*Gasp* Look at that! I posted a new chapter in the same week! It's a friggin miracle I tell you! But in all honesty, I love you guys so much, and thank you times a million for being so patient with me. You all rock something fierce.
All of generation one was restless the next day. When Luna and Judith went down into the cafeteria to get breakfast they were greeted almost immediately by Raoul who stalked right into Luna's space and stared her down. She bristled, her fingers tightening into fists filled with sharp fingernails.
"Talk shit now, little bitch."
Instead of words, Luna snarled deep in her throat and cracked her knuckles, her teeth baring between her lips. Raoul's friends snickered at the animal like behavior, but all the sensible ones skittered away from her.
"Whoa, whoa, what the fuck, Raoul, back off!" Judith snapped. "She didn't do anything to you!"
"Aww, little deaf girl's scared to say anything on her own now huh?"
"What the fuck is going on?" Judith demanded as she maneuvered herself between Luna and Raoul. The hulk of a teenager was trying to tower over Judith to get into Luna's space and Luna herself was all but foaming at the mouth to tackle him and rip his vocal cords out with her bare hands.
"Check the list, stupid whore," Raoul snapped.
Luna lunged and tried to clock Raoul in the face with her fist but Tau snagged her around the middle and hauled her away, Luna viciously protesting. She kicked at Tau, trying to get her to let go, but Tau had the jump on her, plus Luna didn't really want to hurt her roommate. When Tau restrained her she twisted Luna's shoulders and pointed her towards a wall with a piece of paper taped to it. Luna stared at it blankly for a second, and Raoul sneered, "What, stupid little hick bitch can't read?"
"Raoul, crawl back under the rock from where you came from and go fuck yourself, alright? Christ, the girl just woke up." Tau glared at him and though Raoul was still her better in height and weight, she was more imposing physically than Luna, enough to get Raoul to shut up for a split second at least. Her wild mane of hair swished as she flipped him off and turned back to the paper that Luna was now reading in earnest.
It was a list of all the generation one kids names paired together. Judith's was paired with Leland and Luna's was next to Raoul's. She scanned the list to find Mal's and saw him paired with Simon. She turned back to Tau with her brow furrowed.
"What the hell is this?" she growled, signing simultaneously. Since becoming roommates, Tau and Leland had begun to pick up on her sign language a little bit but for the most part words were still essential to their communication.
"Shit, that is today isn't it? Damn," Tau cursed. "Jenner's gonna pit us against each other in the cage. His last little breakthrough was finding out that adrenaline has an effect on the infection."
"The cage?" Judith asked.
"The basement turned arena," Leland supplied. "It used to just be for exercise or the occasional fight for people to let off some steam. Being pent up in a steel box day after day can make people go crazy. It was a way to cope with things…but now it's become…."
"A show," Luna guessed. She rounded on Raoul and stalked towards him. "Guess this means you and I are gonna fight."
"No, it means I'm gonna wipe the floor with your face and even your little handler Mal won't recognize you by the time I'm done." His eyes were almost murderous but Luna only smirked. She felt the channeled anger from generations of Dixons who had never rolled over in their lives, and the vicious, spiteful temperament of her mother flowing through her simultaneously. She was gearing up to spring, a rough, rumbling growl grating through her throat. Hot blood roared through her ears, pounding against her skull, urging her forward.
A hand fell on her shoulder. She wouldn't have heard the steps coming up behind her, and no one had warned her of the approach. She spun and violently tried to strike who had grabbed her, her arm flinging up, but a hand snatched her wrist and with a grip like iron, held her back.
"Not. Yet." Mal's eyes were blazing and his teeth were gritted. "Don't give him the satisfaction!"
Luna could read his lips but her brain was struggling to comprehend. Satisfaction had nothing to do with it. It was respect, power, hierarchy. If she did not defend herself amongst the group, they would come for her.
"You'll get your chance tonight!"
That cut through the roar of blood pounding through her brain. He was right. She would get her chance, and she would use it to humiliate Raoul, and to hurt him so badly that he would never ever look her in the eye again. She'd kill him if she had to.
She jerked her wrist out of Mal's grip. She tried to storm away but Mal caught her by the shoulder one more time.
"You need to eat," he told her. He tilted his head at Judith who maneuvered towards the pair of them.
"He's right, Luna. If you really are gonna fight, you need every advantage you can get. Eat before you go to work." Judith signed this to her sister who shakily managed to reply.
"I have the advantage already," she replied, mouthing this to Mal as she walked away. Mal watched her go, Tau following close behind as Mal turned to Raoul.
"Well that was real pretty," Mal sneered. Raoul might have been three or four inches taller and outweighed him but he still would have been in charge, even if he didn't have the gun.
