‘So? I’ve been training to get back to where I was a few months ago, but I still got quite a bit of my power left.’ I scowl.
‘I’m sure you have.’ She pauses. ‘Well, no offense, but you don’t seem that in shape.’
‘How would you know? You’ve never even seen me in the ring.’
‘I just have an eye for it. I know my stuff. That’s all.’
‘Well, no offense to you, Sam, but I’m not going to take advice from some cage groupie.’
She gives me a sarcastic smirk. ‘Whatever you say. I guess I’ll see what you got tomorrow.’
‘You’re going to be there? It’s open to the public?’
‘Yeah, I’ll be there.’
‘Fine. I’ll see you there. You can check out how the kids from Middling do it.’
‘Fine.’
Sam smiles and I smile back. We finish our meals and talk about the assholes at the school. It feels good to have someone else hate these people as much as I do. I complain until my heart’s content then I pack up my stuff and head to the next class with my mind on the fight Wednesday.
#
‘What do you think of Hamilton?’ My mom shouts at me as I walk in the door.
‘Uh, for what? A president?’
‘No, for your little brother.’
‘My little brother?’ I ask. ‘Oh, that sounds like quite the name for a kid nowadays. You got anything else.’ I walk into the kitchen where Mom’s sitting at the table surrounded by baby naming books. ‘Jeez, Mom.’
‘I went to the library to pick up a few books and well, I got carried away.’
‘It looks like you cleaned them out.’
‘Well, maybe.’ She pushes one book aside and pulls another towards her. ‘What about Benjamin? Or Theodore?’
‘Is there a political theme happening here?’
‘Is there? Oops.’ She giggles and sits back in her chair. ‘I’m just trying to pick a pretty good name. You were easy. We just named you after your grandfather. Pretty simple.’
‘Well, why don’t you name him after the other grandfather. You know we have two.’
‘You’re dad doesn’t really like remembering you grandpa so I don’t think he’ll want to name his son after him.’
‘Oh. Yeah, I forgot about that. Well, we’ve got time. We can figure out a name later.’
‘Yeah. I suppose.’
‘Does dad have any ideas?’ I ask.
‘No. You know your father. He’s happy with whatever when it comes to this stuff.’
They got lucky. They were both just at that cut off mark to be born right before the first monsters hatched and started spraying down the area. After that year, every kid had something wrong with it. Some were real bad some were more like me. At least I can move around on my own.
Years and years of kissing ass and pulling themselves up and they made it out. Now, they can enjoy themselves.
Dad comes home late and reheats his dinner. He talks about his long day dealing with the bureaucrats at work. They all want him to start redirecting all the crap they clean up back into Middling and the rest of the towns. It’s a cost saving move. Everyone in the nice parts of the county are tired of paying to process the shit they pull out of the buffer zone.
‘The thing is, I know at least Middling has this problem, but their clean up crew already dumps the stuff on the outskirts near the nests. They can’t afford to pay for it so they just have to store it further away. If we add our stuff to theirs then it’s just going to fill to capacity in no time.’ He complains over his mash potatoes.
He continues. ‘I don’t know. I took this job for the pay and everything. But I though that I could honestly help get the crap out of radioactive zones. Start to use the money and influence here to clean up. Help everyone out just a little bit.’
‘You think they would want to. I know a few families on the block have relatives on the other side.’ Mom says.
‘Yeah, well.’ Dad adds.
‘I don’t know what you expected?’ I say. They both look at me. ‘Just saying. If they wanted to help they would have already done it.’
‘The government tried, son. It’s easier to contain then engage those creatures.’
‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ve taken history class.’
‘Well, I’m not too worried. You’ll figure something out. I’m sure of it.’ Mom reassures.
Dad leans back and puts his hands on his belly. ‘Yeah, it’s not the end of the world. I’m sure we’ll figure something out that will work for both communities.’
‘You sound like a politician.’ Mom smiles. I raise my eyebrows.
