Finding ELE (ELE Series #2) Written By: Rebecca Gober and Courtney Nuckels

by Nuckels, Courtney

  "But if it were more than friendship, if it were love then I'd know if they were dead or alive?" I ask a bit confused by her statement.

  Her eyes go wide and she does her best to contain a smile. "Are you in love with one of them?"

  I forgot that I hadn't told my mom about Alec and I being together. I nod my head. "Very much. I love Alec so very much."

  My mom's eyes tear up and mine do too. She pulls me into her chest, hugging me tightly and brushing my hair back with her hand. "My baby girl is in love." She pulls back from me and looks me in the eye. "It's hard for me, you know...I should have been there to hear you talk about your first kiss, about the first time you fell in love." She looks hurt, which I can totally understand. She missed a huge milestone in my life.

  "You’re here now, I can tell you everything." I smile trying to make her feel better.

  Her eyes brighten. "Please."

  "Alec was sort of my boss." I laugh when her eyes go wide. "He's only a year older than me though. At first we didn't get along that well. Then we got to hanging with each other and started connecting on a deeper level." I continue telling her all about how I got hurt and he carried me to the medical clinic. How he checked on me every day and then about our first kiss the day I got released from the hospital. I tell her about the cute check box note he gave me asking if I wanted to be his girlfriend. I even tell her about when I heard him say that he loved me in his thoughts.

  She oohs and awes appropriately. When I'm done telling her everything about our relationship she pulls me into another hug. "My daughter is in love. Wow." She pulls back again and raises her eyebrow. "So, what did your father do when he found out?" She smiles as if already knowing the answer.

  "At first he didn't like the idea but he grew warmer after a while. No dad wants to see his daughter date, but I'm pretty sure that deep down he knew Alec is a good guy."

  "Well, I guess since he didn't have any of these guns he wasn't able to properly threaten him. I can take care of that when I meet him though." She smiles really big which gains a good eye rolling from me.

  "Yeah, we have to find him first." I say.

  "We’ll go out again tomorrow if the rain lets up. Have you asked Molly if she saw him? If there is another group of survivors out there then they may have seen them." My mom offers.

  "Of course! I'm going to go talk to her now." I had totally meant to ask this yesterday but Molly was in such shock. Well at least I thought she was. It seems like she's over that now. I jump up excited about being able to do something productive. "Love you mom." I kiss her on the forehead.

  "Love you too Willow." She goes back to cleaning her gun as I head out in search for Molly.

  I pass Tony in the hall on my way to find her. A huge weight is lifted off my chest. Talking to my mom about Alec really reaffirmed my feelings for him. Tony still seems a little moody though.

  He stops me by putting his hand on my arm. I look down at his hand on my skin and he quickly drops it. Seeming uncomfortable, he runs his hand through his copper locks. "Your mom asked me to train with you today. Are you ready?"

  I look past him down the hall. "Um, yes, but I need to talk to Molly first."

  He looks even more out of sorts. "Look Willow. She was flirting with me but I wasn't reciprocating. I didn't want you to think..."

  I cut him off, "It's fine Tony. I'm not judging."

  A spark lights in his yellow eyes. "She's just a baby! I wouldn't."

  "Whoa, I'm not saying anything about it Tony. She's not a baby though, she's only two years younger than I am. Not that it matters, but really, it doesn’t bother me." I seem to make him more agitated with that comment but I don't know what more I can say.

  "You seemed bothered." He stares me down.

  I don't look away when I answer, "Well I wasn't."

  His gaze is so intense that it takes nearly everything in me to keep from breaking our staring match. I'm certainly not going to sit here and admit that I did feel a pang of jealousy even though it was totally ridiculous. Anyway, no matter what I feel, I don't have to defend myself here.

  Tony breaks eye contact and looks behind me. "She's back there talking to Andrew in the lobby."

  I look back to where his eyes drifted. Sure enough I see Molly's small frame. Her hand throws her dark hair to the side in a flippant toss. Urgh, this girl is totally incorrigible. "Thanks." I call back to Tony as I walk away.