"Aww, what's the matter Mal, I make you have to tell your bitch to heel?" Raoul spat at his feet. "Someone had better put a muzzle on that thing. But that's right, you like 'em rough don'tcha?" Raoul didn't see it, but Leland did as he watched his friend closely. Leland saw the microsecond flash of emotion go through Mal's eyes. That slip of control that revealed the writhing soul underneath.
"What's the matter, Mal, can't get any normal girls so you go for the fucking psychopaths? I didn't realize you were that desperate. Christine, did you realize he was that desperate that he's chasing fucking rabid tail?"
Christine snickered and leaned against the wall and preened like dove and ran her fingers through her thick dark hair. "It was bleeding obvious on the run. Why don't you just haul her off and fuck her, Mal. Isn't that what you usually do? But make sure she loves you first, so you break her rabid little heart, and then maybe she'll finally kill you."
"Why don't you just come out and admit that when I turned you down you started sucking every cock that would hold still, Christine," Mal sneered. He turned his back on her, not giving her the time to say anything else and went back to Raoul. "I don't care what you do, Raoul. Not really. If you get eaten in the arena tonight, it won't be anyone's loss, except for Simon's and even then I think he'd be a tiny bit glad. And as for me and Luna, she might be wild, but at least she can think for herself and doesn't have to be told how to fucking breathe." At this point Mal was in Raoul's face and the taller teenager actually took a step back away from him. "If you mess with her again, you won't have to listen to me anymore. You won't have to listen to anything but the sound of the birds twittering around your fat skull after I knock you out so hard you'll see the day before the world ended in the whiplash." He gritted his teeth and cracked his knuckles. "So back up. And get out of here. Before I tell Jenner you're late for work."
"Come on bro, let's go." Simon appeared at Raoul's shoulder and hauled him away forcibly. He pushed him towards the door and spoke quietly in his ear before getting him out of the cafeteria whereupon he turned back to Mal.
"I'm sorry. He's pissed because you took Luna and Judith on the run last night instead of us." Simon's eyes were apologetic, but there was an edge to his words too. "Why did you take them instead of us?"
Mal shrugged his shoulders. "I needed their skills in the field. They've had more outside exposure than any of us. And Luna's eyesight is three times as sensitive as ours, even at night. She proved to be invaluable."
Simon nodded. "Alright, Mal. And hey, don't let what he says go to your head, alright? He's just an asshole."
Mal nodded and clapped Simon on the back. "I know man, I know."
They parted ways and Mal also left the cafeteria this time with Leland on his heels. He wasn't surprised. Leland was one of the shy, quiet ones, the ones who always was able to discern things most people didn't, because he spent so much time watching everybody else. After they passed a few of the adults in the halls and found a quiet intersection Leland cornered him.
"What the hell was all of that about?"
"What was what?" Mal asked coolly.
"Oh Jesus Christ, Mal, don't give me that bullshit. Everything from last night up until just now. Last night you were practically hanging on Luna and this morning you're jumping in to rescue her from a bully. What the hell is going on with you? I thought you said no more screwing around with the new girls!"
Mal rolled his eyes. "Give it a rest, Mother," he drawled. "Relax, Leland. There's nothing going on with me and Luna, alright? Nothing besides the fact that Milton and Jenner made her my responsibility, and the longer I can keep her out of trouble, the better off it is for everybody, ok?"
Leland didn't buy it. "Bull. You are chasing her, just like Raoul said." He crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't give a shit, alright? Not really. But Jesus, the kids haven't been this riled since Adam and Ricky died." Adam and Ricky had been Leland and Tau's previous roommates. Adam had been killed down in the tunnels on a run after a lurking Walker had gotten a hold of him. Ricky, Tau's closest companion at the time, had been killed in the cage; sustaining a scratch from a Walker that Jenner had forced him to fight. Needless to say, that death had blown over about as easily as a class five tornado, and it had only just been in the past couple weeks that the kids had settled back down. And now here was Luna, tearing the place apart with every flash of her eyes and every growl in her throat. To be honest, Leland really didn't care. If Mal wanted to be one of the last remaining people on earth that got STDs from whoring around with any girl he could get his hands on, fine by him. But Luna was crazy. Luna wasn't the type to just slip off to her room and cry like Christine had when he got bored with her. Mal was playing with fire, and it wasn't just going to be him that got burned when it blew up in his face.
"So what are you saying, Leland?" Mal asked, softening his tone and leaning up against the wall.
Leland rubbed at his eyes for a second before looking up as he combed his fingers through his messy hair. "I'm just saying, leave Luna alone. Don't give her any more reason to be crazy than she's already got."
Mal snickered. "That's pretty rich, coming from you. Word has reached my ears that you and Judith have been spending a lot of off time hours together."
Leland looked affronted. "So what? I'm just showing her around."
"Oh I'm sure you're showing her around alright. Around all the security cameras to the best spots to cop a feel."
"Mal, seriously. If you thought I was that lucky I should just take my chances on the outside."
Mal's eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me that you've been listening to all that crazy talk from the two of them."
