can’t pause for even a breath to check to see if they’re alive or dead. The two females are still cradling their wrists, so the next circle moves in.
Kaazu must’ve ordered that no one shift—it makes for a more visually pleasing routine. I have that going for me at least.
Trish comes at me first. I know because she lands her signature blow—a side kick right into my stomach. I wasn’t prepared for it, so it causes me to go stumbling back. The square beneath my feet tips precariously to the right, leaning the beam above me the same way. My eyes shoot up for a split second, and I see Cliff’s body sliding slightly down.
“Shit!”
I quickly sidestep back into the center, feeling the square rebalance, but I don’t get a reprieve or the time to check on Cliff again, because all four of my troupe members attack, right when I’m distracted the most.
I get a fist to the gut. A kick to the ribs. An elbow strike to the back of my neck. I try to go on the offense at first, gritting my teeth as I force my body to stay in place on the square, but with four against one and me unable to move? Yeah, I get fucking pummeled.
I don’t know how I thought I was going to be able to win this.
I tuck my head against my chest and raise my arms, my knees slightly bent as I attempt to track the four sets of limbs striking with deadly skill. I spin and duck and dodge as best I can, but the troupe is doing its damnedest to knock me off the square, to deliver blow after blow, in hopes that they can take me down.
They’re crowding me like vultures, their feet perilously close to stepping on the square that I’m guarding like a rabid dog. I lift up my knee and slam my heel as hard as I can into the foot that dared to try to step on the corner, making someone howl in pain.
“Bitch!” A powerful punch is delivered right into my mouth, so hard that I’m surprised my teeth don’t fall out. Black bursts of pain erupts in my vision, as copper warmth puddles against my tongue.
“Not such hot fucking shit now, are you, Jetta?” the other female—Susan—snarls.
Fucking Susan. I never fucking liked her.
“She’s isn’t shit. She’s a coward,” another one of them—Arvin—says. “Made us fucking get punished every day you were gone, you know that? You and Heathcliff deserve this. You’re getting your due.”
A kick to the ribs makes me cry out in pain. I try to spin and send out my own kick in retaliation, but someone’s hand shoots out and snags my ankle, pulling my leg right out from underneath me.
Without two legs to stand on, I go flying back, landing painfully on my tailbone with a jarring impact that rattles my teeth. As soon as my ass is down, they pounce like a pack of rabid wolves.
The crowd erupts. It’s so loud that it drowns out the music. It even drowns out the sound of flesh hitting flesh.
The third circle doesn’t wait to join the fray. Now that I’m knocked on the ground, they all just descend on me. Their eyes are wild and crazed, and even though I can’t see their faces, I hear the snarling curses. I feel their hatred. I see how ugly they truly are, even with the pretty masks on their faces.
I manage to curl into the fetal position, tucking my body tight, expecting their blows to start raining down like hail. But instead, they start taunting me, circling around me, only hitting me one at a time.
“Look at you now, Jetta,” one of them says, setting them all off to join in, their voices spinning around me, echoing around the pounding in my ears.
“I bet she remembers her place now.”
“Yeah, she’s remembering that she’s one of us.”
“Born for the stage, just like Master Kaazu always said.”
“Born to kneel, more like,” another laughs.
“Fucking pathetic.”
“Stop,” I beg, trying to cover my ears with my hands, like I can block out the nastiness of their words. “You don’t have to do this…”
But they ignore me, continuing their verbal onslaught. Only delivering a slight hit here and there, just so they can laugh at me flinch.
“Look at her. Didn’t take long to bring her down, did it?”
“She’s not so fucking special.”
“Her stimulant isn’t special either. I can’t wait for her to watch him die and know