  "Meet me in the training room in fifteen Mosby." He calls to me once I'm halfway down the hall.

  I turn around surprised to hear him call me by my last name for the first time. I only catch sight of his back as he turns the corner.

  "So you could really lift a car?" Molly giggles and curls her black hair in her finger.

  "I could lift a bus." The boy I'm assuming is Andrew says back. He puffs his chest with pride. This boy is more Molly's age. He couldn't be more than fifteen. His face is covered in freckles and his blonde hair is cropped close to his head. He's not bad looking if you are into guys that wear Dockers and polo shirts everyday and have preppy school boy written all over them.

  "Can I feel them again?" She asks him.

  He gives her a toothy grin then flexes his arm muscles. I'm pretty blown away by the size of his guns myself. I wouldn't have thought that those babies would be on this lanky boy. Molly feels his muscles and makes an awe sound.

  Nearly gagging I interrupt them, "Molly?"

  She spins around surprised to see me. "Oh hey Willow." She doesn't seem overly excited to see me interrupting their powwow.

  "Can I talk to you for a minute?" I look over at Andrew, "Alone." I add.

  She turns and tells Andrew, "I’ll see you in a bit, okay darling?"

  I groan.

  He smiles goofily, "Okay Molly. I’ll be here."

  Molly winks at him and then turns to walk with me. I lead her to a small conference room.

  "What's up?" Molly asks me.

  We both take a seat at the table. "I wanted to find out if you've seen my friends."

  "Which ones?" She asks thinking I'm talking about someone here.

  "Three of my friends from the shelter that I came from. We got separated. That's who we were looking for the day we found you."

  Molly's purple eyes go dark remembering the day we met. "Three friends?" She asks me. She taps her fingers on the table in thought.

  "Yes, their names are Connor, Claire and Alec. Do you know if anyone from your camp saw them when you were there?" Her eyes tell me she knows something and hope sparks inside me.

  "Actually yes. Three new people did come to our camp the day before you found me. One of our scouts found them out by the mountain. Since they were like us, they took them back to our camp." My heart pounds with excitement as she continues. "I didn't get to speak with any of them, although I planned to. The dark haired guy was freaking hot. The elders wouldn't let me near him though, since they were still in shock."

  She catches my murderous look and scoots back. This time full-blown jealousy boils in my veins. I do my best to ignore her remark and focus on this amazing news. Taking a deep breath I continue. "Do you think they are still there?"

  She shrugs her shoulders. "I don't really know. I heard a rumor that they came from the shelter and that they needed to go back. Our people were strongly against it since the Reapers cover the mountainside. Our leaders had asked them if they could give them a few days to gather up a team to escort them. I don't know what came of it though."

  "They can't go back! I need to find them." I say hoping desperately that this rain has set them back as well.

  "They may be there when you take me home." Molly offers realizing my desperation.

  "Okay. Thanks Molly." I hug her and she gasps in surprise. Even though the girl is starting to drive me nuts, I'm still so grateful for this new hope she's given me.

  "You're welcome." She says. "Oh, I'm sorry about flirting with Tony by the way. I didn't realize it was like that between the two of you."

&nbs
p; I crinkle my eyebrows. "It's not like that between the two of us."

  "If you say so." She throws out hopping up from the table and to walk out of the room.

  Yep, the girl still annoys the crap out of me. I follow her out of the room and head over to meet up with Tony for training.

  CHAPTER 6 (FUN AND GAMES)

  I find Tony in the training room, which must have formally been a banquet hall. It’s a very large, open room. There are targets set up on the back wall along with several different kinds of weapons. Bows, arrows, guns and knives are scattered about on long narrow tables. Next to that is a table dedicated solely to ammunition.

  As I enter the room I watch Tony hit a punching bag in the far corner. With each hit he lets out an oomph. I watch his technique with mild curiosity. One thing that is really evident is his strength. He knocks the punching bag around like a rag doll. I’ve never seen anything like it before.

