[ Hope yall enjoy this and my other book. Peace gang ]
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[ 1ST POV: ZAIN MATTHEW'S ]
Life is quite funny, isn't it?
One minute you're literally the "Prince of Muay Thai," breaking ribs for a paycheck and collecting gold belts like they're Pokémon cards, and the next, you're arguing with a nine-year-old about why she can't have ice cream for breakfast.
I mean, c'mon dude, who eats ice cream before REAL food? You gotta be alien. Seriously.
Anyway.
I used to be Zain, the guy who made grown men cry inside a ring. The guy with the lethal knees, legs and elbows that are sharp enough to cut glass or break it. Now? I was just Zain, the guy who knew exactly how to braid hair without pulling, who has fun almost everyday with his family, plays video games, and could make a mean grilled cheese sandwich.
And honestly? I wouldn't trade it for a single damn title shot. Not one. Not even money.
My luxury was here.
Buying my freedom was the best money I ever spent. I took every cent from the knockouts, the sponsorships, and the blood money, and I built a fortress. Not a literal on --- though, knowing me, I probably considered it --- but a fortress of peace. Just me, Kayla, and our little chaotic maker, Izzy.
I still remember the day Kayla told me she was pregnant. We were only nineteen. Nineteen! Kids raising a damn kid. We didn't have parents to bail us out; we just had my savings and her absolute refusal to let the world beat us. (Her money aswell.)
Kayla is my girl, by the way. A blonde beauty. A blue eyed queen. Baddie among all baddies. She was absolutely beautiful and perfect.
How we met is quite funny. Since from what I've seen, men do the chasing, not women. But in this case, the women did the chasing.
She had tracked me down after I saved her from some creeps a few months prior. Hella cliché, I know.
I was washing my hands in a gym bathroom, blood still dried under my fingernails from a spar, and there she was, standing outside the door like a lost puppy with a mission.
She was the first to ask me out. I stared at her like she had told me a wolf ran on the moon. Me? The guy who looked like he'll absolutely ruin your life?
"Will you... um... be my boyfriend?" she had squeaked out, her face redder than the boxing gloves hanging over my shoulder.
She was so cute, I unfortunately decided to be a menace at that time. Because she was cute and I just felt like it.
I leaned in, looked her dead in the eyes, and dragged out a,
"Noooooo...."
I watched the light leave her eyes. It was cruel. So utterly evil. It was so fuckin' hilarious though. She started to shrink back, already preparing for the rejection walk of shame.
"...waaaay! Of course I'll be your boyfriend."
The way her face snapped from devastation to confusion to pure joy was the moment I knew I was done for. (Bro rizzed then got rizzed himself 🙏)
Raising Izzy was my very own family / comedy show. I remember Kayla watching some sitcom while she was eight months pregnant, laughing so hard her belly was doing wave motions. I was terrified she was going to launch the baby across the room like a cannonball.
First time being a papa is scary boys. Remember that.
"Zain! Look at it move!" she'd gasped, clutching her stomach like she was holding a massive egg.
"I see it, my love~. Please stop laughing, you're gonna induce labor and I don't know how to catch a baby yet," I'd said.
'Good times~' I thought with a small smile.
"Earth to Zain! Helloooo? Are you mentally fighting ninjas again~?"
I snapped back to reality. The bright lights of the mall food court assaulted my eyes. Right. We weren't in the past. We were at the mall, standing in front of a McDonald's because my two favorite girls refused to eat my healthy cooking on a Saturday.
"I wasn't fighting ninjas," I muttered, grabbing the tray of fries and burgers. "I was thinking about how much I love you guys."
"Smooth," Kayla said, rolling her eyes, though she grabbed a fry immediately. "But don't think flattery gets you out of it."
We found a table near the railing overlooking the lower floor. Izzy was already vibrating with sugar energy from the ice cream cone she'd somehow acquired before the actual meal.
'Alien...?' I had to let myself think. Because again, who eats ice cream before a REAL meal?
"Papa, look! My tongue is blue!" Izzy stuck out her tongue, which was indeed a radioactive shade of blue.
"Gross, Iz. Keep it in your mouth," I teased, wiping a smudge of blue off her cheek with my thumb. She giggled, kicking her legs under the table.
Kayla, however, was not giggling. She was doing this thing.
She was aggressively sipping her soda, staring daggers at a group of college girls walking past our table. The girls had, admittedly, glanced in my direction. Maybe they liked the rat tail. I've been told the long hair flowing down the middle of my back gives me a 'dangerous exotic' vibe. Or maybe they just liked... I don't know. Me?
"My love," I sighed, taking a bite of my delicious burger. "You're doing the pout."
"I am not pouting," Kayla said, pouting so hard her bottom lip could host its own landing strip. Once she seen my unconvinced face, she didn't deny it any longer.
