by Lou Grimes
Sighing, she tried to not let his invasion bother her. Though that was no small task, for her wolf was enraged and felt challenged. A significant loss of control would only damage her claim to be able to handle herself, especially if she attacked the offender right here in front of her whole school.
“You aren’t supposed to train in the gym unless you intend to be a soldier,” a voice spoke behind her. The voice was male. Half turning, she found the speaker, who was a black-haired kid she had never talked to, but had seen at the Lupine events and in the school hallways.
“You’re not a soldier. You’re a girl,” his brunette sidekick said.
“I need to train like one,” Louvette replied, being civil the same as any pleasant person would.
“Arsen pulled some strings to get you in as an unofficial recruit, but people don’t try being a soldier. They either are one or they are not,” the black-haired guy said.
“You make it sound like a bad thing, but I’m starting to think that not being a soldier is a good thing,” Louvette replied.
Matt Bonesteel walked up behind them. For a second, Louvette expected him to say something back in her defense. Yet, he didn’t. Louvette hadn’t needed him to come to her defense, anyway.
“I bet you she won’t last the day, isn’t that right, Matt?” the raven-haired jerk asked.
“You’re right, Warren. She will end up in the nurse’s office,” he said simply. Though he only spoke two sentences, they stunned Louvette because Matt had been nothing but friendly to her until now. Arsen had even called him the kind dwarf. He was not being agreeable at all.
Louvette tilted her head up in a very wolflike manner that said she was ready for whatever they could dish out.
“You’re going to apologize for that,” Louvette told them in a steely voice.
“What, are you going to tell Arsen on us?” Warren asked.
“Nope, I’m going to make you apologize,” she declared, choosing to ignore this instance because they were going to continue baiting her.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” the sidekick spoke. Louvette rolled her eyes at him, wanting to have the last word. To be honest, Louvette had forgotten he was there.
Cara came through the door and she watched them with curious eyes.
Warren had cut his conversation short when Cara showed up.
“We’ll see you in the gym,” Warren said. He put an emphasis on the word gym, so that Louvette would meet in the Lupine gym short of calling it that in front of Cara.
Louvette doubted Matt was even out of earshot when Cara rounded on her, for she was already reshaping her angry face into at least a neutral one.
“What was that about?” Cara asked.
“Just wanting to learn some self-defense in my down time, which I seem to have a lot of lately,” she said.
“So, you like to get beat up during your own time?” Cara asked, wagging her eyebrows in a suggestive manner as she tried to lead Louvette somewhere. Louvette doubted anywhere pleasant or appropriate for school.
“Yes, if that is how you learn,” Louvette answered.
“I knew you were crazy when I met you. I don’t think we can be friends anymore,” Cara teased. Louvette rolled her eyes.
“I hate to break it to you, but you’re as crazy as me,” Louvette called her out, snickering.
“What a pair we make! We are going to do great things together,” Cara exclaimed. After their mocking, the bell rang, leaving any questions her friend had unanswered. Louvette was relieved when the topic didn’t come up again. The classes had enough work that neither Cara nor Louvette had the time to converse as usual.
All Louvette could think that day was how stoked she was to finally be taught self-defense.
***
When Louvette reached the gym later that day, it seemed as if it had expanded overnight. Where Lupines had once been, Spartans and giants now trained inside, or so it looked in Louvette’s mind.
She stood there for a second, debating if this was what she needed because, once she went in, either she’d succeed or fail out.
The door creaked ominously when she entered the building. The gym was massive on the outside, but appeared larger on the inside; big enough that an arena had been built inside.
A simple dirt area was roped off and was in the center of it all. The ring was of considerable size and was where the majority of the Lupine in the gym were training. There were some younger boys all the way up to a couple college-aged seniors.
A track surrounded the outside of the pit. Metal spectators’ chairs lined the remainder of the room. Today, those seats were empty. Still, it was not hard to imagine what a full house looked like. She could almost hear people chanting, swords clashing, and nails slashing into skin. The primal nature inside of her rose up at the thought of proving you were on the top of the food chain. The reason gladiators fought was more relatable now than before.
“Blackwood, go change. You’re already late,” a man shouted, pointing to a door off to the side of the arena. Not wishing to flinch in front of them, Louvette did as instructed. She couldn’t help but note the pause in fighting.
There were no boys’ and girls’ locker rooms in the same way as there would be in a normal gym. She felt strangely left out. Louvette strolled into a stall in the one locker room there was. Thankfully, none of the guys were here changing because that would be an awkward situation she wanted to skip.
She threw on the clothes Arsen had told her to bring. She had brought a pair of black joggers to keep her movements free, to wick away sweat, and to keep her cool. Her shirt was a simple T-shirt as well, baggier than she typically wore.
The instructor was waiting for her when she came back to the central portion of the gym. This time she examined him up close. He was an aging military man with a clean-cut hairstyle now pepper grey. Louvette would put his age close to her grandfather’s age. At the moment, a vein on his temple was a little red and raised from the training and yelling he had been doing on the recruits when she had come in.
