Page 58 of Coyote
I faced off against the man who assaulted the woman I loved, and all my doubts fell away. I would kill this man to protect Bethany and our child. I’d worked out daily, bulked up, and sparred with every man in our club. Truthfully, I’d spent years honing my fighting skills. Now was the moment of truth, to see if all that hard work would earn me the victory I so desperately needed against a larger and deadlier enemy.
If I’d thought we would just be fighting, I would have been very much mistaken. Cyclops immediately started trash talking me. “This is my third time in the cage. You look like a man who has never been in a real fight, much less taken a human life. You’re a baby compared to me, and Bethany deserves a real man who can protect her.” It was a subtle dig that he’d done as he liked with her three years ago and abducted her right out from under my nose just this morning. But instead of shaking my confidence in this moment of truth, his words just spurred me on. It wasn’t a fucking pissing contest, lives depended on the outcome, and I couldn’t let my woman down.
While he rambled, I spent the time reviewing the weapons available to me and their locations relative to each other. I had to figure out a strategy to win this fight. But I was pulled from my internal thoughts when my opponent raised his voice.
“Hey, you. I’m talking to you.”
I heard the cage door slam shut behind us. That meant there was no going back. Either I walked out of the cage, or he did. No matter what, it couldn’t be him, I decided on the spot.
Cyclops sneered at me. “Still not talkin’ to me, boy scout? I know all about your club. You like to play at being an MC, but everybody knows you’re just a bunch of pussies.”
When I didn’t respond, he upped the ante. “If you’re right and Bethany’s little girl is yours, I’m gonna have fun with her, you feel me? And you won’t be able to do a damn thing about it from the grave. What do you think of that?”
“I think you’re so full of shit that you don’t realize how ridiculous you sound, you fucking sick, twisted bastard.” I was already determined that I would be the one walking out of here alive, but hearing him talk about my daughter like that, sickened me and urged me to fight harder.
When he came at me, I blocked several punches until one landed on my jaw. This man had a mean right hook that sent me staggering back a step. I spat out blood and kept fighting. The thing about injuries is that you don’t really feel them at first because of all the endorphins being released. It was an all-out brawl with people shouting at us from the sidelines.
When we got close to the fence, I grabbed a hunting knife. When I turned around, Cyclops had one as well. It increased the danger tenfold. We lunged and stabbed at each other, doing minor damage. He got in a good swipe and ended up slicing my shoulder open. I couldn’t afford to slow down and coddle my wound. Any distraction at all in a situation like this could mean my death. I also wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me pay attention to the wounds he gave me. Maybe that was ego on my part, but I didn’t care.
I felt blood running down my arm and covering my hand, making it hard to keep hold of the knife. Bethany was screaming in the background for someone to stop the fight. I didn’t want that though. I wanted to finish this motherfucker while I had the chance. Someone must have pulled her away because her voice slowly died away.
Eventually, I realized that I needed a weapon with some reach because he kept getting close enough to cut me. I chose a long wooden stick, the kind made for martial arts sparring. My thought was that if I could get in strategic hits, I could bring him down. After ten minutes of focusing on his head and neck, I discarded the stick in favor of a steel bar. It had some reach but not much. I liked the weight of it in my hand. All I had to do was bid my time until he gave me an opening and then strike hard and fast. By now the fight had been going on what felt like forever. Both of us were slowing down, my hands were slick with blood—mine or his I didn’t know.
I turned to face him after a complex set of maneuvers, and he threw dirt into my eyes. I wasn’t expecting that. Then again, my club brothers had warned me that there were no rules and that he would fight dirty. I should have paid more attention to their words. While I blinked and rubbed my eyes, he landed a hard blow to my ribcage, and I was momentarily winded. Fighting blind was nearly impossible. He kept catching me unawares and slamming the steel bar into my torso. I felt one my ribs shatter and I decided I wasn’t going to go out like this, with the woman I loved possibly still watching from afar. My breathing was ragged, and I was tiring, but I had to keep going, the life of my woman and child depended on it.