"Okay, fine~! I just hate it. They look at you with those... hungry eyes. Like you're a piece of meat."
"I am a piece of meat, love. I'm a deliciously delicious type of rare meat," I grinned, flexing a bicep comically.
"It's not funny, Zain!" She huffed, crossing her arms, pushing her chest up in a way that definitely distracted me from the fries. "You're mine and mine alone. Only my eyes alone are allowed to be like that."
She ended that very sexy possessive statement with a cute, "Hmph~!".
Izzy, from the corner of my eye, looked between us, licking her melting ice cream. "Papa, mama's doing the pufferfish face again~"
"See? Even our daughter knows." I set the burger down and looked in her eyes again. She was genuinely annoyed, her blue eyes sharp and possessive. Damn, she was just, ermmmm, DAMN~!!
I reached out, hooking a finger under her chin to tilt her face up. She tried to resist, but she's weak to my touch.
"Hey," I dropped my voice, letting that soft rasp come out. "Just let 'em look. They can look at me all they want, but nobody eats but you."
'Dear lord, that was cheesey.'
Kayla's face turned pink. She opened her mouth to retort, but I leaned across the table and planted a firm kiss on her lips. She melted instantly, her stiff shoulders relaxing.
When I pulled back, she was flushed and biting her lip, trying to hide a smile.
"That was cringe, handsome~," she whispered. Her smile finally revealing itself.
"If me being cringe makes you smile, thy cringe I shall be," I countered, chuckling at the way I said it. Then, before she could recover, I took a glob of ice cream from Izzy's cone and booped it right onto the tip of Kayla's nose.
"Zain!" She gasped, going cross-eyed to look at the dairy assault.
"Gotta be prepared, my love." I smirked.
Izzy opened her mouth to laugh, a high-pitched giggle bubbling in her throat.
BOOOOM!!!
"What the...?"
The sound wasn't just loud; it was physical aswell. A thunderous crack that felt like a grenade going off inside my eardrums.
The giggle died in Izzy's throat. The food court, which had been buzzing with chatter, went dead silent for exactly one heartbeat.
Only being broken by the screaming that started.
It wasn't the kind of screaming you hear on a rollercoaster. It was primal. Throat-shredding terror. So filled with high pitched fear, you'll think someone was being murdered.
My head snapped up right as I heard the screaming. My instincts kickin' in immediately. The goofy in my eyes and body language vanishing.
"Z-zain?" Kayla's voice came out small, and trembling.
I didn't answer. I instead stood up, my eyes scanning the chaos. People were running. Not away from the noise alone, but away from each other too.
Since we were opposite to the railing overlooking the level below, I looked over.
Below us, on the ground floor, a tidal wave of bodies was crashing through the entrance. But they weren't just running. Some were tackling others. Throwing their heads down. Snapping them back seconds after.
"Z-zain? Say something...." Kayla stood up, grabbing Izzy, who was frozen, clutching her ice cream cone like a special toy.
I still didn't reply.
I saw a man in a business suit sprint full tilt into a glass kiosk, not even slowing down as shards of glass embedded in his face. He impressive didn't scream either. He just got up and lunged at a woman near him, sinking his head into her neck area. Blood sprayed like a geyser seconds after.
'A... crackhead?' my brain fired rapidly. 'Nah, can't be. Crackheads don't move with that kind of motor function. '
I didn't think any longer. Because whatever those are, they don't seem like nice people.
"We're leaving. Now," I commanded. My voice leaving no room for arguments. Or, cause I'm never serious sounding that much.
I vaulted the table, grabbing Kayla's arm with one hand and scooping Izzy up with the other. "Don't look down or back. Look at my back only. Izzy, bury your face in my shoulder and do not look up."
"Papa?" Izzy muttered confusingly, dropping her ice cream.
"Do it, Iz. Don't have papa say it again." I said, my tone sharp and still so serious. She buried her face immediately.
We bolted towards the emergency exit stairs. The elevators were a death trap; I knew that instinctively. The crowd was surging towards the main escalators, creating a bottleneck of panic. Amateur mistake. You never follow the herd in a panic.
"Zain, what's .... happening ...." Kayla's voice was hyperventilating behind me.
"Don't worry about it. Just run," I barked, shoving the heavy emergency door open.
We hit the stairwell. It was smooth concrete, echoing with the sounds of carnage from the main mall. We needed to get to the ground floor and out the back service exit.
I was moving fast, my sneakers squeaking on the linoleum. I kept my head on a swivel, glancing back every two seconds to make sure Kayla was right on my heels.
"Keep up, Kay. Right on me. Right on my heels, my love," I instructed, my eyes darting back to check her spacing.
That was my mistake.
I looked back for a fraction of a second too long.
