ZERO (Complete)

Chapter Seventeen

It was their first night at the theme park and Dane and Allie were still recovering from a taxing battle that left them both debilitated. This was on top of the exhausting hike and spending two days in the woods with very little food and water. They were in no condition to hike back to camp, especially considering they had found nearly everything they needed at the park. It made more sense for them to stay put, rest up and heal, and hope the group would find them.

Fortunately, after doing some exploring, they found plenty of food, water, clothing, medicine, weapons, and shelter. Frozen, microwavable dinners had never looked so appealing. The two ate and kept conversation to a minimum. Now that it was just them, it was a bit awkward. They hardly knew each other and were forced into a completely absurd scenario. Allie mostly kept her head down and focused on her food. Dane made a few attempts at conversation, but was having trouble breaking down her barriers.

"How's your food?" he asked.

"I've had better."

After a satisfying dinner, the two settled in for the night. They moved the bodies and cleaned up a bit since they weren't sure how long they would call this place home. Dane went outside and lit a few logs in the fire pit. Eventually, they found themselves sitting around the campfire, watching the stars. The rain had subsided, but the grounds were still wet.

"You want me to get you a blanket?" Dane offered.

"Sure, that would be great, thanks."

As much as Dane wanted to have some romantic spark to develop between him and Allie, she wasn't the flirtatious type so it was hard to get a read on her. He thought it would be best not to pursue anything with her.

Most of the time, Allie was stone faced and emotionless. In all the time Dane had spent with her, he rarely saw her smile, tell a joke, or let her guard down. Nevertheless, they had been through an ordeal together and their bond was growing stronger.

"So... ever kill anyone before?" Dane asked.

"That's what you want to talk about?"

"I don't know, is there something else you prefer talking about? You want to know why my girlfriend left me?"

"I can pretty much guess."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Are you aware of how you come across?"

"Charming? Smart? Heroic?"

"I would say more like annoying, intense, and overbearing."

"Dang, and here I thought I saved your life today... twice!"

"You did, and I'm forever grateful. You have some great qualities and I'm not trying to take anything away from you. But as an MMA fighter, I look at everything in terms of deficiencies, and then work hard to correct those defects."

"What do you mean?"

"In mixed martial arts, we need to be well rounded, right? We need to be good at striking, grappling, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, and so on. We need to have good strength and conditioning, maintain a proper diet, make weight, align with a strong team of training partners and coaches, and strategize a game plan for each opponent. Perhaps most importantly is our mind. We need self-belief, courage, and heart. Then there's a whole other marketing and business component to it, which requires a completely different list of skills from being personable and charismatic. My point is, there are a lot of different elements that go into becoming a world-class fighter."

"Alright."

"So think of all these different aspects as buckets with varying degrees of fullness. Some fighters have full jiu-jitsu and wrestling buckets, but their striking and cardio buckets are underserved. Or some may be excellent strikers, but don't work on their ground game."