Killed Killers (NaNoWriMo 2015)

Chapter Nineteen

    Ere watched as Gem stood in front of her with his feet spread slightly and his fist up lazily in front of him, like he wasn't sure that he was actually going to have to use them. They began circling each other, and Ere had to resist the shiver that was creeping up her spine because of Gem's gaze.

    She watched him closely, waiting to see a sign that he was going to attack. She was sure that he was going to hit first, and Ere knew that she was better on the defense than the offense.

    A second later, she saw the muscles in his chest bunch together, and he lunged for her with his whole body, thrashing his arms carelessly around him. Ere easily dodged it, sticking out one of her feet and allowing him to trip himself on it. He stumbled, looking slightly surprised that she had been able to dodge his attack, but she didn't let him straighten back up for another one. She jumped at him, her whole palm slamming into his back and propelling him forward a ways, still bent over. She backed off, suspicious that he would see the attack coming the second time around. He straightened up and turned around to face her. He didn't look at all tense or worried, in fact he looked like he was enjoying getting beaten up by Ere.

    She crouched lower, widening her stance and narrowing her eyes at him. He moved so fast this time that she could barely keep track of him. His fist zipped through the air right next to her face, and she barely had enough time to dodge it as she felt the wind from his blow pass by her face.

    She widened her eyes in shock and satisfaction, knowing that he was actually going to put up a fight. Before she could make a move on the offensive, he lunged at her again, and his blow connected. It was weak, and it hit off target because Ere had tried to dodge, so it didn't inflict any real damage, but it got the point across to her that she needed to pick up the pace if she was going to make it out of this fight feeling any better than she was sure Tanya was going to feel in the morning. So far, there had not been a single take down with out blood or some one ending up out cold.

    She expected his next attack, dodging the fist that he was throwing at her face this time, and ducked under his swinging arm, sending a hard fist at his stomach. She connected, but it did about as much good as it would have if she had been punching a brick wall. He didn't seem at all affected as she spun out of his arm span. He stood there, looking at her with mild amusement, and she felt her nerves flaring with anger. Keep cool. You can't afford to lose your cool or you're going to end up getting seriously hurt. She chided herself, cursing under her breath.

    He moved with incredible speed towards her a second time, but she was ready for the fist that he threw at her face. She ducked under it and spun around, just in time to see his second hand barreling towards her stomach. His fist connected, and she was thrown off of her feet. She skidded a few feet across the floor, coughing violently. He's coming at you again! Get on your damn feet! Her mind screamed at her, and she ignored the pain as she scrambled back to her feet, still wheezing out unsure breaths.

    Gem was walking slowly towards her, this time not even pretending to think that he needed to hold his hands up to protect himself. Ere saw her chance, and lowered her stance, holding her fists up in front of her and glaring at him. She waited for what felt like hours as he took slow steps towards her.

    Wait for it, wait for it, NOW! Her mind screamed at her, and she lunged suddenly at his face, throwing her arm forward with as much force as she could. Her knuckles slammed into his right cheekbone, and his eyes widened, obviously surprised that she had attacked him first this time. She didn't give him a chance to recover, knowing that if she did she was going to lose this fight. She pulled back her throbbing fist and threw a second quick punch at his face, hitting his temple. His eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped to the floor.

    Ere stood still for a few seconds, in shock. Her mind churned with what she had done, and she slowly looked down to where Gem was at her feet. As soon as she saw his limp form on the ground, her mind kicked back in, and she dropped to the ground right next, horrified at what she had done.

    "Oh my god, Gem! Are you okay?" She turned him over, so that she could see his face. There was a purple bruise forming on his cheek, and Ere could see the shape of her knuckles in the skin of his cheek .

    "Are you okay??" She was becoming hysteric, unsure how she could have done this to a person.

    "Move back hon. We need to take him to the infirmary until he wakes up, but he'll be fine after that." Ere heard Casey's voice above her, but her mind was descending too quickly into a panic for her to listen to what she had heard.

    "Oh my god!" She whispered, clinging to the collar of his shirt, her knuckles turning white.

    "Ere! Move back, now." Cara's commanding voice took Ere by surprise, snapping her out of the panic that she knew had been about to consume her. She sat back, and watched numbly as a pair of men came in and put Gem on a stretcher before taking him out of the room.

    "Next group! Oh, and anyone who has already gone can go home. We have so many injuries that I honestly don't think it's a good idea for us to keep going after the sparring is done." Casey called out from where she was standing in the corner of the room, now looking really bored.

    "Come on, let's go." Cara said, coaxing Ere to stand up. She got to her feet slowly, still in shock. The rush of energy that had come with the imminent danger was gone, and her legs felt like they were going to give out. She allowed herself to be led out of the little metal shack and into the grassy clearing.

"It's okay, he wouldn't have knocked you out anyways. He's like that; he won't win when it involves causing someone that he likes pain. It's okay, Ere." Cara soothed, and Ere felt her nerves slowly being calmed.

"But that just makes me a worse person for doing it to him." Ere whispered back, knowing that she was going to lose and too tired to come up with a better retort.

"No, it just means that you had the sense to not let the fight drag on forever and ever." Cara huffed, clearly not in the mood to fight. They continued in silence back towards the castle, and Ere refused to take her eyes off of the ground. She wasn't sure that she wanted to be a part of this training if it involved hurting other people. Not that she wanted to be part of this training anyways, she convinced herself, but especially not if it involved all this pain.

"It's not usually like this." Cara said.

"What?" Ere asked, not really listening.

"The training. It isn't usually violent like this." Cara seemed to read Ere's mind.

"Okay. Thanks for letting me know." Ere replied dully, not sure whether to believe Cara or not, and regardless, whether she should care.

"No problem." Cara muttered, and then they went back to silence.

Five minutes later, Cara led Ere up the last steps to her room, and Ere stepped quietly inside as Cara held the door open for her.

"I'll bring lunch up, if you want it." Cara tilted her head, asking in her own way if Ere wanted it.

"No thanks." Ere wandered around  her bed, suddenly extremely tired.

"Okay. I'll come get you for dinner then. See you." Cara left, and Ere heard the door click again, signaling that it had been locked.

They don't even trust me to stay in my own room but they trust me to get into a fist fight with one of their members. These people need some serious reprioritizing. She thought to herself, furrowing her brow. She went to her dresser, pulling out a pair of sweat pants and a short sleeved shirt and she went to the bathroom to change. As soon as she was done with that, she lay down on her bed, and allowed herself to drift off to sleep.

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Words remaining: 13,748