  I clear my throat to get his attention so I don’t startle him. He doesn’t notice right away so I do it again in between punches. His body swirls around at the sound of me and he simply stares.

  “How long have you been standing there?” He asks me.

  I shrug my shoulders. “Not long, why?”

  He swipes his hand across his forehead taking his sweat with it. “It’s just that I usually sense when people are watching me, even if I can’t see them.”

  I purse my lips unsure of how to respond. “So,” I say trying to change the subject. I rub my hands together in mock anticipation. “What are you going to teach me today?” Tony rubs his chin in thought.

  “I think we should start with the basics. But first, I need for you to show me what you can do so that I’ll know a little better about where to start.”

  Oh boy, I think. I know absolutely nothing about self-defense or fighting. He’s probably going to think I’m some lost cause or a total dud. I nod anyway ready to get things going.

  He waves me over to the weapons table. “Is there anything here you’ve ever used before?”

  I look down at the table. Everything is foreign to me except the butcher knife. I point it out. “To be honest I’ve never really used anything except for that knife. I used to help my mom a lot in the kitchen when I was younger. She would let me slice things on occasion with a knife that looks similar.” I raise my eyebrows hoping maybe that will suffice.

  To my dismay he doesn’t seem too thrilled. “Oookay. Well, at least that’s something we can work with.” He picks up the butcher knife. “Since you’re most comfortable with the knife, let’s learn a few tricks of the trade that could help you if you’re in a life or death situation. Let's start with throwing knives.”

  I try and swallow the huge lump that’s lodged in my throat. “K,” is what I let out.

  He hands me the knife handle first and I begrudgingly accept it. He leads me over to the targets and backs me up about twenty feet behind a line made from silver duct tape. I put my toes on the duct tape and wait for instructions.

  Tony comes and stands behind me. “Okay, so you’ve got to hold the knife like this." He shifts my fingers with his fingers slightly as I grasp the handle.

  “Now, you’re going to ready yourself by looking at the target. With your left arm you need to point at the target. After that, you’re going to pull your right arm back and then release when you’re right arm is level with the left.”

  I scrunch my eyebrows together hoping I understand what he just said. “Okay,” I reply. “I guess I can do that.”

  Tony steps back away from me then tells me to go whenever I’m ready.

  I right my stance making sure that both of my feet are facing forward. I level my left hand toward the target like he showed me. Then I pull back on the right, swing forward and release. To my amazement the knife goes flying at an ungodly speed and sticks in the wall adjacent to the target. I run up to where it hit and gasp when I can only see a few inches of the handle sticking out of it.

  Tony comes jogging up beside me. He looks completely baffled. “I forgot you now have the gift of strength on your side.” He turns his head towards mine. “It shows in your eyes too. We need to make sure you do something about that before we leave.” He stands there staring at me.

  I’m the first to break eye contact. “Sorry about the wall. I’ll try to ease up a bit now that I know what I’m capable of.” I give him a half smile and jimmy the knife out.

  I walk back behind the duct tape and get ready to try again.

  Tony stands behind me and watches my form. “Here, wait a sec,” he says. He places his hands on each of my arms and repositions them. The moment he does this all I think about is how close he is to me. The proximity between us is so immensely minute that it begins to make me uncomfortable. I can feel his breath on my neck as he breathes. Goosebumps form down my arms as Tony takes a strand of my unruly hair and places it behind my ear. He begins to whisper to me, “Much better. If you stand this way, you’ll be more likely to hit the target.” His lips gently touch my ear and that’s when I realize I’ve had enough.

  I turn around so fast it catches Tony completely off guard. He nearly falls to the floor but rights himself just in time. I realize I’m still holding the knife and waste no time pointing it in his direction. Tony lifts his arms up in a surrendering position.

