Boulder
My first opponent was no match for me, and I took him out in mere minutes. I hardly broke a sweat and went back to my duty of protecting Christina, receiving a pat on the shoulder from Khan, who was delighted by the whole thing.
I fought my second match the next morning, facing a young, aggressive male who made the mistake of overestimating his own speed. I took him out in less than five minutes too.
My third opponent wasn’t much harder and it didn’t surprise me, since I always suspected that Khan had influenced the games to make sure the right people went all the way.
In the end, I stood opposite, Nelson, a man around forty who had a fierce reputation of making his opponents suffer painfully before killing them. I remembered him from when I was a teenager and our paths had crossed. Being six years my senior, he had once trained me and my peers, and I would never forget the way he did it. The man was a sadistic asshole who had tortured us in the woods for weeks. I raised my head, searching out Khan on the balcony with Christina and Magni by his side. The expression on Khan’s face told me it was no coincidence that Nelson was my opponent. I had told Khan about my experience as a young man and he was giving me the chance to get my revenge.
In an exaggerated gesture, Nelson bowed to Khan and blew Christina a kiss. That last part made my insides twist in a knot. I’d spent three days with Christina and my view on women would never be the same. She might be naïve, small, fragile, sensitive, and easily rattled, but she was also intelligent, sweet, and innocent, and there was no way I would ever allow a monster like Nelson to get close to her.
With revenge and protectiveness as my fuel, I stormed against him. He turned his head at the last minute and managed a surprised “The fuck?” before I knocked him to the ground.
The fight was dirty and brutal. The audience loved it and cheered in a blood rush as we fought like lions.
After getting in some really good punches, I thought I heard Christina scream my name and in the second it took for me to look up, Nelson had my left arm in his grip and wrenched it backward. Massive pain shot up my arm when it snapped and I knew it was broken.
“Which limb do you want me to break next?” he roared at me.
I managed to break free and move back, protecting my arm with my body. Nelson came at me again like a wild boar and I made a quick decision. Rolling my body to get under him, I swallowed the hellish pain of landing on my arm and managed to trip him over and get a hold of his hair with my right hand. Jerking his head back I swung my legs around his neck and squeezed.
Nelson was arching up and reaching back, but he couldn’t get loose from my death grip, and his pounding on my hips only made me squeeze my knees tighter, completely suffocating him.
Roars of excitement rose from the audience, who were on their feet shouting for me to kill him. I waited for Nelson to pound the dirt, but he didn’t. Foam was forming at his mouth and his facial color was almost blue. His hands were waving uncoordinated, slapping at me without force, and I knew it was a matter of seconds before he would pass out.
Among all the noise from the audience, I heard one plea in a high-pitched scream. “Have mercy.”
I looked up to see Christina with both hands clasped in front of her face in a display of horror and cursing under my breath, I let go.
Nelson deserved to die, but Christina wouldn’t understand that and I didn’t want her to resent me. A few clapped because of my mercy, but most booed with disappointment.
As I walked away, medics came running to check on Nelson. I honestly couldn’t care less if he lived or died, but supported my left hand with my right and cursed the motherfucker for breaking my arm.
Christina
I don’t know what was worst – the brutality in front of me or the fact that the crowd encouraged it. Disgusted, I watched Khan, Magni, and the crowd beneath us cheer for Boulder to kill the man trapped between his legs.
My heart was racing so fast I felt close to a heart attack. This was madness and I had to do something. As loud as I could, I screamed for Boulder to show mercy, and received annoyed glances from both Magni and Khan.
“What did you do that for?” Khan asked me in irritation when Boulder released his opponent.
“I don’t want Boulder to become a killer.”
The way they both raised their brows made me suspect that he already was.
“Has he killed before?” I asked in a mere whisper because part of me didn’t want to know.
Khan pursed his lips and seemed to consider his answer. “I’ll let Boulder answer that question himself. For now, let’s rejoice that the winners have all been selected and that tonight you’ll be able to pick your champion.”
“A shame about Boulder, though,” Magni said distractedly and waved at someone he knew below.
“What about Boulder?” I asked.
“I think his arm broke. That means you only have four to pick from.”
“Why?” I asked, slightly panicking. I was used to Boulder now and I didn’t want some other big man in my room.
Magni shook his head at me. “Well, obviously, you can’t choose a protector with a broken arm. That should be fucking obvious.”
“But don’t you have bone accelerators?”
“Yes, but it’ll still take at least a week for him to heal.”
I didn’t respond to that but kept my questions for Boulder, who came to see me in my room after he had been seen by a doctor.
“How serious is it?” I asked with a nod to his arm.
His arm was covered in blue accelerator spray like the one we used back home.
“It’s broken,” he said grumpily.
“I’m sorry.”
He shrugged. “It’s not your fault.”
“It feels like it is. Can you forgive me?” I asked with all the humbleness I’d been taught from an early age. “Although I did not directly cause you this injury, I fear it was my reckless decision to volunteer for this journey that led to the outcome and ultimately your suffering. You have my deepest apology.” I bowed my head and waited for his forgiveness.
When nothing came, I looked up again.
“Are you done?” he asked, annoyed.
“Done?”
“Yeah, with that girly sensitivity shit. I fought a scumbag and he broke my arm. You had nothing to do with it and your apology only annoys the shit out of me.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, perplexed by his hostility.
“God damn it, Christina, I told you not to apologize. I swear, if you don’t stop, I’ll use my right hand to stuff your mouth.”
“Stuff my mouth?” I gasped.
“Yeah, so I don’t have to listen to your idiotic nonsense.”
“I was trying to be nice.”
Boulder rolled his eyes. “If you wanted to be nice you could have told me I fought bravely or that you appreciate me taking that fucking sadist out of the games so you won’t end up with him.”
