Fighting For Freedom

Prologue, South Africa 2015 Part I (edited)

                                                                                  Jessie

I remember going through my pre-fight routine, Cameron my brother/trainer was taping up my hands in the locker room. We were discussing my fight plan, this was by far my biggest fight yet. I have been fighting in these underground fights since I was seven years old, but I had never fought in a main event like tonight. The stakes were extremely high for me if I won, we would be finally free!

We are in one of the many fight locations that Malachi owns here in South Africa. This one happens to be in Cape Town. Malachi owns most of Cape Town and its surrounding areas, including me and other slaves who are forced to fight or work in his many illegal enterprises. Malachi is one of the most powerful people I have ever seen. There are rumors that he is a vampire or some sort of immortal being because no one can remember a time when he wasn't in control. I have my doubts, all I know for sure is that I want to be free of him.

Malachi comes into the locker room to give his normal pre-fight speech. I hear him, but I'm not really listening to what he has to say. It is always the same, so I choose to focus on the task at hand. If I win, we will finally be free, and that's all I really care about. Although in the back of my mind, I have doubts that he will let me go, even if I win.

I hear my walkout music start and know that means it is fight time. Cameron leads me out. I vaguely hear the announcer run through my profile.

The announcer starts the pre-fight intro, "In the blue corner standing six foot two inches tall, 180 pounds with a record of 21-0 we have Jessie James. She has 20 victories by knockout and one by death."

The crowd goes crazy! It is insane how excited people can be to watch children fight each other, often to the death. It's also crazy how much money Malachi makes at these fights. These "cat fights" as they are called, are big money makers for the slave owners, as well as those who bet on the fights. Once I'm in the cage, I do a few laps to give the crowd a good look at what they are betting on or against, and to settle my nerves a little. I then make my way to my corner for the last-minute pre-fight instructions.

A few seconds later, the music keys up again and my opponent begins to make her way to the ring. The announcer begins her introduction, "In the red corner, all the way from Las Vegas, Nevada Cassidy Méndez. She stands in at five foot eight inches tall, 160 pounds. She has 30 knockouts and six by death, and no one has been able to make it passed the first round."

As I walked to the middle of the ring to get the referee's last instructions and to tap gloves, I tried not to focus on the opponent's intro, instead focusing on what I needed to do to win. I walked out to the middle of the ring and stared into cold, steel grey eyes. I have looked many opponents in the eyes, but none of them looked as vacant and absent of emotion as hers. It was like she was on something that allowed her to turn off all her emotions but still have the ability to follow directions.

After we tapped gloves in the center of the ring, we returned to our respective corners and waited for the bell to ring to start the fight.

I looked at Cameron and said, "I have never seen anyone with such vacant dead eyes before. It's like she is a robot with no emotions, I mean I thought that I was void of emotion, but something is different with her. I don't have a good feeling about this!"

As the bell rang signaling the fight to start, she came at me like a raging bull. I was able to sidestep her tackle attempt at the last minute and land a superman punch to her right temple. She didn't even flinch with the impact of the punch. What the heck, that punch usually knocks the strongest guys out, it should at least stagger her! What the hell is she on? She counters the punch with a spinning back hand that landed on the side of my face, sending me flying about five feet into the cage. Damn, she was strong! Before I could move, she was on me. Her punch had me seeing stars, but I still had enough sense to block her attempt to throw me. That only seemed to piss her off and make her try harder to get me to the mat. She began throwing knees to my right side, then my left. It seemed like I was done for, but with about 45 seconds left in the first round I somehow escaped her grasp.