Fates Must Be Kidding

How many times can you really start your life over? You know, when it seems as if your whole world just disappeared, and you are left with nothing but one stubborn thought “I have to survive!” Even though all you want to do is hide under a blanket and wallow in self-pity or, even better, find someone who can deal with all problems in your stead.   That has happened to me several times. How did I handle it? Like a boss… because, despite all my insecurities, I am a badass, because I have an amazing family, and, most importantly, because I always have a goal to guide me. And when you have that beacon ahead the darkness around you is not that overwhelming and suffocating anymore.  You could say that I was dealt a bad hand from the get-go. I don’t remember my life before the Facility, to be honest, I don’t even know if I had one. The Facility was cold and gray, definitely not a place you would willingly send your kids to. But somehow my family and I ended up there. By my family I mean Ricky, Rose, Knox, Sam and Teddy. Oh, and my name is Mia, also known as Em or Choco (because of my chocolate-colored hair and dark brown eyes). We came up with these names for ourselves, since our trainers just called us by the numbers we were assigned. Mine was 13, which I guess explains a lot about my life:) I’m not entirely sure how much time we spent at the Facility. Our days there were a string of combat and arms trainings, lectures about supernaturals, medical tests and….more trainings. At least that’s what they were called. In reality they were more like beatings. All kids at the Facility were split into levels based on their age. We were trained within our own age group, but once a quarter we would go through something called the Challenge. Each of us would get two opponents, one younger and one older, that we had to battle. The results of those fights determined how bad our lives would get. Each loss was punishable with loss of something else - food, sleep, intact bone, or even life, if you lost three Challenges in a row.  This 3-strike rule cost more lives of our comrades than we would like to remember. That’s why we tried not to get attached to anyone outside our group, and within it we helped each other as much as we possibly could. You know, like a real family would. Ricky and Sam were our big brother figures. Tall, fit, strong, scary (to others at least) and handsome. Ricky loved to get into fights just to keep everyone else on their toes, while Sam preferred to use his brains, not that he couldn't beat up almost everyone at the Facility. Rose and Knox could be mistook for twins, both blonde and blue-eyed, but their tempers couldn't be any more different. Rose was the healer of the group, amazing at peace-keeping and stitching us up, but, at the same time, deadly with knives. While Knox had the neck to stirring up trouble, breaking into places and blowing things up. Teddy was the most lovable of us all, a kind, collected, sensible tech magician with mesmerizing green eyes. As for me, I was the leader of our gang, their trust in me and my judgement was both a blessing and a heavy burden.  I think I'm forgetting something important. Oh, right! We are werewolves, no shifting, since we are too young, but with enhanced physical abilities like strength, speed, eyesight, hearing and healing. However for some reason none of us could feel or connect with our wolves, which was pretty weird, if you ask me! We were not the only sups at the Facility, there were other shifters, vampires, witches and warlocks. Basically all we did was learn about each others' strengths, weaknesses, skills and abilities, so we could beat each other up. We had no idea why we were doing that, or why they regularly injected us with some strange substances. So, like I was saying, most days there were a gray blur. Until the last Challenge. We were about thirteen (your guess is as good as mine) when life as we knew it went up in flames, quite literally. We were wary of the upcoming Challenge because Teddy had lost the previous two. Even extra trainings with Ricky and Sam didn't help, fighting really wasn't his thing. That's why we had to come up with a backup plan, losing Teddy wasn't an option. A couple of weeks before the event we started the preparation, stashing weapons in various locations, stealing small quantities of explosives, so that no one would notice.  When the day finally came all of us were on edge, the stakes were really high. Sam was the first one from our group to get in the ring, and a couple of minutes later he was out, barely a scratch on him. Next up was Ricky, his job was to make his fights as brutal as possible, so that no one would spot Knox slipping away and placing small explosives around the perimeter of the gym. I was supposed to keep the distraction going. My first opponent was of no help at all, I had her knocked out in no time. But when I saw my next target I knew we would put on quite a show. I saw him around a couple of times, he was hard not to notice. Black hair, bright gray eyes, olive skin... A great fighter with an aura of confidence around him. I was actually excited about having a go at him. Giving me a small nod he got into his stance. I took a minute to evaluate it, well-balanced and firm, I guess he knew better than to underestimate me. Smart wolf! I circled him twice and made the first move, showing that I was about to punch him in his jaw. However at the very last second I directed my fist towards his stomach. I made good contact, but I'm pretty sure I hurt myself more than him, it felt like I hit a brick wall instead. But there was no stepping back. I quickly kicked him in the back of his knees, making him kneel and threw a succession of jabs, all of which he blocked with ease. He then went on to grab my arm pull me in and flip us with me landing on my back and him on top of me. With lightning speed he sat up and punched me in my face. I suspect he didn't go full strength at me, but still it was almost enough to knock me out. I would have succumbed to the darkness had I not been given an important mission of holding everyone's attention on the fight. So instead I pushed him off me me and got back to my feet.  "What the f**k are you doing? Just stay down!" he whispered to me. In response I spat out some blood, looked him straight in the eye and motioned for him to come at me. And he obliged. Thanks to my speed I was able to avoid most of the hits and block the rest. That went on for what felt like forever until we both needed to pause to catch our breath. I used this opportunity to glance around and spot a pair of green eyes in the cheering crowd. A faint nod from Sam let me know that everything was set. I turned my attention back to my opponent, gave him a toothy smile and launched myself at him making us fly out of the ring and land on those standing nearby. Since I was on top this time and had the upper hand. Knowing exactly what was about to happen I addressed the wolf beneath me, "It was fun, we should do it again!" With a teasing wink I disappeared into the crowd right as the first explosion shook the building. While I was making my way to the gang there was only one thought running through my mind - I wish we could finish the fight properly!