Defect - By Ryann Kerekes Page 0,51

first move. I use their indecision to my advantage and sprint for the ropes. I run blindly through the darkened gym, and within an instant, I hear their footsteps pounding behind me.

By luck, I run straight into a rope and immediately begin pulling myself up. My sliced hand screams in protest, but I ignore it and keep climbing. I’ve made it about halfway up when I feel the rope sway under the weight of another body. I look down. Bryce is climbing up after me. He grabs for my foot, and I kick his hand away and keep climbing. I’m almost to the top, with nowhere to go. Trapped. I have no idea why I thought it would be a good idea to climb.

Bryce reaches for my ankle and doesn’t play around this time – he gives it a hard tug. I slip down several feet, until I’m nearly on top of him, but I don’t lose my grip. We struggle with each other, but neither of us wants to fall from this distance, so we hold on and begin to slide down together.

When my feet reach the floor, Drew is already waiting for me.

“Well that was stupid. You may have climbed a tree to get away from the wolf, but that won’t work here. We can both climb, too.”

I remember another strength of mine in that moment: I don’t have testicles. I grab Drew’s shoulders and bring my knee up into his groin with every ounce of strength I have.

He doubles over, releasing a hiss of air between his teeth and falls to the ground. I watch him roll on his side in pain. He won’t be getting up any time soon. I turn to face Bryce. He takes a step closer, wiping the sweat from his hands onto his pants. I notice that my hand is damp too. I look down at my cut hand and see warm blood pooling in my palm. I tore it open climbing the rope. And now that I know it, I can smell the blood. Salty and stinging. It makes me woozy.

I struggle to get myself under control as Bryce comes closer. Drew is still down on the ground, grunting. If I can just get close enough to kick him too and get him onto the floor, maybe it will be possible to win this match.

“Make her suffer, Bryce,” Drew calls through clenched teeth.

Bryce springs at me. I don’t even have time to protect my face. His fist slams into my eye. The darkness closes in around me, the room tilts and spins. I stumble a few steps, and Bryce is on me again, kneeing me in the back, right in the kidney. I buck forward and drop to my knees. He brings his hand violently across my face, and I feel a smear of blood where his hand was. I fall to the ground, and he kicks me in the stomach until I curl into a ball, coughing and sputtering for air.

I try to pull myself back up, and he brings his foot back and kicks me full on in the stomach again. I fall flat on the floor. This time, I stay there.

Chapter 19

I miss the rest of the fights. When I wake up, I’m in my bed. My hand is bandaged up, but I can see red seeping through in the center of the bandage. The dorm is empty, and judging by the light in the room, it’s late morning. I crawl down the ladder from my bed, and the aches and pains in my back and ribs make it difficult to walk. I cross the room to the sink and splash cool water on my face with my undamaged hand. The face looking back at me in the mirror changes a little more each time I see her. I have a deep gash in my lip, and my eye is swollen and bruised.

I limp back to bed and crawl slowly up the ladder, one rung at a time. When my head hits the pillow, I fall almost instantly back to sleep.

When I wake up, Sam is perched over me, looking worried. Apparently she’s been trying to wake me up, calling my name and shaking me for several minutes.

I prop myself up on my elbows. “I’m okay, really.”

“You need to eat. You already missed breakfast, come to lunch with me.”

“No. I just need rest. I’ll come to dinner, I promise.” I don’t really feel hungry, but mostly I don’t