“I recommend we train out in the wilderness training area,” Jason suggested.
“No, that would be a waste of time.” My dad debunked the idea. I admit it gave me a tinge of pleasure. “We will be in close corridors. We need to use each of your abilities to get through. In a confined space, it’s not about numbers. The building is not heavily guarded from within; it’s mostly staff. The hardest part is getting in. If we can get the Renatus President to listen, then maybe we don’t have to worry about the leaving part.”
We all looked at each other and nodded. We were going to do this. We each had our own reasons, although I did not know what Jason’s reasons were.
***
Over the next two weeks, we woke up around five in the morning and returned home around ten each night. No matter how hard the training was, no one complained.
We spent the first part of the morning studying maps and diagrams of the Renatus HQ and its defenses. It would have been difficult for me to focus, but luckily I got a new watch so that mellowed me out a bit.
After that, we were taught the Guards’ battle techniques from my dad. After spending about twelve years in the Guards, he was well versed in combat. He taught us the weaknesses in their armor, like how they couldn’t really turn their heads.
After a short lunch break, we trained with our abilities, trying to find different ways to use them. Unfortunately for me, I would need to be in danger to really benefit from mine. We learned how to control them, using them only when we needed to so we could use it more often.
Sometimes Casey would head off and do his own thing when we were training with our abilities. I imagined he resented us more for having abilities and being left out, but he would think differently if he actually did have abilities.
“What you must learn about your abilities is that they never stop evolving,” Dad told us. “You just see the tip of the iceberg. Some never realize their full potential. I started off just going invisible for a second before I realized that I was not actually invisible—I was actually moving around. I was just ending up in the same spot. Then I started to move inches, then feet, and finally any place that I could visually see.”
“Didn't they spot you in the Guards?” I asked him once.
He just smiled and told me that he was really careful, and in battle everyone just cared about staying alive.
In about two weeks, we had greatly increased the time we could sustain our abilities and worked on different strategies that used each of our skills.
For instance, Abigail could throw Peter into the enemies, and Peter could then cause a distraction while we ambushed them.
That's pretty much our answer for everything, actually.
None of us “evolved” our abilities like dad had hoped for, but he said it could happen at any time—then he would ramble on about how cool it was when he first found out.
The majority of our time was spent doing physical fitness.
Dad told us that it did not matter if we got close and could not even hurt our enemies.
He also said if you can't run fast and for a long period of time, then you would probably die. I kind of wished I had taken Coach Roach's morning runs seriously.
In two weeks, Peter and I put on quite a bit of muscle. A little bit more for me than him. Casey still looked the same, but it appeared that he was able to lift more without adding any more mass.
Mary and Abigail focused on cardio fitness since Abigail did not need more strength and Mary insisted she would never get close enough to hit someone. Mary slacked while we were at the gym, usually chatting with some guys before dad would go and track her down.
We ended our days in the Armory, where we trained with an assortment of weapons.
Abigail got some lightweight gauntlets that could break through concrete. She tried her hand at shooting, and, let's just say, Peter is lucky he can stop bullets.
Mary, of course, focused on guns. Apparently she was the best shot in the base, so it seemed kind of cheap that she just focused on guns. She always bragged about how great her parents were to let her taking shooting classes and how more parents should be like them.
Peter was a decent shot, but what really made him deadly was the fact that he had no fear. He could get close to you with a spoon and kill you. Well, that's what he claimed until he tried to attack Jason and ended up in a head lock. Apparently, thick skin still bends. So in the end, he focused on knives and some hand to hand.
Jason was fluent in every fighting technique—of course—as well as my dad.
As for me, I even surprised myself on how well I could handle a weapon. Dad said I took after him. When it came to guns, I could hit the target ninety percent of the time—a hundred if I slowed down time.
With blades, I was able to get in close using my abilities to avoid being hit and plan where to attack.
The same was true for my hand to hand skills.
As long as I stayed in my own little “slow” world, I was almost untouchable.
So in the end, I trained in everything about equally, but I spent more time on hand to hand just so I could go a few rounds with Abigail. It was cute watching her lunge at me in slow motion, only for me to side step and catch her before she fell. She would get so annoyed with me she would stomp off to practice shooting.
Even with the grueling hours and nonstop training, it was the happiest time of my life, considering what had happened and where I was headed. I felt like I was part of a team. I trusted these people. Yes, I even got a bit closer with Jason. I still was not sure about Casey though.
“It's creepy, man,” Peter told me one day referring to Casey. “I lock my door at night and jump when I hear something move. I wish they would just move me somewhere else. I hear him at night talking to himself. I can’t make it out but he says, ‘family’ a lot.”
About two weeks after the Independence Day incident, we were finally told that we would be leaving in a week. One of the contacts within the Renatus HQ had informed President Reeves that the Renatus President would be located within the building in a week. The contact made arrangements for a “cargo plane” to drop supplies off to the Renatus HQ.
Once we found this out, the weight of the situation became real.
