Surviving the Apocalypse

Arena

Word about the challenge had spread through the Campus, Brigadier General Montgomery one of the few professors the students didn’t dare challenge, no matter how irritated they had become with her. She was the Combat instructor for the entire Campus and had black belts in 7 different forms of martial arts. What almost none of them knew because Hanna was exempt from the Combat Arena because her MOS wasn’t directly related, was that she was a black belt in 9 of them starting with her first at just 7 years old. Her mother had been a Combat instructor as well, and hadn’t passed away from cancer until she was 13 and had mastered all 9 forms her mother knew. Her first two years at Mansfield had the required Combat training classes, but Montgomery had come only after she had completed hers, the only portion she was required to do was the physical training now. Even the Cadets had learned quickly you didn’t challenge Hanna Storm without paying the price, as tapping out wasn’t allowed. The only way you lost was to be knocked out or disabled. Sometimes it meant broken bones, other times being beaten so badly you could no longer stand.

Hanna was in the ring in the traditional ghee, the only thing missing was her colored belt as she had gone with the less traditional rope that was also allowed. Few knew that it wasn’t permitted until you were a third grade black belt in at least 4 forms, which was what you had to be in order to teach. Hanna had her 5th degree in 7 forms of hand to hand, and 4th degree in the other 2. She was all but a master in them, her absolute favorite was Krav Maga. She watched as Hellen Montgomery came in to cheers from the people still required to take her class, all of them thinking they were about to see her teach a Cadet a well deserved lesson.

General Mars entered after she did, looking between both of them. “You both know the rules. No submission, no time limit, no rounds. First to lose consciousness or lose the ability to fight, loses. You both know what is on the line, fight!” he declared as the bell rang.

Hellen Montgomery came in fast and strong using her favorite kick boxing, only to find that Hanna was easily blocking every strike, no matter how complex the pattern.

“Boring.” Hanna said as she used a reverse roundhouse to counterattack when Montgomery let her guard slip for just a second. The impact of her foot on the side of the General’s head before she fell sideways before recovering felt amazing as there were several gasps from the assembled students. They had never expected a Cadet to get such a good hit to her.

“Lets see if you know this than.” Montgomery said switching to judo to come in again. Once again she was dismayed when everything she did found the concrete defense of Hanna Storm, fresh from years of living in the apocalypse where they did this for fun in more ways than could be counted by these people.

“If you aren’t going to use something imaginative, why do you teach Combat. I wouldn’t allow you to teach sanitation if this is all the skill you have in combat.” Hanna said as she f****d under a wide pinch and went in quick and fast to land 5 hits to the woman’s torso before landing a perfect uppercut that had Hellen Montgomery flipping onto her back completely dazed as Hanna shook her arms and danced a little. It was clear to a few of the Cadets that this wasn’t a match, it was a lesson. One that Montgomery was going to be lucky to live down for the rest of her time with the freshman cadets that would be here for at least 3 more years after this one ended.

Jujutsu was the next stop in her repertoire of martial arts forms, Hanna delighting in showing this woman the less known counters to a lot of the grappling techniques she was trying to use against Hanna. Her core strength, flexibility and knowledge of her own body made it seem effortless before Hanna moved into the dramatic throws that were also part of Jujutsu. A particularly dramatic one using her legs had Hellen Montgomery tangled up in the ropes, requiring one of the other Cadets to come free her before she could stand and face Hanna again.

“Oh, are we realizing that this soldier has her priorities perfectly straight? Are we ready to end this lesson you are getting, or should we really begin to show the moron that she knows nothing of any importance that can’t be found in literally hundreds of other capable teachers?” Hanna asked making her face flush with anger.

Hanna however was bored with the regular combat techniques as she moved into her favorite one, that combined the forms of every other style and made them nothing less than lethal. Hellen came in for a simple strike, found her arm being flung out the way before Hanna came in so aggressively that she had no choice but to recoil as her fists found the muscles in Hellen’s ribs and stomach before she grabbed her by the head and threw her across the ring. All of it happened in the course of two seconds from her missed punch to landing on the side of the ring.

“Come on, what kind of joke are you if you cannot land a single blow?” Hanna asked loud enough to be heard by the people closest to the ring. General Mars couldn’t stop it if he wanted too, even though he knew exactly how it was going to turn out.

He had been Commandant for 9 years, and had gone through 3 Combat Instructors during her two years. Each one had assumed she was going easy on them and forced her to go full on. One she had broken his shoulder in a way he was only able to regain 60 percent of his mobility back once it healed. The second she had shattered his arm so bad it took 4 plates and 87 screws to make his arm usable again. The last one had his knee shattered so badly he never regained the ability to walk without a cane. Each one ending their Combat careers because they refused to listen. He had even warned Montgomery to never get Hanna to the point she challenged the Combat Instructor, hoping beyond hope that she would listen. In 6 years, she had retired 4 Combat Instructors, and he feared today would be the start of the search for the 6th. “Hanna, I don’t want to replace her at this point in the year.” He said making Hanna laugh from the ring as Montgomery picked herself up from the mat again.