“You think he was the sadist?” I asked. “You almost killed him.”
“Of course. If I hadn’t he would have killed me. And he would have enjoyed doing it by taking the time to break every bone in my body first.”
My eyes teared up. “That’s horrible. Someone like that should be detained and helped. Clearly he must have a personality disorder.”
“Nah, he’s just a mean motherfucker. He’s also one of the highest-ranked police officials in the Northlands.”
I was dumbfounded.
“What?” he asked
“Nothing, I just didn’t know you still had a police force.”
“Yes, of course. What do you have?”
“Mediators.”
His raised eyebrows told me he wanted me to clarify.
“Mediators are specially trained to calm down people who are upset. If someone snaps and becomes violent, a team of mediators will quickly secure that person with non-violent methods and take them to a safe facility.”
“Like a prison?”
“No, like a place of reflection. We don’t have prisons, Boulder. Instead we have nice places that resemble hotels with green gardens and nice staff to help them find inner peace.”
He snorted. “Of course you do, but can they leave?”
“No, not until they’ve been deemed harmless to themselves and others.”
“So it’s a prison disguised as a hotel?”
“It’s a place of reflection,” I insisted.
He scoffed and rolled his eyes again. “That’s just a nice word for a mental institution.”
I sighed over his obstinate attitude. “The point is, we don’t have police officers.”
“Because you’re all a bunch of brainwashed bobbing heads living in fairyland.”
“At least we don’t kill each other for money,” I said in a low hiss and instantly covered my mouth with both hands.
Boulder creased his brow and looked at my hands. “What’s wrong?”
“I hissed at you,” I said.
“So?”
“It’s verbal aggression and should be avoided.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s hurtful and unnecessary.”
Boulder shifted his balance from one foot to the other and huffed out air. “You know what your problem is?”
“What?” I asked and forgave him for being in such a foul mood; surely his broken arm was upsetting to him.
“You give away too much power.”
“I beg your pardon.”
“You worry about what you say and you get offended too easily. Hell, I can make you react just by using a swear word and that makes you vulnerable.”
“I disagree. I’m an emotionally strong person, and I’m very good at setting my personal boundaries,” I stated as calmly as I could.
“Bullshit. You’re fragile as hell.” He frowned and moved closer. “I wish I could protect you, but tonight you’ll be in the company of another man and it will take him less than ten minutes to realize that he can confuse and upset you by using the right words. That makes you easy to manipulate, Christina.”
I opened my mouth to speak but he cut me off. “Words only hold the power you allow them to. You know that people used to speak different languages in the world, right?”
“Of course,”
“So if I spoke a different language, I could call you a hideous cocksucker and you wouldn’t be offended because you wouldn’t understand.”
My eyes expanded, but I understood his point. “But if I learned the meaning I would be deeply offended,” I pointed out.
“Really?”
“Most certainly,” I insisted.
“So let me ask you this.” He looked around and pointed to the bed. “If I called you a bed, would you be offended?”
“No.”
“Why not? I might mean it as an insult. It might be an inference that you’re lazy or big and bulky.”
I made a dismissive chuckle to lighten the mood. “I wouldn’t be offended because I’m not a bed. That’s just ridiculous.”
“Did you ever suck a man’s cock?”
“No!” I shrieked as my hand flew to my chest.
“Are you hideous?”
My cheeks were flaming red and I was losing my patience with him. “What are you trying to say?”
“You wouldn’t get offended if I called you a bed, because you’re not a bed. So why would you get offended if someone called you a hideous cocksucker, when you’re not?”
“Those are horrible words.”
“Yet, they’re just words.”
“Words hold power,” I argued.
“True, but only the power you give them.” He moved even closer and was in my personal space now. “Please, try to adapt, Christina. Don’t give away your power so easily.”
“I’m not giving away my power,” I said, mostly to convince myself.
“Yes, you are. You’re allowing me to use my words as weapons against you, and every man will figure out your weakness if you’re not careful.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
He sighed loudly. “Because it’s the only thing I can do to protect you in some small measure.”
“But you won your fight – you could still be my champion, couldn’t you?”
Boulder scoffed again and this time it was a hoarse, pained sound. “A champion with a broken arm? I don’t think so.”
“But I’ve gotten used to you and you’re…”
He waited for me to continue. His gray eyes locked on me. “I’m what?”
“Not entirely bad for an Nman.”
“Thanks, I’ll take that as a compliment,” he said with a laugh that sounded bitter. “You’re not entirely awful yourself… for a Momsi, that is.”
After that, we didn’t speak for more than an hour until a dress was brought to me.
“You need to put this on, and maybe you can do something about your hair too,” Boulder instructed.
I thought about protesting, but the crimson dress was beautiful, like something from an old movie, and I secretly wanted to try it on. I went to the adjacent bathroom and smiled in the bathroom mirror at the sight of the silky material against my skin. Spinning, I watched my reflection in the mirror from all angles. The dress was sleeveless and went all the way to the floor following my natural curves, and with fabric thin enough to reveal the outlines of my half globes on the lower back and the upper front.
I undid my braid and sighed when my hair puffed out in all directions. And then I remembered my roommate, Kya, and how she was always proud of her voluminous hair. My big curly nougat-brown hair would have to do.
“What about shoes?” I asked when I stepped out from the bathroom.
Boulder looked up from the book he was reading and from the way his eyes grew big, I got the feeling that he thought me presentable enough.
He cleared his throat and moved in his seat. “Magni brought those.” He pointed to the floor where two different pairs stood. “They belong to Laura, but maybe they’ll fit you.”
I moved closer and squatted down to look at the shoes. They were like something from a museum and had me smiling with glee. I’d always wanted to try on high-heeled shoes and now was my chance.