Over the din of voices, I heard Mace shout, “Aim up. Stun him with a head shot and then go for the kill.” It was sound advice, at least as good as anything floating around in my mind, so I took it.
I gripped the bar harder and when I sensed movement, I struck with all my might. The blow connected. My vision was clearing, and I could see a blurred image of him clutching the side of his head. I swung again, relieved that I was now able to see. The second blow to the head sent his weapon clamoring to the ground.
I sensed that now was my moment. I flipped the steel rod around in my hand and with one sweeping downward motion, I drove it through his chest, hopefully where his heart was located. When he fell to the ground, I kicked the rod deeper until he wasn’t moving anymore. I stood there trying to catch my breath, feeling pain coursing through my body.
Relief surged in my chest. I’d done it my Bethany was free of this man once and for all.
The minute the door opened, I staggered through it. Bethany was the first to greet me. I wondered if she had been close all along.
“Oh my God, look at you,” She tore off a strip of her bathrobe, that only now I realized she was still wearing, and pressed it against my shoulder wound to stem the bleeding. Mace gave her his belt and she tied it firmly around the fabric to create a tourniquet. Her trembling hand seemed reluctant to leave my shoulder. She was freaked out as hell. I could tell by her expression and the way she moved closer to me.
I covered her hand with mine and assured her, “I’m okay. It looks a lot worse than it is.”
I realized at some point that Storm was consoling Steel. “I know he was a personal friend of yours, but you did the right thing.”
“Yes, I know,” Steel responded in a flat tone. “He knew what stepping in that cage entailed because he’s been in there a couple of times already. I guess the third time wasn’t a charm,” he stated morosely.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Breaker added.
“Cyclops was just a lonely man who didn’t understand when he crossed the line. I feel sorry for him. But he chose his own path in life and will be remembered for the good he did instead of his worst moment.”
It was surreal to me that my club brothers were consoling the man who wasn’t able to control his fucking club, or at least stop them from doing horrific things. Then again Cyclops didn’t seem like the kind of man who let anyone tell him what to do. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw his lifeless form lying on the ground still impaled by the steel rod. The stupid fucker would still be alive if he could listen and wasn’t such a sick asshole. Taking a human life didn’t sit right me but taking his felt like dispensing long overdue justice for my woman.
After a few more minutes of small talk, we left. I was barely able to get on my bike, but I managed it, because I needed to get Bethany the hell out of their territory before Steel had time to reconsider his generous decision to let us walk out, after killing a member of his club. Holding my hand over my broken ribs, I managed to mount my bike and Bethany slid on behind me, careful where she put her hands. We had some talking to do once I got her the hell out of the compound, but I guessed it could wait until we were back at the clubhouse. I really hadn’t wanted her to find out I knew Nessa was mine in such an in-your-face way, I hated that she would think I’d not trusted her. It had come as a total surprise to me too, I hadn’t known that Breaker was organizing the DNA test. While on the one hand I was happy my brother-in-law had my back, on the other, I wished he’d come to me first.
We didn’t make it far before I started throwing up blood. It was hard to breathe to be honest. It felt like there wasn’t enough oxygen in the air for me to suck into my lungs. I was an absolute mess after my battle. All those blows Cyclops rained down on me were coming home to roost and I was already beginning to feel each and every one of them.
Storm made us pull over and he called an ambulance. By then I was getting lightheaded. Bethany climbed into the back of the ambulance, refusing to leave my side. The expression on her face was heartbreaking. I’d have given anything for her not to have been exposed to the horrible situation with Cyclops. Seeing someone beaten to death is a harsh reality check about just how bad it can get out there in our world. I didn’t want to be the man who destroyed her faith in humanity, I thought dimly. After that, my thoughts started to splinter. I lost the capacity to tell what was real from what were memories or longstanding fears.
***
I must have passed out, because I woke up in a hospital room. Bethany was sleeping in a chair beside my bed, covered with a knitted throw. The woman I loved, looked like she’d been sitting in that chair for days. Someone had pulled a small table over beside her and filled it with snacks and drinks. Something loosened in my chest to know that my family and club brothers were looking after her while she was looking after me.