How Much Longer

They parked and got out, they were in North Dakota at the moment. There wasn't really anything to be said about the place, but an abandoned building wasn't that unheard of. Craig put his arm around her and they moved toward the building that lights were coming out of and so were shouts. Dawn hiked her purse up to her shoulder and moved with him to go inside.

Now she had to say that it was kind of like the shows she'd seen on tv with people circling around an area that there were two people fighting. Using different items that had been tossed in, one looked like a bent pipe and there was a two by four in there too. She wanted to roll her eyes at the two massive men that were in the ring beating on each other.

Oh yeah, this was definitely the kind of thing that she loved, not. she glanced around, and the place was set up so that those who were watching were higher up than the those in the ring. And around the actual ring were those that either fought or were going to and then a few moving about collecting money. It was kind of loud as they were shouting, and people jostling for a better position.

"I saw him before, he's damn good." Craig commented pointing down to the Latino looking man that swung and hit the other caucassian man hard in the face. Both were bleeding, and Dawn assessed them, she was very good at reading people. Their postures and what their mannerisms said. It was an uncanny ability.

The Latino man was definitely used to fighting, and just looking at him she knew that his tactic was to allow the other man to come in and hit him, but he controlled that the best he could. Allowing a hit on a part of his body that didn't matter. The tactic brought the other close to where he could get in a few damn good hits. The other man however was built like a tank and she felt that he was probably compensating and that made her smile.

The fight ended with the Latino winning as he did just what Dawn thought he would, letting a blow get him in the side of the shoulder having moved to stop it from connecting with his head. He got the other man right in the face breaking his nose and nearly knocking him out. There were cheers and boos and then people being paid. As that was going on the two that fought moved off, or were helped off and then the next couple fighters moved in. There was a man talking about them and telling their names.

The first was a darker haired man who had a lot of muscle and looked shorter. The other had an eight pack and she wasn't exaggerating about it. It was clear that these men liked to fight and that was what they wanted to do. The bigger one was called Dark, plain and simple. The other Joe which seemed anti climactic, but she watched listening to her friends decide on how they wanted to place the bets.

"Joe is going to break one of Dark's bones, or try to." She said reading his character and the way that he was watching the crowd and smiling and she just knew. He was the under handed type and her intuition told her he probably like to cause pain. She'd gone for psychology and had wanted to work with the police force. At the moment she was really more of a paper pusher. "But Dark is going to win. If Joe breaks something, Dark will play it up to get Joe in closer." Dark was a pretender, he stood calmly and tried to make it look like he wasn't interested or like this was kind of dull. However that was all about luring the other into a false sense of security.

"Yeah? What makes you think that? Joe looks fast more flexible. He'll win but get the shit kicked out of him. That's where my money is." Rick said and Craig looked at Dawn.

"You think Dark?" She shrugged and then nodded. "Want to put money on it?" He asked her with a smile. She rummaged in her pocket and pulled out a dollar.

"Just tell me what I get if I win." He laughed and took her dollar putting it with his fifty and pushed up to where a man was collecting bets. It sounded like the odds were pretty even with these two and after a couple minutes there was a shout from a different man for the two to start fighting.

Dawn shook her head watching them go at it and those that were cheering them on, including the three with her. She looked about the crowd and saw that there was a darker part where there was a group of people standing even higher than the rest. She was surprised seeing them, they weren't shouting and they looked… well rich.

It was the way that they were dressed, and the rest around the floor were clearly normal working people that came to bet on these fights. Guess betting was an every man kind of sport. She wondered if those were the people that Rick had been talking about. He noted her gaze and leaned toward her.

"That's them." He confirmed her thoughts. "That area is for those that want to bet huge amounts on the fighters, they don't always bet though on the fights. They like the risks, or betting on what the others will use or do to their opponent. There's a lot of money to be made in this business." She just bet there was.

The crowd made a painful sound and also shouts of joy as Joe brought and elbow up on the arm he'd grabbed. Dark jerked it away but he still connected, however it didn't seem like he broke the arm but Dark was clearly nursing it a bit.

Rick looked at Dawn with a raised eyebrow and she shrugged. Human nature was easy to read when the people were simpletons and did one thing. Or had one thing on their minds. The fight continued and at the end of it, Dark won and both probably had fractures. After that Rick and Craig wanted her opinion on everyone that came into the match and she was right about the winner nearly ninety percent which was damn good. Though the two she lost, she told them that it was a toss up.

However by the third fight she was ready to go, this wasn't her thing. Even though Craig kept taking her money and throwing it in, and even with her max of five dollars she was nearly two hundred up. This was disgusting to her, watching them pound on each other. She was really done when one of the fighters was tossed a blade and laid open the others cheek and his side.

"I like this dirty fighting, it turns me on." Jackie said leaning into Rick who had his arms around her. Dawn was leaning against the rail not really watching and Craig had his hands on either side of her on the rail. He was close to her but she wasn't really enjoying it. Just putting up with it, because a couple of the men here had looked at her with interest. No thanks.