‘I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not.’ Dad laughs. So does Mom. I shake my head and smile. Mom throws a few names at Dad for the baby, but none of them stick so she gets out the books. She’s going through them with Dad nodding with drooping eyes while I head for bed. Dad wishes me luck on my job for tomorrow. I head upstairs, undress, and lie in bed waiting for my nerves to calm down so I can get some sleep.
#
Sam doesn’t come by for lunch. I don’t see her. I see Melanie though. During another monster drill. It was a big one from what I heard. Gargo the large turtle like creature vs Montsta the flying furry thing vs the three headed lizard that hasn’t really gotten a name in the press yet. All the faculty and staff went to the top as well.
Melanie tried to talk to me a little during our meet up. It was awkward for me. I didn’t really have anything to say to her, but she kept trying to connect. It wasn’t working for me. After we went our separate ways I overheard her getting a few jabs in at me with a group of her friends. She called me assface and such. I let it slide off my back. It didn’t matter to me that she was nibbling on my collar bone only a few hours before then was trying to come up with the best way to describe my face. She got in ‘like the great canals of Mars’. I was surprised. I’ve never given credit for being that smart.
Back home from school, I walk in the door and immediately set about trying to kill some time. I walk around the house. Pacing. Trying to think of something that I could do before I need to take the bus downtown. Dad’s still at work and Mom is out doing God knows what.
I grab the remote and switch on some tv. The usual dysfunctional shows are on about midgets and sex and baby daddies. A few reruns of Frankensteins in Space are on. I’ve seen them all though. Got the whole series sitting up in my room. I don’t need to watch the trimmed down television version. I catch the news and it talks about the monster fight earlier today. Nothing about Middling or anywhere else in the zone. Everyone just glad that the carnage didn’t spill over and that the dead zone between here and there is working. It gives the monsters the breathing room the need to fight without worrying about anyone getting hurt. Bullshit.
I flick the tv off and head up to my room. I think about sending something to my old friends in the zone but there’s no way to get anything in there. Phones don’t work. No internet there. Mail refuses to deliver so you have to go through the private services. That costs an arm and a leg. I’ll just have to wait and hope it works its way up through the grapevine somehow. These things are so routine though that they barely make a dent in your day if you’ve grown up with them. As long as your luck holds out. That’s the big key.
I decide to take a quick nap. I set my alarm and crawl into bed with all my clothes on. I go out pretty quick thanks to all the hours I have to make up from the night before.
#
It’s still daylight when I get on the bus. A few hours earlier than when I went to the fight on Saturday. I watch the houses change to brick buildings again. This time I get to see a clear view of the area I missed when I was just getting to the Bishop. There are groups of people out on the stoops. Music blasting. Kids laughing. People talking.
I watch as the people sitting, walking, waiting, talking. They all seem normal but once or twice a twisted face or a swollen leg or boiled covered body pops up. Not a lot. But a few just pop up on the
streets every now and again.
The bus finally stops and I get out. No one else does. I notice a cop car down the road and I shove my hands in my coat and hurry towards the Bishop. They stop talking and looking down the street but then go straight back to talking and drinking coffee. I keep walking down the sidewalk undisturbed.
The pavement here is cracked and unfinished in places. The buildings seems a little run down but there’s a few local hamburger places and bars here and there. I can smell something other than people’s garden’s in this part of Keystone. I get to the blue building again and walk through the purple doors.
All I hear is grunting in the distance and all the lights are on. The hallway is empty except for a few middle aged guys standing around in short sleeve shirts and brown slacks with large cigars hanging from their mouths. The talk and jab at each other with their finger as if their in some fight or making a point. Someone stops to point me out with a nod and the others turn to look at me then back and start to laugh. I walk past them and the ticket counter where the scruffy looking girl is gone, but the big scruffy guy is still there. He’s leaning against the counter and nods to me as I walk by.