The first word he said was “suicides.” He gave her no name. No nothing. She ran until she thought she couldn’t run any more. As soon as she started slowing down, he forced her to pick up her pace.
He was doing everything in his power to make her quit. Many eyes were on her and not all were friendly. Some of them didn’t like her to be here. They had made themselves clear on that.
Louvette would keel over before she failed this class, which was what Arsen had feared. This was a challenge.
“Who told you to stop?” the man yelled. Louvette picked her speed back up to a satisfactory pace. Her stomach rebelled against this abuse and emptied its contents. After puking, Louvette shakily ran a few more rounds.
“Stop! Take a water break, and then we will start on the actual workout,” he called after watching Louvette chuck up her lunch.
“That wasn’t even the workout?” she gasped, out of breath.
“No, the true workout is five rounds of 100 pushups, 100 sit-ups, 100 lunges, and 100 squats,” he said to her.
“This is my first day of training. I’m only human,” she said, annoyed at the fact he was insane.
“No, you’re not. People rebuild muscles from tearing them. Your muscle can tear much more than any human’s can,” the instructor pointed out.
“I’m not going to be able to crawl tomorrow,” Louvette murmured.
“Probably not,” the man agreed.
“So, am I going to be muscle-builder big?” Louvette asked.
“Am I?” he asked rhetorically.
“No,” she admitted, feeling similar to a foolish child.
“It would take me twenty-four hours a day to work out to develop muscles like a bodybuilder,” the instructor explained.
“If you say so,” Louvette murmured, getting into the pushup position. She started to do the couple of full pushups she normally did, but was amazed when the actual lift up movement was much easier than she remembered, even though she was worn out
.
The man had been right in believing she could handle more than what she thought she could.
With the instructor beside her, yelling at her the whole way, her workout inevitably came to an end. He’d counted each one for her, spurring her on when she slowed. Louvette’s mind began to play the legendary theme song of Balboa in her head to pass the time.
“Slow, now you will spar against Matt. He’s the closest one in size to you and in the same age range,” the instructor informed her. Louvette started to feel a little thrilled though she might not be much of a challenge after what she had done.
“Just remember, you signed up for this,” the guy added. The elation she was experiencing changed into anticipation of what was to come.
The two of them walked over to the pit where Matt was waiting off to the side.
Matt was silent when she walked up in front of him. There was no recognition, no sign they had joked and hung out together a few times since Arsen had announced to his friends and family that they were dating. If that was how he wanted to be, then he’d get the same treatment in return.
“Begin,” the instructor called out.
Matt’s body dropped a few inches. Louvette followed the same movement, not aiming to have her legs knocked out from under her. For a few seconds, neither one moved. They watched and waited in the hopes of finding the right time and place for a blow.
Matt made the first move based on either a weakness in Louvette’s defenses or seeing she was tired of waiting. Louvette believed the latter, but readied herself for the attack.
He threw a couple of half-hearted hits at first, mostly to the face area. She deflected them. Anger welled up in Louvette as she thought he was taking it easy on her until Matt’s last hit switched from an attempt at punching her face into an elbow to the gut.
She stumbled back a few steps to let her side quit aching. Matt returned to his former position. He was testing her weak spots. A sense of brief satisfaction flooded her. She was at least not displaying any weak spots openly.
Again, he threw a couple of testers while she tried to save her body. A mock kidney punch was seconds from landing before he twisted, redirecting it to land on her cheek. The hit itself was hard, but from the position he had come from, the punch had not come full force.
They broke away from each other again, returning back to their waiting game. Her eyes flicked around her surroundings. The rest of the room was now watching, too. The other fights and training had come to a halt. Determination was what kept her focused on what was important: defeating Matt.
Louvette’s wolf came to the front of her mind. She was tired of the offending inaction, but her wolf was even more so. The moment she attacked first it was not from the desire to attack or seeing a weakness, it was from her wolf’s need to win.
A fleeting wave of astonishment crossed Matt’s face as she darted forward. He must have believed she had found an opening. That shock was brief because it morphed into understanding what was happening.
Matt sidestepped her advances, throwing Louvette off balance. She balanced herself out and turned back toward him. He threw the first punch while she was moving to face him. Louvette knocked the punch off course withher elbow, receiving only a painful sliding glance to her body.
She paused for a split second, then sent hit after hit to him. Matt avoided many of them, but she was happy when one landed on his cheek decently. It split. Blood began to bead out of his cheek line.
“I’m sorry, Matt. I didn’t mean to,” she started to say because she felt terrible he would have to go to school sporting a split cheek she had caused. They were merely sparring, and she had gone too far.
No sooner had her words had gotten out than he looped his arm around her and pulled her to the ground. A hit landed on her face, then the next hit. Louvette threw her arms up in a bid to protect her face. She managed to break away from him by wiggling.
Blood was trailing down her cheek now, matching Matt’s. It had split after the second hit. She narrowed her eyes, rage welling up within her.
Louvette regretted her thoughts of enthusiasm of sparring with Matt Bonesteel. She was a long distance runner. Her runs were slow and peaceful. The speed he had was insane. Killing the rogue had given her a sense of confidence. A confidence that had convinced Arsen to get her into this class, but that had fled as soon as she grasped how much training mattered in a fight.
