IMMORTAL COMBAT

The students sat quietly in the class as both men stood in complete silence, eyeing each other carefully to see who would make the first move. The only object standing in their way was a small wooden table. The man with the loose blue jeans and the white T-shirt was Juan Carlos Ramirez, who in actuality was over four hundred years old, but looked about eighteen or nineteen. The other man, Jean Felipe, was a little bit older, but seemed to be in his mid twenties and wore black jeans and a cream color turtleneck with a long black leather over coat.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" said Juan Carlos.

"I am Jean Felipe, and I've come for your head!" Saying these words, Jean Felipe pulled out a two-hundred year old broadsword from his over coat. Gasps and shrill shrieks were all that could be heard as the students, frightened from what they had just seen, frantically rushed to the corner of the room. "Long have I waited for this moment, and now that I have you, you'll die." To this Juan Carlos answered by jumping on the table, flipping over Jean Felipe, and running out the door. He ran down the hall to his locker, and fumbled with the combination.

"Come back here, you can't run away from me!" yelled Jean Felipe.

"I wasn't intending on running away." Retorted Juan Carlos. "6-16-23, open you piece of--finally," Juan Carlos said to himself as he got his locker open. From within his locker, he pulled out his sword, which was a Japanese Katana used by the Samurai. He slammed his locker shut and turned to see Jean Felipe walking down the hall toward him. Jean Felipe walked calmly, as though confident that Juan Carlos could not escape. Though Juan Carlos knew that the school hallway was not the best place to confront Jean Felipe, he was never one to back down from a fight when challenged, and so the two men met in the middle of the hall.

Juan Carlos made the first move and swung at Jean Felipe. At the same time, Jean Felipe put his sword up and blocked Juan Carlos' shot, which was aimed at his arm. The clang of the swords made a deafening sound that resonated throughout the hallway. The sound caught the attention of the students as well as the teachers and many people began to crowd the hallway. Juan Carlos made a few more moves before he realized all the people around him. Both he and Jean Felipe looked around at the crowd, but each knew that the fight had to go on. So this being agreed upon, the two began to fight again. Some students were frightened by the sight of the two fighting with drawn swords, but others were entertained by the sight. Loud cheers and yells erupted from the crowd as the fight continued.

Meanwhile, one of the teachers went to tell the principle about what was going on. When the principle heard this, he did not believe it and went to see for himself. A look of astonishment covered his face as he saw what the teacher said was true. When he recovered from his astonishment, he pulled one of the teachers over and said, "Gather up the other teachers. We have to get the students away from these two maniacs until the police arrive." So little by little the teachers got the students to break up the crowd and move back to avoid any injuries.

Through all this, Juan Carlos and Jean Felipe kept fighting. Juan Carlos had suffered some injuries and was now struggling to keep fighting. Juan Carlos was very skilled but Jean Felipe was more focused. Jean Felipe was a very calm person, but when it came to fighting other immortals, he was very aggressive. The injuries delivered to Juan Carlos were but a taste of his aggressiveness.

The students had now been pushed back into their classes and the doors shut, but the two immortals continued to fight. Jean Felipe dealt Juan Carlos a series of hard blows that made him stagger. Taking advantage of this short loss of balance, Jean Felipe cut Juan Carlos across the leg. Juan Carlos dropped to his knees in pain. He put up his sword in one last attempt to defend himself, but the sword was violently knocked out of his hands by Jean Felipe. "Now you die!" said Jean Felipe in a whispering voice. "Now you die!" he said again, only this time yelling, but after a minute of thought, he said to Juan Carlos, "No, no, no, no, I've got a better idea. You put up a good fight, but killing you so soon would be too easy. No, I think I'd rather let you suffer a bit before you die. Who knows, this might just be fun, for me that is."

Jean Felipe kicked Juan Carlos' sword out of the way, fearing that he would make an attempt to go for it. Then he casually walked over to one of the classrooms and tried to open the door. seeing the that the door had been locked, he raised his sword and chopped off the door knob. Juan Carlos looked on in terror as the door knob made a thud when it hit the ground. He wondered what Jean Felipe was about to do. Deep in the back of his mind, he knew that he had to do something, but he was neutralized from doing anything at the time.

The students inside had begun to scream and sob as the mad man looked around. As he carefully examined the students, he noticed a girl sitting in the corner with her head in her hands desperately trying not to be noticed. Without uttering a word, he walked over to the girl and pulled her by the arm. The girl desperately fought with Jean Felipe and screamed and pleading with him to let her go. But Jean Felipe would not let her go that easily. He had a plan and would see it carried out to the fullest.

"Let's see how attached you are to these mortals." He yelled out to Juan Carlos. Juan Carlos looked on in anguish as he recognized the student that Jean Felipe had pulled out of the classroom. Her name was Emily and she and Juan Carlos were very good friends, at one time even lovers. "Let her go!" Juan Carlos yelled, the fury ringing in his voice. "This is between you and I, neither she nor any of these other people are apart of this." Juan Carlos was completely enraged by the thought that Jean Felipe held the woman he loved hostage. He was enraged further by the sight of her sobbing helplessly in the clutches of his enemy, knowing full well that if he made any sudden move Jean Felipe would not hesitate to kill her.

By now he had figured out that Jean Felipe had no feelings towards mortals. He had seen many immortals like this before. Immortals who thought themselves supreme because of the ability to live forever. Immortals who thought themselves gods and saw mortals as creatures to be manipulated and then discarded. Juan Carlos swore to himself that he would always treat them with kindness and respect and that mortal or immortal, they were all human.

