Cage (16 page)

“Been waiting for this for years,” he laughed, spitting a fresh burst of
blood onto the mat. “Win or lose, I get to say I punched Bonesaw in the dick!”
He gave me a sideways glance, his cheek puffy from my earlier blow. “I’m the
first motherfucker to do it, right?”

“Yeah,” I groaned, straightening myself up. “Of course you’ve got to go
below the belt to knock me free. Anyone could have done that.”

“Maybe,” he chuckled. “Maybe. That’s the difference between those little
bitches and me, eh? I get the badass in the ring and I
punch his fuckin’ dick
. Almost worked, too! If that had been a
straighter shot, you’d
lick my balls
just to get me to stop beating your shit-stain face!”

“Shall we end this?” I asked, steeling myself for the coming fracas.

“We’re in
your
town, jackass.
You call it, we finish it.”

I lunged into another flung fist, but I knew I wasn’t ready. My footing
was wobbly after the dick-punch. That’s not what I was counting on, though.

He dove clear out of the way but shakily, as if his depth perception was
just a
little
off.

Exactly what I needed to know.

I’d only gotten one good punch in, but I had made it count. With the
puffy cheek clouding the vision to his eye, he’d been just barely off his game
– enough for me to change the flow of our match. I could dictate things
now. As long as I kept reasonable expectations for his unpredictability, I
could force him wherever I needed him.

I could scare him.

He realized this as I dove another fist at him, then another, using my
momentum to carry me around the ring. He dodged and wove beneath or around my
thrusts, crosses, and jabs, but each step confessed his greatest fear now: from
his left side, he could barely see. He knew where I was coming from, but he
couldn’t trust his eyes anymore.

It was when he closed his left eye, relying completely on the right,
that I knew it was close – as long as I stayed smart, the match was
practically over. He was seeing everything slightly off, and I knew that he
could counter
some
but not
everything
of what was coming his way.

I lunged with a punch; he sidestepped.

I delivered a powerful elbow; he dodged.

I feinted a blow and kicked; he weaved.

I threw my arms around him; we fell.

Slamming against the cage wall, I gave him a punishing blow to the gut.
Weakened, he managed a strong jab to my jaw – at full strength, it might
have knocked me out. But I was able to shrug it off enough to bury another fist
into his gut, then another.

Jabberjaw ripped forward from the cage wall; I pulled back. I delivered
a cross into the crippled side of his head again, and his body weight shifted
with the blow. I took the opportunity to slam my sole against his buttock,
surprising and throwing him in front. He whirled around with a devastating fist
in motion; he whipped straight into an undercut that I had lined up. The fist
landed against my face, knocking me sideways but, again, robbed of some power.

Forcing myself forward, I struck upwards with a shin, catching him along
the side of his face. If it had been five minutes before, he’d have caught my
leg in an ironclad grasp and delivered a crippling blow to my balls. I hadn’t
dared
to open myself like that during
the match, but he had lost the upper ground between us.

My opponent staggered to the side, close to the cage wall, and I whipped
back my fist. He immediately composed himself and tried to duck out of the way,
but my whirlwind fist connected, punching him straight in the nose and teeth
and sending him staggering backwards again.

Blood pooled down his lips; if I hadn’t dislodged a couple of teeth, I’d
be almost disappointed.

“You stupid fucking
bitch
,” he
spat, spraying blood towards my eyes.

I quickly wiped my face clean, but he came at me, thrusting a strong jab
into my stomach. I tried to deflect or dodge it, but he landed it before giving
his own, mighty uppercut. I was sent careening backwards, sending an errant bop
towards his head. Jabberjaw ducked beneath it and sprung back up, landing a
strong hook to the side of my face.

He had learned to take some serious damage. By now, I’d hoped to have
already won the match, especially with that last fist to his face. Broken nose
and all, he was
still
coming at me,
and I was already growing tired.

If I didn’t find an opening and defeat him
now
, I was only going to grow sloppier, and he’d come back out on
top.

He threw another couple of blows to me as I was kept on the defensive. I
blocked a few with my forearms, but I could sense that he was dangerously close
to knocking me out.

No rules.

Don’t overthink.

Just react.

