Taylor finished first, I was fifteen minutes behind him. Evander was struggling.
Laurie gave us a ten minute break which I spent huffing in a collapsed heap on the floor, before moving us to work on the punching bags. It was actually really satisfying to smack things, but Laurie kept correcting my technique and was constantly shaking her head at me as I did it all wrong.
“Keep your thumb out of your fist or you'll break it," she called.
I adjusted my hand and swung at the bag again.
"Lead with the knuckle of you're forefinger, it's stronger and you can protect the little ones."
I altered my swing again and the bag thunked at the impact. Laurie crossed the floor and stood behind me, she nudged the backs of my knees so that they crumpled a bit.
“Keep your knees bent so that you can keep the movement going, and stay fluid in your motions. If you're too rigid you'll hurt yourself."
She kept offering pointers and I kept adjusting my method in accordance until she had no more to say.
Evander took another hour on the running machine and seemed to be having quite a bit of trouble with it. Laurie didn't comment, but I knew that Taylor and I had done well.
Once we’d had the longest workout of my life and I was sure I wouldn't be able to walk, run or move in any way at all by the following day, Laurie announced we were ready to begin.
I groaned audibly and she shot me a wicked look from beneath her lashes.
We moved onto the crash mats and I dragged my feet the whole way. Evander looked like he was going to collapse as Laurie showed us some basic grappling techniques. She explained ways to use an enemy's weight against them and how to dislodge a hold.
"I know you shouldn't see any combat officially, but we give you the same training as the others so you'll have a decent chance of defending yourselves in an emergency," Laurie told us. And that wasn’t terrifying at all.
We watched a ferocious looking woman who was built like a bull, fling herself at a grumpy little man from the time servers group on another mat. He screamed just before she took him out and the crunch that came from the impact made me shudder.
“How often is a messenger killed?" I asked nervously.
"Not often." Her response did little to reassure me, I was hoping for a firm never. "But it's not fair to send people out there without any training, even if they shouldn't need it. Come on, if any of you can land a hit on me I'll give you a lie-in tomorrow." She raised a hand and beckoned us forward with an annoyingly smug grin on her face.
Taylor went for it first but he swung his arms too wide and gave her plenty of warning before he even got close. After several failed attempts and more than a little laughter from me, he tried charging at her but Laurie just stepped aside at the last moment and tripped him so that he fell on his face.
Tears were running down my cheeks as I tried and failed to contain my amusement and I noticed some of the other Wardens around the room frowning over at us.
“I just don't want to hurt you," Taylor protested as he regained his feet.
"Don't worry, you won't." Laurie smiled sweetly. "Oh I meant you can't. I can take you on with my eyes closed." She stood back with her arms spread wide and shut her eyes to prove her point.
Taylor took a deep breath before starting towards her. As he drew near he snapped his fist forward and got it within inches of her stomach when Laurie twisted aside and wrapped her fingers around his wrist, using his momentum to throw him on his ass. She opened her eyes and grinned down at him.
I was gasping for breath and our red haired companion was cracking a smile too.
"I presume you're laughing so hard because you expect to find this easy?" Laurie asked, gesturing me forward.
The smile slid from my face and I shook my head.
“No. Honestly, I'll learn more from watching," I protested.
"I don't think so." She raised a hand and beckoned.
"Do you want to go first?" I asked Evander.
"No," he said simply, leaving me without a choice.
"Come on chicken, show me where I was going wrong." Taylor gave me a shove as he moved off of the mat.
I stepped forward reluctantly and stood in front of Laurie. It didn't help that she was about five inches taller than me and she still had that gun and taser lashed to her belt.
I thought about the advice she’d given me on the punchbags and tried to implement some of it.
I decided the best thing I could do would be to swing a punch at her face as quickly as possible, but she knocked it aside practically before I started. I followed with a left hook but that was no more successful. I threw a succession of punches at her face and chest and even tried to twist around and hit her in the kidney but she knocked me aside with ease every time.
After about ten minutes I was huffing and my hair was sticking to my neck and Laurie had barely broken a sweat.
“You're too hot headed. You get angry and it just gets easier to predict your moves," Laurie said, which only really helped to incite me more. I jabbed my elbow at her but she dodged it, without even looking my way and laughed as she offered Evander a chance at her.
"She can be kind of a bitch," I whispered to Taylor.
“You just can't stand losing," he replied, watching Laurie with unconcealed admiration as Evander hit the mat with a thump.
“I'll just have to be satisfied with beating you then." I smiled up at him.
“Good luck with that, shortass."
Evander crashed to the ground again and Laurie beamed.
“Okay, now I'll show you how to use some weapons," Laurie announced with a little too much enthusiasm.
The knives turned out to be plastic replicas, weighted correctly but not sharp enough to cause any real injuries. She showed us how to use them in close combat but also how to throw them at a target dummy which would light up with different colours: red for a skim, yellow for a hit in an outer limb, green for a lethal hit.
I watched as some of the time servers threw knives further along the room. Most of them were getting red or yellow lights which made me feel less worried about failure.