The police had now surrounded the building. Special officers were sent in to handle the situation. These special officers were heavily armed and well trained for this type of conflict. If anything went wrong, they knew exactly what to do. They entered the building cautiously, with the help of one of the teachers as a guide.

Meanwhile, Jean Felipe still held Emily captive. Juan Carlos looked deep into her tear filled eyes. He deeply resented the fact that she had to become involved in this. This fight did not concern these innocent people. This was a fight that should have been left between Jean Felipe and himself. This was something that he would make sure Jean Felipe paid for, even if it cost him his own life. His love for Emily was so great and the bond between them so strong that he was willing to risk his own life in the chance that he might be able to save hers.

He knew that if he was going to try to get Jean Felipe to let her go, he had to act now. "What is it that you want?" asked Juan Carlos.

"It's very simple. I want your head, and all your power." replied Jean Felipe.

"If it is me that you want, then let her go. Once she is safely out of the way, then I will surrender myself and you can do what you will with me. But first she goes free." Juan Carlos hoped with all his heart that Jean Felipe would agree. If his plan was to work, he had to be assured that Emily would not be in the way.

After a few moments of thought, Jean Felipe finally decided to let Emily go. He let her go very slowly just to make Juan Carlos suffer. When Emily was at last out of the enemies hands, she ran back in the classroom and began to cry intensely. She had never been so scared in all her life. In the back of her mind she was deeply afraid for Juan Carlos' life, but there was nothing that she could do.

Juan Carlos was now on his feet and at the mercy of Jean Felipe, but this was exactly what he had wanted. This was all part of his plan. He was face to face with Jean Felipe and face to face with the point of his sword. Now that Emily was safely out of the way, he would make sure that Jean Felipe paid. Juan Carlos swallowed hard as the point of Jean Felipe's sword was pushed deeper and deeper into his throat, almost to the point of puncturing through the skin.

"Play time is over Juan Carlos, now you will die." Jean Felipe pulled the sword away from Juan Carlos' throat. He held it firmly in his hand, preparing to take the final stroke. As he brought the sword down aiming for the head, Juan Carlos ducked and punched Jean Felipe in the gut. This temporarily knocked the wind out of him and Juan Carlos made a dash for his sword. Grabbing his sword, he turned around to see Jean Felipe still gasping to regain his wind. He lifted his sword and taunted him, saying, "What was all that nonsense about it being time for me to die?" A mixture of humor and seriousness in his words.

When Jean Felipe was back on his feet, he recovered his sword, which he dropped when Juan Carlos punched him, and vocalized his frustration with Juan Carlos. "Are you fight or talk me to death?" Juan Carlos said, again a mixture of humor and seriousness in his voice. Jean Felipe was so outraged, that he said nothing and rushed at Juan Carlos. The two swords met with an even greater clash than before. And so they continued to fight once again.

With the help of the teacher, the police officers were guided to where Juan Carlos and Jean Felipe were fighting. They immediately took their positions with the leader of the team in front. He yelled out in a loud voice for the two men to throw down their weapons, but they were too involved in the fight to pay attention to the order that was given to them. The leader of the group yelled out this order a second time, only this time adding that they would not hesitate to shoot if necessary. This time this caught the attention of Juan Carlos. He was a good person and always tried to obey the law, but this time he realized that if he did, it would cost him his life.

"One last time, throw down your weapons and surrender yourselves, or we will open fire." yelled the officer as he saw that he had gotten Juan Carlos' attention. Juan Carlos was faced with the problem of surrendering himself to the authorities or continuing the fight with Jean Felipe. He was about to make up his mind when from out of the classroom came Emily. She was still crying, but not as intensely as before. She came out to cheer Juan Carlos on. "Don't surrender. You can't give up. You can beat him, I know you can. Do it for me, do it for us." This was exactly what Juan Carlos needed. His confidence in himself and in his abilities was higher than ever before. In a sole act of violence against the police officers, Juan Carlos continued to fight. Both men fought fiercely in what was to be there last fight, but it was Jean Felipe who would get the upper hand. Juan Carlos had extended his thrust too far, and Jean Felipe stabbed him in the chest. A sudden burst of anguish came from Emily as she looked on. Juan Carlos was not really dead because he was immortal. He was only temporarily dead, but in a minute or two, he would revive. Emily did not know this though, and she took Juan Carlos for dead. She stood back in horror as the police began to open fire on Jean Felipe. His body jerked back and forth as the bullets whizzed by him, some hitting, some missing. When the bullets stopped and it was apparent that Jean Felipe was dead, Emily rushed toward Juan Carlos to be at his side. To her surprise, he was still breathing faintly. "Thank you so very much. I'm so sorry that you had to get involved in this. Do something for me. Stay with me until we get to the hospital. There's something I have to tell you. I love you." The words came in gasps. Emily was starting to cry again. She had been deeply in love with him and could not stand to see him like this. Juan Carlos wiped the tears from her face and told her not to cry, but she could not help it.

The ambulance had arrived and Juan Carlos was taken to a hospital. Emily fulfilled his request and stayed with him as long as she could. The next day she came back to visit Juan Carlos, and he told her about what he was. He told her everything about immortals and the sword fight, and that he could only die if he was beheaded. To his amazement, she was surprisingly open minded and believed everything that he told her. She promised that she would stand by his side, no matter what. He also told her that Jean Felipe was like him as well, and that someday he would be back to finish what was started. She swore to him that she would never tell anyone about his immortality. Juan Carlos was very happy that she understood. They were both happy because through this horrible experience, they were brought closer together. And so they lived, sharing the secret of immortality, waiting for the next immortal that would challenge Juan Carlos and surely lose.