The thought of two days with nothing to do but… “Sir, if it’s all the same to you, I’d like to start training immediately.” When he gave me a questioning look, I added, “I…I need to keep busy.”
Jonas studied me like he was sizing me up. I guessed I had passed the test because he finally relented. “All right then. Quinn will find you tomorrow morning at breakfast. We’ll place you with the newest recruits until Graff gets back to train you one on one.”
We both walked in silence to the door and then Jonas gave me a hug. “Your father was like a brother to me and your mother was the fiercest woman I’ve ever known.” Stepping back, he looked me in the eyes. “And don’t you worry; I’ve already made inquiries into the whereabouts of your brother. We’ll also know more soon regarding your sector and any other possible survivors.”
“Thank you,” I whispered in relief, holding back tears.
“Come now, I’ll walk you around back.”
* * *
After finding Dera in the garden with Nessa and Marta, she and I took the path back to our cabin. During the walk, I told her that Jonas said I could start my training tomorrow.
“Henley, that’s great. There aren’t too many girl recruits that were good enough to get accepted to Jonas’ sector and the ones that are here…well let’s just say they’re hardcore. But between the two of us, we could kick some major butt. I just know it!”
Trying to stifle the laugh bubbling to the surface, I stopped in my tracks. “Okay little warrior, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For one thing, I start official training tomorrow. Most of these guys have been training for years. Frankly, even with what Keegan taught me, I’m a little intimidated.”
Undeterred, Dera said, “Are you kidding me? You told me last night that you could shoot an arrow dead center from over six hundred feet away. What do you have to be intimidated about?”
“That’s all well and good,” I said slowly, “but what about hand to hand combat? You don’t understand, Dera. From what I hear, you’re good at everything. I, on the other hand, am going to make a fool of myself.” At least it would keep my mind off other things.
“Oh Henley, it’s all right. I’ll help you with things like that, and I would never let anyone embarrass you. We’re friends now, right? I’ll look after you. And besides, I doubt they’ll start you out with anything physical anyway. They’re probably going to go light on you because of what you’ve just been through and all. Not that I think you should be happy about it or anything but at least you won’t have to worry about it for a while.”
“You’re probably right.” I sighed as we reached our cabin. “And you know what? I’m not the least bit tired. So what do you say we go for a run? I think it might help clear my head a bit.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
* * *
We took the path that ran perpendicular to the creek. A few minutes into our run, a large cabin came into view. It was set back in the woods, and by its grandeur, looked to be for someone important.
“Is that Graff’s place?” I asked. “I remember Nessa said his cabin was close to ours.” For some reason I found myself gravitating toward the property.
“Yeah but as much as I’d love to get closer for a quick look, I’d really hate for Graff to have come home early and catch us snooping around. I’m thinking that won’t go over too well as we’re both pretty much newbies around here.” She laughed. “Come on. We’ll have plenty of time to do some recon on Graff tomorrow.”
“You wench,” I barked, laughing before we started running again.
When the land began to open up, we took off at a faster pace. I loved this feeling so much; the wind in my hair, the smell of the earth, the freedom it gave me.
The path led us to a pond but we didn’t stop until we reached the other side where trees bordered the water’s edge. Small pebbles were scattered about. I picked some up and began throwing them in the water one by one. “You know, this place is pretty nice.”
Dera grabbed some pebbles, walked to the edge of the pond, and individually skimmed them across the water. Her farthest bounced twenty-two times before finally sinking to the bottom. With empty hands, she turned back to me. “Yeah, I think the whole sector is kind of great. Better than mine was anyway.”
As I leaned back against a tree, Ford and a guy I hadn’t met appeared on either side of me.
“Well, well, well. What have we here, Jake?”
“Looks like a couple of damsels in distress to me,” he replied.