Dad told us to rest and relax, to let our bodies recoup from the training, but told us we should try to get out a bit and warm up.
Five days before our scheduled departure Jason, Peter, Abigail, and I were playing ball in the wilderness training area that my apartment overlooked while Mary watched.
Jason was showing off as usual and threw the ball way too far.
“I'm tired of chasing the ball,” Peter complained. “I'm not a dog. Can you go get it?”
“Whatever,” I replied. I really didn't mind; it was exercise.
I walked in the direction the ball had flown, not sure where it actually landed when I came upon a large tree that was separate from rest. I started to admire how healthy it looked despite being underground without natural sunlight.
I heard a bird chirp from somewhere in the branches, so I started to walk around to catch a glimpse of it.
“Ahh!” a girl yelled.
I backed up fast and looked down. I had accidently stepped on a girl’s hand.
“I am so sorry,” I began to ramble. “I was not paying attention. Are you okay? I can get someone to heal you if you need.”
The girl looked up with pretty green eyes and tilted her head like she did not understand.
I recognized the girl from the party a few weeks back. She was the one who danced with Peter, and then I saw fighting later.
“Are you one of us?” I asked.
The girl scrunched her eyes.
“Yew'r mimbling,” the girl replied in broken English. She then pointed to her ears. “Ieam deaf.”
I felt stunned and guilty at the same time. I just stepped on a deaf girl’s fingers.
“I-AM-SORRY,” I said slowly in a slightly louder voice.
The girl rolled her
eyes.
She put down the book that she was reading and grabbed a notepad and a pen out of her bag and began to write. After a few seconds, she turned the notepad towards me to read.
“You can talk louder, but I still can’t hear you,” it read.
I felt my face get hot.
The girl laughed and then picked up the ball that was sitting next to her and held it out.
I reached forward to grab the ball, but as soon as my fingers touched the ball it shocked me.
I pulled my hand back, startled.
The girl started to laugh again then tossed the ball up to me.
I fumbled with the ball a second; the whole time the girl continued to watch me.
She started to write on the notepad again. She flipped it to let me read.
“Yes, I am like you,” she wrote. “I can shock things. How about you?”
I looked up and she held two fingers apart like she was about to pinch me, but, instead of pinching me, I saw a bluish spark pass between both fingers.
“Wow,” I murmured.
She pointed to me.
I had no idea how I could really show off what I could do without being in some sort of danger, so I decided to do something stupid. Act it out.
I started walk like normal and then pointed to my head like it was hurting and pretended everything was moving slow.
All I got was a blank stare. She probably thought I was crazy. I think I was crazy for doing it.
I sighed and put my arms down.
She giggled again and started writing.
“So your power is to dance?” she wrote, but she also added a smiley face with a tongue sticking out.
I had to smile. She had a sense of humor, which was refreshing.
I pointed to her note pad and made a writing motion and pointed to me.
She gave me a playful look of “I don’t know,” then held out the pad and the pen.
I hesitated a bit because I did not like the feeling of electricity coursing through my veins; I had a bad experience.
I took the pad and pen and started to scribble.
“I can slow douwn time. Just four me,” I wrote.
I turned the pad and showed her.
She read then started to laugh.
“What?” I said aloud.
She grabbed the pad, made a note, and handed it back.
“You can’t spell,” she had noted and wrote “down” under my “douwn” and “for” under my “four.” She included the number 4 with an arrow to my “four.”
My face got red.
I handed her the pad and turned to leave.
“Wait,” the girl said partially laughing. It sounded like it was hard for her to move her tongue.
I guess I felt bad for her because I turned towards her. She was jotting something on the pad.
She looked up and flipped over the pad.
“I was kidding. You are new here, right?” she had written.
I nodded.
She smiled and began to write again, then handed me the pad.
“Welcome. I am Annie. You?” she wrote.
“Annie,” I read aloud.
Where did I hear that name? Sparks. Could this be Paul’s Annie? It would make sense. They both had similar abilities, she was about my age, and she was mixed. I was sure she was, but I wanted to look at the picture that was in the satchel Paul gave to Mary.
I hesitated and began to write.
“My name is Dalyn. Nice to meet you. I have to go. Will you be hear tomorrow?”
I gave her the pad again.
She shook her head and pointed to the word “hear” I had just written on the pad. She pointed to her ear and shook her head and then lifted her shoulders like she was telling me, “Duh.”
She scribbled out my “hear” then replaced it with “here” and wrote, “I will be HERE tomorrow. See you then?”
“Did you find it yet?” I heard Peter yell.
I nodded my head and returned her notepad.
I raised my hand and said, “Bye.”
This time, I tried to be clear and speak softly.
Annie gave me a big smile and nodded her head like she was trying to say, “Thank you. Now you are starting to get it.”
She waved and mouthed “bye,” turning back to her book.
I ran back towards the others.
When I reached Peter, I threw him the ball.
“What took you so long?” Peter asked. “And why are you smiling.”
