Initiates (The Book of Adam 3)

by Scott Gelowitz

  “You looked pretty happy, so you must have figured out what area you’re headed into,” said Adam.

  “There’s only one job I know of that would make him that happy,” said Jimmy.

  “What’s that?” asked Mark.

  Jimmy grinned, “You’re going to be one of those guys who tastes food for important people to make sure it isn’t poisoned. It combines your love of food with your love of sitting around a table filled with food.”

  They all laughed except for Mark.

  “Sounds great, except it doesn’t take into account my love of not dying,” he said, full of sarcasm.

  “There’s always a downside to any job,” said Jimmy.

  “Yeah, like six feet down,” said Mark.

  There was a moment of silence and then all four burst out laughing.

  “So it went OK?” asked Adam.

  Mark shrugged again. “He figures that since I like video games so much that I’d probably like anything to do with tactics, so either security or political strategy is what we’re going to try.”

  “I can’t see you as a cop, but maybe a Mayor like Jeff,” said Jimmy.

  “I thought you were going to say I’m suited for police because of the doughnuts,” replied Mark until he realized that Jimmy had compared him to Jeff. “Hey!” he exclaimed.

  They ate fast and left the cafeteria before any of the other classes had started filing into the room, which gave them over an hour before meeting Horton.

  “We’ve got a lot of time to kill. What should we do?” asked Kevin.

  “I want to brush my teeth,” said Jimmy, “Then we can play around in the gym while we wait.”

  “Good thing you said you needed to brush your teeth. I wasn’t sure how to tell you that your breath is terrible. It’s so bad I thought it would burn off your eyebrows,” said Mark.

  Kevin and Adam laughed as they started walking toward their rooms.

  Jimmy tried not to appear insulted. “Funny guy,” he said with a forced smile.

  Mark immediately faked that he was gagging. “No, please. Don’t talk until you’ve brushed your teeth.”

  They laughed the rest of the way to their rooms.

  Adam checked his hair and brushed his teeth to make sure his breath wouldn’t be offensive, but more to avoid teasing. He remembered that he had the two candies in his pocket, so he placed them next to the phone for later and stepped back into the hallway to meet the rest of his friends.

  To his surprise, Kevin and Mark were already waiting, but Jimmy was yet to be seen.

  “I forgot how slow Jimmy is. We could be here a while,” said Mark.

  As if he were listening, Jimmy picked that moment to step out of his room.

  “Hhhhhooooowwww’s my breath noooooowwwww,” he said to Mark, exhaling in Mark’s face.

  Mark sniffed the air slightly instead of avoiding Jimmy’s breath. “Much better. I’d rate it about the same as two-day roadkill.”

  Jimmy smiled and referred to Mark with a swear word, and Mark chuckled.

  “Let’s go,” said Kevin.

  Once they reached the gymnasium, Mark headed in a different direction than the video games. The others looked at each other confused.

  “You lost?” asked Jimmy. “The video games are over there.” He pointed in their direction.

  “Follow me,” said Mark, “Horton told me something. Trust me. You’ll like this.” He walked toward a door at the opposite end of the gym.

  When they reached the door, Adam could read a small sign that said “Target Practice”. When he walked through, he found that they were in a small room with a security guard sitting behind a counter.

  “Hello there,” said the guard. “What can I do for you?”

  “Horton said we could come here and try some target practice,” said Mark.

  “Alright,” said the guard. “Any of you take firearm safety yet?”

  They all said no.

  “Alright. Then it’s your choice. Do you want to shoot pellet guns or slingshots? I will tell you that the pellet gun range is much more fun.”

  They looked at each other and Mark answered, “Pellet guns it is.”

  “Names?”

  They each gave their names in turn.

  “Gurpreet’s son, hey?” said the guard. “Well I’m Bob. Nice to meet you all. If you’ll just go through that door once I buzz you in, I’ll meet you on the other side.” He pointed to the door on the right.

