My Name

Natalya Pov :

That was where and how I got my name, Natalya, meaning “THE NEMESIS”.

Yeah, so when I got off the ring, there were chants of my name here and there, and God, that felt so good.

Then I noticed the commander motioned for me to come closer, which I did, and he drew his hand out for, what!

He literally gave me a handshake and patted my back, muttering, “Natalya, you are gonna make it big, yeah. I love your style.” With that, he stood up from where he was sitting and exited the place.

Whatever. I kind of mingled with the crowd, and I noticed Tasi. But before I could scream her name, she motioned me over, which I did without wasting time.

“Hey guys, this is Natalya. She’s my roomie and the first tier champion, yeah,” she said with pride. I mean, who wouldn’t be proud of me, not after I almost got my ass whipped out there.

We stayed there for a while, and the trumpet sounded again.

I didn’t need Anastasiya’s help to get back to my base. I practically pictured the whole place in my head from the morning when she was leading me out. Immediately I got to base.

I drifted off immediately into a deep sleep, but not long after I shut my eyes, somebody tapped me. Of course, I already knew who it was.

“What is it, Tasi? I just wanna sleep. I’m tired.”

“Natalya, get your ass up there. You are not yet done for today. We were gonna take lunch, then go for a few laps and back to the ring,” she said.

Her voice was practically growing out of patience with the way she talked.

“What do you mean we are gonna run a few laps and go back to the ring? Please don’t tell me I’m gonna still fight again. I’m exhausted.”

I groaned. “I mean, who the fuck stresses a seventeen-year-old like this?” I muttered to myself.

“I heard you, Natalya, and yes, you are still gonna fight again today, but with a different opponent. We are getting him from Tier Three. Those ones go to school and study at the same time, so I think you might get your ass whipped this time. But you are not to die in this one. You just have to break bones like make the person not be able to move, though they can eventually fix it through an operation. We have a surgeon who takes care of shit like that.”

“What… Tasi, did you go through all this shit before you settled in this base?” I asked, because this seemed to be going zig-zag.

“Yeah, I passed it all, because I wasn’t ready to die yet. But I lost my first two inmates before you on their first trial, so since you survived the first one, I have high hopes that you are gonna pass other levels.”

“Wait, how many levels do they have?”

“Just five, which is almost a week. Each day goes to two trials, and you are given a day of rest before they give you the fight back to back.”

“So, how long have you been here?” I asked, because she sounded like she was already done with this Base Two stuff.

“Natalya, I’m two weeks gone already, so me and you are gonna graduate together if you don’t die after the whole trial stuff.”

“So are you a prisoner or what? You seem tough. I mean, I have met your age mates who aren’t into mafia stuff, and they are out there sticking their butts in the air and acting like babies in front of their parents, having nice sleeps and other boring shit.”

“Look, my parents just sold me here. They needed money to sort some stuff, so I was the only valuable thing they had to sell. So that’s it. Come on, enough with this pathetic talk. Let’s hit the field,” she said, practically dragging me up with her.

“Wait, I thought you said we were gonna eat first before we go to the field,” I said, whining.

“Yeah, and we both wasted the time by talking about personal stuff.”

“Don’t tell me we are gonna go hungry for the day.”

“Yeah, exactly. First time you thought with your brain, that’s impressive,” she teased me.

“So I’m gonna fight on an empty stomach with somebody who has already had enough energy,” I said, almost groaning.

I was seriously hungry. I hadn’t had a proper meal since the last thing I had was the water Tasi gave me before the first match.

And now I was getting the news that we missed a meal, and clearly it seemed they served food only once a day. Oh gosh, can this get any better? I don’t see that happening.

We moved over to the field with Tasi leading the way, and I followed suit. When we got there, they were already standing in line, and we joined in.

The Tier Three seemed special, because they were quite far from us and had the same cool clothing patterns and stuff.

Still checking them out, I heard a voice that made me move my gaze away from them.

“Take it easy, tiger. You are gonna get there if you survive tonight and a hell of two years here,” Tasi smirked at me.

I didn’t retaliate or say anything. I just scanned the room with my eyes, being observant of my environment. At least I needed to take a glance at it, because my hopes were not really high right now on the issue of winning the second fight. I was so goddamn hungry, I would surely drink blood if I was offered one now.

Not long after we settled down, the coach came in and started guiding us on what to do, but I just kept falling or going out of line. I was seriously hungry.

“Hey, Natalya, what the fuck is wrong with you, huh? You think this is a joke, huh? Because you won the first stage, you suddenly think training here is not worth your time, huh?” he spat out, obviously fuming. I mean, what the fuck did I do? I was just hungry.