There’s a smokiness filling the large room as I see a few tables around the cage. A few groups of men are standing around or sitting near them. Some look like the guys out in the hall. Some look like fighters. Some look like anyone you’d see walking down the street. I see Sam sitting over by herself in the corner, watching what’s going on in the cage. She catches my eye as I’m taking the rest of it in and waves me over to her. I have no idea who to see so I head her way.
‘What’s going on?’
‘You ready?’ She asks.
‘Oh yeah, I’m ready. I just need to make sure I shake the rust off right away.’
‘Alright, cool. Did you see Big Dave?’
‘Nope. Just walked in. Had no idea where to go or who to see.’ I say.
‘Uh, you see that big guy over there with no neck and the shaved head?’
‘Yeah.’
‘That’s Big Dave. He’s the promoter here. Go see him and get yourself signed up for a fight.’
I nod and leave my stuff next to her and head over to Big Dave. I stand near him as he talks to a few other guys. he finally takes notice of me. ‘Yeah? What do you want?’
‘I’m looking to try out.’
‘Really?’ He looks me up and down. ‘How tall are you?’
‘5’8”’
‘How much do you weigh?’
‘173’
‘Now, is that all head?’ He bursts out into a laugh and the others around him follow suit. My ears start to turn red. I keep silent. ‘Alright, I’m just playing. How old are you kid?’
‘18’ I tell him thinking back to what Willy Barnes told me.
‘Really? You’re eighteen? If you’re eighteen I’m a fucking supermodel, kid.’ He laughs again. ‘How old are you really?’
‘16’ I reply.
‘All right. That’s not too bad. That’s about where I cut people off in here.’ He looks me over again. My heart is raising. ‘I’ll set you up for a fight. This is how it works. You get it in. You fight. You can tap out whenever you want. We don’t expect you to stay standing, but we want to see some potential. Sound good? Good. I’ll call you when we’re ready for you. We’ve got a few guys to get through. What’s your name.’
I give him my name and thank him and walk back over to Sam and grab my stuff. I figure I should change right away. I ask Sam where the locker room is and she points me to the bathroom. ‘You can’t go in the locker room unless you’re a fighter here.’
I head to the bathroom and strip down in one of the stalls. I brought my old and tattered gloves with me and a pair of shorts that had seen better days. I walk back out with nothing but my hoodie over my torso so I’m ready to go when they call me. I sit next to Sam and wait my turn.
‘I thought you had to be eighteen to fight.’ I say.
‘If you’re in one of the real leagues, but here they let just about anyone in.’
‘I didn’t even know stuff like this existed. When I fought it was just some local guys around the area. All mutants.’
‘Yeah, this is only a few years old or so. There are a few towns that have fights, but no one in the sport even recognizes what we’re doing. So they take any good fighter off the street. Not that there are many.’
‘That’s pretty cool. I thought I’d have to join some expensive gym or something when I first moved here. Didn’t even give it a second thought because of that.’
‘Nope. Just fight good.’ She looks around then at me. ‘You ever been to a gym?’
‘Sure. I had one down in Middling. Nothing special. It was run by a few local guys.’
‘What’d you learn there?’
‘Uh, how to fight.’ I look back at her while some new guy is being thrown to the ground int he cage.
‘No, what styles?’
‘I don’t know any styles. Just punching and wrestling I guess.’ I look back to the cage. The new guy is on the ground with his arm being pulled by his opponent.
‘Oh boy.’ That’s all she says and she watches the rest of the fight.
They call someone else to get up in the cage and he falls in a few seconds. A hook right to the jaw. He drops. No scrambling on his legs. No recovery. He drops down with dead weight to the mat. The ref counts him out then his corner comes rushing and looks him over and drag him out. Then they call me up.
I walk up alone. No one flanking me or holding my spit bucket or talking me up with their hands on my shoulders. Just me. I walk up to Big Dave and he asks if I’m ready and I tell him that I am. He nods and lets me walk up the stairs and into the cage alone.
The fighter that swung that knockout hook just a few minutes ago is still in the cage. He’s going to be my test. He barely broke a sweat at that last one. It looks like they bring in the old timers who are on their way out and some of the new guys still cutting their teeth to run the tryouts. I wonder if they get paid to do this or if it’s just some cheap form of training they can get into.