“Wrist or ankle?” Hanna asked back as she deflected a beautifully executed kick that would have caught most other Cadets off guard.

“Wrist, she needs to be able to walk.” He called back.

The next time Hellen Montgomery attacked Hanna thinking this would be the time she managed to strike her, Hanna caught her wrist and held it for a fraction of a second. Hellen Montgomery knew what was coming next as her left arm was yanked hard which threw her off balance before she went spinning through the air, the large c***k sounding was her wrist breaking in two places. Before she could even register the pain she knew what it was, as she couldn’t use her left hand at all. She couldn’t even close her fingers into a fist before the wave of pain let her know it was far worse than she thought. She looked at her wrist and nearly feinted, the bone from her wrist protruding through the skin like a sick trophy would make it difficult for her to ever hit with power from that hand again. Not impossible, but extremely difficult before the pain registered and she screamed as two medics ran into the ring as Hanna stepped out.

Every Cadet in the entire Academy had seen it, most of them required to spend at least one class period each day with the Combat Instructor that was having morphine injected directly into her arm to stop as much of the pain as they could before she was loaded into a stretcher and taken from the arena straight to the medic bay. General Mars followed, glad he wasn’t in the room when the doctor had to reset the wrist in the proper place. The scream was intense from the room, before the wound was stitched close and the hand immobilized in a cast.

The doctor walked out shaking his head as he saw General Mars. “I was under the impression the staff had learned not to antagonize Cadet Storm.” He said simply knowing who had done it without even seeing the fight.

“She was warned, apparently didn’t fully believe it. What is the prognosis?” he asked.

“It will be at least 3 weeks before we will know how the wrist is healing. X-ray shows it is properly set, but it could still require surgery to repair properly. Right now, flip a coin on surgery.” Doctor Bryson told him with clinical detachment they developed when they dealt with soldiers. It was what it was, and she wouldn’t be the first career he ended. Wouldn’t even be the first as a direct result of an encounter with this one Cadet.

General Mars nodded as he walked into the room where the nurses were finishing cleaning up before they left her to relax for a few minutes. “So, do you remember the warning I gave you when you took this job 2 and a half years ago?” he asked looking at her wrist in the cast.

Hellen Montgomery sighed as she hung her head, that warning coming through very clearly when she had seen into the eyes of Hanna in that last moment before the true ride of that match began. “Do not antagonize Cadet Storm.” She managed to say coherently despite the high dose of painkillers.

“I would ask if you had learned your lesson, but the doctor says it will be three weeks before we even know if you will need surgery to repair that wrist. I would say your lesson is just beginning, much like the 4 I warned you about in the two years before you. All medically discharged because they antagonized the one Cadet who had her third blackbelt before she was even double digits in age.” He told her as he had learned her story early as her mother had been the Combat Instructor when she began here. It had been her last year before she was diagnosed and died of cancer, and her daughter had been devastated by the loss. The others before her never believed a 12 and 13 year old girl could harm them enough to warrant such caution, only to find that insulting her mother was a surefire way to be out down so effectively they didn’t get back up as warriors. Now just days after laying her father to rest here she was, potentially ending another promising career.

“Do I want to know just how many forms of martial arts she is an expert in?” Hellen asked as she was a 4th degree blackbelt in 7 forms.

Jason Mars looked at her and shook his head. “You didn’t look before the match?”

Hellen laughed as she lay there not caring enough to try and move as she would be under observation the entire night. “Felt it would be dishonorable.” She replied making him laugh.

“If I could hire her to be the Combat Instructor, I would have before I hired you. The answer is she is a 5th degree blackbelt in the same 7 you know, and a 4th degree in Krav Maga and Drunken Boxing. Her mother was the instructor here before her death, the 4 instructors before you taken out in the two years prior by her actions alone. Now the day after she returns from burying her father, you think it a good idea to give her the good soldier routine. Just so you know, her course work right now, isn’t theoretical. She is actually planning and executing missions in the Command Center, ordering men and women to their deaths every day. Watching them perish on high resolution drone feeds and adapting their strategy on the fly to ensure their missions are successful. She is well aware of the costs of war, she lives with them far better than anyone else I have ever seen. Feel lucky she was teaching a lesson tonight not out for real blood.” He told her.

Hellen scoffed as she lay back from her head spinning. “This sure seems like out for blood to me. The doctor said it would likely be agony for the next week.”

General Mars just smiled at her. “Your match with her lasted 9 minutes. When she took out your predecessors who she was out for blood, lasted less than 2. Every one of those 4 knew before the doctor even examined them that their careers were over. You have a chance to learn. So for the last time,” he said before she finished.

“Don’t antagonize Cadet Colonel Hanna Storm. I got the message, loud and clear.” She said holding up her hand in the cast which made him laugh.

“Now you just need to remember this lesson in the future. Some Cadets who come through here are truly the best of the best. Yes she can be arrogant and head strong, but her Colonel Rank is not honorary. She has passed the tests and when she graduates, she will be the youngest commissioned Colonel in the entire history of the United America Army.” He said before he walked out of the hospital room before a nurse walked in with a strong sedative for her.