Leland shrugged. "You don't think we're strong enough to make it?"
Mal shook his head. "Hell no. Most of them don't even know how to aim a gun correctly, let alone survive without food and water being handed to them. Most of them wouldn't last a week on the outside."
"Luna and Judith would," Leland said firmly. "And they could teach us."
Mal held back his sigh. Leland had been one of the rare few who had been snatched off the streets like Luna and Judith had been. He'd been on a solo supply run looking for food or somewhere safe to shelter when Jenner's men had found him and had taken him off the streets of what had once been Nashville. Leland had later told him that he had left behind his mother and his older sister, along with a group of other survivors that they had been traveling with for some time. He had thought that his long time friend had finished grieving the loss of his freedom and family and had accepted his life here. Apparently those dreams had been awoken again thanks to the presence of Luna and Judith. He honestly didn't blame him. He couldn't pretend and say he had never wished for a better life on the outside, or at least a life where he didn't take orders from a madman and a frightened henchman.
"Perhaps, but that's not for us to decide. We have to make do with what we have."
Leland shrugged and leaned up against the wall with Mal. "So, you really going to let Luna and Raoul fight?"
Mal gritted his teeth a little. "It's not up to me. Jenner calls the draws."
"You're not even going to talk to him about it?" Leland's brown eyes were a mixture of surprise and concern. "He could kill her, Mal."
Mal snorted. "Oh I highly doubt it. Besides, I wouldn't let it come to that."
Leland snickered. "So you do like her."
Mal shrugged his shoulders. "What's not to like? She's as crazy as they come. She puts girls like Christine to shame."
Leland rolled his eyes and clapped his friend on the shoulder as they started to walk up the hall again to report for work. "She's a challenge is what it is. She's the first girl who hasn't swooned over you and your big gun."
"So the way it works is that Jenner tags us with these special collars that measure things about us physically while we fight. It hurts a little because it pricks the skin for readings in our blood, but it's not that bad. The first round, everybody fights. Second round, the winners of the first fight each other. Then whoever is left standing fights the biters."
"Biters?" Judith demanded, staring at Leland with wide eyes.
Leland sighed quietly. "I know its sick," he agreed. "But he figures that us fighting only each other won't always produce enough of a response. But fighting something like a biter will."
Judith swallowed back the bile threatening to rise in her throat. "He's a monster. Someone should just break his neck and end all of this."
"Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be better if someone did just that." Leland's voice was very soft. He and Judith were in the library waiting for the summons to go down into Jenner's lab before the fights. "You nervous?" he asked, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. Physically they were probably about matched. He outweighed her in muscle by the nature of his sex, but he knew she was faster, and she had experience.
"About what? Fighting you?" When he gave a very small nod, she chuckled a little. "Nah. Not really."
"You know I won't be able to go easy on you, right?" Leland added almost nervously.
Judith rolled her eyes. "As if I'd want you to. I know Luna's the one who comes charging in ready to kill anything moving, but I can handle myself in a fight too. My family taught me how to fight ever since I was able to walk basically. I'm not brawny like Luna, but I'm smarter than I look." She grinned at him a little and he found himself smiling back. The moment was soured when he thought of having to hurt her very soon. She was graceful like a bird of prey, sleek and smooth with potent energy and wisdom shining through her brown eyes. The thought of hurting her, by his own will or not, sickened him. He wanted to be a better man than this.
"Hey. It's gonna be ok," she said to him. She put a long fingered hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly. "I'll try not to hand you your ass too quickly, alright?"
He snickered and rolled his eyes, pushing her hand off of him playfully. "I thought you had Luna-watch while Mal was on shift."
Brown rolled her eyes again as Judith's lips twitched into a smile. "I have it on good authority Mal's on Luna-watch even while he's on shift. Sides, its good for them to spend time together."
Leland's brows knitted together. "How you figure?"
"Oh you can't pretend like you don't know. Tau and I have a bet going on how long it'll take before they start trying to eat each other by the face."
Leland outright laughed. "What's the bet?"
"Tau thinks they'll be together in two weeks or less. I think it'll be a month. If she wins, I'll have to tell her what I really think about you. And if I win, she'll teach me how the solar power batteries that keep this place going work."
"Wait, what? What do you really think of me?" Leland asked, his voice shakily excited.
Judith snickered. "I told you you'd want them to spend time together," she said.
Just then the alarm sounded and all semblance of joking died. Leland took a deep breath in nodded slowly. "Let's go."
"This is degrading. We're fighting like dogs in a ring."
"It's Jenner. He's fucking crazy."
"Someone should say something. Why doesn't Mal say anything?"
"Would you say anything if it was you?"
Whispered, hissing words filled Judith's ears as she kept very close to Luna as the kids shuffled one by one down the hall into the lab where Jenner was running his preliminary tests on them as he collared them with little monitors and sending them back out into the basement. The tension was so thick Judith could taste it on the back of her tongue like bitter poison. She was not happy about the prospect of fighting Leland in the ring, although true to her word she would not go easy on him. It wasn't him she was really worried about though.
