6
“Uh huh, we put on our big girl panties today,” Niko drawled.
“What’s your problem?” I marched up behind him.
He peered over his shoulder at me, looking me up and down, then abandoned the ladder to face me. “My problem is you and Gavin thinking you’re invincible and then you—” Niko thrust his finger at me, “—pussying out, acting like you’re tough shit just to fuckin’ bail at the last minute. Doesn’t look good, Mundy. For any of us stuck here in Grandbay.”
I scowled. “I’m not gonna pussy out next time there’s a fight. I didn’t when Dalesbloom had us surrounded, did I?”
“When people almost die it tends to change their way of thinking,” said Niko.
It stung that he thought me so incompetent.
“I’m not gonna put my life on the line for a wimpy little bitch, Ais,” he added, stooping toward me, adjusting the bill of his trucker hat. “Don’t make me regret staying here.”
The venom in his voice triggered outrage in me. He was supposed to be loyal—now he was accusing me of being a coward, using it as an excuse to second guess his own decision to stand by Grandbay! “If you want to take off, then do it,” I snarled, shoving his chest.
Niko grabbed my wrists and thrust me toward the cabin. I hit the wall with a gasp, my lungs trembling. The pain was immediate, but instinct told me I couldn’t just shrivel up and forfeit this time. As soon as Niko released my wrists, I reeled my leg up and kicked him in the stomach, sending him staggering back onto the ladder. Satisfaction blossomed to see him trip over the ladder, watching the ladder come crashing down—but he pulled himself away before it landed on him.
“Fucking bitch,” he spat, rising to his feet.
My shoulders shuddered as I breathed hard, mucus wet in my throat. “Don’t act surprised. You know I don’t let assholes walk all over me.”
“Been wondering lately if you and Gavin are worth any respect,” said Niko. “You gonna try to prove it to me this time?”
“I’ll shove your face into the mud if that’s what it takes,” I snapped back.
Niko straightened and rolled up the sleeves of his flannel. He looked at me not just like I was an opponent, but like I had become eye candy. I’d felt him look at me this way before. His eyes crawled all over my body with pervasive amusement, imagining how he might like to put me in my place. Before, I used to just shrug it off. Now, it incensed me worse than anything else. It reminded me of Colt. I was no man’s plaything.
This time, I didn’t let him make the first move. A clenched fist carried all my anger toward Niko, aiming for his cheek, but he ducked out of the way and chopped into my throat. The impact made me choke. Reflexively, I smacked the bill of his cap up off his head, then grabbed a handful of hair and wrenched his head down, but he reacted by thrusting his shoulder into my stomach. It hurt so badly that I wanted to cry out. No sound escaped me—I tried not to, or else I knew my strangled noises would only encourage him. After stumbling back, I swung my foot into his ribs. He caught my ankle and twisted it the opposite direction, leaving my only options to drop to the ground, or pull myself closer. I opted for the latter, bending my knee and hopping close enough to wrap my arms around his neck. Niko let go of my ankle, freeing my legs to wrap around his abdomen. I barely had enough time to choke him with my arms before he ensnared my hair, yanking my head back. My feet went back to the ground. I jabbed him in the throat and he recoiled.
We separated again, panting and eying each other up. I had to bring him down to the ground if I wanted to win this, but it was already hard to breathe again. I coughed into my arm and he used that opportunity to strike, filling the space between us. Once more, he launched at me shoulder-first, driving his shoulder into my diaphragm. Niko must have known I was vulnerable there. The collision sent me flying backward and winded me as I landed hard in the grass. I wheezed and couldn’t breathe, but Niko’s onslaught didn’t end. As he lunged at me, I brought my feet in and tried to fend him off, kicking at his chest and stomach. One good kick gave me enough space to roll onto my hands and knees, but he dove at me immediately after, slinging his arm around my neck and squeezing.
I was trapped. Niko had me in a choke hold, kneeling behind me and bending my body backward as he crushed my throat in his arms. Clawing at his arm was futile, even as I dug my nails into his skin—it only caused him to squeeze tighter, gritting his teeth beside my ear. “You ain’t shit, Ais,” he hissed. “If this is how you’re gonna fight someone from Dalesbloom, I got a feeling it’s gonna end poorly for you.”
Desperately dragging in gulps of air, I curled my fingers around his arm and tried to open up my windpipe. My chest radiated with pain. I couldn’t breathe. There had to be a way for me to get out of this. Twisting my body, I tried to squirm free, turn around and maneuver myself into a position that would allow me to breathe again, but then he slapped his palm over my mouth and nose and cut off my airways completely. My ears rang as panic surged in my veins, hot adrenaline and cold fear confronting the blurry darkness creeping into my vision. Everything hurt. I thrashed, kicking my feet, pressing my back into him, but the gravelly sound of his laughter told me he was just enjoying this.
“Give up yet?” he taunted.
I knew better than to push myself any further than this and smacked his arm, begging for him to let me go. But he didn’t.
What he was intending to accomplish by holding me here, I didn’t know. All I knew was that my mind screamed with the urgency to breathe and I couldn’t. Blood pounded in my head as my sight grew cloudy, a burning sensation behind my eyes warning of the lack of oxygen to my brain. I couldn’t even utter muffled pleas for freedom, because phlegm and blood welled up in my throat and prevented any noise from escaping other than hoarse, hacking coughs. I tore at his arm, trying to rip out chunks. I didn’t know if it worked. My vision turned dark and all the energy in my body drained away. Numbness took hold of me before my mind escaped reality and sprang into the realm of unconscious hallucinations.
Now it was death which had me wrapped up in its arms.
Thick smog embraced the forest, rolling in between trees and devouring the grass around me. I was suddenly awake again, only in a wilder shape. My long legs were sprawled around me, my body limp on the ground. I raised my weary head and stared down my snout into the churning fog. I was a wolf, but the autumnal hues that usually cloaked my body seemed duller, drained of life and color. My eyes stung and when I opened my maw, it was to find that I still couldn’t breathe. The problem didn’t seem to be with my lungs this time. Now, the problem was with the air itself, like there was no oxygen, only smog—and I quickly realized why I couldn’t breathe it. It wasn’t smog or mist. It was dense, ashy smoke that filled my mouth with the taste of burning. My eyes rolled back as I took in my surroundings, but my body barely felt like my own, every part of myself too heavy to hold.