  As soon as they walked through, they were in a large room with rows of glass cabinets. Weapons of all kinds were displayed there, all locked away safe.

  “Over here,” said Bob. He stood beside a cabinet he had opened.

  “First, you have to listen to the safety information and prove to me that you understand before I hand you one of these,” said Bob, and then he continued with a short presentation of how to safely use the gun, the rules of the target range, and last, the penalty.

  “If you do something against the rules, you could be kicked out of the target area for good. Depending on the severity, you could be expelled altogether, understand?”

  They all nodded.

  “I don’t expect any trouble out of you,” he added, then handed them each a gun.

  He led them down a short hallway and opened the first door. Inside were two lanes for shooting, but they weren’t just simple targets. Each lane was set up like an old-west shooting gallery with fake bottles and old buildings, ducks in a barrel, squirrels in trees, and many other odd things.

  “Once you hit the button, shoot as many of the moving objects as you can. The harder they are to hit, the higher the points you’ll earn. Your score will show at the end of each two minute round. You’ll get about five hundred shots out of each compressed air cylinder, and there are spares on the back wall. If you need me or have any trouble, just hit the big red button beside the door. Alright?”

  They nodded that they understood.

  “Have fun and be safe,” said Bob and he left.

  “What do you think?” asked Mark. “I told you guys you would like this.”

  “Good call,” said Kevin. “This does look like a lot of fun.”

  “Who’s up first?” asked Jimmy.

  “Mark,” said Adam. “He brought us; he gets the first round.”

  They each ended up getting five rounds in before deciding to quit. Surprisingly, Mark beat everyone in every round they played. Kevin and Jimmy were much less than Mark each time, but still close to each other in score. Adam was the worst shot by far.

  “How can you hit a small pedestal at hundreds of feet with a stone the size of a quarter but can’t shoot a slow squirrel at 20 paces?” asked Jimmy, confused.

  Adam shrugged. “No idea. I honestly thought I’d be better at this.”

  “You just need some more practice,” said Kevin. “We’ve all been playing shooting games at home since we were kids. You never play shooting games when you come over to my house.”

  “True,” said Adam as they walked back toward the area where the guns were stored. He could hear gun shots and many voices in other rooms further up the hallway.

  “How did it go?” asked Bob when they made it back.

  “Lots of fun,” said Mark. “Thanks.”

  “Any time. When you are ready to try other weapons, just speak to Horton and he’ll let me know.”

  They thanked Bob again and stepped back into the gymnasium. It was just before 1:00 pm and the last stragglers were wandering out of the main door toward their classrooms.

  A moment later, the door opened and in walked Horton. He was on time for the first time since they had met.

  “Let me guess. By the look on Mark’s face I’d say that you all tried out the target range. Probably the pellet guns.”

  “How’d you know that?” asked Mark, surprised.

  “Bob called me to make sure I was OK with you trying,” said Horton.

  Mark nodded understanding. “It was a lot of fun. I’d like to try some of the
different weapons, though,” he said.

  “In due time,” said Horton with a smile. “Right now we are going to do something else that I know you will enjoy. Follow me.” Horton led them back outside the gymnasium and back up the hallway toward the dorms. Not far from the gymnasium, Horton opened another door that was unmarked.

  Adam didn’t know how the League could keep surprising him, but it did. He stepped into another large cavern, again dimly lit by the Lumiens above, and was amazed by the huge Kurling stadium in front of him. The Kurling arena was at the bottom of the stadium, with bench seating surrounding the entire area.

  “We could sit a thousand people in these stands, but we’ve never had that many people here all at once before,” said Horton. “When this area was found, all they had to do was shape the seating in the rocks and haul in some Kurling stones.” Horton pointed at a few miscellaneous piles of stones at the edges of the arena.

  “Do you feel like playing a game against each other?” asked Horton.

  They agreed.