The first time I let the knife fly, I released it too late and it flew to the ground where it bounced on impact. The knife arced upwards and back towards me, smacking the top of my boot with a thump and I jumped half out of my skin before I remembered it couldn’t take any of my toes off.
“Aren't you glad we don't let you play with the sharp ones?" Laurie laughed and I couldn't help but agree on behalf of my pinky toe which was throbbing even through the tough boot.
I soon learned the knack of throwing the knife straight at the target and started to get some hits. The others weren't picking it up nearly as quickly and I felt a twinge of pride as I got my first green light on only my eighth throw.
Taylor pulled me into a celebratory hug and I smiled broadly.
I watched as he threw again and the target lit up yellow.
After I hit six green lights in a row, I got a big smile from Laurie which helped to sooth my hurt pride over my failure at hand to hand combat.
“We can come back to this tomorrow, now I wanna show you the fun stuff," Laurie announced once she grew bored of the knives.
She led the way to the guns, which turned out to be replicas which fired lasers.
There was everything from pistols to shotguns, rifles to revolvers. Laurie showed us how to load and fire each one in turn which took us the best part of two hours as she wasn't satisfied until we could remember how to do everything without prompting.
When we finally lined up before the targets, Laurie passed us each type of gun in turn so that we could get a feel for them.
I liked the power of the bigger guns but found it hard to hold my aim with them as the recoil knocked me off every time. Taylor found it easier to absorb the impact, probably due to his bigger arms and shoulders which seemed like an unfair advantage to me.
The pump action shotgun was my favourite, it didn't matter if the ai
m was a little off or if the recoil was a bit much for me as it gave such a wide range of shot when fired. Plus I liked the sound it made. It was the gun of a badass.
Laurie insisted that I got used to a pistol too, as it was a much more practical weapon to carry and rely on so I spent a lot of time learning how to use that.
I grasped the semi-automatic pistol and flicked the safety catch off as I prepared to fire. I took a deep breath as I steadied my aim at the target and exhaled as I squeezed the trigger.
The target instantly lit up green and a huge smile spread over my face as I looked to Laurie for approval.
"Nice!" She moved forwards and slapped me a high five and I began to think I might be able to do alright out there after all.
***
Each morning it was harder to get out of bed. I’d thought I was fit before but we were working out at a whole other level. My muscles locked up overnight which wasn't helped by the fact that Taylor and I were still cramming ourselves into one small bed but I just couldn’t bring myself to tell him to sleep in his own bed. I craved the comfort of having him close in this strange place and I hoped I was giving him that same feeling in return.
A hot shower each morning helped me to loosen up but it was followed by Laurie setting us increasingly difficult tasks. We worked alongside the lifers and time servers but never interacted with them directly. Laurie tried to keep us as far away as possible from Dolly, the lifer who's name sounded like a twisted joke to me and Grey, though I felt his eyes following me more often than I would have liked.
My aim with both knives and firearms continued to improve and I took delight in my new found talents. I could reload and reassemble each of the guns without prompting too and Laurie showed us how to clean and sharpen our knives properly.
I wasn't making much progress with the hand to hand combat though. It seemed simple when Laurie showed me how to move and keep my temper in check but I just couldn't put it into practice. Every time I failed I could feel myself getting angry which made me more predictable, which annoyed me even more, which made me lose focus and fail miserably.
Taylor threw me to the mat every time I took him on and I had no chance of ever landing a hit on Laurie as far as I could see. I did better against Evander. He still wasn't friendly which helped as I didn't feel too bad about punching him.
“Just don't let anyone get close to you," Laurie advised. "Take the shot, don't hesitate."
It was harder to avoid the lifers in the canteen. The Wardens kept an eye on us from their table at the far end of the room but they were more concerned with eating their own food, which was considerably nicer than ours.
We arrived late for dinner, I'd lost my temper during combat training and Laurie had taken pleasure in making me do a hundred push-ups. Taylor had loyally refused to leave me behind and was rewarded by joining me in my punishment.
My arms and shoulders burned with fatigue and my stomach grumbled hungrily.
The hall was laid out with rows of cafeteria tables and it was packed solid. Some of the convicts were loud and brash, shouting challenges and insults across the room to each other which occasionally deteriorated into scuffles. Others sat in silence, refusing conversation with anyone. A few groups had formed alliances, with the idea that they would stick together once the actual fighting began.
No one was interested in us. No one it seemed, except Grey.
He sat in the centre of the canteen. A crowd of men and women swarmed around him, hoping to gain an alliance with the most dangerous man in the room. It was hard to tell if he intended to stick with any of them, but he never sent them away.
His eyes followed me as we found a spot at the side of the room and sat down. I ducked my head so that I couldn't see him anymore and inspected my meal.
It was the same every day. A highly nutritious pile of slop. It tasted of something somewhere between stale bread and cold oatmeal with a few spoonfuls of salt stirred in. I sighed and started eating.
"Imagine being a lifer. This would be the only meal you would ever eat until the day you died," Taylor said, letting a wobbly spoonful slide back onto his tray.
