Legals: This story did not happen. The characters are all based on real people, but the events that transpire here are of my making.
Sorry to everyone who has been anxiously awaiting this chapter. I have had unbelievable computer problems the entire semester. Hope it is worth it.
Chapter 15: Primal Rage
All the world was fire. My mind reeled in its state of perfect fury, as every fiber of my being united to hurt these people, these people who had hurt me, tricked me, and were now hurting my beloved Max. My eyes saw red and my face grew hot. Jarred moved back towards me from behind, and i sprang into action
Max's Perspective.
I was in such pain. Mitch, Ryan, and Billy all knew how to make their hits count, and boy did they. My stomach, chest and face had taken a beating, i was hanging low by the tree, felt like i would black out.
A feral scream brought me back, and i looked up towards Matt. He had been bound from behind by Jarred, but freed himself. He stomped down hard on Jarred's foot, and smashed his head back into Jarred's face. Matt slipped his arms out of the hold, and spun around, using his backhanded fist as a club, and smashed Jarred in the side of the face with it, sending him to the ground.
Matt spun towards Alex and glared at him. His jaw was set tight and solid, as serious as I had ever seen him. His eyes fairly glowed green in his anger. His entire body was tight and ready for a fight, and I knew he would give them one.
Alex came in at him, punching fast jabs with both hands, a boxer attack. Matt stayed back, then suddenly rushed forward, blocking Alex's right jab with his left hand, forcing the arm downwards and across his body, turning him slightly to the side. Matt came in with his right fist, turning towards Alex and using the energy of his spin to drive into the side of Alex's chest. Alex let out a rush of air and a gasp, and the wind was knocked out of him, and possibly a rib broken.
Matt continued his counterclockwise spin, spun around, and brought his left heel in hard against Alex's right shin, knocking his stunned form from his feet and to the ground.
But, Alex was a wrestler too, well practiced in Judo, grappling, martial arts wrestling. He landed in a front fall, his forearms and palms absorbing the shock of the fall. He spun immediately, taking Matt down with a leg sweep. Alex rolled, and pulled atop Matt, in a mount that looked rather akin to straddling. Down rained his fists, attempting a solid hit to Matt's face, but Matt managed to keep the hits to the sides, only glancing off his face, head, and shoulders.
'oh god, help him.' I thought. I tried to go to him, to save him, but the cuffs held me fast to the tree, and bit into my wrists as I strained against them.
"Oh no you don't" Mitch said, and I caught another hit to the stomach, doubling over and falling to my knees in the dirt.
Matt's Perspective
I was dodging them, deflecting them, shifting my head, doing whatever I could to keep the rain of punches from taking me out. Then I heard the groan from near the tree, and a glance told me what had happened, that Max was hurt again.
A surge of anger poured through me, and I acted upon it. My hands flew up and crossed, and I drove the V of my forearms into Alex's throat, grabbing the back of his neck and pulling. He stopped punching and his hands flew to his neck. His focus on the domination of his mount faltered, and i threw off his balance by lifting m pelvis up. A twist of my weight knocked him off of me and sent me away from him.
We were both on our feet again, Alex rubbing his throat. He came in with a left hook, which I blocked, and I followed immediately with a right straight punch to Alex's face. He blocked it down across my body, but instead of fooling me I went with it, I turned to the left and towards him, grabbing his right hand that he tried to hit me with. Then I was nestled in against him, my back on the right side of his chest, his right arm over my left shoulder and under my control. I drove my left elbow into his stomach, hard, once, twice, three times. I snapped it up, caught him in the chin, and went low to the groin. The final hit caused him to double towards me, I took his right arm with both my hands, bent my knees and picked him up with my hips, and pulled. Alex hurled over my shoulder and head, and smashed into the ground on his back.
Max's Perspective
I could hear the wind rush out of Alex as he smashed into the ground. He was hurt, badly, it was plain to anyone who saw it. Matt rushed up behind him as he tried to sit up, grabbed his head and put him in a choke. Alex frantically tried to free his windpipe, grabbing and hitting at Matt's hands, but he hadn't the strength left to stop it. Matt grinned horribly at Alex's pain and helplessness. In 5 seconds Alex passed out from lack of air. I knew that if Matt didn't let go soon, he would surely kill Alex, but in his anger, I didn't know if he would care.
Then Jarred recovered his senses and came running at Matt, trying to help his friend and to take Matt from behind. Matt heard him coming and let go of Alex, letting him fall unconscious, but alive, to the ground. Matt snapped a kick back hard behind him as he turned, catching Jarred in the thigh and stopping him dead.