At the sound of his voice, Dera charged Jake, but Ford stepped in, grabbing her around the waist before she could reach him. This must have angered Dera even more because she turned in Ford’s arms, knocking him backward. Apparently surprised by her aggression, he just stood there in shock with his hands on her shoulders to keep her at arm’s length.
Jake sneered at Dera, rushing toward her and Ford. Determined to stick up for my new friend, I balled up my fist as he passed me and hit Jake square in the nose. As he staggered back, his head hit a tree trunk so hard his eyes closed and he slid to the ground.
Turning, I found Dera and Ford rolling around in the dirt. She was punching and kicking her legs out as he tried to block the blows.
“Dera,” I yelled, but she wasn’t listening so I kept calling her name until they came to a stop, with Dera on top of him. She looked at me, then at Jake lying on the ground by the tree. With an indiscernible expression, she climbed off Ford and brushed the dirt from her pants.
“Did you do that?” she asked me, pointing at Jake.
Rubbing my throbbing right hand, I answered sheepishly, “Well the tree helped.”
Ford immediately got up and walked over to Jake. Shaking his head, he grabbed him by the back of his shirt and dragged him over to the pond where he threw him in. Jake resurfaced, splashing and flailing.
“What the…what? Hey!” Jake said, finally realizing what had happened.
“Damn, Jake. Have some self-respect,” Ford said, disgruntled.
Jake cursed and climbed out of the pond. “She blindsided me, man!”
“Then you’re a lunkhead for not paying attention. Get up. We’re leaving.”
Ford made his way back over to where Dera and I stood speechless. He bent over, tipped an imaginary hat, and said, “Ladies, always a pleasure.” Then he and a very wet Jake started leisurely walking away as if our little scuffle hadn’t even happened. Halfway down the path, a lanky boy about Nessa’s age popped out from behind the bushes, trailing after them.
“Who is that?” I asked, pointing to the boy.
“That would be Tommy…follows Ford wherever he goes. Ugh, Ford,” she groaned. “He is so exasperating!”
“Among other things,” I agreed. “What was that, anyway? You went pretty crazy when you saw Ford’s friend. Do you and that Jake guy know each other well?”
“No, not anymore. But while I’m thinking about it, just how did you manage to knock Jake out? No offense, but he’s huge.”
“I don’t know really. I just clenched my fist and swung. And well, the tree helped. It got in the way of his head.”
“Whatever works.” She paused, looking down at herself. “Hey listen, I’m never going to get all this dirt off my clothes. Let’s swim across the pond and speed-run back to the cabin.”
I agreed and silently thanked Dera, because being around her definitely helped distract me from all my troubles.
Chapter Ten
There weren’t many people in the Mess Hall this early, for which I was extremely thankful. Miss Sofia came to the counter as we were making our plates.
“Good morning, lovelies,” she greeted us with a smile.
“Morning, Miss Sofia,” we said in unison.
“You girls are up early, no?” She placed down a platter filled with fresh hotcakes and a large bowl of blueberries.
Sliding a couple of hotcakes onto her plate, Dera responded, “Yes ma’am. We wanted to get an early start. Henley begins her traini
ng today.”
“Oh? Well that is wonderful. You wait right here,” she said and went back to the kitchen.
Dera smiled, giving me a wait-till-you-see-this look.
Miss Sophia quickly returned, a small boy following close behind her, each of them carrying a large platter. There was sliced ham, bacon, sausage, roasted potatoes, scrambled eggs, and biscuits on each. “This is a meal fit for a warrior. Don’t be shy, pile up those plates.”
Dera wasted no time obliging Ms. Sofia, and after seeing how much she planned to gorge on, I decided to take a little of each. I was going to need my strength after all.
As we headed to a table, Ford walked in with a group of guys. One of them was Jake, whose nose and eyes were blackish blue. They went directly to the counter, silently made their plates, and surprisingly started walking over to our table.
