Invincible(17)

~



The gorilla.

Holy f*cking shit.

That was my reaction as I stood there.

He was tall, hunched, and had the longest arms I’d ever seen. His fists looked like boulders. The guy looked like a deformity, like he belonged in a circus or something. His face was scarred, his head bald, and when he saw me, he lifted his fists ready to fight.

I never backed down from a fight. And this was no different. Well, a little different. I had to win to talk to Aton. I had to fight this big f*ck of a guy and then convince Aton not to kill me.

I wasn’t sure which one was going to be harder.

The gorilla lumbered at me. He had thick black hair damn near everywhere. He was sweaty, his white sleeveless shirt almost had a yellow tint to it.

“Take it to him!” Little Petey yelled.

“Let’s go, Wes,” Aton said. No emotion behind his words.

Story of my life - fighting to survive. Literally fighting to survive. All the time.

“What’s your real name?” I asked as the gorilla closed in on me.

“Gary,” he growled.

I put my fists up. “Ready?”

“Always.”

I gave a nod and stepped back.

Gary quickly threw a right fist. His arm swung like a tree trunk at me. I moved out of the way and swatted at his arm. I threw a right and smashed him in the gut. He groaned and started to lean forward. But then he quickly backhanded my bad shoulder. It sent me backward and to the ground. The pain was white hot and I saw stars for a second.

Stomping right at me, Gary was quick to start throwing more punches. I had no choice but to put my arms to my face and go with the punches. They hurt like hell and I thought the gorilla was going to shatter my arm bones into pieces.

The worst part was the sweat splashing from him. He smelled really f*cking bad.

Dealing with big guys wasn’t easy, but you had to keep your mind straight and remember that the old cliche about them falling hard was very true.

Not that I wanted to kick my way out of it, but I really had no choice.

Gary’s eyes were wide and locked to my face. His teeth showed like a hungry animal. But his stance was all wrong. He had power but not all the power he could have. He stood with his feet together. So all I needed to do was get one good shot on one of his knees. Two kicks and I got him. The heel of my foot hit his right knee and that ended the punches long enough for me to make a move. I climbed up to my feet and went in on him. A left, a right, gut and then chin. Gary swung back a little, opening his arms. Another right to his mouth and I had him stumbling.

“Fuck this!” Little Petey yelled. “Shake it off, you hairy f*ck!”

Little Petey and Aton were like two kids watching scripted wrestling. They loved it. The raw violence. Death always lingering in the air. Money on the line. It was like a drug for them. They could never fight. They could use their power to control the fights.

It pissed me off.

Gary looked at me and suddenly he didn’t seem so tough. Or strong. He was just some lanky guy with hairy arms and a hairy chest. But I knew if I held back, even for a second, he’d come at me.

I went after the gorilla full force. Now he was the one protecting himself. His long arms were bent, covering his face, but that left his body exposed. Each punch hit his sweaty shirt, splashing dirty sweat, but my strength and knuckles were doing their job as he kept stumbling, groaning, trying to absorb the punches without getting hurt.

I had to hand it to the gorilla. He had guts and balls. He swung his right hand at me, smacking me across the chest. It stung and surprised me. I couldn’t remember getting smacked before during a fight. Gary then threw a left, connecting with my jaw. I spun all the way around and instinctively kept my fists up to protect my face. Gary threw another left and I punched it away. I threw an uppercut with a right, hitting him in the jaw. His head snapped back.

“Not again!” Little Petey yelled. “Fuck!”

I punched Gary in the gut a couple times and then went for his face. Left, right, his jaw cranking side to side. His feet were shaky and not in a good stance. I swung my right foot to his right foot, forcing Gary to trip and fall. He put his large hands out to catch himself. I heard a breaking pop sound when he hit the ground. I came down at him with two punches and then a knee to the face. The gorilla went down to the ground for good, his head on the concrete floor, his eyes dazed and spinning as he stared straight up.

Truthfully, I could have kept going. If this were a real fight, I would have until the fight was called off. Instead, I turned and looked at Little Petey and Aton. Little Petey was red faced, his hair literally standing straight up from tearing at it.

Aton was calm, cool. “I think I just won, cuz.”

“Fuck,” Little Petey said. He stepped toward me and breezed by. He looked down at the gorilla. “What the hell happened?”

I let the conversation fade out and walked to Aton. “Did you kill her?”

“What?”

“Did you kill Rose?”

Aton grinned. “No. Not yet. Still trying to process this situation.”

“Aton, you have to listen to me.”

Aton opened his suit jacket. He put his hands to his waist. He did it to show me his gun. “I’m a man of my word, Wes. You took down the gorilla. You won me some cash. So I’ll give you one minute. You better make it worth my while.”