Throwing myself forward was, theoretically, a stupid move. But that’s
precisely what I did, lunging a shoulder into him and closing the distance. I
was well within his strike range, and he took advantage of this, jabbing
another fist into my face. But as I did so, I threw an arm around his head,
pulling him close around the back of his neck. In the same movement, I drew his
face down, where my knee flew up into the bloody mess that was his face. He
reeled up and backwards, and I lunged forwards with a hand around his throat.
With some help from my momentum, I lifted him from the ground by his throat,
throwing him up and backwards against the cage wall – lifted just enough
for his head to barely miss the padding.

It felt like he was held up against the cage wall for an eternity. The
moment was frozen in time as he started sliding down, opening his eyes to face
me. My fist was already coming up…

…And it plowed directly into his gut, halting his fall. He clenched at
his abdomen before sinking back down, his feet hitting the floor, and I kneed
him higher up in the chest – close to his solar plexus. Then came another
hook to the weakened side of his face. I stabilized my footing, and then gave a
sweep that dropped him to the ground.

I descended after him, my knee hitting his chest as I gave him one, two,
three strong punches to the better side of his face. His adrenaline couldn’t
save him; his ear was falling apart. I grabbed him and tugged him to his feet
shakily, then threw him sideways against the cage wall.

“I…I give up! I tap out!” He cried out, slapping his hand against the
cage wall.

“No tapouts. Only knockouts,” I reminded him with a growl, grabbing him
by his long hair and wheeling him towards the center of the cage. He stumbled
along with it as I half-dragged him, then let go. He staggered for a moment,
turning around to beg for mercy, but my fist was already in launch sequence.

“Please!”

My knuckles connected with his forehead, and his footing gave out
beneath him. Jabberjaw slipped with the force of my punch, crumpling to the
floor, and I jammed my heel down into his stomach and pressed my weight against
him. My defeated opponent didn’t move a muscle, his hands out at either side.
After five seconds, Vinnie hastily unlocked the cage and rushed in, checking on
my downed foe.

The crowd was going absolutely insane. With my senses returning, I
glanced around, watching spectators cheer with their smartphones up. Darren and
Luke stood at the front, their jaws practically dropped…and then I saw
Saffron
, standing beside them and
absolutely quivering with, what? Fear? Concern? I couldn’t tell.

Oh
boy, I
thought to myself, suppressing a weakened chuckle.
I’m really in for it now.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the New Horizons Cage,” Vinnie finally bellowed
out,
 
grabbing my wrist and throwing
my fist up for all to see, “…the match goes to the reigning veteran,
Booonesaaaw!
”

(
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)

Chapter 19 – Saffron

Pensacola, Present Day

The match was absolutely incredible, and I felt as if I was truly seeing
my stepbrother for the first time. I knew that Sawyer had reinvented himself,
pushing his body into phenomenal shape. I also knew, logically, that he was
seriously
tough
.

But what I saw was way more than that. Sawyer was astonishingly
powerful, and he seemed to just let himself get lost in the fight. When his
face was in sight, his eyes were all but completely glazed over. His complete,
undivided concentration was focused on the other guy, and he didn’t back down.
When he took a hit, he came right back, either throwing his opponent off his balance
or smacking him again.

The other guy was fast. He was able to keep the upper hand for a while,
and he was clearly hard to pin down.
Jabberjaw
,
they had called him. He’d certainly done a lot of jabbering at the beginning
– something about a police raid?

I would have to ask Sawyer about that.

As long as he’ll tell me
, I thought
to myself.

I almost called out his name when he took a vicious punch to the face,
but I stopped myself.
What if I distract
him? What if I’m why he loses?
Instead, I silently cheered my stepbrother
on,
willing
him to win,
willing
him to keep fighting.

And then, at the end, Jabberjaw had started to overcome him – to
win
. I knew that Saywer was rapidly
dropping in stamina, and I wanted to do something – anything.

“Is he going to be okay?” I pleaded to his bodybuilder friend. “There
has
to be something that we can do! Open
the cage! Please,
anything!
”

The man turned to the other guy, the one with the dreads.

“This has gone on long enough, Luke! Listen to the girl! Open the
fucking cage!”

“Dude, I can’t,” Luke protested, holding his hands up. “That’s not the
deal! The deal is, the cage stays locked until someone doesn’t get back up! I
didn’t make the rules up!”

