others went after that.

I asked to be excused so I could keep stretching and working the kick-bag. No way was I going to go in cold, and while I kept moving, the kaleidoscope of underwater images stayed out of my head.

‘Ava, and Beck,' Dom called and one or two guys clapped and cheered. Yeah, they wanted to see chicks fight.
Degenerates.

Beck looked stinking mad. Dom had a word in her ear. I was pretty sure he'd say something like, ‘Leave your ego at the door, Beck.' But who knew? Maybe it was more like, ‘Go get her.'
Whatever.
I was going to make damn sure I didn't bench her as well. We faced each other, tapped hands, and fought.

Beck was a big gal. It usually took a lucky break to throw her before she had me flat on my back. Not tonight. She must have been distracted by my earlier annihilation of the pads, because I was in, and she went down, just like that. I had her in a full mount, pinned to the floor, neck in a chokehold. Sure as hell though, her left fist was loose, pounding me. I didn't feel it. Figured she was low on fuel and about to tap out, signalling that she'd lost. I didn't notice I was bleeding until she stopped pounding and submitted. I stood up and looked at my feet, spatters of blood falling around them like drops of dark paint. Beck had connected alright, cutting me good, above the eye.

‘Get some “vas” on that!' Dom shouted.

Like this is my fault?
I wiped my brow clean with the back of my hand. ‘On what?'

He did a double take. The bleeding had stopped. Dom checked it, then nodded and paired me with a guy this time, and then another. I beat them in a minute each and was amped for more. Yeah, I was screaming for more.

‘Jimmy,' Dom called, and everyone held their breath, waiting to see who drew the short straw tonight. ‘And Ava.'

I could hear the collective gasp.
He was putting me in the cage with Jimmy?
My hands started to shake and I felt the sea lapping at the edges of my mind.
Oh, hell … not now!
There was some major discrepancy in our size, weight and gender category, a bit like a cattle dog, me, taking on a grizzly bear, Big Jimmy. A flash of the underwater world flooded my vision and I pushed it away this time. The adrenaline rush helped.

Jimmy eyed me and headed for the ring.

I'd never gone a round with him. Not that I didn't think about it. He was good. Black belt, but better than me, technique-wise, and that was the best way to learn.
Spar with your superiors,
Rourke always said. One thing about Jimmy, he didn't have a dimmer switch. The bastard could break bones when he thought he was losing. He was
Big
Jimmy for a reason too, with his fit, hard-ass body, driven by a colossal, off the hook ego. I couldn't stop twitching as he walked to the ring.
Of all the times I might be paired with him …
Plus side, even if he pounded me to the ground, pain wasn't really registering.
But it will tomorrow, chica,
I told myself. I resisted the urge to look over at Dom, slipped in my mouthguard and rolled my shoulders.

Jimmy slapped his hand against my outstretched palm and then we touched fists. As I raised my hands to my face, the ring disappeared and I sank into a turbulent sea.

* * *

There was no time to take in the scenery. Rossi was gone, and so was the sunken graveyard. Something sped through the water straight at me. I crouched as a huge naked Mar, with long, long hair and rippling muscles, struck. I'd dropped fast enough for his fist to glance off my shoulder. He pulled up short, spun around and went for my throat. I didn't know why, but this guy wanted me like a shark wants tuna. I rolled away, giving him nothing to grab but watery space. He came again. I ducked, and he brushed right over my back, not avoiding my punch to his guts. He doubled over and we both rolled and sank to the bottom, stirring up silt as we wrestled. He pummelled me. It took my mind off the water pressing in, filling my lungs, muffling my voice. It was finally occurring to me that I didn't need air to breathe. Hallucinations were like that, right?

I pushed off the bottom and grabbed his back, a small fry clinging to a giant. He slammed his whole body against the reef, smashing me flat. Rock hit my spine, cracking my neck, but it didn't hurt. It just pissed me off. I hitched myself up and wrapped my arm around his throat. Energy zinged as I squeezed, python tight. He floated forward to the ocean floor. In the distance, Dom's voice screamed until it was in my ear. I was on the mats, covered in sweat, Jimmy beneath me. The shock of it loosened my hold.

In one fluid motion Jimmy grabbed my arm, broke out of my chokehold and flipped me down, pinning me flat. I sucked in a breath. The sudden rush of air turned to water. The glaring light dimmed, and I was back in the sea. Heat coursed through me. I thought my head would explode. I laid into the Mar who held me down, driving my fist into his head. In two quick hip movements, I was out from under him and on top. I wrapped around him like an octopus, gained full mount and started smashing his face. The movements were slow-mo, my fists barely making an impact. But the spray of water that leapt with each strike slowly turned blood red.
Red!
It contrasted against the deep blue-greens around me. I kept up the pounding until he fended me off with an outstretched arm — the perfect opening for a head and arm triangle. I pushed his arm across and clamped his neck, vise-tight, until he relaxed, his defense giving way to nothing. I guess Mar don't tap to submit.

‘Sykes, let go.' From the surface far above, Dom's voice drifted down. ‘He's tapped out. Damn it, get off him!'

The ocean roared in my ears. The shouts amplified. Suddenly I was sucking in air, and sweat. The mats were soaked. The smell of blood invaded me as I was grabbed on all sides, wrenched from my hold. I fought against them, swinging, connecting, screaming, panicking. Then a splash hit my face, drenching me for real. I opened my eyes, wondering how long they'd been shut.

‘Keep her back!' Dom shouted. His voice in my left ear sounded like he was chewing gravel. I felt at least four hands restraining me, vise-tight.

Then I saw why.