"Relax, J. Everything will be fine," Luna signed into her hand as she saw her sister's facial expression.
"What if me and you end up having to fight each other?" Judith signed back as they moved up the hall.
Luna shrugged. "Not like we haven't done that before."
Judith was up first into the lab. She held her head high, refusing to be intimidated by the doctor as she approached.
"Ah, Judith, first time for you and Luna," he noted. He seemed so calm about the whole thing, and yet there was a touch of excitement coloring his eyes, a thinly veiled bloodlust that chilled Judith to the bone.
Judith refused to speak. Jenner handled her relatively gently as he pricked the skin on the side of her neck so blood began to flow. Quickly before it could clot properly he strapped on the collar, tight enough to keep the monitoring pad in place on the wound but not enough to keep her from breathing normally. Still Judith hated it. She was shackled like an animal, like a prisoner. Whoever had said this was degrading was right.
"It will be most interesting to see if you and Luna fight tonight," Jenner commented as he jotted down the readings that were being sent back to the computer from the collar.
"You'd love that, wouldn't you?" Judith growled. "You'd love it if we had to tear each other apart."
Jenner's eyes flashed and a sinister smile toyed with his crooked mouth. "I will not deny I am curious. The two of you are so different physically. Luna has the strength and the ferocity, and you…you have the foresight." He stroked a piece of her hair through his calloused fingertips and she did her best not to flinch in revulsion. She refused to allow him to see that he bothered her.
"Don't ever underestimate me, Jenner." Her voice was shaking, both from fear and barely contained fury. "The last time you and your men underestimated my family you paid a very dear price."
Jenner shrugged. "Not so dear to me, little Judith. In fact, I cared not for the madman Phillip nor his henchmen, Merle. The only thing I cared for was retrieving the prize which your sanctified father stole from me!" His words spiraled into a strangled, hissing snarl. He slammed his desk with his fist and Judith yelped, scrambling back as notebooks and papers went flying. Jenner sprang towards her and Judith launched herself back, kicking against the slick linoleum as she scrabbled for leverage.
"Do you have any idea how many people had to die because of what your father did? Do you? Do you have any fucking idea how many?" Jenner was all but screaming as he struck at Judith. His blow missed as Judith rolled, her shoulder barking into another table. She was out of places to move but this time she didn't have to. Like lightening slamming into the ground, Luna kicked the door to the lab open. With an enraged, guttural cry she threw herself at Jenner, kicking and punching his back and shoulders, snagging one arm around his neck and hauling him away.
"Never touch her!" she screamed, yanking at his hair, clawing at his face, kicking at him with monstrous wrath.
A gunshot rang so loud and in such close proximity that even Luna could hear it. She barked with surprise and scrambled away from Jenner, thinking he was the one who had the gun, but when she twisted towards the sound she saw it wasn't Jenner, but Martinez.
"What the fuck is going on here?" he demanded, his pistol still in his hand, which he promptly leveled at Luna. "Get away from him. Now."
Luna stood up and balled her hands into fists. "Piss ant coward!" she snarled. She should have known someone was watching, making sure no one tried anything.
The door flung open again and this time it was Mal coming through. Luna registered the fact that Mal was already wearing one of the collars and filed the strangeness away for later as Mal spoke. "What the fuck was that about? I heard a gunshot!"
"Why don't you ask your little girlfriend?" Martinez sneered. "Where were you, I thought you were supposed to be keeping an eye on her?"
"Who gives a fuck?" Jenner snarled, getting to his feet and wiping blood off of a cut at his hairline that was dripping down his face. He stalked towards Luna and before anyone could react he had pinned her against the wall by the throat, his forearm pressing down on her windpipe, cutting off her air.
"I've had enough of you. Your kind are the reason society never rebuilt! The damn rebels, thinking they can do whatever the fuck they want just because they've got the stupidity to cloud their judgment, well I'll tell you, I won't stand for it anymore!" His eyes were swirling with madness as he pressed down onto her even as she clawed at his forearm, her nails biting in but doing no good. His brute strength and the lack of oxygen sapped her physical will, but not her mental strength.
"So kill me then. Kill me and be done with it." It was a dare, a bluff, and Mal's heart clenched with icy anxiety at the thought, because the deranged doctor was just insane enough to do it.
"Very well." Jenner redoubled his efforts, squeezing down on her throat, completely cutting off her air supply, choking her.
"Stop it!" Judith screamed. She tried to lunge to get in the way and protect her sister but Martinez grabbed her by the hair and held her down, forcing her onto her knees. She kicked and clawed and cried out but Martinez held on, barely noticing her.