Rogues were dangerous for their ferocity, lack of self-preservation, and their lack of planning. That same lack of thinking things through had allowed Louvette to kill the rogue.
Her own wolf was causing her to act the same thoughtless way. A fight that a trained fighter similar to Matt would find effortless.
Throwing a couple more rounds, his fist slipped through her defenses. As his hit went to her head, the vibration was like her senses were on full blast, and then someone rang a giant bell, echoing off her skull. Once her eyes finally opened, she was astounded there were no local townspeople gathered round to hear the news she was almost knocked out.
The one thing she did see was Matt. He was standing in front of her, waiting.
Her wolf snarled at the offender as she got back up, taking control, because Louvette apparently wasn’t doing an adequate enough job. She charged him how a reckless rogue would.
Matt maneuvered out of the way, but this time his elbow hooked into her arm once again as they both went to the floor.
At first, they were both extremely limited on movement. They were twisting, attempting to earn the upper hand on each other. Matt managed to free one limb and started pushing Louvette’s face into the dirt.
She yelled out loud, escalating to livid.
“Aren’t you tired of eating dirt yet?” the instructor asked from the sidelines where he had been watching them this whole time.
She was. More ready than anyone could comprehend.
Louvette twisted, freeing her arm in the process. She slammed her elbow into Matt’s face.
The sickening crunch was satisfying, Louvette had to admit. Matt groaned out in pain, releasing her to clutch his nose. A spurt of blood painted the floor of that gym. Someone seemed to be flicking red paint on a canvas. There was no consistency to it, the paint was all over the place, and out of place on the dirt. Matt rolled off of Louvette. Louvette stood up. Matt aimed and kicked high.
Louvette saw the kick coming. It was way worse than the bell-ringing hit. This kick to the head forced her power off. It was instant. Her world went black once again.
***
There were no longer beams when her eyes opened. Large bricks had taken their place. She recognized a nurse was holding something to her face. The compress stopped the swelling for the time being. Louvette jerked away.
The room Louvette was in was similar to any other school nurse’s office. There were medical care items packed in the cabinet. A sink was placed in a corner along with a patient’s bed in the center of the room, except this patient’s bed was made of something more than your everyday cotton pad. The frame was metal and there was a roll of wax paper for quick clean up. A tiled floor for mopping up blood and long white ceiling lights. The room gave her a murder vibe.
“You’re in the Lupine gym. They keep me on staff for the rough ones. It doesn’t happen often, but it happens,” the nurse explained, putting her hands in the air as if Louvette might rob her at gunpoint. Her voice was scratchy from age and had no doubt seen her fair share of beat up Lupine, not unlike her.
Louvette stumbled over to the mirror above the sink and gasped.
Tenderly, she touched her purple, blue, and red face.
“Don’t worry. We keep Accelerators on hand for family members who aren’t in the loop of the Lupine,” the nurse said.
“Accelerators?” Louvette asked.
“They make you heal faster, basically,” the nurse answered.
“Great, because my mother would burn down someone’s house and erase them from pack history if she saw this,” Louvette admitted
, pointing to her face.
“I’m Nurse Ray. I expect I’ll be seeing a lot of you,” she said as she started rummaging through the cabinets.
“I hope not, no offense,” Louvette murmured.
“None taken. Now, this will hurt. A lot! Close your eyes and don’t move away,” Mrs. Ray instructed.
Louvette did as she was told because she was scared she’d lose an eye if she didn’t. Her wolf came to the forefront, steadying her and heightening her senses while she waited for the nurse to do her work. She became aware of each breath, shifting movement, and flutter of each eyelash on her eyes as she blinked.
A mechanism clinked. Louvette held her breath, waiting. Something sprayed the air audibly. Louvette fought the molecular-level need to jerk away from the acid-like medicine.
The spray landed on her damaged face like a volley of diamond-tipped arrows slicing into her.
Louvette’s body slammed back onto the patient’s bed. She writhed in pain. Her mouth opened to scream silently. The overload of it all was too much for her to scream as her cells became magically charged.
Granted the pain was awful enough, her face began to itch intensely too, but she couldn’t scratch it because she’d only open her wounds more. She would have to endure more of this if she failed to control herself.
At some point in this treatment, the nurse had fled the room. The instant Louvette realized she was gone, it gave her less comfort, as if the nurse thought Louvette would turn into a wild animal that would unintentionally harm her. The Accelerator seemed to be working, to be honest. Louvette was all but slashing at the walls.
Time blended together. She didn’t comprehend how long she thrashed. The pain finally began to slow down until she just lay on her side, curled up in a ball. Her knees were tightly held against her chest for comfort and restraint at the same time.
The door opened up as the nurse returned. Each footstep echoed too loudly across the tile flooring. The ceiling lights were suddenly brighter than they had been, flickering audibly. The flicker in the light hadn’t been noticeable before, but now the only thing she could experience. Louvette attempted to clear her now fiberglass-scratchy throat.