When I turned my head forward, a figure was sprinting up the stairs. Not walking. Sprinting.
It was a teenager, maybe around sixteen. His jaw was slack, his eyes clouded over with a milky film, and his shirt was drenched in something dark and wet. He was moving with a erratic, twitchy speed that defied physics.
He wasn't aiming for me. He was aiming for the bundle in my arms.
"NO!" Izzy screamed as she peeked out, seeing the monster lunging at her legs.
Time dilated. Literally. Everything seemed to slow.
I've fought world champions. I've slipped head kicks that would have decapitated a normal man. But this. This was different. This was pure chaos.
Chaos where I'm actually protecting others and not just myself anymore.
My reflexes weren't a conscious thought. It was muscle memory honed by years of getting socked in the face. Kick in the face. Stomped in the face. Kneed. Elbowed.
I couldn't drop Izzy. I couldn't use my hands.
So,
I twisted my hips, pivoting on my left foot, and swung my body sideways, pulling Izzy out of the trajectory. The zombie --- because let's call a spade a spade --- missed her ankle by an inch, its teeth snapping on empty air.
The momentum carried the thing past us, crashing into the railing.
"Kayla! Take her!" I roared, practically throwing Izzy towards Kayla.
Kayla caught her, stumbling back but holding tight. "Zain!"
"Get back up the stairs!" I commanded softly, stepping between my family and the Z.
The zombie scrambled up. It didn't pause in pain. I knew that. It just hissed, a wet, gurgling sound, and locked onto me.
Izzy was yelling. Her words echoing off the walls. "PAPA! RUN!"
"It's okay, baby," Kayla's voice cut through the panic, surprisingly steady despite the fear in her eyes. She hugged Izzy's head to her chest, shielding her view. "Papa's got this."
The zombie lunged.
It was fast. Faster than any human should be. Wait, no, not really. But it was really fast. But I wasn't exactly human either, not when I entered "flow state" anyway. I was a machine made of calcium and brutal violence.
I didn't retreat. I stepped in.
As the creature leaped(no jump), arms flailing to grab me, I dropped my weight and exploded upwards.
Muay Thai Rule #6: The knee is the spear.
I launched myself into the air. My right knee drove forward like a piston, fueled by twenty-seven years of discipline and a father's anger and protection.
BANG~!! CRACK!!
The sound was sickeningly wet. My knee connected flawlessly with the zombie's sternum and chin simultaneously. The force lifted the creature off its feet, bending it backwards in mid-air.
It flew back, slamming head and spine-first onto the concrete landing.
It wasn't dead. Somehow. It writhed, trying to get up, its jaw hanging loose.
I didn't wait to admire. Waiting and mercy was one thing I didn't quite like. (Unless it's for my two queens.)
I landed almost softly, my feet heavy. Knee slightly throbbing since it's be awhile. I looked down at the thing that had tried to bite my daughter.
I raised my right leg, chambering it high, and brought my heel down like the judgment only the holy father could muster.
SPLAAAT~!!!
It wasn't like the movies. Even though I barley gave them any watch. It was messy. The head didn't just break; it popped like a ballon and cake hitting the ground. Brain matter, teeth, and dark blood painted the grey concrete and splattered up on my black dickie pants. The twitching it was doing had already stopped.
Silence returned to the stairwell, save for the heavy breathing of three terrified humans and the distant screams from the mall.
I stood there for a second, staring at the mess. My brand new Adidas were completely ruined. I felt a small hurt in my heart looking at them.
I looked up at Kayla. She was pale, clutching Izzy, but her eyes were locked on me. Not with fear of me, but with relief.
Her faith in me almost oozing off her.
"Zain?" she whispered.
I wiped a speck of black blood from my cheek, my expression shifting from the cold back to the warm.
"I'm good," I said, my voice steady, though my heart was telling me different things. I walked over to them, wiping my hands on the hoodie I wore. "I'm good. So let's go. Before we met more than one."
I reached out to touch Izzy's head, but stopped, seeing some blood still on my hands, I pulled back. Not wanting to mess her blonde hair up.
"Papa?" Izzy peeked out, her eyes wide and teary, a visible shaking of her shoulders.
I gave her the bravest, cockiest grin I could muster, despite the gore behind me. Luckily she couldn't see it.
"Mama told you I had it. And I'm here so that means I had it. Now, let's get the hell out of here."
Before I could wait for her reply, I quickly grabbed Kayla's hand, knowing full well she wouldn't care about my dirty hands.
....
END.
[ REMEMBER: NO SYSTEMS, OR SUPERPOWERS. JUST STRAIGHT CRAZY AND THROWING HANDS LEFT & RIGHT. LITERALLY, BY THE WAY. ]
[ ZAINS APPEARANCE IN THE COMMENTS. ]