Luna scrambled madly, trying to claw Jenner's face, but the black spots on her vision were turning red. Her chest burned, her brain swam, all the energy in the world couldn't have given her the strength to fight him off. Her eyes began to roll back as her inability to breathe destroyed her brain's ability to function.
"Jenner stop! You need her!" Mal's voice cut through the tension like the sharpest knife through the softest skin.
"There are others!" Jenner snarled, continuing to strangle Luna against the wall.
"Not like her! You know that! I saw your reports, on her and her mother! You need her!"
When Jenner didn't let go, Mal snapped. He leapt across the room, vaulting over a table and crashing into Jenner, knocking him away from Luna. Immediately the girl collapsed onto the floor and didn't move. While Jenner lay temporarily stunned on the floor Mal bent over Luna, quickly rolling her onto her back.
"Luna! Wake up!" he urged, tapping her cheek with his palm, trying to shake her back to consciousness, yet he couldn't see her chest rising, nor the sound of her breath. He tipped her head back with two fingers under her chin and bent down, holding her nose shut gently and slanting his mouth over hers, forcing air from his lungs into hers.
She thrashed, scratching him on the side of the neck as her eyes flew open and she gasped for breath. She coughed, her throat wheezing and her breath jagged, but when her eyes opened, Mal was certain he'd never seen a more beautiful shade of blue.
"Mal?" She did not speak, she signed the letters for his name in the air, her vision still hazy and her fingers trembling, but he could understand.
"Yeah. You alright?"
She sucked down another breath, her throat hurting still but her brain slowly losing most of its cloudiness. She nodded as he helped her to sit up. Nobody else moved, or seemed to be breathing, until the eerie quiet was shattered once more.
"Hey what's going on, they're starting to get restless down there…" Milton's voice trailed off as came down into the lab and slowly took in the scene around him.
"Everything's fine, Milton." Jenner got up to his feet and dabbed at the blood on his forehead with a cloth from inside his lab jacket. "We're all fine, we'll be down shortly."
Milton slowly observed the scene and gave a small nod. "I'll tell them you're coming."
Jenner nodded as he leaned one arm against a table. Milton skittered back out of the lab and Martinez let Judith go who quickly hurried to Luna's side. The two girls began to sign rapidly back and forth even as Mal left them and approached Jenner who had gone back to his table.
"I'll take care of this," Mal said, grabbing the collar and Jenner's notepad off the floor before the doctor could pick it up. "Just go down to the basement. I'll get them there."
Jenner nodded, his eyes still hazy. "You are acting very strange lately, Mal."
Mal shrugged. "Everything's been strange since they showed up."
"Indeed." Jenner wandered off, brushing his way past Martinez who at last sheathed his pistol.
"Martinez go with him," Mal said as he came back over to the two girls.
"Hey, you don't give me orders, punk," Martinez growled.
Fury blazed in Mal's eyes. Something in him snapped. Even he couldn't have really said what it was. He flipped the latch on his gun's holster, and in under a second he had drawn and leveled the weapon straight at Martinez's head. "Get out of here. Before I blow your fucking brains all over this lab."
Martinez's eyes went wide but he didn't move. Mal's voice became a strangled hiss. "I mean it." He cocked the hammer back and flicked the safety off. Martinez bolted out of the lab and it was only after they could no longer hear his steps down the hall that Mal lowered the gun.
"What the fuck was that?" Judith demanded from where she was still crouched over Luna, her hand on her sister's still shaking back.
Mal turned to them and sheathed the gun. "You two aren't the only ones people think are crazy." He snickered and dropped down to a crouch beside them. "Martinez has always thought I was a little unhinged. I was just using it to my advantage."
Luna looked up at him, her eyes still a bit misty, but clearer than they were a minute ago. "What did you do to me?" She was still signing but her movements were slowed, and because of this Mal was able to figure out the meaning.
Now Mal shrugged. "Mouth to mouth resuscitation." His expression broke into a bit of a self satisfied grin. "I brought you back to life, Luna."
Her eyes narrowed almost violently. "Why?" she signed.
Mal looked at her carefully. "Not now," he murmured. "We have somewhere we have to be."
He reached for her to prick her neck and shackle her with the collar but Luna grabbed his wrist and squeezed, stopping him with surprising strength considering she'd been passed out a minute before. She stared him straight in the eye and he swore his heart stopped as he took in those searing cobalt blue eyes. It was like fire pressed to skin, sapphires set to burn, and his brain swam like he'd done a shot of alcohol so strong it was trying to turn his guts inside out. Fire and fury and the beauty of a hurricane raged just beneath her skin and in that one split second Mal wanted nothing more than to let her lay waste to him in whatever way she thought best.
"Why?"
He was still watching her so intently it was hard for him to answer, but eventually he found his words. "If I promise to tell you later will you let go?"
She nodded and then released his arm. He tipped her head back again and pricked her skin, quickly fixing the collar around her neck, his stomach squeezing uncomfortably as he saw the bruises from Jenner's grip already rising to the surface of her skin.