  “Ok. What are the fairest teams?” he asked.

  “It’s pretty much whoever has Adam wins,” said Jimmy, “so how about I go with Adam? Glad you agree.” He said the last part quick so no one could interfere.

  “Why don’t you play a few games as pairs but we keep switching up at the end of each game? We’ll make them short games, though. Four ends each,” said Horton.

  They agreed again, and Horton assigned the starting teams.

  After a few short games Horton clapped.

  “I think that’s enough work for today, boys. Why don’t you go get ready for your extra class tonight,” he said, ushering them to the door.

  “That was so much fun to watch,” Horton said to Adam as they walked up the hallway toward the classrooms. “You remind me of your Dad. He was an excellent Kurler.”

  “You guys spent a lot of time together, I’ll bet,” said Adam.

  “Yeah. He’s the reason I came back to teach this year,” said Horton, “well, more for your Mom.”

  Adam was confused. “What?” he asked. There were so many questions that popped up from that little statement.

  “I was retired for the last two years, but when they decided to send you here, they asked me to come back and teach your class. It was your mom’s idea,” said Horton.

  “Adam’s mom asked to have you teach us?” asked Kevin.

  “Yep. Said I was the only one she would trust. I guess she put up a big fuss about it too. I would have come back anyway just knowing Adam and Mark were coming – no offense to Kevin or Jimmy – just that I knew Eddie so well and have known Gurpreet since he was little.”

  “Why would my mom want you to teach me specifically?” asked Adam.

  “Well, I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I’m pretty good in the physical sciences area. That, and I’ve known her for a long time and she trusts me,” said Horton. “It worked out anyway, since my replacement and her husband ended up having a baby, so she took the year off.”

  Adam processed the information for a few moments.

  “I’ve heard that she’s…changed…since your dad died,” said Horton, “but now’s not the time to talk about that. We’ll talk about that sometime soon.”

  They stopped outside their classroom door.

  “You’re done for the day…unless you want to do some more work,” said Horton.

  Mark turned away from the classroom in a flash and uttered, “See you tomorrow,” as he left.

  The other three said the same and followed, but Adam’s couldn’t stop wondering why Mary had insisted Horton had to be his teacher.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  In no time at all they were back at the gymnasium for their evening self defense class.

  The first thing Adam realized was that they would be taking self defense with Derek’s grade 11 class. He had almost forgotten that Kassie was in the same class as Derek, and he had completely forgotten that Derek was the only boy in that entire class, so they would be taking self defense with a lot of girls. Adam was smart enough to realize that the girls could be just as dangerous as most of the boys. Jimmy and Mark, on the other hand, seemed to wear grins of superiority. From what Adam knew about people in general, he was quite sure they were going to learn that their assumptions were wrong and pay for it with pain.

  Val Pavlov stood at the front of the group dressed in regular gym clothes. Adam had expected him to be outfitted in some sort of martial arts gear, so that choice struck him as odd. Linus, the muscular security guard, stood off to the side watching.

  Val called for their attention and asked them to sit down.

  “Hello. Welcome to your introduction to self defense class. This class is not going to teach you how to break bones. This class is going to teach you basic moves that will get you out of the more common situations you might find yourself faced with in the real world. I am glad to see so many young ladies here today. You are the ones most likely to be assaulted, statistically, so if I can teach you something that will help you protect yourself, I’m more than happy.” He smiled at the group and the girls giggled with more than just nervousness.

  “For these classes I’ve asked Linus here,” he waved for Linus to step closer, “to help me demonstrate the techniques. Linus is our head of security and extremely good at what he does. My goal is that at the end of your training you will be able to get out of most of the traps either Linus or I set for you. You will find out that physical size is always a factor, but with the right technique, size difference can help you just as much as it may hinder you either way.”

  The room was silent as he spoke and all eyes were on him.