Matt's Perspective
I heard him coming, and sent a kick behind me to slow him down. I got a lucky break by catching Jarred in the leg. As I finished my turn to face him I snapped a punch at his face with my left fist, using the spin for power. I tried to get him again, but he pulled back out of my reach, and went on the offensive. I blocked a quick jab to my face, only to have Jarred's foot catch me in the knee. I was stunned for a moment and Jarred caught me in the mouth with a wicked punch, and I staggered back.
Max's Perspective
I gasped when I saw Matt get hit. He staggered back and wiped his mouth, where his lip was bleeding readily. The look on his face was one of primal rage, his eyes boring into Jarred's, his jaw clenched and teeth bared. Jarred had a smug grin on his face, believing himself to have just proved himself the superior fighter.
Jarred went back at Matt, throwing a left jab, followed by a quick right. Matt slapped the first punch aside, and blocked the second with his left arm, and snapped his right over to trap the fist. He snapped a kick to Jarred's thigh, and then up to his stomach, and a third to his groin. Jarred was doubled over, and caught a kick to the face, snapping him upright again. Matt then took Jarred's right hand, which was still trapped, shifted his grip so Jarred's fingers pointed down and his elbow pointed up. Matt twisted in place, still holding the hand hard. As he came around, Jarred wrist spun past its range of motion, and audibly snapped, eliciting a scream of pain from Jarred. Matt released his hand, Jarred hunched over , clutching his hand, and Matt brought down a hammer fist hard on the back of his neck, and Jarred passed out from the pain and shock.
Matt turned to come towards me, and Ryan walked out to meet him.
"Step aside Ryan, or ill do to you what I did to them." Matt said, voice tight with barely contained anger. Ryan only grinned, and I knew why. Ryan was a kicker, and a good one. Matt didn't know Ryan's style, and had never really trained against it, and would not be expecting it.
Matt's Perspective
Ryan looked much too confident after my displays of ability, but I hardly cared. I strode forward, my anger washing away my aches and weariness. As I neared him, Ryan suddenly leaped into action, and kicked me hard in the gut. I doubled over, feeling pain and nausea in a horrible mixture. I had no time to ponder whether or not I would throw up when Ryan hit me in the head with a spinning kick, sending me to the ground on my side.
He came in to kick me while I was down, but I managed to roll aside, and then finally pull myself onto my feet. Ryan was rushing towards me, and I rolled forward, closing the gap far faster that he expected. I came up on one knee, and sank my right fist into Ryan's stomach. I reached up and grabbed his head as he was bent over, and went back off my balance, pulling him down with me. As he fell I moved my legs so that my feet were on Ryan's hips, and as we rocked all the way back I shoved with my legs, and threw Ryan, who landed in a heap a few feet away.
Each of us rolled up onto our feet, and squared off. We advanced together, but Ryan took to the air, sending a spin kick to my face. I ducked under his left leg, came up and took a solid side kick to the chest with his right foot. The wind rushed out of me and my chest burned with pain as I staggered back. Ryan came in again, aimed a right roundhouse kick to my temple, which I ducked, and now I was behind him. He tried to get me with the other foot, but I blocked it with my left forearm, and sent my right fist hard into his right kidney. I felt Ryan's body do loose, and he fell to his knees. I shot him quickly in the left kidney, and then stomped hard on his ankle. Ryan screamed and blood came from his lips. With his ankle broken, and him bleeding internally, he was out of the fight. I went to go to Max, and then I stopped.
Mitch was next.
Max's Perspective
Matt turned towards us again, but stopped dead. Mitch had strode forward to meet him, leaving me guarded only by blonde haired Billy. Mitch and Matt were both possessed of extreme amounts of natural skill in martial arts. I had seen both of them pass tests that black belts would not have. And most of all, both of them fought with the same style, and were quite pissed off. This would be one hell of a fight.
Mitch stood before Matt, standing strong and tall. He wore a skintight black shirt, which clung to his muscles and left his large arms exposed. His black hair and eyes, coupled with his sinister grin, made him look fearsome indeed.
The look on Matt's face changed profoundly. While at first he was the image of anger, eyes tightened and alight with anger, teeth clenched and bared, entire body tightened with power, fists clenched. The blood coming from his lip and from several scratches on his face did nothing to diminish the power he emitted, nor did the bruises on his face, neck, and arms. Then he changed. His face relaxed. His muscles unclenched. His jaw relaxed and his teeth were no longer bared. And most upsetting at all were his eyes. The light in them faded and they grew dark, cold, dead. What was happening to him?
Matt's Perspective.
The fires were gone. The heat of anger and lust for blood was gone. Everything had gone cold and black. I felt no emotions, not anger, not love, not even the pain from my wounds. I felt no emotions, only power, and I knew nobody would stop me. I was past anger and beyond wrath , I was in a state of perfect fury. I knew only that I wanted to get Max and leave, and that right now Mitch was in my way.