Seeing Jake, I cringed, but right before they reached us the door opened and a guy—probably a year or two younger than me—came in. He was about five foot eight with short brown hair cut like Dera’s; he wore cargo pants and a blue short-sleeved shirt. He looked our way and smiled.
Noticing this new kid walking our way, Ford and his gang abruptly changed direction and found a table as far away from us as possible.
“Interesting,” I said as the boy reached our table.
“I’m Quinn,” he said, placing his hands on the tabletop directly in front of me. “And you’re Henley,” he said, grinning and pointing to me before quickly turning to my new friend to say, “Hey, Dera. How’s it going?”
We both just smiled so he winked and added, “Be with you gals in a minute.” We watched in silence as he headed for the breakfast counter.
Dera looked at me. “This is going to be fun. Did you notice Ford and his little gang took one look at Quinn and decided not to join us?”
“Strange, Quinn doesn’t look that tough.”
“It’s because he’s part of Graff’s team. Shush. Here he comes,” she whispered.
Quinn sat down across from us, a mound of food on his plate. “First off, I’d like to say I’m sorry about your sector. And try not to worry, because we GWs don’t leave our own behind. Ever. Once Graff gets back…” he paused briefly, speaking between mouthfuls, “we’ll figure out who can help us locate your brother. Now, after breakfast I’ll take you over to the training area. I’ve got a few questions. Dera, I know you’ve been training with the scouts but I got permission from Jonas to place you in Henley’s classes for the time being. We thought it would help her integrate better since you two seem to have become attached since she arrived the other day.” He shoveled in more food. “And it’s an entirely different scene over there. So I’ll need to know your strengths and your weaknesses. Knives, archery, hand to hand, firearms—let’s start with those. We’ll work more on the areas that need developing unless you pass all the categories today. Then you’ll move straight over to the advanced training section. Just depends on your skill level. So, who wants to go first?”
I was speechless, but Dera had no problem at all. After taking a bite of food, she pointed her fork at Quinn. “Let’s see…I shoot straight and true with the bow. I’m okay with guns, good at hand to hand, great with a blade, and superb with knives. Knives are my specialty.” She set her fork down and actually winked at Quinn. He stared at her a moment before nodding and swinging his gaze over to me. “All right. And what about you?”
“Well…” I tried to think of all the areas Dera had covered. “I’ve never touched a gun. My father forbade it. I’m good with a bow, fair with knives, but hand to hand…not so much.”
Scooping up his last bite of food, Quinn pushed his plate aside. “We can work with that. If you gals are ready, I’ll take you on over.”
We all stood and carried our plates to the cart. I didn’t look, but I felt eyes on me the entire way out of the mess hall.
* * *
When we reached the training field, we all stepped up to the fence, Quinn placing a foot on a rung to straddle it. Pointing straight ahead of us, he said, “The area is six hundred feet wide and one thousand feet long. We set up in groups. At this end, we have defensive techniques followed by hand to hand combat.” He pointed to a building next to the Rec House that had a sign which read ‘INFIRMARY’ on it. “We want the fighting areas close to the infirmary, if you get my meaning.”
There were twelve sets of two trainees for defensive and hand to hand combat. There was only one girl in the area and I noticed Dera sizing her up. Twelve guys were currently fighting hand to hand and they looked impressive. Suddenly I felt nauseous.
“Next to that is knife throwing,” Quinn went on. “Once you master that, you’ll be taught how to actually fight with knives. Next to knives is archery. And at the far end we have blades and swords, and then the shooting range.”
Quinn jumped down, patted my shoulder, and said, “I think we’ll start with hand to hand since we’re already here.”
That was when my stomach dropped.
* * *
We followed closely behind Quinn as we walked through the gate, around a line of trainees, and neared our destination. So closely, in fact, that I bumped right into him when he stopped in front of a small group of guys chatting and resting along the chain-link fence. There were a few laughs at my expense but when they noticed who I’d run into they immediately quieted and the ones who had been sitting quickly got to their feet. Dera shot me a questioning look and I knew she was recalling the same way Ford and his crew reacted to Quinn in the mess hall. Hmm, our new friend here seemed to not only have the respect of the recruits but maybe a bit of seniority as well. Interesting, considering he was only sixteen or so and didn’t look intimidating in the least.
