Muscle Memory

Jat looked on helplessly, unable to do anything as he watched his friend be pummeled into a wall. Blow after blow this strange man threw, each one making a distinct thud, though whether it was from the skin on skin or skin on wall, Jat couldn't tell. He had been strapped to another wall by metal pipes the man had jammed into the concrete behind him. Jat wasn't nearly strong enough to do anything about the pipes, and had no choice but to watch on, waiting for his turn to be pummeled.

Sarah, on the other hand, kept her mind clear, feeling the sharp pains of each blow pounding into her, and the wall behind her reverberating back into her spine. All the while, however, she focused her eyes on the face of the man before her. His features were plain, with gray eyes, his lips formed into a sinister snarl, the only defining feature the pure rage in his eyes. His fists came at her fast, each one faster than her eyes could fully follow, the pain burning throughout her body.

Very abruptly the man stopped, one hand on her chest pinning her to the wall, and the other raised and ready to stop. "Have you already given up?" he asked, his voice low and full of malice. "You show no sign of fighting back. Yet your face..."

Sarah grinned, spitting out her knocked out and bloody teeth into his face and revealing her now gaping smile. "You've noticed?" she asked sweetly. "You want be doing any more damage to me, I'm afraid. My muscles know you now." Her voice was sweet and teasing, though the pain was clear in her voice.

"Your muscles?" the man scoffed. "You're out of your mind. Must be the pain." He burst forward, aiming for her face, and his fist made solid contact with the wall. He stopped in surprise, feeling the pain in his own knuckles unexpectedly. He looked at Sarah, whose head had moved just far enough to the side for the blow to miss. Infuriated, he released an onslaught of blows, every one of which hit the wall as Sarah moved every so slightly away from each blow as if on instinct.

After only a few seconds of the onslaught, though to Jat watching from a distance in wonder it felt like minutes, Sarah counter attacked, slamming her own fist into the man's chest as he hit the wall, pushing him back and giving her space to get away from the wall. As the man stepped back in surprise, she continued to push forward, dodging through his blows and landing her own hits on him, pushing him back and back until he tripped over a piece of broken wall he himself had knocked to the ground.

"You get him!" Jat yelled from the sideline, amazed at what his friend was apparently capable of. Sarah hardly gave him a glance, however, keeping her eye on the man laying in front of her.

"How?" he asked. He wanted so badly to destroy her, to crush her with his fists, but he was distinctly under the impression now that he stood no chance in doing so.

"I told you," she replied, smiling once more. "My muscles know you. A high resistance to pain and incredible muscle memory make it very easy for me to stage a comeback. Wouldn't you say?"

The man growled in response, ready to lunge forward, but her foot slammed hard down onto his face. Again and again it fell, each time pushing further and harder, until she heard the loud crack of bone as his skull shattered. She pulled back, making sure he was dead, then made her way over to where Jat was pinned to the wall.

"That was amazing!" Jat exclaimed. Sarah smiled back at him before remembering the teeth she had lost and quickly covered them. She looked at the pipes that pinned him, then sighed and looked around.

"I'm not strong enough to get those out," she said. "We'll have to find something around here that we can use to loosen them."

"That's alright," Jat said. "You always get me out. I trust you."

Sarah looked at him, surprised. She knew that they had been friends for a long time, but for some reason, hearing those words... She smiled again, undeterred by her broken teeth. "Yeah," she said. "I always do."