Roses & Ruin

Chapter 87 (Anthony)

        I cracked him good in the nose and there came the blood. In thick streams it started from his nostrils, and the more he fought on without wiping it the more it coated down the front of his mouth, his chin, and eventually his neck. 

My lip was bleeding too, so I also had blood smeared across my cheek and dribbling down my chin. This is the longest I think I've ever fought. This needs to end. So I tried to end it. But Andrei had other ideas. 

        This was the part where he decided to start fighting dirty, so he could be the one to end this fight in his favor. He rushed and half tackled me again, but this time I braced myself and folded into him. I started elbowing his back, which made him groan.

We were half on our knees, half standing up. Andrei grabbed a fist full of my hair and slammed the side of my head down on his bended knee. It made my ears ring and I stumbled. 

He took the opportunity to start hitting me in the face. I felt the harsh smack of bare knuckles against tight flesh. He split my eyebrow right open by the third or fourth blow.

I couldn't let him end me this way. I was bloody and out of breath. I was in pain, but the adrenaline was too high now for me to feel the full extent of it. If anything the more he hit me the more it jacked me up for more. I wanted to make him bleed again. It's primal. The desire to bloody a man this way.

        I elbowed him hard in the thigh, right over the muscle, which gave him a spasm. When he locked up I jabbed my hand into his neck, using the momentum to swing us around. I was on top now and I started punching down on him as best I could with him blocking his head and face from me. 

I grabbed his hair, as he had grabbed mine, and yanked his head back on his neck until I had room to ram my fist into his face. Andrei punched me in the nuts, and I was rolling onto the concrete. We were both laid out on our backs panting for air and spitting blood side by side.

         "COME ON!! KILL HIM" I heard all the rowdy men screaming their heads off. They were waving arms and stomping feet and whistling like crazy. I could feel the ground vibrating beneath my laid out body. I have to get up.

I willed myself to move even though I was exhausted. In that same moment Andrei had the same drive to get up too. We both stumbled to our feet and took our positions again. We were crimson all over, starting to swell in various places, and the fight wasn't even over yet. 

        When I swung Andrei grabbed for my arm, which brought us colliding into each other. We were glistening and slick with sweat and smears of red. From this close Andrei started to fight dirty again. He scratched down my neck with his nails until he drew blood. 

I swung for his jaw and with a loud CRACK I got him down on the ground. When I finally mounted Andrei I told myself I had him. I tried raising my fist again to hit him, but he was already grabbing for my throat.

        As he used both hands to start to choke me I was swinging to hit him. I reached, but not enough to knock him out, because his limbs were extended out to stretch his arms as high as they'd go, so I'd lose my own reach. 

He wants to fight dirty. Fine. I grabbed a can of beer from a man's hand literally right there on the edge of the circle. I cracked it over Andrei's head then rammed my elbow into his, which made it buckle in the wrong direction. Not enough to break it maybe, but he hollered out in pain.

When his arms dropped from my throat I swung again. This time he was swinging too. BAM BAM BAM. My ears were ringing. The world spun on its axis and I tipped over. 

No, Rizzo, you get your ass up. Don't you dare lose this fight. 

I'm fighting to remember this time. If I lose I lose Lexi. I screamed out like a madman and grabbed for Andrei who had sat up to come mount me. I punched his nuts like he did mine, and we were both laying down trying to mount the other in a rolling, grunting, and bashing. Andrei grabbed the discarded can still heavy with half a beer leaking out and bashed my head.