"What's got you so cheery?" I teased.
“You know me, always looking on the bright side." He smiled widely and stuffed a huge spoonful of the mush into his mouth. "Delicious!" He rubbed his belly and sighed appreciatively. I laughed quietly.
The group sitting on our table stopped eating and glared at us. I felt a blush light my face and stared determinedly at my tray until I was sure they’d turned their attention from us.
Taylor reached across the table and took my hand. I glanced up at him in surprise.
“Don't let this place change you," he said.
“I think it's a bit late for that."
"No. It's making us stronger but it doesn't have to change who we are inside,” he growled fiercely.
I looked into his grey eyes and felt something flutter in my stomach as I failed to break his gaze.
"What's this? Love's young dream?" a gravelly voice cooed from somewhere above me.
I snatched my hand back as though it had been burnt and spun around.
Grey loomed over me, smelling strongly of sweat and looking like a cross between a pig and a boulder in a bad mood. I dropped my spoon with a clatter and shrank away from him. A small crowd of his followers gathered around our end of the table so that the Wardens couldn't see what was going on and my pulse spiked as I wondered what he wanted.
Taylor tried to stand but a huge man appeared between the crush of bodies and gripped his shoulders, pressing him back down into his seat. A cold prickle of fear ran down my spine.
Dolly slinked between the bodies surrounding us and leaned over Taylor's shoulder so that the hair that was remaining on her head trailed down his chest. She reached out and pulled his chin around so that he faced her, her nails digging into his skin.
“What a pretty face," she hissed. Taylor jerked backwards, dislodging her grip but the big guy moved to stop him from standing again.
"What do you want?" I asked in a voice which sounded braver than I felt.
"That's a good question," Grey purred menacingly. He reached out and ran a lock of my hair through his meaty fingers. I stiffened and a surge of adrenalin ran through my body but I didn't move away.
I glanced at Taylor whose jaw was locked tight, his eyes brimming with rage.
“We're just being friendly," Dolly cooed. She grinned and the movement tugged on the scar that dominated the left side of her face, making her eye bug out. She leaned closer to Taylor's face and his lip curled back in disgust.
The crowd of followers surged closer so that the press of bodies totally concealed us from view. Grey tugged at my hair again and I jerked away from him, managing to get to my feet. My legs were pressed against the table as I leaned back to avoid him, the seat I’d vacated the only thing between us.
"Don't touch me," I snarled.
I wished I had some kind of weapon but the only thing to hand was my fork. I snatched it up anyway. A fork to the face had to hurt like a bitch.
The crowd started to murmur excitedly, waiting to see what would happen next. I held Grey's eye with my chin raised and waited too.
He regarded me through narrowed eyes for a moment that stretched on agonisingly. He took a step towards me. I cringed back against the wooden table but there was nowhere for me to go. He took another step so that he was almost touching me, his legs pressed against my seat which was the only barrier keeping him away.
Grey leaned down so that his face was inches from mine and smiled slowly. Each of his yellow teeth came into focus one after another and a waft of rancid breath washed over my face.
“What are you gunna do to stop me?" he growled.
My heart stumbled mid-beat and my pulse was pounding in my ears. My grip tightened on the fork and I was sorely tempted to drive it into his gut but I was pretty sure that wouldn’t end well for me.
"Leave her alone," Taylor demanded fiercely
from behind me.
Grey's eyes lifted in his direction and he started laughing. It was a deep, rumbling chuckle that rattled up his throat and through his teeth. His gang of admirers joined in appreciatively.
"Yeah, what are you gunna do lover boy?" a large man with a long beard catcalled from the crowd to my left.
Grey stopped laughing instantly. He turned and swung his fist through the air so quickly that I flinched in shock. The man with the beard hit the ground with a sickening crunch and blood streamed from his nose. He cursed and writhed on the floor as his friends backed away from him and Grey glared at him like he was daring him to fight back.
"Break it up!" Unibrow's voice boomed over the noise and relief spilled through me in a flood.
The crowd glanced at Grey as they started to disperse. He stared at me, a wicked gleam in his eyes which said he wasn’t done here. Slowly, he raised his fist and wiped the bearded man's blood down the front of my jacket before turning and walking out of the hall.
Dolly sauntered after him and the double doors swung shut behind them.
I released my fork, sank back into my seat and sat on my trembling hands as the noise surrounding us returned to normal.
Laurie had told me to keep away from him. But what was I supposed to do if he didn’t want to keep away from me?
On the fifth day of training, we were working on the mats. I was doing no better and my temper was rising after being thrown onto my back for the tenth time.
“Place your feet and twist into the movement," Laurie said, sounding exasperated.
I got back into position and motioned Taylor forward. He grabbed me and I twisted, knocking him off balance but I didn't get my shoulder into place and he managed to stay on his feet.
“Again," Laurie snapped. She was turning out to be a total hard ass in her role as our trainer and I ground my teeth as I tried to get my headspace right to try again.
Rebel Rising: A Dystopian Romance (Cage of Lies Book 1) Page 10