  “For example; let’s say that I’m an attacker and I’m going to sneak up on Linus. I’m going to grab him in a bear-hug typical of that situation, especially for someone who thinks they’ve caught easy prey. I promise that I’ll try and hold him with all my strength, but watch Linus closely.”

  Linus stepped into position so that everyone could see as Val grabbed him in a great bear hug. Linus bent at the hips and the rest was a blur. He was sitting on top of Val in a fraction of a second.

  The crowd clapped as Linus helped Val up off the floor.

  “We are going to teach you this technique, and you are going to practice on each other. It may look easy, but it is not. I want the boys and the taller girls on the left and the smaller girls on the right. We’ll pair you up and start by having the bigger students attacking the smaller ones.”

  The boys did as they were told and Val sorted the girls into the two groups until they were about even. From there, Val matched up pairs.

  Adam was the first one of the boys to be paired with a girl, and to his relief, it just happened to be Kassie.

  Adam had to hold back his laughter when Jimmy and Mark were paired with the two girls that they had met at the Astrodome, and Jimmy was unfortunate enough to be paired with the taller girl who had teased him. His face was red and his movements were really stiff.

  “What’s so funny?” asked Kassie.

  “Watch Jimmy. He’s run into that girl he is paired with once before and she teased him, so he’s going to be really uncomfortable.”

  Val interrupted the group. “On the count of three, the first group will try and trap the second group. The second group will do this,” he said and then demonstrated. “If you don’t break free the first time, reset and try again. Linus and I will walk around to watch and give tips.”

  Suddenly Adam forgot about watching Jimmy and remembered that he was going to have to hug Kassie from behind. Terror and confusion ran through his mind, and somewhere inside he understood Jimmy’s awkwardness.

  “Are we going to try this soon?” said Kassie.

  “Uh…,” was all Adam could reply.

  Kassie chuckled. “Don’t get all weird. Just pretend you’re a lunatic and you’re trying to abduct me, OK?”

  Her joking voice snapped Adam out of his awkward rut. He grabbed her in a hug and she ma
naged to get out easily.

  “You have to hold me harder than that,” said Kassie.

  “I didn’t want to hurt you,” said Adam.

  She rolled her eyes. “That was far from hurting me. Put some effort into it.”

  He nodded and tried again, this time holding her as much as he could. She got out again, this time not so easily.

  “Good,” she said. “Let’s keep practicing.”

  But Adam was looking elsewhere. Jimmy and his partner were close by, and Adam watched as Jimmy finally worked up the courage to try holding her. She did not execute the escape as planned, though, and ended up facing Jimmy. He had her locked in a tight hug, but had frozen up and forgot to let go. From there it seemed like slow motion as they toppled sideways onto the mat. Even though she struggled to get free, Jimmy was so stunned that he was unable to do or say anything until Val put his hand on Jimmy’s shoulder and got him to release his hold.

  If it weren’t for the fact that Val was right there helping the girl learn the technique properly, Jimmy might have sprinted from the room because of the embarrassment, but Val smoothed it over enough that both Jimmy and the girl were able to try again.

  The next time they tried, Jimmy’s partner executed her moves flawlessly and she escaped in no time.

  “Excellent,” said Val and he moved on to Adam and Kassie.

  “Go ahead,” said Val.

  Adam tried to hold Kassie with all his might, but she broke free fast and easily.

  “Great job,” said Val and he moved on to the next couple.

  Adam looked around.

  “What are you looking for?” asked Kassie.

  “Sorry, I just wanted to see Mark and your brother,” replied Adam.

  “There’s Kevin,” said Kassie, pointing in his direction.

  Kevin had been paired with a girl much smaller than himself, and she wasn’t having any luck escaping. Linus had noticed and walked over to give some pointers.

  Adam and Kassie kept searching until Val met their eyes and silently told them to keep practicing. They tried the technique two more times before Val’s voice cut through the noise.

  “It’s time to switch,” he said in a voice that was loud without yelling.