I had not noticed that I was smiling. I did not know why, so I lied.
“I was just thinking about dinner,” I replied. “Listen, I am going to take a break.”
“What, you’re giving up?” Jason threw up his hands. “That means we win!”
“Yeah, good job,” I mumbled as I began to walk towards Mary, Peter following close behind.
Mary was busy painting her toe nails when we arrived.
“Mary, the bag that Paul gave you before we escaped, do you still have it?” I asked.
Mary looked up at me.
“Yeah. Why?” she replied.
“I think I found the girl, Annie,” I told her.
“Really?” Peter asked. “How did you manage that?”
“She was just sitting by the tree, and she told me her name,” I replied. “She is the same girl you were dancing with the other night, and I also saw her fighting.”
Peter thought back then said, “Yeah, that girl gave me the creeps. She just looked up at stars and fireworks and ignored me completely. All I was trying to do was have a conversation with a pretty girl.”
“That’s because she’s deaf,” I snapped at him.
“Oh,” Peter muttered.
“Dalyn, I’m sure there are many girls that are named Annie,” Mary suggested.
“Yeah, but how many do you know that can shoot sparks from their hands,” I replied.
They both stared at me.
“Listen, Paul said there was a picture in the bag; maybe we should look at it and see if it’s really her,” I suggested.
Mary nodded.
“I will bring it tomorrow,” Mary said.
“Thanks,” I replied. “If we find out it really is her, I’d like to be the one to give her the news—I don’t want her to be surrounded by people when I tell her that her dad is dead.”
“Are you sure?” Mary asked with concern in her voice. “Paul asked me to do it.”
“I’ll do it,” I told Mary. “Don’t worry about it.”
Mary did not look happy about it, but she agreed.
Abigail and Jason were taking their time walking over, obviously in deep conversation.
Abigail and I really had not talked much in the past few days, despite my attempts to get close to her. She always seemed to be distracted with Jason.
I grabbed my water bottle and took a long swig.
“I’m just going to head on home and try to relax,” I told Peter and Mary. “See you tomorrow.”
They said “goodbye,” and I started to make my way home. I hoped dad was out doing something because all I wanted to do was sleep.
As I passed the market area that held the ballroom, I forced myself to look in. It was mostly cleaned up. The only thing that was out of the ordinary was the shattered glass roof. They had extended nets just below the parts of the ceiling that still had glass. They just wanted to make sure the falling debris didn’t injure anyone, I guess.
The market was back open, but it was mostly empty. People were scared to leave their apartments, and this area brought back memories of that night.
The teriyaki chicken booth had no customers, but I was a little hungry, so I decided to grab a few. The man who served me had bandages over his face, I assumed from the falling glass.
I paid the man and took the small bag full of chicken on a stick. I began to eat as I walked. It was hard to believe, in a few more days, I would be leaving this place on what seemed like a suicide mission. I shook my head. I couldn’t think like that.
I reached the apartment and opened the door. I finally had my chip reprogrammed, so I did not have to wait for Dad all the time. I tossed the remaining chicken in the refrigerator for later and walked to my room.
I was about to sit on my bed when I noticed a large black bag with a large watch sitting on top of it.
I picked up the watch and began to examine it. I flipped it over and popped off the back, revealing two capsules, a little bigger than the ones in our watches now. I snapped the cover back on and examined the face of the watch. It had extra buttons that I didn’t dare touch.
I set the watch down and unzipped the plastic bag, revealing a gray military type uniform. It was surprisingly lightweight and had places for guns and knives. I guess this was what we would be wearing to the Renatus HQ.
I picked up the watch and the uniform and placed them on my chair. I would ask dad about it in the morning.
I climbed into bed and shut my eyes, trying to think of a happy memory to put me to sleep. I tried to replay the image of Abigail in her dress, but it was coming in blurry, and the effectiveness was already wearing out.
My mind wandered to the girl I had met under the tree, Annie. She had good humor despite her condition. She seemed happy. I slipped off to sleep with the sound of her laughing in my head.
Chapter 23
I woke up around nine in the morning, which felt great. It had been weeks since I was able to sleep for that long without waking from nightmares.
I pulled on a T-shirt and some shorts and walked out into the living area. Dad’s door was opened, but he was not inside. He must have left early today. I guess I would have to ask him later about the watch and uniform on my bed.
I opened the refrigerator to grab my teriyaki chicken, but they were gone.
“Damnit,” I cursed under my breath. The food was technically his since I was using his money, but it was the point.
I shut the refrigerator door when I heard the doorbell ring.
Who would be ringing our doorbell? It’s not like we had a lot of friends.
I open the door just enough to peak out.
“Boo!” Mary shoved her face in the crack. I admit, I was a bit jumpy, but I played it off.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I came to drop this off before you left.” Mary slid the brown bag down her arm and handed it to me. “I am going to go get fitted for a uniform.”
Sky of Dust: The Last Weapon Page 13