From the back of the group, a young man with wavy brown shoulder length hair appeared. He looked to be in his early twenties, a few inches taller than my five-eight with an overly muscular build. He had definitely trained more than the others standing around me, and the crook of his nose was a clear indicator that he’d had it broken on more than one occasion. He wore an all-black uniform in contrast to the group that was in all white.
“Well now, haven’t seen you down here in a while. How the hell have you been, mate?” the guy asked, grabbing and squeezing Quinn’s shoulders in a friendly embrace.
“I’ve been good, man,” Quinn replied. “Just busy with everything that’s happened lately. And you?”
“Never better…” He trailed off, plastering a big goofy grin on his face as he turned slightly and surveyed Dera and me, slowly scanning each of our bodies from head to toe before coming back to meet my eyes. I shifted nervously and didn’t know what to make of him, but Quinn seemed amused, even took a step back to allow Dera and me to enter their conversation.
“Henley, Dera,” he said as he waved a hand in our direction, “I’d like to introduce you to your new instructor Brandon Stillwell, otherwise known as Gunner.”
“Gunner, I think you met Dera a few weeks ago. She’s been in scout training but we’re moving her over. And to my right is Henley, the one you haven’t taken your eyes off of since we started speaking.” Quinn barked out a laugh but then he caught himself and continued in a more somber voice, “She came to us from Marvin Brooks’ Sector. Marvin was Henley’s father.”
Gunner held his hand out to me and waited until I took it to speak. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, love. And I just want to say how truly sorry I am in regards to your family. Keegan is an exceptional GW and good friend. It was a shock to us all when we learned of their terrible fate.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, and then raised my voice a little. “And it’s nice to meet you, too.”
Gunner rubbed his hands together while plastering another goofy grin on his face. Then he added in a somewhat playful voice, “All right. Let’s get you girls introduced to your new classmates so we can pair you up for what I like to call some good old fashioned arse kickin’!”
Dera and I exchanged dubious looks. She kne
w hand to hand was not my strong suit and from what I gathered when we saw these guys sparring earlier, even the novices would look like experts paired up against me. I took a deep breath and shrugged, realizing it was going to be a long day.
Gunner instructed us along with the group of six guys still standing along the fence to join the other trainees in the area just to my right. Once we were all together, Gunner whistled twice, which must’ve been some sort of command because instant silence followed.
After a long moment, he spoke. “Group, this is Henley and Dera. Dera is a transfer from scout training. Henley is a newbie recruit. They will both be joining your group starting now. Please introduce yourselves then pair off according to this morning’s roster.”
Everyone did as ordered and after shaking hands with about twenty or so people, Dera and I were left standing alone, seemingly paired together. I was starting to think this wouldn’t be so bad, but then Gunner decided to ruin my newly lifted spirits by speaking.
“All right, girls. You two can choose your partners—anyone standing to the left. Who wants to go first?”
My shoulders slumped, but Dera, who had been casually scanning through our competition, suddenly stopped on the only other girl in the group, grinning deviously. “Ooh, I will, I will!” she said enthusiastically, even raising her hand for effect.
“Very good. Now who would you like as your partner, lov—”
“Her.” Dera pointed before he could finish. “Baby, is it?” she asked in a taunting manner.
“The name’s Barbette,” the girl huffed as she made her way forward.
“Not really any better if you ask me, but whatever you prefer, Bar…be…tte,” Dera said, overly pronouncing each syllable which made the girl’s eyes widen.
“Put up or shut up, you little shrimp,” the girl blurted out, and got into a fighting stance.
The Outerlands - Sedition Page 7