In Search of Home

Chapter 11

Viktor groaned, throwing his arms up in the air, "You, again?!" The crowd cheered at his battle cry. 

Oorah raged against its cage, throwing itself against the bars in a feral frenzy. Its dark brown eyes bored into Viktor's, jaws snapping angrily. Viktor bared his own teeth in retaliation, slowly feeling himself fall into the state of mind he did when he fought. There was no need for human thoughts when he was fighting for his life. It was animal against animal out here. 

The ringmaster gave a mighty shout and the barred door lifted. Viktor quickly ran to the nearest piece of debris. A large, rotted tree trunk quickly went under his worn hands and socked feet. His nails were broken from previous fights, ragged and blunt, but they did their job as he climbed on top of the trunk with ease. It was a little taller than Oorah, who could easily reach it if he jumped. 

Viktor wasn't going to give it that chance. 

In the half-year he had been here, he had not fought against Oorah since that first night. He was uneasy, but he had learned quite a bit during his time here. He would win, but this time, he would win with skill instead of luck. 

Oorah charged the tree trunk, crouching to leap at him. Viktor let out a wordless yell at the beast, jumping off the trunk and over Oorah as the beast leaped at where he was. Twisting in the air, Viktor grabbed his whip-like tail, tugging hard and stalling the beast's momentum. His heels dug into the harsh sand as he was dragged forward, but the action did exactly what he wanted it to do. 

Oorah leaped over the tree trunk and found himself stopped midair over it. He landed ungracefully on top of the trunk, clawing at the wood to get his feet underneath him. Viktor quickly let go of its tail as it started to thrash. 

The crowd bellowed its approval, stamping its feet, tails, and claws. Viktor stalked around the arena, hands loose at his sides as he kept his eyes on the beast. Eventually, Oorah got to his feet, lashing around until he spotted Viktor. Growling low in the back of its throat, Oorah started stalking forward carefully, slowly, as if Viktor couldn't see it. 

The teen rolled his eyes before crouching low to the ground and grabbing a fistful of sand. As soon as Oorah was close, he flung the sand into the beast's eyes. Oorah thrashed, pawing at its eyes as it howled in agony. Viktor launched at it, locking his arms around its large neck as his shoulder dug into the underside of its jaw. 

He heard it choke pathetically for a moment before its front legs tried to reach up to claw at him. He gripped the beast's neck harder, repositioning his legs to be planted more firmly on the ground. Using all his strength, Viktor let out a strangled yell as he threw the beast to its side onto the ground beside where he was standing. 

Panting, Viktor took a few steps back, wiping at the sweat that dotted his brow. He could feel his torn shirt sticking to his back. He shot a glance up at the ringmaster, who looked very pleased with how the fight was going. He was chatting with the two aliens, who were on either side of the ringmaster's chair. Relief flooded his system, and he took a deep breath, getting back into the fight just as Oorah got back to its paws once more. 

Viktor bared his teeth, crouching into a more defensive stance. Oorah charged at him, anticipating Viktor's dodge to the left. The teen cursed as he felt the beast's tail lash against his ankles, but he moved his legs out of the way quickly enough so that the beast couldn't wrap it around him. Curling his hands into fists, Viktor quickly turned on his feet, spraying sand behind him and onto the wooden walls of the arena. 

He swung his right fist into Oorah's face just as the beast opened its jaw to bite him. Viktor howled as it clamped down on his arm instead of his face. Oorah started thrashing with his teeth embedded into Viktor's arm, and the teen brought his other fist down into one of the beast's eyes. It yelped and let go, retreating to a safer distance. It ripped off half of his hoodie sleeve. It also ripped out a chunk of him. Viktor felt woozy when he looked at it.