The ref introduces my opponent as Jerry Stillwell.
‘What’s your name?’ He leans in to ask.
‘Abe.’ I say.
He tells Jerry who I am and Jerry extends his glove. I extend mine and he taps it. Jerry stands a little over me and a bit older than me. He’s got broad shoulders and a sunken chest. He’s bald and has cauliflower ears pretty bad. His head is misshapen and he a little fuzz on his jaw. He looks like he let his head be used as a punching bag one too many times, but he’s still looks better than me.
‘I’ll raise my hand then ask if you guys are ready. When I lower it, you start. We give tryouts about three minutes to impress. After that we ring the bell. If they are still conscious. Got it?’ The ref looks at me. His brown moustache twitches for a second and I nod, not taking my eyes off of Jerry. ‘Alright.’ The ref backs up and raises his hand. He looks at Jerry and says something. Jerry nods. He looks at me and says something and I nod. The hand drops.
All I can hear is my heart going as I watch Jerry start to bounce around. I’m already rushing forward with my right fist near my ear. I got the jump on him. I’ll land this and follow it with a few more punches then trip him to the mat then get him in a choke hold. Jerry seems caught in some headlights. He’s watching. Bouncing back and forth. I get on top of him and I start to swing. I get ready for the sweet sensation of my fist connecting and sending waves up my arm.
Jerry raises a forearm and blocks and I feel my ribs through my teeth. He grabs my head and brings his knee up to reach my forehead and I see blood on the floor after my eyes open back up. Jerry grabs my arm and twists it around as he throws his leg over my shoulder and throws my to the ground in one quick swoop. I’m on my belly and looking out past the cage. I see everyone watching me as Jerry leans back and pulls my arm a little further. I feel things getting ready to pop.
I scramble and bring my legs around m
e and somehow I’m no longer on my belly. I start swinging towards Jerry but the punches are barely connecting. I can taste the blood and sweat in my mouth now as I squint from the overhead lights. Jerry still has ahold of my arm and is leading me around like a dog. I swing some and I shake loose. Or he let’s me go. I don’t know at this point. I don’t care. He’s back to bouncing back and forth and I start to follow him. I inch in and start swinging when I’m close.
He’s swinging back and the fight becomes familiar again. We’re trading blows and I’m getting ready for one of us to go down. I get hit across the face and take a few hard body shots. I raise my hands up to my face to block another blow coming my way. He decides to kick me across the ribs and I lower my hands. He hits me. One. Two. My legs decide they don’t want to follow my orders any more and I start to stagger around like a child. I ache more than I’ve ever ached. I think to myself that what I was doing back home with my friends at the local gym wasn’t fighting. Not really. The thought passes then I let everything go black as the ground comes up to catch me.
I wake up and find Big Dave standing over me, breathing heavily. He looks up and there’s Sam saying a few words to him and he smiles. I smile for some reason and I go back out again. The next thing I know I’m in the back, in the locker rooms, holding my head with an ice pack to my shoulder. No one else is in there except Sam sitting right next to me.
‘Where did you learn to fight?’ She asks.
‘I’m that good, huh?’ I say.
‘Good god. You’re not one of those idiots are you? You know you got your ass handed to you, right?’
I wipe some drying blood off my face. ‘Oh, I think so. Yeah, I think I got that figured out.’
‘Good.’
‘Did I get in?’
‘Uh, no.’ She replies.
‘What?’ I’m genuinely shocked. ‘I stood up better than that last guy. I got some stamina in the cage.’
‘Yeah, some. Not much. And you’re sloppy. Really sloppy. And I wouldn’t compare yourself to that last guy. He didn’t get in either.’
‘Fuck.’
‘Yeah. You need a lot of work.’ She started to count on her fingers. ‘You need to up your skills. Up your fitness. Up your power. Up your grappling. Up your speed. Agility.’