"Good show Matt, seriously. But I'm afraid you are going to stop here. I'm bigger than you, stronger than you, faster than you, and I've been training for longer than you. You've accomplished something very impressive, you took down three fighters. But now you will fall."
Mitch reached down and pulled something out of the ground with each hand. I looked and saw that they were the wooden stakes used to hold up plants so they can grow tall. They were square, but spiked at one end, and about 2 feet long. I knew what he wanted them for, escrima sticks. I looked around and saw another plant like the one near Mitch and pulled two out for myself. We each held one in each hand, left stick across our right side against the ribs, the right stick up and ready, and stood with our right foot forward. Time to dance.
We moved at the same time, crashing together in a blur of wood and flesh. I blocked his first few shots, and he blocked mine as well. Then, Mitch sent a high ball kick to my knee, freezing me momentarily. He seized his moment and used it to smash my left wrist with his stick. Pain exploded from my wrist, and I dropped the stick, but it vanished almost instantly into my cold mind and turned into even more power. I took Mitch by surprise, since his strike barely slowed me. I gave him a left elbow to the face, and a right hook to the temple, and smacked the stick right out of his left hand, and it sailed out of range.
Mitch backed up quick, and we squared off again, one stick each this time. I ducked his vicious slash with the stick, and hit him in the side with a left jab. I barely reacted fast enough to stop Mitch's low attack at my knee, only to catch a kick in the stomach. My stomach churned and reeled with pain and nausea, and then vanished and was absorbed into me, fueling me.
I screamed, and I charged. I swung my stick from left to right in a smash for Mitch's face. He deflected it away, barely, and sent a right hook at me. I I deflected the shot aside with my left hand, ignoring the pain that erupted from using my clearly broken wrist, and swung my stick back at him from the right. He caught this shot with his stick as well, but the force I had on my strike bore his right arm down beside him. I snapped my right elbow into his jaw, stunning him, and spun my stick and smashed it down, cutting through air, through flesh, and into bone. Mitch's wrist shattered, and he screamed with pain. I took my bloody stick to my left shoulder, and whipped it across, smashing it into Mitch's face. The stick shattered, and the pieces tore at the skin of Mitch's face. He would have fallen had I not grabbed him. I grabbed him by the throat, and held him eye to eye with me.
"I owe you pain." I said evenly, and put my foot through his left knee, snapping it, shattering it, and rendering it useless. Mitch screamed from incomprehensible pain, and I let him fall to the ground, beaten, and broken.
Max's Perspective.
My God' I thought to myself, as Matt coldly destroyed his opponent. This is totally unlike the guy I know. He was so sweet, so nice, and always gentle because I knew he was afraid of his own power. Now his anger had taken over and he embraced that power, and it changed him. Is my Matt still in there?'
He came towards me, and Billy timidly stood before him, thinking to stop him ,but clearly his heart not in it. Matt hit him hard in the nose with a hammered fist, kicked him in the stomach, hunching him over, and grabbed him by the neck. Matt lifted Billy up by his neck, not even feeling the screaming pain in his arm muscles as they lifted far more than they would normally be capable of.
He looked hard into Billy's eye and spoke, his voice horrible and cold, emotionless and unyielding. "Give me the keys, and then leave. Leave or I'll kill you." His tone left no doubt in anyone's mind that he was absolutely serious. Billy took the keys to my cuffs and dropped them to the ground. Matt put Billy on his feet, and Billy then ran for his very life.
Just as I began to feel relief that the trial was at last at an end, I began to feel the extent of my wounds. My head swam, my stomach churned, and I fell into sweet, empty darkness.
Matt's Perspective.
Max passed out just as I finished unlocking his hands. I knelt on the ground, and looked at him. His face was still beautiful despite being marred from the attacks. I looked at his wounds, the bruises on his face, arms, and chest, the cuts on his face and deep ones from the cuffs. As I saw the harm they had done to him, it touched the last vestiges of humanity in my soul, and my emotions came flooding back. Tears began to erupt from my eyes as I grieved. I grieved for my love, the injured and beaten figure I held cradled in my arms against my chest. I grieved for all the damage I had inflicted upon fellow human beings, which greatly hurt me. I grieved most of all for myself, for the damage I had done to my heart, and the dirtying of my soul. I cried as I knelt there with my lover in my arms. I cried as I carried him to the car. I cried as I drove to the hospital to make sure he was all right. I cried as he went into the ER to be checked, and I cried as I told them about the injured people back at the house. I cried as they laid me down to check me out. I cried until I was worn out, and then I cried as I passed out from all the pain, misery, and exhaustion.
Again, im sorry about the wait. Chapter 16 to come real quick i hope. Again, any questions, comments, or anything else, send em to PhoenixFire543@yahoo.com