“No, but you sure as hell broke them, didn’t you?” The bodybuilder
grabbed Luke by the scruff of his shirt, right near the neck. He lifted him a
foot up. “You see this girl? That’s his
sister
,
you piece of shit. You’re gonna make her watch this bloodbath? Be a fucking man
and
open the goddamn cage.
”

“Darren…dude, you’re hurting me…” Luke clasped at the bodybuilder’s
wrist, trying to break the hold, but Darren was too strong.

“I will tear off your fucking balls and feed them to you if you don’t
end this travesty
NOW
.”

“Wait…look!” Luke pointed.

“Don’t you try it,” Darren hissed.

“No, look!” I exclaimed, pulling on his shirt.

Darren turned his attention at the sound of my voice, his eyes locked
onto the cage. Sawyer had regained the upper hand, and Jabberjaw was against
the fence, begging for help.

“No tapouts. Only knockouts,” Sawyer reminded him.

He whirled his opponent around and decisively won the match with an
insane
blow to the guy’s face, knocking
him clear off of his feet. The guy hit the ground, and Sawyer jammed a foot
onto his chest, standing tall and proud.

“You just got fucking
lucky
,”
Darren hissed angrily, dropping Luke to his feet. The scrawny rasta guy rubbed
his neck and straightened himself out, and the thin referee with the crazy
thick moustache fiddled with the lock on the cage. Racing in, he inspected the
downed fighter. Sawyer turned to look around at the crowd, and his face landed
on us – and a brief flicker of panic crossed his eyes when he saw me.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the New Horizons Cage,” the referee called out
in his deep, loud voice as he threw Sawyer’s hand up, “…the match goes to the
reigning veteran,
Booonesaaaw!
”

The crowd around us had been boisterous before, but it whipped into a
frenzied throng at that. I covered my ears; Darren stepped close, shielding me
from the insanity of the cheering fans.
This
is what his life is like?
I wondered to myself, a proud smile crossing my
lips.
They’re all here, just to see HIM
fight some guy?

But my pride – and my spirits – plummeted when I heard a
distinct
thump
against the platform.

The crowd slowed down in stages. It took the audience a few seconds for
it to process that the champion had collapsed in the cage, and Darren turned to
Luke furiously.

“Watch her. If anything –
anything
– happens to her, you’re going to have to deal with me…and
God help you
when he gets back up and
realizes you let something happen to his sister…”

Luke gulped audibly, nodding furiously.

Darren gave me a quick
Let me take
care of this
glance and immediately rushed for the gate. Flying up the
stairs, he pushed the door open and dropped to his knees beside the referee.

“What happened?” He demanded.

“I…I don’t know! He just dropped!”

“We need to get him out of here, now. Give me a hand!”

“Which one?”

“I don’t give a damn about
that
one
,” Darren glowered, looking down at the unconscious fighter beneath
Sawyer’s legs, “but we’d better get him too. Bonesaw first.”

I wanted to rush in and hold him, but Luke shook his head.

“No, girl, you gotta let the big guy take care of this.”

“This is YOUR fault, isn’t it? YOU did this!”

“No, no, that ain’t true!” Luke sputtered, looking at me like I was some
hideous monster with gnashing jaws, ready to rip him to shreds. “Look, it was
that other guy in the cage! I didn’t know they had a beef against each other,
alright? I just thought he was a fan! I thought he was just some other fighter
who wanted to throw down with the
legend
,
alright?”

The crowd was calling out now, a cacophony of sound. I couldn’t tell
what was going on – some were booing, others were calling out my
brother’s stage name. The latter started to pick up steam, and soon the entire
throng was chanting his name.

“BONE-SAW!”

“BONE-SAW!”

“BONE-SAW!”

The referee was a thin-looking guy, but he proved himself to be pretty
strong as he helped slide Sawyer onto Darren’s strong back. Holding him in
place, the bodybuilder carried him out of the cage and down the stairs, and
Luke quickly darted after them. I managed to squeeze into the group before the
crowd cut me off from them – and there was
no way
I was letting him leave my sight.

They continued to chant the name of their fallen hero. I felt beer
splash over my shoulder as they riotously called out in a barely-organized mob.

“BONE-SAW!”

“BONE-SAW!”