Jimmy was face down, freaking pulverised. I held my breath until his back rose and fell.
Not dead. Okay … that's good.
I relaxed, dropped my resistance. With the two fingers I had free, I tapped Dom's wrist, signalling submission. ‘I'm cool. Sorry.' The air rushed in and out of my throat. ‘I lost it, but I'm okay now.'

‘You sure?' Dom's sweat-soaked face was pressed into the back of my neck, his arms circling my chest in a death grip.

‘Yeah. I'm sure.' I tapped again, showing him. Palms open, head bowed.

Slowly they let me go, one by one, Dom last. No one stepped back until they were convinced I wasn't the psycho 'roid bitch who'd just pureed Jimmy into mat soup. My breath steadied. They gave me some space, and Dom went to Jimmy's side. Jeff threw me my towel. I pressed it to my face and it came away soaked in blood. I stared at it, and everyone around me. Jimmy was coming to, trying to sit up. His arms and legs were moving, very slowly, but still … relief washed over me. I hadn't killed the guy and it looked like he wasn't paralysed either. I swallowed hard. ‘I shouldn't have come tonight.'

Dom looked up from the floor where he supported Jimmy. His face was full of questions, pain and maybe some fear.

I nodded to Jimmy and the rest of the class, grabbed my gear and fled.

Before I reached the lockers, Jeff caught up. ‘Ava, what happened?' Yeah, he had my back, even when I was this far off the charts. I wouldn't forget that any time soon.

‘I don't know.'
I was sucked into the sea, attacked by a Mar. Not that I really knew what a Mar is.
No point in telling him that. ‘I gotta go.' I started to shiver so I slipped on my tank and gi, tying the belt, grabbed my bag and headed out, towel pressed into my temple.

Jeff stuck to my side. ‘You need a lift.' It wasn't a question.

‘I can hitch.'

‘Look in the mirror, Ava.' He shook his head. ‘Just give me a minute. I'll take you home.' He kept me in his sights as he gathered his gear. He didn't bother to change. ‘Let's go.'

I could feel eyes watching as we left. Questions rang out, shooting into my mind, including Jimmy's.
What the hell? Is she doping? Need a 72 hour hold? How the fuck?
These were queries foremost in my mind, as well. I didn't have a clue how to answer them. When I stepped outside, I pulled the towel away. Blood gushed down my face and soaked into my white uniform. Jeff had it right. Hitchhiking was definitely not an option. In the shadows, the door to a green Subaru cracked open. A police light slapped onto the hood and whirled around like a beacon. The driver made to launch toward us.

I threw my thumb up in the air. ‘All good,' I said, waving him back. ‘Just training.'

My tail hesitated before switching off the light and retreating back into the car.

‘What just happened?' Jeff asked.

‘Um … police. They probably thought I was attacked.' I shrugged my shoulder and winced.

‘And they happen to be in our parking lot, why?'

‘Long story. Can I tell you later?'

‘Sure, if you promise you're okay.' Jeff opened the passenger side of his old Ford pickup and chucked our gym bags in the back. I barely noticed Togo, his dobi x standard poodle. No kidding, that's what the DNA test down at the SPCA claimed. Jeff rescued the dog a few years back, when it was only eight months old, horridly mistreated, skeletal thin and about to get the green needle. You wouldn't know it now.

The Aftermath wasn't much of a paradise for people on a moderate to low income scale, which was close to eighty percent of them. If they had it bad, their companion animals fared a lot worse. With so many homes destroyed and lives lost, surviving animals were left to fend for themselves. Dog packs roamed the south harbour district. Kids in gang colours used them for target practice. It was ugly as. Cats managed a little better, but not if they were caught. Inhumane. I gave Togo's ear a scratch before I jumped in the cab. He licked the blood off my hand.

Jeff didn't say much. ‘Straight home?'

‘Tom's.' Screw security. I didn't have the energy to walk extra blocks, pretending to go to class.
In my blood soaked gi? Sure thing.

‘You two back …'

‘Nope.' I laughed but it came out more as a sigh. ‘Staying there for a bit. I —'

‘It's alright, Ava. You don't have to explain.'

He knew where Tom lived so I didn't give directions. I closed my eyes and let the hum of the engine and the glare of streetlights dull my senses. ‘You're a good friend, Jeff,' I said as he turned onto Veteran Avenue.

He nodded.

No argument there.

CHAPTER TWELVE

It was dark in Tom's apartment. I left it that way and went to the window, checking the street below. My hands still jittered. I sat on the floor, back to the wall, staring into space. Sim stayed away after one good whiff, her nose going high in the air as she drew in my scent. I didn't blame her. My gi stunk of blood, and sweat and fear. My hair did too. All of me reeked, in so many ways. My mind kept going to Jimmy, laid out on the mats, blood pooling around his face. I wiped my nose on my sleeve. The looks from my classmates floated by, haunting. They were shocked. Fearful. I hugged my knees up under my chin. Rossi's underwater image rose.
But you're Mar
, he'd said. ‘No!' I shouted. Sim ran under the couch.

Jeff had offered to walk me to Tom's door. I let him. In the back of my mind, I wrestled with emotions I couldn't even name. My heart skipped beats that were way too fast to begin with.
Freaking calm down!
I couldn't analyse any of it rationally. I heard the key in the door. That didn't even rouse me out of my state.

The lights flipped on and I shut my eyes.
Ouch.
Tom's footsteps strode to the kitchen. A bag touched the counter. Keys clinked. ‘Sim?' A pause. He must have spotted me, because his body went completely still. I couldn't feel a single current of air move between us. He stayed that way for the count of three.