Good god…what the fuck have I gotten myself into?
The Caninites' grip had become increasingly painful. She could actually feel the costal joints of cartilage separating little by little. Wylie tried her hardest not to breathe knowing that each breath she exhaled the arm that was around her would become more strangulating.
She's like a constrictor. A large snake.
Wylie looked up into the grey-green eyes of her opponent and smiled feeling the trickle of blood work its way from the corner of her lip and down over her chin.
She's punctured one of my lungs…Wylie let out a raspy chuckle. Well I sure as fuck am not going to the doctor that fixed that problem again.
Wylie leaned back pushing at the large fleshy arm that was curled around her torso trying to buy herself some breathing room and maybe wiggle out.
Yeah, fat fuckin' chance.
She noted the fact that her vision was starting to blur around the edges and that there were spots appearing in her vision.
Gotta' get outa' here…suffocating.
Grabbing her shiv she curled her hand around it tight enough to hear one of the fractures break clean through with an audible pop. The searing pain brought everything into focus. She grinned once again pulling on the already taxed shoulder and pulled the shiv overhead and planted it squarely in the soft vulnerable under scales of the Caninites underarm. The arm momentarily loosened causing Wylie to take a deep rattling breath of air. She coughed immediately pushing at the wounded arm in the long ragged cut. Her opponent taken off guard by this sudden turn of events shrieked exposing a wide mouth full of reptilian needle teeth. The grip of the arm loosened Wylie all the way spilling her unceremoniously onto the floor.
Wylie looked up finally hearing the crowd
"Run, run, run."
She shook her head and doubled over momentarily holding her bruised, and broken ribs as she drew every painful breath, she looked up noting her only weapon jutting out of the flailing arm of the Caninite woman. Wiping her damaged hand under her nose to stop the blood from running into her mouth she looked up and walked over to the Caninite.
"Hey. You. Bitch." Wylie announced around a mouthful of blood before she spat.
Wylie reached past the taller woman's flailing arms and grasped the handle of her shiv with her good hand. She pulled it out quickly with a wet sucking sound. She spun facing the Caninite and looked into her wide salivating maw. She leaned back looking for a weakened unguarded area. Wylie noted the soft under bally scales and reared back plunging the shiv in-between the belly scales right above her navel. She looked up only to receive a face full of burning venomous liquid. Taken off guard she stumbled back sitting squarely on her ass. She wiped frantically at her face fighting to get the gelatinous venom off her face. Back peddling she tried to put as much space between her and the Caninite as possible.
The Caninite reared back filling her venom sacks with another burst of poisonous liquid. Wylie turned aside rolling on the sand floor.
Everything slows down to this moment in time. Will I buy it? Nah, I think I'll fight.
She stood staggering a bit from the lack of oxygen. She looked the other woman squarely in the eye.
"Don't you know, its fuckin' impolite to spit?" She yelled.
Wylie ran up to the taller woman and ripped the siv across her abdominal scales laying her open from hip to hip. She grabbed her shiv with both hands and with a deft movement plunged it into the taller woman's lower jaw effectively pinning her mouth shut.
"There you nasty bitch. Spit now motherfucker1" She screeched into the taller woman's face.
The Caninite's woman's eyes got very round; the look in them was one of disbelief. She smiled almost beatifically . The Caninite pulled a lethal looking iron tipped pike from behind her rubbing the tip against the venom now leaking from the corner of her lips. She silently blew Wylie a kiss and punched the spear through Wylie's shoulder with enough force to pin her to the floor of the sand covered ring. Wylie screeched in agony as the blade bounced off of her collar bone and the poison entered the wound. She lay still feeling her heart hammering against her already battered ribs and mentally mapping the course the poison used as it traveled through her body to her heart.
This is it? I always figured that I would go out in a more glorious way then this, shit. Friggin' poison affecting my mind.
She moved her head listlessly from side to side feeling the point of the iron spike grating against the bone of her shoulder. She tried to make her body rise but she could get no more than a twitch out of both of the shoulders. She looked up noting the Caninite woman closing in, she had pulled the shiv out of her mouth and tossed it aside. It laid partially covered with sand in resting against the side of the ring.
Bye, Riddic….
It was then her mind shut off. Like throwing a switch. All coherent thought was gone.
She placed her feet underneath her using the force of both of her legs to pull the pike out of the ground. She stood staggering to the side; the look in her eyes caused the Caninite woman to take a precautionary step backwards. Wylie laughed, the blood running in a steady stream out of her mouth. She took a faltering step towards the Caninite woman.
Wylie looked into the crowd and then swiveled her head back towards her opponent the silver glint in them held no trace of humanity.
……………………………………………………………………………………………
"My god Lord Marshal. Has she gone insane?" Drysis asked.
Riddick laughed. "No, she has finally learned to survive."
"But my lord she is dying."
"Watch Drysis...see what a real animal can do."
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Wylie grabbed the wooden pike jutting out of her shoulder. She tugged on it experimentally. The metal edge had a hook on it lodging itself deeply in her flesh. She braced both of her hands against the wooden shaft, her blood making it slick. She yanked on it not noting the gush of rich garnet blood that followed it. She yanked on the pike again wrenching it free with a mass of her shoulder flesh attached to the hooked iron end. She balanced the wooden spear in her good hand testing the weight and hefted it up. Moving quickly towards the Caninite woman she buried the tip of the pike into her left temple. The taller woman toppled over with a groan as Wylie held on to the wooden end and followed the taller woman to the ground. Careful to avoid her snapping jaws Wylie stepped behind her and pushed down twisting the pike. The head disappeared into her skull with a sickening crunch as she hefted all her weight on to the slippery handle. Wylie grinned as she felt the pike pin the other side of the woman head to the ground.
Looking up she spotted her shiv and walked quickly over to it wiping her profusely running bloody mouth. She scooped it up having to rest one of her arms on the side of the ring to stop her from toppling over. Grabbing the shiv she paced back to the flailing woman and pulled up her neck, with one deft move she sliced through the tough muscle that held up the woman's head kneeling in a pool of the woman's hastily congealing blood. She sawed through the last of the spinal bone pulling the shiv through the rest of the muscle attaching the head. Pushing herself upright she used the rest of her remaining strength to stagger towards the center of the ring with the gore soaked pike in her hand, the Caninites head adorning the top.
She spat a mouthful of blood on to the area floor she wobbled using the pike for balance.
"Is there any fucker that wants to challenge me?" She yelled blood spattered spittle flying from her lips.
The crowd that had been hushed at the carnage remained silent.
"Good." She whispered as she collapsed into a pool of her own blood.