He helped her get to her feet and quickly scratched down the readings the collar was sending before setting the paper aside and leading them out of the lab down the corridor to another set of stairs.
"You two will be some of the last to fight. I arranged it that way on purpose, but it'll give you a chance to recover. I suggest you use it," Mal said with a nod to the two of them.
"Is it always boys against girls? That's not much of a fair fight," Judith asked as he took them down the staircase and through another key coded door that was already unlocked.
"It's randomized. The computer spits out the pairings. I'm fighting Simon tonight."
Judith nodded and stuck close to Luna. The deaf girl's first few steps were shaky but the more deep breaths she took the steadier she felt and by the time Mal was leading her into the holding room that was outside the actual basement itself, she felt clear and in control. All except for the fury that was rising through her skin. She hated it, but she was glad she had a chance to fight tonight, to beat wholesale ass and give someone as much hell as she possibly could. The fact that it was Raoul just made it even better.
"The way it works is very simple," Mal explained as they crowded into the room with the other test subjects. "One on one fights. You win when you knock the other person unconscious. There are no rules beyond the fact you're not allowed to tap out."
Luna nodded and then turned to the sheet of paper that was hanging on the wall on the door that would lead them into the basement itself. The paired names were listed with numbers and this she assumed was the order in which they would fight. Next to this door was a broad window where they could see over the heads of the adults that were crammed around the 'ring' of the cage in which they'd be fighting. Luna glanced back to the list on the door.
"You're up first," she noted, turning back to Mal.
He nodded. He stripped off his gun and placed it in a safe that was resting on one of the shelves, spinning the lock shut tight. Simon approached him and they lightly bumped knuckles. Luna was pleased to see there was only a shared sense of force and unwillingness between them, not bloodlust or anger.
A whistle sounded and the door unlocked. Mal and Simon walked through and the door immediately slammed shut. The basement was lit with unshaded light bulbs on strings hanging in various places from the ceiling. Mal and Simon parted ways to opposite sides of the ring. There was a brief pause and then another whistle sounded. Luna's heart slammed in her throat in excitement. She had long since wanted to see Mal fight without the weight of a gun or his position of authority to back him up.
Mal flew from his corner, coming out fast and furious, immediately putting Simon on defense. Their fists flew wildly as they closed, parted, and danced around each other, their feet light and swift on the dusty floor. Mal cut a corner and came close enough to spin and roundhouse Simon with a solid kick straight to the jaw, sending the other boy flying back into the wall of the cage. If it had been Luna, she would have pounced the split second her enemy was down, as her mother had taught her to do, but Mal danced back and let Simon get up. Blood was leaking from the side of his mouth but he deftly wiped it away.
The next time they closed, Mal took a blow to the ribs, staggering backwards with a very pained expression. He forced himself up, pushing himself back into the ring, fists up, sweat pouring down his face. He looked determined, but lacked the fire Luna had seen in him back in the lab when he'd threatened Martinez. She was fascinated and revolted all at once.
It took quite a lot longer than Luna would have expected, but eventually Mal wrangled Simon into submission, landing him in a chokehold and squeezing until he went limp. He let go and Simon sprawled to the floor. Even from here Luna could see his chest was rising and falling. Both boys had lost their shirts in the fight and they were both streaked with blood, sweat, and dust, but Mal lifted his head in triumph and shot a look back towards the holding room. Luna met his gaze measure for measure and signed something to him but he didn't know what it was.
The fights continued until finally it was only Leland, Judith, Luna, and Raoul pacing around the room. When the whistle blew again Luna hugged her sister tightly and quickly signed "Give him hell," before letting her go.
Luna stood plastered to the window to watch her sister fight. It had been a long time since Judith had been in a match that didn't involve weapons or leverage of any kind, and Luna knew from painful first hand experiences that although Judith looked fragile like a slender bird, that she was anything but easily breakable. Judith was an ambush predator, and Luna never grew tired of waiting and watching for the moment she would strike.
Judith and Leland circled each other slowly and warily. Leland tried to close but Judith dodged out of his way, lightly bouncing on her toes and the front portion of her feet. Leland swung a fist towards her but Judith dodged and skittered back, making Leland grimace with frustration. Luna snickered. Judith was baiting him. She was inviting him to get closer and closer until she had the perfect opportunity to strike.
They danced round and round again, Leland never landing a single blow on Judith. The circle they wove was dizzying, even to Luna, and she could only imagine how Leland must have felt trying keep up with Judith's furious pace. She could practically see him snap and lunge blindly. He flung himself at Judith, and that was when she struck.
