War Dog

Chapter 84

I'm in the gym room with the 141. It's the first time we've truly had some down time altogether. Shane is facing off across from me on the mats on two legs while I'm facing him on all fours. As recruits, we didn't often get the opportunity for sparring or close quarter combat training except in circumstances involving trainers to test our physical capabilities. Otherwise it was deemed an unnecessary risk.

I bared my teeth at my brother and he grinned back at me. Asides from our team, we'd attracted a crowd. Mostly people I didn't know after spending so long away. Shane seemed to know most of them, however a lot of them seemed to know me via reputation. They'd taken sides, and started betting the moment they realised what was about to go down. 

We circle each other and I see Soap from the corner of my eye, arms crossed looking vaguely concerned. Ghost stands next to him, arms also crossed by eyes gleaming in anticipation. He gives me a slight nod. Gaz stands next to Price across the mats. Gaz is rooting for his own Dog to win, and Price wisely is staying out of it. Unfortunately for Gaz, he was betting on the wrong Dog. Literally. I know he had a decent chunk of money at stake. I also knew it was likely Ghost was going to win all of it. 

I stepped in closer towards Shane, pretending to test his openings going for the left side. His weaker side. I grinned as I smelled the minute shift. He'd strengthened his right side even more. He'd know there was a chance I was going to distract him and hit his right when he'd dropped his guard to defend his left more. Unfortunately for him, his left had been my intention from the beginning. I snuck in a nip to his thigh, teeth catching on clothing before I dart back, not even having drawn blood. His reaction was quick, his leg swinging around his foot kicking me  in the ribs. I relaxed my body completely, letting his toes dig into my ribs. The force of the kick sends me sprawling across the ring. I wince, and get to my feet favouring the right ribs, letting him think he's go a weakness to exploit rather than focusing on my actual weaknesses. 

I walk forwards as if he'd done more damage than he'd really done, and I knew there was far too much stimulus in here for him to look further than surface level scents. I saw the satisfaction curling on Gaz's face as he thought he was about to win a lot of money. I saw Ghosts arm out, across Soaps chest. I saw the slight shake of his head. I knew Ghost was muttering under his breath to just watch the rest of the fight play out. 

My focus found Shane. He looked triumphant standing above me, but as he looked down into my eyes, a flicker of concern shot through his expression. I grinned lazily like a shaggy dog with my tongue hanging out. Asides from the side I was pretending to favour, I looked like the epitome of a sleepy sheep dog. With a shift of muscles I leaped forward, shooting my legs out, one hooks around his back ankle, the other going between his legs. I use the momentum to stand up, my legs taking out his back leg forcing him to land backwards. I surge forwards, straddling his waist as he bucks up trying to dislodge me from what I'm about to do. 

I drop my weight forwards, my forehead touching the mats shifting my weight off centre. He see's the opening I want him to see and he rolls us over. His hands are quick as he reaches forwards, jamming his forearm across my throat. I grin at him, baring my teeth and snap and snarl at him. He snarls back, replacing his arm with his own teeth. I laugh as I feel his jaws begin to close around my neck. I wriggle my feet up, placing one on his hip, the other on his knee. I slide his knee out from underneath him, the lack of balance forcing him to either release my throat or rip it out. He releases me giving me the opportunity to slide up. I wrap one of my legs around his neck, the other hooking over it. 

I squeeze my legs together creating an effective figure four choke hold around his neck. His claws slice at my legs trying to force me to let go. It only serves to encourage me to squeeze even harder.