As a small group within the crowd, we fought our way towards a door in
the distance. Darren spotted me among them, and pulled me close, safely further
into the circle from the chaos. Even with a limp body around his back, he
pushed people out of the way – spectators who wanted to get close enough
to
touch
my stepbrother, apparently.

It was a sea of outstretched hands and implacable chanting. If not for
the entourage surrounding us, I feared that I would be swept up into them.
Without the safety of their bodies around me, I’d be lost in the noise.

“BONE-SAW!”

“BONE-SAW!”

Finally, we reached the door, pushing ourselves through and locking out
the noise. It was a small waiting room of some sort, with an exposed light
hanging above some loose furniture.

“Help me get him down,” Darren told the others, and I stepped back as
they carefully slid Sawyer onto the couch. His hand sagged off of his chest,
his knuckles plummeting to the carpet.

“You – come with me,” Darren commanded, pointing at Luke. “Vinnie,
stick with the girl. We have to go get the
other
jackass responsible for this.”

“Yessir,” the referee nodded, already diving for a chest of drawers in
the corner. He rummaged around in the top drawer as the others steeled
themselves and left through the door again.

“Is he…is he going to be okay?” I asked, my voice trembling. “I’ve never
seen him fight – I don’t know what to expect.”

“Never seen Bonesaw fight?” He paused, looking incredulously at me over
his shoulder. “Aren’t you supposed to be his sister?”

“We’ve been…distant,” I confessed.

Vinnie turned back to the drawer. “Heh.
That
I can understand. I have a sister, you know. Annalisa. She’s a
tough little
signora
. We ain’t spoken
in years. Decades, even…”

I reflected on this as he rushed from the drawer, carrying a small
armful of medical supplies. He knelt beside Sawyer and dropped them on the
floor near his feet.

“Look, the dumbasses…we gotta move him to the floor.”

“Didn’t you help get him onto the couch?”

“Eh,
sheddup
,” he smirked, his
bushy moustache wrinkling. “You and me, on three. One…two…
three!
”

He tugged Sawyer down by his shoulders as I grabbed his thick, sweaty
legs. We haphazardly moved him to the floor, groaning with his weight. It would
have done more damage if he just
dropped
the
two feet to the ground, but we managed to get him onto his back.

“Good, good. Let’s get a look at this guy…”

Vinnie gave Sawyer a thorough inspection, checking his face and
examining his hands. “Hmm. Your guy is tough. Real tough. I’ve seen him fight
in this cage for years.”

“What do you mean,
years?
”

“What, you didn’t know?” Vinnie’s thick brush wrinkled again. “Your boy
here, he practically
started
this
place! He was the first cage fighter on the itinerary. Without him, hell, I’d
have been out of a job in three months!”

“He’s that important?” I was stunned.

“He’s
your
family, you know,”
the referee continued. “Here. Help me roll him over.” I did as I was told,
wondering what was taking the others so long. Sawyer was a big guy, and we had
to throw ourselves into rolling him onto his stomach.

“Yeah...I don’t know. Hospital’s not a bad idea, but I think the big
guy’s just tuckered out,” Vinnie observed. “This is the first time I’ve heard
of him going down after a fight, though. I mean, he technically
won
, but a no-rules match? I should
never have called it.”

“Was it Luke’s fault? That’s what Darren was
saying…”

“Yeah, the cheap piece o’ shit. That other guy calls in, he starts
making these offers. The boss likes what he hears, the whole arrangement’s
thrown outta whack. I should never have gone along with it. Bonesaw’s a tough
guy, you know? He’s taken down the best I’ve seen. But this was somethin’ else.
That
guy wanted to spill some blood,
no matter what…alright, time to flip him again. On three!”

We pushed him back onto his back, and my unconscious brother gave a very
slight groan. I thought he was coming back around; unfortunately, he stayed
down. The only motion was the heaving of his chest.

“Do you think he’s gonna be alright?”

“Who, the dipshit from the cage?”

“No, Sawy–I mean,
Bonesaw
.”

“Well,” Vinnie started, standing up and wiping his hands against each
other, “my paramedic years, they tell me he’s gonna be fine. Sure, he’ll
probably say he’s fine when he wakes up, that he doesn’t feel much. That was
always his way. He’s a fighter to the end, this guy. His body was probably just
waiting
to drop at the end there.