Heartless Angels

Chapter 35 – Oakley

Chapter 35 – Oakley

I don’t want to watch the next round between two of my best friends. This is just as hard to watch as the fight between J erry and Mary. J erry had to fight his sister. I’m going to have to fight either Cassie or Jer ry. One of my three best friends. What do you do with that?

“Ray, walk with me. I don’t want to watch this,” I say.

“Oakley, we can’t leave the area,” he says, though I can tell he really doesn’t want to tell me ‘no.’ He’s really doting on me right now, feeling horrible after our fight and he wants to give me everything he can. Knowing that he can’t is hard for him.

“I know, I just…I don’t want to watch them beat the s hit out of each other, ok? Can we just go to the other side of the field so that I don’t have to watch?” Lask.

He looks at me with eyes full of understanding. “Sure, babe. Let’s go.”

We walk in silence, though I take Ray’s hand. I just want to have some time to figure out how I’m going to do this. I’ve

trained with both Je rry and Cassie for the entire week. Iknow their strengths and weaknesses. But I don’t want to use that

against them. Why couldn’t Lisa have been my last fight? I have no problem taking that bitc h down. Obviously.

We sit at the other end of the field where we line up for roll call in the morning. I sit between Ray’s legs, my back against his

chest. The sparks that run up and down my skin where we touch are calming and they help me to relax and take the edge off

the anxiety that I feel. And we just sit there in comfortable silence.

All too soon, Ray gets a mindlink that tells us to come back. The fight is over. Jer ry won. Cassie is being taken to the Infirmary Je rry apparently nearly amputated two of her fingers with a sword strike that she almost moved away from. But almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Her fingers needed to be reattached. As soon as they were, her wolf

would start to heal her and she’d be fine by morning.

Je rry hadn’t escaped without injury either. He had a dislocated shoulder from where Cassie had fl*pped him with her staff

while she held onto his arm.

We had a 30 minute break between the fight so that the adrenaline that the medics shot into J erry could speed his healing

for him to fight me.

The time seems to crawl and to fly by at the same time. I’ve wanted to use that time to come up with a battle plan, but I couldn’t get past my worries for my other friends and the possibility that I might have to hurt Jer ry badly in order to advance. Do I want this position that much? Does it really matter so much that I’m willing to hurt my best friend?

I don’t find the answer to those questions or gather a game plan before it’s time for the fight to start.

Stepping up to the weapons table next to J erry, I give him a tight smile. He puts his arm around me and pulls me into a hug.

“No matter what happens, we’re going to be ok after this. This has nothing to do with our friendship, ok? If I lose, it isn’t going to change that you are one of my best friends, ok? he whispers into my hair.

I can’t speak, just giving him a nod as I return his hug.

When we step back from each other, we turn back to the weapons table to make our choices. I already know that Jer ry is going to pick the num-chuks and the throwing stars. They’re his favorite weapons. Means that I need a mid range weapon and my trusty knives. I pick a short sword. I like these weapons the best and they will serve me well against J erry’s weapons.

We move into the fighting circle, immediately settling into our stances. The whistle blows and we’re both off, not wasting

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Chapter 35 Oakley

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time in feeling each other out. Why would we? We train together every day. We know how each other moves, each other’s tells,

and each other’s favorite moves. Now we just have to work on taking that information and using it to our advantage.

Jer ry has two throwing stars in his hands and throws them at me in quick succession. I dodge one and bat the other one out of the air with my sword. By then, he has both num-chuks in his hands, fl*pping them rapidly over his shoulders or back and forth in the air. Part of the difficulty in fighting someone who has num-chuks is the movement of the weapons themselves. It’s very easy to get distracted by the natural movement of the num-chuks and miss a tell that they are about to fly towards you.

I need to get rid of the num-chuks, or at least one of them, so that I can reduce the visual noise of their movement and focus on what Je rry’s hands are actually doing.

So, in the last moment of my run towards him, I slide on the ground, aiming my sword’s swing at his leg. I know that I won’t hit him with the sword. That’s not the goal. The goal is to get close enough that I can knock one of the num-chuks out of his hand. I’m nearly 100% guaranteed to get hit by the num-chuks and it’s gonna hurt like hell, but at least he’ll be down a weapon.

Just as I predicted, Jer ry jumps over my sword strike, aiming a strike for the shoulder opposite my sword arm with his

num-chuk. His arm closest to my sword hand is being held out for a counter balance. Iturn, allowing the num-chuk he’s striking

me with to hit my back, but ripping the num-chuk in his counter balance arm out of his hand.

The num-chuk hits me in the left shoulder blade and the pain that blossoms there is blinding, but at least I’ve taken one

weapon out of his hands. That means, he only has two more throwing stars and a num-chuk left, and I’ve still got all four of my

knives and my sword. I’m liking those odds.

I

I roll, hitting Je rry as he comes down and he falls as s over tea kettle onto the ground. I try to roll on top of him, but he hits

out with his remaining num-chuk and I’m struck in the temple. The world goes fuzzy and I see stars dancing across my sight.

I force myself to my feet, somehow keeping my sword in my hand. Je rry stands too, bleeding from a scrape on his temple. He apparently knocked his head a bit when he went down,

My vision is doubling, hazy around the edges and it’s hard for me to see exactly what’s going on. Just as my vision

sharpens, a throwing star sinks into my shoulder. I grunt with the pain, clenching my teeth so that a scream doesn’t come out of

my mouth. As I pull it out, I roll to the side, feeling the wind whip by me as Jer ry throws his last star. Of course, now he’s on the side of the fighting circle with the other two, though, so I’ve gotta keep him busy

Problem is my vision is still not the best and my balance is a bit wonky. Not good. Not good at all.

Je rry is moving backwards towards one of the fighting stars embedded in the ground. I manage to get one of my knives out of my weapons belt and throw it towards Jer ry. I miss his hand by a good two inches. It doesn’t seem like much in the grand scheme of things, but I never miss.

And Jer ry knows that.

“You ok, Oakley?” he asks.

“Peachy keen,” I say, blinking hard to try and clear my vision. I’ve obviously got a concussion. Really not good in a fight.

“Well, this sucks. I don’t want to fight you when you’re like this. I’ll make it easy on you,” Je rry says, standing up.

I chuckle. “I won’t.”

Jer ry comes at me, swinging the num-chuk over one shoulder and then the other. Holding up my sword, I prepare for his onslaught. But I can’t really see him. Everything’s starting to go black.

Jer ry’s suddenly in my face. My sword catches the swing of his num-chuk, which bounces off harmlessly. I make a halfhearted slice with my dagger, but he easily dances out of the way. Je rry swings again. This time, I’m too slow. The

hykonnects with my shoulder, right where the throwing star hit. This time, I do scream, though I try to turn it into a roar

Chapter 35 – Oakley

of rage as I slice at Jer ry’s form. I manage to catch his side, but it wasn’t deep or big. Just a glancing blow.

But my momentum makes me stumble. I can’t stop myself, but feel my eyes closing. I’m having trouble opening them, only just blocking Je rry’s oncoming strike when I hear it whistling through the air.

“Yield, Oakley. Something’s obviously wrong. Yield,” Je rry pleads with me.

“Nope,” I say. I try to shake my head, but quickly realize that’s a really bad idea.

I’m more seeing Jer ry as a shape, an outline of blackness in the darkness, than a clear image at this point, but I still strike

out with my sword. Je rry dodges it and the momentum brings me down. And the second that my head hits the ground, blackness overwhelms me. And the world fades away.