The delivery of his comeback was so unconvincing that I cover my mouth to hide my smile threatening to turn into full-fledged laughter. “Oh. I remember now. How’s he doing?”
“He’s fine, thanks for asking,” Thing Two chimes in.
I snort.Oh, he is definitely not the brains in this operation. Now I’mreallyhoping I don’t have to fight them, at least not the funny one.
Immediately, Thing One backhands Thing Two’s stomach. Thing Two grunts at the impact.
I nod my head in approval. “Oh, that’s good to hear.”
“Hey! Don’t be a smartass. You rogues are all the same.” Thing One scans the entirety of my cell. “What a waste of a perfectly good cage.Too goodof a punishment for someone like you.”
“For someone who is outside the cage, you sure carry a lot of complaints. I’ll gladly switch places,” I offer.
“You never contribute to society. All your kind ever do is take.”
“Pierre-Joseph Proudhon would argue that property is a stolen commodity,” I mutter under my breath.
“Huh?” they chirp.
Right. Of course philosophy is too sophisticated for dumb and dumber here. Yet somehow, I’m the uncultured swine. I switch gears and use smaller words so these men can understand.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think you have to be accepted into society first to contribute.”
“You know, you bitch a lot for someone who is lucky enough to still be breathing.”
“Lucky?” I chuckle softly. “Sure.”
“Yeah, lucky! But I can change that if you can’t appreciate it.” He stomps to the cage door and fiddles with the lock.
I stand.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I tell him.
My wolf growls, ready to hunt.
I want out.Let me out,she says, pacing the cage of my mind.
Not yet . . .
She growls at me. If she really wanted out, she’d wait for my approval. But after what she did earlier, she wants it. And I’m not ready to give it to her until I know for sure they’re not just trying to scare me.
“Yeahhhh,” Thing One cheers. “You’re scared now, aren’t you?”
“For me? No. For you? Yes. I’m telling you, you don’t want to do this,” I warn Thing One, then regard Thing Two with a nod. “Get your friend before he gets hurt.”
“It’s funny you think he’s just going to watch.” Things One and Two exchange glances, smiling at each other. Thing One turns his attention back to me.
“Oh, come on, guys. Two on one hardly seems fair...” I say, forcing my voice to shake slightly to feign nervousness.
Anyone with little self-esteem can’t fight. Those who can don’t need to prove it. And they most certainly don’t go looking for a fight because you never know what someone might be capable of. You learn to fight from pure survival instinct, not because youwant to cause harm. Their underestimation of me will be their downfall.
“Tell you what, to make it fair, we’ll take turns beating the shit out of you,” Thing Two says, cracking his knuckles.
Thing One points to me and says, “You rogues are always attacking us. This should be no problem for you, right? So fight us.”
And there it is: the challenge. Theyalwayswant to challenge me.
Sigh. Can’t I just rot in peace?
