The Blasphemer Read Online Free Page A

your fancy moves. You get overwhelmed. You get pummelled. You get raped. You become a statistic. End of story.’
    Maya walked to a bench nearby and unclasped the chilly bin sitting on it. Icy vapour swirled as she got out a sports drink. Cracking the can open with a fizz, Maya handed it to Bulletman, who handed it to Zoe. Zoe accepted the drink with shivering hands, her head bowed.
    Maya turned back to the students. Their faces were pale. They didn’t look so smug now.
    ‘Girls, there’s the dojo and then there’s the streets. Chances are, your instructors have never been in real confrontation on the streets. They don’t even know what it feels like. They can’t tell you about the hormones pumping through your blood, the neurons firing in your brain, the spasms attacking your muscles. They can’t coach you what to do when your reptilian side overpowers your mammalian side. I mean, we are so used to thinking of ourselves as civilised and restrained human beings that we have completely lost touch with the very instincts that are vital for keeping us alive and well. That’s what this course is meant to fix. I want my students to understand the adrenalin dump. I want them to master it. Because, girls, you already have the tools. Evolutionary biology is hiding in plain sight. Don’t believe me? Then spread your fingers. Go ahead. Lift up your hands and spread your fingers. Notice the webbed skin between them? There you go. Your reptilian roots are right there, buried beneath a mammalian façade. Now, if you can use that under stress, under extreme stress, it might just prove to be the difference.’
    Maya studied the group. They looked lost, as if she had just been speaking to them in Latin. Obviously, she needed to unblock their minds with a hard-and-fast demonstration. Nodding at Bulletman, she took off her whistle and her cellphone and placed them on the bench.
    Maya turned just as Bulletman rushed forward, screaming, ‘You damn bitch! I’m gonna kill you! I’m gonna kill you!’
    Maya felt the adrenalin ribbon through her like an explosion of warmth, pitching her to the edge, causing her to see red, her body shaking like she was being caught up in a hurricane, but she forced herself to breathe—in through the nose, out through the mouth—conscious of her thundering heartbeat, welcoming the rush, riding it, allowing her raw primal instincts to take over, and she dodged past Bulletman’s arms, slamming the web between her forefinger and thumb into his throat, hearing him grunt, stopping him in mid-lunge, before palm-striking his face in a blur— bam, bam, bam —the force coming from deep within her, the very core of her being, as she turned fear into rage, her screams eclipsing his as she refused to back down, refused to be a victim, and she cracked her elbow into his ribs, while her knee powered into his groin, and he staggered, faltered, and now the tide of the battle had well and truly turned, and she palm-struck his kidney, clawing at it before headbutting him in the chest, catching him in his solar plexus, and as he whimpered and doubled over, she snapped her elbow straight up, catching him in the chin, and his head jerked back, and he reeled, arms thrashing, and he went down with the hardest thump, and she orbited around him and loomed, her foot raised above his face, ready to deliver the ultimate coup de grace.
    Maya paused for effect. Then, slowly, very slowly, she eased her foot away. She reached down for Bulletman’s outstretched arms, helping him up.
    Her tunnelled senses eased as she came down from the adrenalin high, and she became aware of the students clapping and cheering and whooping as they crowded around her with Zoe at the forefront, wide-eyed and eager.
    ‘That’s way awesome!’
    ‘Unreal! Never seen anything like it!’
    ‘You were like an animal, Miss Raines! Like an animal!’
    Maya could do little but pant and smile. That’s when her cellphone buzzed on the bench, cutting short