U T O P I A

Chapter 2

The circle of people around a fighting pair was a familiar sight for Caid Uthara.

Their cheers were constantly ringing in her ears, her ribs were always bruised and her knuckles were forever split. Most days, her speech slurred a little or she spoke too loudly. Others, she could be found curled up in a corner, always with a bottle in hand.

Inside the ring of people, she swayed a little on her feet as she faced her opponent. This time, it was a man a little taller than her who, only a minute ago, had suggested putting her bottle down for the day and when she had refused, he'd tried to take it by force. The moment she'd swung at him, the people around them had dragged them into the centre of the room and formed the circle around them.

'Caid, we can just settle this civilly,' the man tried to reason with her, but the crowd gathering around them booed at him.

Caid grinned, this was their way. Almost every matter in this shelter for people who had nothing else, was settled by a fight. It had become a way of life, something that occurred once or twice a day. In the years she'd been here, Caid had become one of their favourites and everyone turned up each time she threw a punch. She believed that this man was relatively new to the shelter and didn't know that. Unfortunately for him, he was about to find out the hard way.

'Stop talking,' she slurred, staggering towards him, fists raised. She started to swing, throwing punch after punch. At first, the man tried to dodge but soon realised that she could aim well, even after more than a few drinks. So he began to fight back, a desperate look in his eyes as he tried to push and kick her away.

But Caid kept coming at him, even as she grew tired and clumsy. She was waiting for a moment when she could strike him once and win the fight. A swing at the side of his head with her right arm made him duck. When he stood back up, she used her left hand to strike his chin and send him reeling backwards.

As he hit the floor, the crowd cheered.

Caid spun around and people parted for her. She sauntered through them until she reached the bar at the end of the room and swung herself onto a stool. Reunited with her precious bottle, she took a swig and sighed as she looked down at her knuckles, examining them for any injuries.

'What set you off this time?'

Glancing over her shoulder, Caid saw a young man with sandy hair and brilliant blue eyes walking towards her. Axel. She turned back around and shrugged as he settled onto the stool beside her. 'He tried to take my drink away.'

Axel chuckled. 'You realise how immature you sound, don't you?'

Another shrug. She refocused on her bottle, taking another swig. She'd known Axel for the past year, and in that time, he'd managed to become her closest friend. Somehow, the two of them hadn't yet ended up together, not even for one night like many of the other men and women she got close to. In fact, that was one of the things that set him apart from her other close friend, Vaughn. While Axel was the one she'd talk to about everything, Vaughn was her favourite partner for everything. Whenever she wasn't with one, she was always with the other.

'I think it's time to swap this bottle for something a little gentler,' Axel suggested. 'We're not even halfway through the day yet. You can hit it again later.'

For a second, Caid was ready to argue. But then she sighed and handed him the bottle, leaning backwards as he got up and moved to the other side of the bar. Reaching beneath it, he pulled up a glass and a jug of water. He poured her a glass and pushed it towards her. She picked it up and raised it to her lips, taking a big gulp.

'Want some food as well?' He asked.

She shook her head. 'I'm good with this for now,' she replied. 'I think I might just finish this and go take a nap.'

He nodded and the pair of them were silent as she drained her glass. Putting in back down on the bar, she stood up and told him she'd see him later. Just as she turned around, the sound of glass shattering came from behind her. Whirling back around, she could see Axel still standing behind the bar, the remains of her glass on the bar before him.

'Axel?'

He didn't look up at her. She frowned and took a step back to him. She followed his line of sight to his hand. There were fragments of glass embedded in his hand, mostly tiny pieces but there was one big one, too. Leaning closer, she noticed that something was off about the cuts. It hit her a moment later. There was no blood.

'Axel, why aren't you bleeding?'

His head snapped up to look at her, panic in his eyes. Before she could react, he leapt over the bar and started sprinting for the exit. Cursing under her breath, Caid moved to chase him. She managed to make it out onto the street before she lost sight of him.

She ran for a little while longer, then proceeded to wander through alleyways, searching for him. The only trace she found was a couple dozen glass shards lying in an alleyway without a drop of blood on them.

But who was to say they were from him?