Chapter 11

My vision blurred and the cheers in the background disappeared, whimpering as I blink my eyes a couple of times to get my vision back. As it adjusted I saw Rachel in front of me raising both her fists into the air while the crowd cheered for her victory, because of the pain I didn't even realize when she let me go. Shaking my head a couple of times to get my bearings back and when the pain subdued, I used my uninjured arm to propel myself up.

Running straight to Rachel and tackled her to the ground, which caught her off guard.

The crowd behind us cheered louder while she thrashed below me; I pressed her down with my own weight to keep her from moving too much but as she continued to thrash, feeling my sides bruise at her repeated punches. With no other choice I punched her on her face straight on, she stopped. Limp below me making the crowd silent. Taking a long and deep breath to steady my beating heart, when it was calm. I got off and sat beside her

"You little witch!" I hear her slur beside me before I could say anything back; she kicked me in the gut making me fall on my butt. Rachel hazily stood up swaying a little while wiping the blood that was dripping from her nose

"You're going to pay for that." She snarled,

I could feel my sweat drip down my forehead getting back up on my feet, clutching my stomach as I even out my breathing; earning cheers from the crowd behind me.

In a blink of an eye; Rachel launched before I could even my breathing, dodging her punch on my right but didn't have enough time to dodge the one on her left. I choked out blood at the impact and could feel the bruise that was forming on my abdomen, but her assault didn't stop there to make things worst; she kicked me by my hip knocking me to the side of the stage. Yelping as I landed on my back and groaned at the pain, rolled to my side to avoid putting pressure on it.

Rachel took this chance to kick my vulnerable body again and stomped my chest, pain exploded throughout my chest as I could feel a rib misaligned. I wheezed as Rachel grabbed me by my throat and lift me until I was dangling in the air, it was already hard to breathe from my rib and Rachel made it worst as she tightened her grip; choking me even more.

Dark spots danced in front of my vision and I was pretty sure, I'm gonna pass out any second from now, grabbing Rachel's arm, gripping it hard, and with my last remaining strength. I used both my legs to kick her in her torso, she yelped in pain and when she loosened her grip on my neck; I took the chance to kick her again on the face. She shrieked causing her to let go of me entirely, I landed with my back again groaning at the new pain that was spreading throughout my already beaten body.

I inhaled a lot of air to save my lungs from collapsing,

'oh god it hurts so badly' I groaned, as I took a few staggering breaths.

The world around me suddenly blurred, my head was spinning really fast and I could feel acid climbing up from my stomach to my mouth. Slowly with sluggish movements and a lot of wincing, I could really feel how my body was, screaming at me to stop moving and just lay on that floor and succumb to the wounds I received, But I was too stubborn to listen and pushed myself up.

Balancing my body at the moment was already hard work, I keep on swaying back and forth shifting my weight between my feet. From a distance I could see Rachel scowling and boiling with anger, which is directed to me, it didn't take long for her to lounge towards my direction… again, pushing all rationality aside. baring her teeth and growled at me like an endangered hyena.

I didn't know what came over me or probably it was just the adrenaline taking effect. My body moved on its own grabbing Rachel's arm and I judo flipped her on the stage, before crashing down to the ground she maneuvered her whole body with the help of both her arms, doing a little spin before using her entire weight to thrust her whole body into my direction.

I could feel my gut colliding with both the soles of her feet, the impact made my body staggered back Rachel then withdraw her knife from its sheathe that was strapped on her thigh and with precision sliced through the air only missing my neck by an inch. The sudden appearance of the knife made my eyes widen and I immediately backed away from her, don't get me wrong the knife was not that long only a good 12 inch with black steel and a sharp tip.

No that wasn't what made me wary of her, I had gotten involved with opponents using knives before.

The real reason why I backed up is that the aura Rachel had around her was the same as that woman, I felt the temperature drop around us causing a shiver to crawl down my spine. Her eyes darken and I could not do anything but stare like my body seemed to be frozen in that particular moment, with another kick to my gut I was down on the floor…again. My body was shaking, I could no longer hear what Dylan shouted since image after image flash through my eyes until it stopped to the very last one.

A woman was there in Rachels's spot a bloody knife in one hand and an evil smile splattered on her face.

'This isn't real' I exclaimed 'it's not real' I repeated covering my ears with my trembling hands, rocking my body to soothe itself 'She's not real!!!'

my thoughts vanished as the sound of the gun echoed through the background, looking up I saw Rachel clutching her right arm to her chest. The knife lay a few feet away from her, she was looking at something behind me her eyes widening with each second. I followed her line of sight only for me to grimace.