"How many more fights are there?" She asked Craig whose head was alongside of hers.

"Uh, there's not really a number. Pretty much until all have fought, or don't want to fight anymore. Sometimes people from the crowd will go in, but the cut off is normally about three in the morning." She had checked her phone not to long ago and it was two. Great another hour of this shit. She wished she wasn't so placating all the time. She needed to assert herself a bit more, then she wouldn't get in things like this.

"A special treat ladies and gentlemen!" The announcer like guy said, and he had the kind of voice that you'd expect and the personality for this. "We have a challenger who says they can beat Rhino!" What a lame name was Dawn's thought, couldn't they be more original?

However when she saw Rhino come out, holy shit he looked like one. He was a dark skinned man and his muscles had to have muscles that had muscles on steroids. She didn't think that he'd had a neck since he was six. She would have found it humorous if she wasn't worried about him hearing her laugh and then killing her with one hand.

He stood about six foot and was a mass of muscle. She didn't know if that was healthy, he looked like a pro wrestler. But you could see the scars on him from the fights as well. Clearly he'd been hit multiple times and it was clear that he didn't lose. Ever. She'd put her money on him, just the sheer size of him and that he could clearly take the hits and would out do his opponent with strength.

"As you know if you win against Rhino, our champion fighter, you leave with ten thousand dollars." How temping, to bad she was a woman, and this was disturbing to her. She might have gone up. "Now lasting two minutes is guaranteed one thousand, but that's to cover medical expenses." There was an uproar of laughter from the crowd and Rhino continued to flex.

"Our contender is sponsored by Debutant." There was a bit of murmuring in the crowd and a few glances up toward the 'high roller' if you would. She glanced up there too, and Rick leaned toward them.

"Never actually seen the man, but he's supposed to be extremely rich. Apparently any fighter he's supplied has always won the fights. As far as I know he's upper middle age but not a man to fuck around with." They all glanced up there but then waited for the man that was sponsored by him.

"I believe that our contender is Lucian." The man made a motion with his hand and someone came walking around and then stepped up into the fighting area. The man that came in simply took two steps in and one to the right and just stood there.

"This fight will be quick." Rick said with a laugh and so did Craig who gave him a knuckle pound. Compared to Rhino, he looked lacking. Even though you could tell that he was on the taller side, he still looked small standing there by Rhino. There was absolutely no expression on the man's face, and at first glance he didn't look that impressive.

Dawn had the oddest sensation looking at him though. Like ice trickled down her spine. Watching him, and looking him over she could see now that he was no push over. He was muscled just in a different way. Or rather less then Rhino but defined. You could see it in his arms and the shirt he wore wasn't tight fitting but enough you could tell the rest of him was solid.

His hair was very dark with a peppering of browns in it. Around his neck was a loose fitting collar as well. She called it a collar simply because it didn't look like a necklace. It was ridged and a perfect circle, sliver with a very thin black design that was hard to see from here. The shouts and jeers didn't bother him, it was like he didn't hear anything at all.

"The odds aren't in his favor, even with his backing. Won't pay much since Rhino is a sure win." Craig commented and Dawn touched his arm. Her touch stopped him from going down right away.

"I'd bet on the man. The one named Lucian, look at him, he's clearly reading Rhino already judging his behavior. He'll know what Rhino is going to do before he does it. It'll keep him out of harms way. Give him an edge because Rhino clearly doesn't think, just goes right after them."

"Even if that is true, look at that man." Rick said gesturing to Rhino. "He's a fucking tank, there's no way that Lucian can have a hard enough hit to actually take the man down and knock him out." Which was very true, even her looking at it she logically said yes bet on Rhino. However an inner voice said that this time things weren't going to turn out the way that they thought. Sometimes you couldn't rely on the obvious.

"How about this, I'll bet on Lucian if you want to give some money. You bet on Rhino. Enough that if you win we cover the small loss on Lucian, but if he wins our small amount would cover it anyways plus some." Craig said, because you weren't allowed to bet on both, but separate people could. After all how could they tell unless you were stupid enough to say something. Second you had to bet a minimum as well.

"Alright, here." Rick said and Jackie tossed some money in as well. Craig gave his money to Rick for what he wanted to bet and then they looked at Dawn who was just standing there.

"Fine." She said pulling out a twenty, you had to bet fifty at the least, so technically Craig was tossing in one seventy on Lucian, and then they had more on Rhino because the payout wasn't as good on him. He smiled at her and took it, Rick looked at her.

"I'm just betting on Lucian, I have a feeling. We'll see if I'm right." He gave a shrug and walked off to place his bet as Craig had already moved off. They came back and they waited for the start. When the man called for the start of it, Dawn hoped that she wasn't about to watch a man get absolutely slaughtered.