Like a viper striking at prey many times larger than itself, Judith slammed Leland with her fists, in the back of the neck, in the mouth, in the ribs, in the temple, and a very solid kick right to the knee. When Leland buckled to the floor, groaning in severe pain, that was it. Judith pounced, throwing her long limbs all over him and wrangling him into submission, pinning him straight to the floor of the ring and squeezing his neck until Leland's eyes closed. She let him go and stood over him, chest heaving for air while Milton slipped into the ring and splashed a little water onto Leland's face to revive him, as he had done with all the other test subjects who had been punched, kicked, thrown, beaten, or strangled into unconsciousness. As soon as Leland's eyes were open Milton pulled him out of the ring and Judith followed at his beckoning.
Luna turned to Raoul, her hands clenching into fists. "You ready to get your ass handed to you?"
He sneered at her and spat at her feet. "You're going down little hick bitch."
The whistle sounded and the door swung open. They walked out side by side and Luna's heart was pounding so hard in her chest it almost hurt, but it wasn't from fear. It was from exhilaration. As soon as they stepped into the cage and parted ways, she looked up into the faces of the crowd watching her. Most of them she didn't recognize, but their collective energy flowed through her and riled her like a rattlesnake that's had its hiding rock kicked over. These were not people, these were animals, just like her, and that knowledge that they disregarded their petty moral sentiments both invigorated and reviled her in the same measure. They longed for bloodshed and pain, for the thrill of battle and the sweet release of victory from the strength of muscle and sharpness of teeth. The wolf inside her woke and arched its back as she faced Raoul. Her mouth was open and her teeth bared as she waited with baited breath. The whistle's piercing shriek was loud enough for even her to hear, and as soon as she did, she moved.
The ring exploded in a fury of fists, clothing, limbs, and flying hair. Luna crashed into Raoul and they closed like a pair of male cougars fighting for a female. Wolverine like screams erupted from Luna's throat as she tore at Raoul, unleashing all of her pent up rage and fury. All of the anger and hate of her situation, the helplessness of being trapped down here, being made to do things she despised, under the thumb of her mortal enemy, the pain and worry for her family, the inexplicable frustration of her ever changing relationship with Mal. She let it all out as she pounded Raoul into a living oblivion.
His size afforded him a small advantage however. He managed to get his arms around her wrists and he kicked her legs off of him and with a violent twist he flung her off of him, sending her crashing into the wall. Her back exploded with pain as stars spun around her head as she coughed, the force of the blow having kicked the wind out of her lungs. Her throat clawed with pain as she gasped for air as she struggled to get up.
Get up Luna. Get up right now, them sons of bitches are after you! They're gonna get you, Luna, they're gonna rip you limb from limb, get up!
Her father's years of relentless training pounded in her head. She rolled out of the way at the last second as Raoul came in for a kick. She scrambled, twisted, and got up to her feet, throwing herself blindly out of his path. Still gasping, she turned on her heels and faced him. He was running for her and instead of bracing for the impact ,because she knew she wouldn't have been able to take it, she used the combination of his momentum and her own to send her flinging out of the way to the opposite side of the ring. She was on her feet and facing him before he had even turned around completely and now she kicked it into high gear, launching herself at him.
They closed and she tore four bloody lines down the side of his face and neck with her nails while her other hand shot up and grabbed the back of his head. She interlocked her fingers and pulled her head down as hard as she could while her knee came up. She couldn't hear it, but she could feel the sweet, sickening crunch of bone as his nose broke across her knee. Blood poured over her pant leg but she pressed her advantage even further. She stomped on his foot, trying her best to break his toes, but his hand grappled with her and managed to grab the side of her hair. He pulled with ferocious strength and she howled with fury at the pain stabbing her in the side of the head.
He swung her by the hair and tried to fling her off but instead she tore her nails down the side of his arm, struggling to hang onto him. She toppled to the ground and kicked as hard as she could, landing a fierce blow to his shin. He fell onto her, pinning her down, and now frightened survival instinct fear roared through her.
Now it was her mother that spoke inside her head, her green eyes hard and her face uncompromising as she crossed her arms and her foot pressed down into the side of Luna's face, holding her to the ground. Someone who loses their feet dies, Luna. You see it in the wild, and don't think for an instant that anyone will show you mercy if you fall before them. Because they might, but it only takes one of them that won't to kill you.
Luna thrashed with all her might, Raoul's weight all but crushing her. He sensed her impending panic and doom, his face twisting into sneering conquest and salacious victory. She hated him more than she ever had before as his hands came up to try and wrap around her throat.
She flung her head up and sank her teeth into the juncture of his neck and shoulder and bit down with all the force she could muster in her jaws. Raoul was so close that his scream reached her at full volume, rattling around her brain like a bullet fired into a steel box, but still she did not let go. She squeezed her teeth as tightly as she could, biting through an entire chunk of his flesh until it came free and blood gushed into her mouth. She choked on the vomit that rose in her throat at the disgusting taste and feel of the chunk of meat in her mouth. She wrenched her head back and spat, clearing her mouth but on the rebound she came up punched Raoul as hard as she could.
