Labelled by Blood

      My rifle was out faster than before. Parker's wall rumbled the floor as it shot out behind me. But I didn't flinch this time. I raised my rifle, aimed, fired. My fastest calibration yet.       Parker knew how this would play out and lunged forward. My bullet missed.       But this is where I needed to test my theory. Instead of keeping the space or backing myself into a fiery corner, I lunged at Parker with my rifle held butt-first. I pulled a Parker, kind of, and dispelled my rifle as I wound it back and brought it forward, switching my attack to a feinted punch. Parker was out of his element, now. I could see his brain thinking of an answer and finding none. My other fist followed up with my real attack and that was round one.       No one said anything. I wanted to smile, but it wouldn't come out.       We returned to our starting spots.       Parker tried to smile at me. "Lex, chill, man. You look like you want to kill me."       This caught me off guard and my face got confused. I averted my gaze. "Right. No. Sorry."       "Don't apologize, Alex," Jesse hollered, "you're in his head. Stay there."       I refocused. I didn't want to seem scary, just steadfast. I got in my cowboy stance and Jesse counted us off.       "Go!"       I rushed for Parker, but he somehow read me like a book. He set out a splay of columns in front of himself and had them spew a horrible blaze. I was able to dodge most of the flames, but one caught the top edge of the hood my raincoat. Gray smoke flurried around my eyes and the smell of burning chemical plastics filled my nose. I coughed and sputtered, the edge of my hood bubbled and peeled. I growled. I liked this coat a lot. I threw my stapler. Caught my rifle. I took aim and fired. Parker had sent out some more waves of fire, but I was able to just dance out of the way and avoid ruining my coat any further. Bullets flew. Honed in. Missed. Parker was always ready.       The columns he set up burned brighter and wider. I saw his mace overhead. It would hit me at that angle. But I wasn't Jesse. I didn't have to dodge. I raised my rifle and held the trigger for a split second. The periphery of my vision blurred a deep blue. When I released the trigger, two bullets fired. One took out his mace and the other dove straight for him. Parker yelped and I had my bullet veer right before it hit him. That's that.       "Way to go!" Jesse cheered, jumping up from his small perch.       Parker looked stunned but had a big smile on his face. "Wow."       My posture didn't just relax, it melted to nothing. I was exhausted. Fighting took a lot out of me, and Parker was a wild card. "You almost had me."       Parker shook his head. "I should've been more aggressive. If I rushed you, you probably would've panicked."       He was right. I nodded, internalizing his assessment. We took another break after that. To recharge my vestige and to go over the few notes Jesse had. He wrote that Parker did have a hard time adapting to opponents that 'broke their molds.' Jesse also saw something I didn't: Parker relied on his strim for area control. He had done it with Jesse, but I was so focused on how it made Jesse react that I didn't really name it. Against me, Parker set up a flame wall to box me in. He then boxed me out with his columns that he made to form a jagged wall of wide flames. He shot out projectiles like turrets, but it was less to hurt me and more to just keep me away.       Jesse noted for me that I was doing well with playing an opponent's weakness, but my actions lacked 'proper planning.' I hated that he was right. Because I really didn't know what I wanted to do when I rushed at him. I just knew I wanted to fake him out somehow. He also noted that both of us adjusted well to the specific opponent we were up against, but that required knowledge on the opponent to really work.       "Alright Jess," Parker said, pointing a thumb behind him to the makeshift arena. "Strims' charged, you're up."       "Right," Jesse said, turning to me. "Alex, you ready?"       I nodded. He extended a hand to help me up off the rock. I took it and then got into position. Jesse was going to be another beast entirely. He was predictable, but now he knew he was. He was faster than Parker, stronger, and harder to his. His strim really made things rough for me. Parker counted us off. Then we came to life like an animated movie. I had my rifle up while Jesse rocketed forward. I raised my rifle and locked on. But he then shot himself up and I heard an explosion above me. He was trying to get behind. With a quick whip around, I looked up but he wasn't there. Were there one or two explosions?       A third explosion from behind confirmed I somehow missed one. A fourth explosion and I pushed to the ground. Jesse had mixed it up. Just in time for me.       Mud found its way in my teeth and I spat it out. Jesse smirked.       "You got lucky," I growled.       "Never lucky. I planned it all that time."       "Right. That's good. But don't do it again."       "Right, I should just give up."       I laughed at this and nodded eagerly. He rolled his eyes and Parker counted us off. When the round started, I prematurely held my trigger. I charged up five bullets. When Jesse moved, I'd fire them out in a spray and have the ones closest to him track. The rest will just have to miss. I didn't have to really aim if I was doing this, the general area he'd be at that perfect.       Jesse stared me down. He knew I was planning something. He waited. I did, too.       Then a puff of smoke rose and he was up in the air. I fired. He was up higher and my bullets were all too far. I tried to get them to hone in, but there was no way. They couldn't turn that sharply and fizzled out before they could loop around. Jesse barreled down and I knew his next move. I raised the butt of my rifle.       One explosion. He came for me. My rifle for him.       A second explosion. A puff of smoke and debris made me jump, but my swing was in motion. It completely whiffed.       A third and he launched from within his smoke cloud. I lost. We reconvened and recapped. What happened, why, that stuff.       I high-fived Jesse. He was really being mindful of his movement. And he pulled of a terrifying feint that could easily fool the sharpest minds. Parker grouped us together and we talked for a while. Jesse had improved a ton and I was doing well. Parker said he 'had to catch up' more than he thought. I told him we just rocked, papered, scissored. He beat Jesse, I beat him, Jesse beat me. We found that funny and fitting. We took a small break to eat some sandwiches Parker had saved from lunch. Then we spent a little bit of time practicing some general close-quarter-combat stuff. Mainly for me. They told me a thumb to the liver or spleen could get someone off me or even down them long enough for me to run for it. They also told me to "never be afraid to go for the groin."       I couldn't help but laugh, but they reiterated that getting hit there was a death sentence. Below the belt was illegal in competitions. Not life-or-death. That made it stick with me. But that didn't help against a Collector. I didn't think. We reviewed some important points from today then headed back to town. The sun was setting and it was going to be dark soon enough. The walk home was full of jabs, witty comments, and sarcasm. This wasn't how we usually worked, but I was feeling different after today. Really after my panic attack. It was like I flipped a mental switch. Even though the fight against Jesus never left my mind, it was getting easier to look at it objectively and try to see how I could've done more or better. A kick to the groin would've made easy work of him.       We were caked with mud, and none of us had a change of clothes. We wanted to go eat, but Parker said that he might as well stay and eat at home if he already had to go back to shower and change. So we dropped him off then Jesse walked me home. We stopped at our usual spot across the street.       "I think--" I started.       "Want to go out? To dinner?" Jesse blurted out.       I gasped and beamed. I hopped and squealed, he half held me down and we both laughed about it. Of course I wanted to.       "Don't you need to shower, too?" I asked. "Or are you planning on going out like that?"       Jesse looked at his clothes and skin. "I forgot about that."       I stared at my house. Mom and Dad said Jesse was allowed in. "Why don't you come in and you can get cleaned up there?"       Jesse thought. He scratched his nose. Then the back of his head. "Only if your parents don't mind."       I shrugged. "I don't know what they mind anymore. I just know they told me you could come in.       He actually agreed. We looked left then right. We crossed the street. We walked together. We placed a hand, each, on the doorknob. We braced ourselves, turned the knob, and entered.