Defect - By Ryann Kerekes Page 0,18

and which direction I’m supposed to go. I see a girl up ahead of me and keep my sights locked on her. Where she turns, I turn; where she jumps, I jump. I think of nothing else and propel myself after her. If I can just keep following her, I hope I’ll reach the end soon.

Somehow, I reach the end of the course. We are the last two to finish. The girl stops at the ring, ducks under the rope to get inside and waits, looking at me. The others are gathered around the ring, drenched in mud and bloody, to watch the fights that happen at the end of the race. They’re grinning like this is the highlight of the night. O’Donovan, Kane and Will are all at the front of the ring, judging the fights, I presume.

“Eve – get in there,” Will says, motioning me toward the ring.

I swallow and wipe the mud from my face with the inside of my shirt. It does nothing to clear my eyes. I part the ropes as I saw the girl do and stand to face her. I size her up. She’s several inches taller than me and much bulkier. Plus, it’s clear she’s done this before. She cracks her knuckles and smiles at me.

“Wait,” O’Donovan says. “Bryce, switch with her,” he calls to a guy standing on the sidelines. I breathe a sigh of relief and head to the ropes to get out of the ring. O’Donovan laughs. “No – you stay put, Sterling.”

The girl scrambles out of the ring, and a guy twice my size maneuvers his body nimbly between the ropes. He flexes his large hands open and closed. There’s blood on his knuckles. It’s clear he’s already been in one fight tonight. He takes a step closer to me, and his eyes harden.

I look to O’Donovan. He can’t mean for me to fight this guy. He only smiles back at me. Then I look to Will. He looks angry, probably at having his first match up for me overruled.

I try to remember what I know about protecting myself, but my mind goes blank. I bring my hands up to block my face, like Sam told me. The guy, Bryce, is light on his feet and shuffles toward me, quickly closing the distance between us. He reaches out and knocks my hands from my face, then lands a blow on my left temple. Light flashes in front of my eyes, and I blink it away, stumbling, but not falling.

I’m quick to bring my hands back up to cover my face again, but he takes a shot at my side this time, hitting me in the ribs. It knocks the wind from my lungs, and I hear it leave my body in a whoosh between my lips. I grab onto the ropes at the side of the ring for support, gulping down air. Will meets my eyes once and turns to leave. I watch him retreat into the night.

I push myself back from the ropes and turn to face Bryce again. Before I’ve caught my breath, he takes another shot at my face, punching me directly in the nose and mouth. I instantly taste blood and see the ground shift beneath my feet. Blood flows freely from my nose and runs, warm and salty down my chin and coats the back of my throat. Tears sting my eyes. I can barely see, I can hardly breathe, and I’m shaking.

A startled sob escapes my throat, and my resolve crumbles. I can’t do this. I drop to my knees and hold my hands up in front of me, in surrender. “I can’t. I can’t,” I pant, my voice trembling.

They’ve got what they wanted all along. I know they’ve been counting my flaws and revel each time they find another. The smile on O’Donovan’s face exposes his secret – he not only wanted to see me fail, he needed it.

Kane comes into the ring and pulls me up to my feet. When I falter, he lifts me over his shoulder like a sack of flour and heads for the building. “That was pathetic,” he says, as I bounce along his shoulder with each step.

All the other recruits are lined up against the side of the building, being hosed down with giant fire hoses. Kane drops me amongst them, and instantly I feel the cold blast of water smack me in the face. The pressure from the hose blasts into my tender skin,