Cage

by Sarah Sparrows

  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!”

  (Return to Table of Contents)

  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 b
reak 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.