He crashed to the floor of the ring and now she pounced on him. Before he could even so much as raise his arms in defense she was hitting him with her fists, over and over again, each strike sending pain like a bolt of lighting through her hands and wrists. Blood bloomed like water spilling down a fall over Raoul's face as his eyes clouded with haze. She saw the light leaving his eyes and she swore in that one split second the world had never been silent and all the sounds she'd never known came to welcome her through the gates of hell. Her blood sang with the rhythm of the hunt and the rush of battle and a sweet, fierce, terrible joy spilled through her veins. Is this what her family had warned her about? She could never have said no, not even if she wanted to.
She didn't stop punching until Milton rushed into the ring and dragged her away by the shoulders and hair that by now was matted with blood. "Mal take her!" Milton panted as he pushed and shoved Luna out of the ring and into Mal's chest.
She jerked back and disentangled herself from him and stared up at him and he stared back as her chest heaving wildly with the rush of the fight. He knew she wasn't really aware that she probably looked as gruesome and as frightening as a Walker. All she knew was that she had won, soundly; that she had proved to everyone why she shouldn't be messed with, why she was dangerous, why she should be feared. He should have been afraid of her. He shouldn't have offered her his hand, he shouldn't have wanted her to take it and to come with him. He had just seen her do something so savage that any human in their right mind would be afraid of her.
But he wasn't. He stood in awe of her, of the way she fought with brutality and violence so beautiful it hurt, because in all of that violence was something so honest and pure and unimaginably strong that he could not turn away from her. There were only two things he was afraid of; never knowing what it was like to possess all the power and freedom that she did, and her not accepting his hand. His heart thudded with both ecstatic joy and anxious anticipation when her fingers entwined with his, squeezing him and smearing his palm with blood. He pulled her through the crowd and vanished into the darkened hallways of the CDC, determined to be alone with her, to find out who she really was, and how it was she had managed to turn his world upside down in such a short amount of time. And most importantly, how it was she could do the things she could do, how it was she broke down the barriers that seemed to cage the rest of the world and keep them weak and helpless. He wanted that strength and fire more than anything else in the world, and he knew now the only place he was ever going to find it was in her.
RedneckBunny: Wow... Ivy has had a pretty gruesome last 20 years. But this was probably one of my favorite chapters so far. Glad you had the time to write and post! I'm sure I speak for every loyal reader when I say I understand sometimes life gets in the way of your posting schedule. It's not like you get paid for doing this anyway so we can't force you to stick to a certain time frame. This isn't Youtube :-P
Awesome! I'm so glad you like Ivy, in Wildflower's sequel, I definitely wanted to explore Benjamin a little bit more, along with who he might have known in the past, and Ivy was such an unlikely person to match with him that I thought it fit perfectly, but I guess I'm just like that xD. *gives you huge writer hug* I'm so happy that you guys understand about the whole life thing. I really want to post timely for you all but sometimes shit just happens. It's definitely not Youtube, but its one of the things that makes me happiest in my life.
Emberka-2012: I like Ivy. It is evident that she has gone through a lot and has long been alone. Strong woman, but still it is better to be with the group. Especially since she met Benji, it is a great godsend for both.
She's definitely had a rough time of it, but I think anybody who has been mostly on their own for twenty years would. Ivy sometimes reminds me of what Michonne might be like if Michonne were totally just stay by herself for too long. Which is to say, slightly unhinged. But Ivy has Benjy now to try and remember what the world Before was like, and human resiliency is an amazing thing. And it really is a godsend to Benjy, because having Ivy around gives him hope like he really hasn't had in a long time.
Brittney: Finally, you're back! I like Ivy, she's an interesting character and her backstory was intriguing. Keep up the great work and please update soon :D
Hah! Yes! I am back indeed! I'm really gonna try and be more timely about posting, because I love you guys to death and I hate to disappoint you. I'm so glad Ivy's getting a good response, I was worried about bringing in yet another OC, so I'm happy she's being met warmly. =D
Jouetdedestin: Yay! Benjy finally got some! Was that his first time? If so, FINALLY! Now we just need to get Rick laid and everyone will be fine! Lol Don't worry about getting updates out on time. School is the number one priority and if you have writers block, it's all cool. I'd rather wait a year for an excellent chapter than wait a week for mediocre one!
Hah, I know right? Finally! Benjy gets a roll between the sheets. Or grass in this case xD. Nah, definitely wasn't his first time. This probably didn't come off as clearly in the backstory, but him and Ivy had a friends with benefits relationship. They'd sleep together every so often, but they did care for each other romantically, but for various reasons they weren't ready to commit to an actual relationship at the time. I know right? Rick, the poor man, he really needs some lovin' too. School definitely is number one in my life (it damn well better be, my GPA is a 3.97) and sometimes because I am so involved with it, it creates writer's block. And I'm the same way, I would rather wait until something's perfect than to put out something that's not my best. Thank you so much for understanding, it means the world to me.