  “Don’t you EVER try that again! Do you understand? I have a boyfriend whom I love and care about very much. And even if he isn’t here right now, that doesn’t mean you can take advantage of me. I’m here to learn about defending myself, not how to cheat on my boyfriend!” I am seething at this whole situation.

  What must Tony think of me if he just tried to pull that move?

  "Whoa Willow. I was just trying to show you how to hold the knife." Tony raises his eyebrows at me.

  I shake my head and lower the knife. "No you were trying to kiss my ear and you were whispering all sexy like." My face starts turning red and I begin wondering if I imagined everything.

  "Look, I wasn't trying to pull anything on you. I'm sorry you felt that I was. I didn't try to kiss your ear. I was trying to show you how to do the stance and if it seemed like I was trying to take advantage of you I apologize. I respect you too much for that." He runs his hand through his hair in frustration.

  Did I just imagine that whole ear kiss thing? I immediately feel like a total jerk and a fool. What is going on with me today? It's like I'm trying to over accentuate that the jealousy I felt this morning was nothing. "I'm so sorry Tony. I'm having a rough day. You haven't been anything but nice to me, I'm sorry that I went all crazy faced on you." I put the knife on a nearby table and start to walk out the door.

  Tony stops me. "Willow." I turn around to face him and he continues. "Maybe you weren't completely crazy faced." He laughs nervously. "I can't say that if you were any normal trainee that I would have been that close to you during training." I raise my eyebrows and he continues really fast before I can say anything. "I promise though that I wasn't trying to kiss your ear or take advantage of you. I mean, I can't say I haven't imagined what it would be like to kiss you though." His voice goes soft at the end.

  He gives me a steamy look that makes me feel something deep down in my stomach. Something that is so very wrong. "I have a boyfriend." I feel good that I manage to keep my voice level and my conviction strong.

  Tony's face crumples ever so slightly. If I hadn't been paying such close attention I wouldn't notice the subtle change. "I understand. I didn't know that you had a boyfriend, but I totally understand. I respect that and I won't make any type of move on you unless you want me too."

  "I won't." I say a little too quickly.

  He clears his throat. "I hope this doesn't affect our relationship. I've grown to consider you a friend."

  I look into his yellow eyes. "Me too. It's all good. Look, let's get back to training, okay?" I wish there was a rewind button to go back and redo today. I feel like I woke up in an alternate reality. These feelings and this stuff doesn't make any s
ense to me. I need to find Alec soon.

  "Okay." He says looking relieved. "Do you want to try using a gun?"

  "Sure." I follow him over to the table that holds the weapons. My stomach tightens as I watch him pick up a pistol. He demonstrates how to remove the magazine, clear the chamber and load the ammunition. Then he shows me how to lock the magazine into the pistol.

  He hands me some clear glasses for eye protection and a pair of orange foam earplugs. I watch him put his in and then repeat with mine. I can still hear but the sound is a little more muffled.

  "You ready to try it?" He asks handing me another pistol from the table.

  I gulp as I feel the cold metal grip in my hand. I try to remember the steps he taught me. I feel surprised that I move through the steps rather easily. The gun feels natural in my hand.

  I look at Tony and he raises his eyebrows equally surprised at how I repeated the steps so fluidly. "Alright, you ready to shoot?"

  I nod. The tightening in my stomach increases as I follow him to the target area at the other end of the room. The target is a silhouette of the upper half of a faceless human body.

  "Now that you’re ready, chamber the round by pulling back the slide." He says demonstrating with his pistol. I do as I'm told finding it to be not as easy as it looked. I manage it finally, so he continues. "You need to make sure your muzzle is always pointed down range." He aims towards the target with his pistol.

  "Yeah, so I don't accidentally shoot you?" I joke.

  "This is nothing to joke about." He says but I still see the humor in his eyes. "Okay, stance is important. Start with your feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, arms extended but not locked. Like me." He takes the stance and fires the first round.

  I yelp and jump back in surprise.

  "Whoa Willow! Watch it!" He says pointing the muzzle of my pistol away from him and down range.