As I approached them the sultry-looking guy in the centre of the group gave an almost imperceptible flick of his head, a signal to the other four, who detached themselves from the alley wall and slowly positioned themselves around me until I was surrounded.
They kept their distance for now, waiting for the word to attack.
Each of them tall and well-muscled, their arms hanging loose, hands relaxed by their sides, smiles of supreme confidence on their faces as they eagerly anticipated what was to come.
I glanced across at their boss, as our eyes locked his mouth twisted into a sneer of contempt.
With a click of his tongue and another twitch of his head the others started closing in.
Taking two rapid steps towards the one directly in front of me, I deflected the punch aimed at my face, grabbing the wrist and pulling at the same time, dragging him forward even faster, off balance now. Twisting my body, I planted my elbow solidly into his temple, then pushed hard as he fell, throwing him at the feet of the one to my right, tripping him, slowing him down.
The first guy hit the floor hard, he didn't get back up.
I spun round, fast, my right leg lashing out, sweeping the one on the left off his feet, continuing the spin I circled the leg into the air, and brought it down savagely onto his head as it hit the ground.
Less than than a minute gone... Two down.
Both of the others took on a more cautious stance now, I backed up a few paces, giving myself more space away from the bodies on the ground, and at the same time putting the other two within my line of sight.
The one slightly to my left aimed a very hard front kick at my solar plexus.
Too slow amigo...
Grabbing the outstretched foot I continued it along its momentum arc, and pushed it higher into the air, then planted a solid kick straight into his groin. Stepping forward a pace I thrust a strong palm strike into his chin, and pushed the foot back at the same time.
He staggered backwards, hit the alley wall hard, slumped to the ground, and stayed there.
I heard the unmistakable sound of a switch-blade opening as I turned to face the last man standing.
He closed in slowly...
Holding the knife at arms length in front of him...
I stayed where I was, waiting, let him come to me...
I readied myself, hands held loose and relaxed at chest height...
He came in fast, Rapidly feinted left, then right, then left again...
As he thrust the blade forward I brushed it to my right, then went straight into his knee with the heel of my shoe, as he started going down I grabbed him, twisted him round then threw my arm around his neck from behind, holding him in a vice-like headlock, and squeezed....
His struggles soon weakened and in less than a minute I let him slump to the alley floor.
I turned to face the boss.
He gave me a wide, confident smile as he pulled the .45 from inside his jacket.
He stepped away from the wall as he raised the gun.
I made a dash towards him, I was still several feet short when the gun bucked in his hand.
“CUT!.... CUT!...
How many times do I have to TELL you? Wait until he GRABS the gun before you pull the trigger, JEEZ, we're gonna have just ONE more go at this, if you screw it up again you're off the set, I don't give a rat's ass HOW big a star you are, you're HISTORY, GOT it?”
As we all returned to our start positions I went through the routine in my head once more, the “Star” leant back against the wall, the brooding good lucks that had been his passport to stardom now seemed a trifle too sulky for a twenty four year old to be sporting.
The electronic clapper-board bore the legend, 'Alley fight scene Take 57'.
“Okay, from the top, LIGHTS... CAMERA... ACTION...”
©2011 Stephen. J. Green.
Well-scripted. It's so hard to get good help these days....
ReplyDelete"Action!"
ReplyDeleteA good description of the action, Steve. It was easy to track every move and counter-move. And a nice twist at the end.
Should have known it was a movie fight. LOL Fun read!
ReplyDeleteHa, nice to unspool it into a choreographed battle. It's never like you see it in the movies!
ReplyDelete@Tim - Yeah, with help like this "Star" "Over-budget" is probably going to be a well-worn phrase on this set.
ReplyDelete@Stephen - Thanks Stephen, I had a bit of training from many years ago to draw on.
@Sonia - Haha, ooooh nooooo, I think I may be just a tad predictable. :-)
@John - Absolutely, what with body doubles, and CGI, not to mention the airbrush, I don't think anything is what it appears to be any more.
I would have guessed you either had some training or watched way too many Bruce Lee movies from the fight description. Very nice! Cool detour at the end too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Harry, yes, it was a lot of years ago though, but I've seen quite a lot of Chris Crudelli programmes too. :-)
ReplyDeleteGood action sequence. I particularly liked the frame at the end that puts the action in context and the seeming conflict between the "Star" and the others on the set.
ReplyDeleteThanks Aidan, in the film industry the "Star" of the film is quite often referred to as "The money" I'm not always sure if this is because they're supposed to generate money, or that they sometimes waste plenty of it. :-)
ReplyDeleteI loved this sequence! Really wondered where you were going with it, so that ending was perfect.
ReplyDeleteThanks Icy, I do like to add an unexpected ending whenever possible. :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat description in this one, Steve. I enjoyed the ending too, slowing the action down with the directors direction.
ReplyDeleteThanks Chuck, I think in this case the "Star" is doing a good job of slowing things down too. :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat idea for a story this. i had no idea where it was going and yes, your descriptions seem terribly authentic. Anything you want to tell us?
ReplyDeleteThank you Justin, and all I will say is that I'm not saying another word without a lawyer present. :-D
ReplyDeleteHi there Steve -- kinda fighty today :)
ReplyDeleteWasn't quite sure 'sultry' was the right word for that guy at the start, but I did like that almost imperceptable flick of his head.
What was your inspiration here? Some moment out and about where you thought a fight may kick off? Or drawing on that film experience?
The fight is great and fits well with the filming twist (one needs the other). Moments before the reveal, I was, like: 'A gun? No fair!'
Imagining myself in such a position, I think it would kind of be a short short, where I go down like a bag of spuds after attempting the Crane Position from Karate Kid. lol.
St.
Hi Stephen, and thanks.
ReplyDeleteAs usual I was looking for a "Twist" to exploit, or a "Things aren't what they seem" scenario.
I used the word Sultry to portray the "Star" as one of those actors who are rated far above their actual capability, Hollywood has an abundance of them. And when he screwed up (Again) Sultry turned into sulky.
I probably watch far too many action films too. :-)