“I’m sorry, I wo..” Before I could complete it, he cut me off immediately.

“Keep your sorry ass to yourself. One more stupid mistake and I would make you run laps till it’s your turn to enter the ring. Do you get me, Natalya?”

“Yes, sir…” I silently sniffed.

“That’s coach to you, yeah. So guys, let’s get back to the training,” he said, diverting his gaze away from me to the base that were staring at him.

We continued with the exercises, and it was my turn to show how much I learned for the day, because we went by turns. I used the opportunity to rest my aching back.

I stood up and walked forward to the space that was kept for us to do the stuff, and I felt someone’s foot on my leg. I wasn’t fast enough to hold my stance, and I found myself tripping to the floor.

“Ouch! That hurts,” I groaned, still not realizing how much I had embarrassed myself just yet. As I struggled to get myself up, I looked up to see where I was clearly, and my eyes fell on the commander and all the base. They were literally staring at me, and it was obvious they wanted to laugh, but not without permission.

“Oh shit.” Now this is what we call a worst-case scenario.

“Cut the practice. Everyone to the front base. I wanna get Natalya done for,” he commanded, and everyone sped up immediately. I wasn’t even stressing myself this time.

I took my time with how I walked, unless I wanted to embarrass myself twice in a day. I felt something touch my shoulder, and I sprang into action immediately to take the thing down.

“Hey, it’s me. What was that back there, huh? Do you wanna get yourself killed? Now the commander is gonna get whoever it is you are gonna wrestle with drugged so they can finish you off,” she shouted at me, but it was out of concern, at least.

“Nah, just hungry. Wait, do they drug them to fight?”

“Yeah. If the opponent seems to be hot-headed like you, they drug them so they could take you out without blinking twice. Just please win this match for me. I just need a roomie, alright?”

“Yeah, I got you,” I teased her.

“You betta,” she winked at me and started walking over to where she was gonna sit and watch the match, while I was stuck here with hunger pangs and frustration. Whatever it was that I was feeling right now, I was really gonna take it out on both my opponent and that shit they called drugs.

Immediately the commander walked in, everywhere went mute. At least, as far as I could remember, I could hear the sound of my intestines pleading for food.

He motioned for me to move to the ring, which I did without hesitation.

At least when I was done dealing with this guy, whoever he was, then I could have a nice meal and enough rest at my base tomorrow. Wait.. what the fuck was I doing thinking about tomorrow? I hadn’t even seen my opponent yet.

I noticed a huge guy walk in. He was sweating all over his body, so I thought maybe he fought with my opponent before escorting him here or something, because I didn’t want to believe I was going against this giant.

I mean, y’all know how it is with David and Goliath.

it was real lit but I think I’m gonna be the David this night, though I’m little, because this beast here I don’t wanna call him human is gonna eat me raw. Don’t get the wrong mindset.

He walked over to the ring where I was and was jumping up and down or panting.

I just couldn’t get a word for it, but he was hopping like a frog, like the way the first guy that I broke his neck did before he met God.

The annoying guy from the first game blew the whistle real hard. Maybe he wanted me to hear it one last time before I died. His actions were obvious.

I practically turned and faced the huge guy. He ventured toward me with speed, and I darted aside and let him crash flat to the ground.

I mean, why wouldn’t he trip when he stupidly ventured toward me like that? Y’all should try a new style, please. I’m tired of breaking necks already.

I didn’t rush him like I would normally do. I didn’t blame him much for speeding like that he ate enough food before coming for the fight, and since I came hungry, I wasn’t ready to be hopping like a frog or running like a cheetah. I might trip again if I tried that shit.

I waited till he got on his feet.

“Ahh, he’s too slow for my liking.”

When he got on his feet, I was expecting him to go on with his clumsiness, but this bro jerked me up like I was a leaf and practically threw me to the extreme end of the ring.

My back hit the bricks they had carelessly kept there.

“Ouch, that hurts like shit,” I cursed and rolled myself into a ball, at least to put my sight in order before standing up. It took me all the remaining functioning bones in my body to stand up, and the weird guy let me take my time.

Maybe he was returning the favor of what I did to him earlier. I placed my hand on the floor for support to stand up, and to my surprise, it didn’t disappoint me. Maybe my hand wasn’t that hungry just yet, unlike my stomach, which was already groaning unnecessarily.

When I was sure yeah, I needed to be sure that I was standing firmly on both my legs, I put my hands into fists, ready to take him. But he showed me that he still had the upper hand. He struck my stomach.

“Ouch… oh crap,” I screamed. It was loud enough. Then I noticed something liquid spit out of my mouth. It was… blood.

“Oh shit.”