A few minutes later I had a set of training mats out on the floor and had unlocked the front door. I didn't risk turning a light on, but the moonlight coming through the windows was enough for now. While I waited for the others to arrive I went through a quick routine I had read in some of the older combat manuals.
Sarah spoke from the door. "Of course she's started without us." I looked up to see her and Thomas hand in hand as usual. I smiled at the pair and beckoned them in.
Thomas raised an eyebrow at me as he got closer. "Do you ever take a break?"
I grinned. "Not on purpose." I took a breath and finished my routine before turning to them. "I have some new things I want to try. Who wants to go first?"
Sarah gave a sigh. "Right down to business. I wish you would relax." I raised an eyebrow, and she rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine, I'll go first."
She stepped to the side of the mats and took her coat off, dropping it on the floor. It had grown chillier in the past few months and the snow season was almost upon us. I wasn't looking forward to training in that.
When she was ready we both took our fighting stances and began to circle each other. It had been a long time since I rushed in without a moments notice. Sarah had been the one to teach me how to wait and see an opponent's weakness, and then use it against them. Thomas had started joining us after our study sessions and he proved his usefulness by showing me some wrestling moves. His family was rich enough to live in one of the upper districts of Miami so he had had access to a wide range of facilities growing up.
When the pair's knowledge dried up Thomas had shown me the old library in the mansion. It had required special permission from the bookkeeper there, but she allowed us to take a book out with us. I had proven to her that she could trust me in the first few weeks, so now she allowed me two at a time.
I had poured through the books on hand-to-hand combat several times each. It was still amazing how many varieties of fighting existed. At first I had tried to learn as much as I could, but I soon realized that all I was doing was being average at everything, and good at nothing. For the past six weeks I had focused my energy and time on learning correct foot movement and positioning. The take-downs I studied focused on speed and agility rather than strength. The key was to cater to your strengths, not try to brute force your weaknesses.
Sarah took a step toward me and I took two steps fast to the left causing her to shift her weight for a moment. I watched the way her body twisted as she readjusted herself to a defensive position and got an idea. If I could throw her balance off, even for just a moment, it would give me a chance to attack.
As I was about to execute my plan she caught me off guard by lunging forward and throwing a fist at my face. I twisted away at the last moment and managed to get my palm onto her arm, deflecting her momentum away from me. If I'd prepared for the attack I would have been able to use her momentum against her, but my focus meant all I could do was keep my own feet under me.
It crossed my mind that she had just used her own manipulation against me. She was all about seeing the weakness in others, and since she had taught me the same, she knew I could see her weakness. She was well aware that I knew she would wait until I attacked first to decide what to do. Using that knowledge she launched an attack first to take me off guard—which she had done well. If I wasn't as fast as I was I would be on my back right now sporting a black eye.
She amazed me at the depth at which she thought, but now that I was aware of it I could replicate it. Two could play at that game. I stepped forward to attack, but paused.
I know Sarah. I know her thought process. She was manipulating me again. She knew I would come to that realization and try to use it against her. I decided not to let her know, and followed through on my attack.
As I stepped into her guard I noticed something I wouldn't have otherwise if I hadn't been looking for the trap. Her right ankle was twisting in an awkward way, and I could see what she was going to do. Her body was faking a twist that I would have used against her, but her feet would have taken her on a different path. She could have used that leverage to cause me to fall off balance.
I felt myself smile as I turned against her plan and wrapped my back leg around hers and pushed hard. Her feet weren't in the position to shift away from the sudden change in my attack, and her eyes widened. The force of the shove lifted her into the air, and I would have fallen too if I hadn't clutched her shirt as I pushed her away, righting myself in the process. A surprised gasp was all she managed before I slammed her down into the mats.
"Wow." Sarah looked up at me from her position on the mat. "You saw it didn't you."
I grinned. "Finally I get you!"
Sarah mirrored my grin. "Good. You can see moves ahead."
I frowned as I pulled her up onto her feet. "Wait. Why didn't you just tell me that's what you were trying to do?"
Sarah held her hands up in front of her chest and clasped them together. "Because, young apprentice. One cannot open the door for you. One can only shown you to the door. You must open it on your own."
Thomas started cracking up as I glared at my friend. She managed to last a few seconds before giggling herself, and then losing the battle and bursting out in laughter.
I huffed and pointed to Thomas. "You're next."
I shouldn't have, but I couldn't help the burst of pride in my chest as a small meep escaped his throat.
Yes. Extra training had been a good idea.
***
Sarah turned to me, her mouth open wide. "Oh gosh, I forgot your box session was tonight." I grimaced at the reminder, and felt Sarah's hand on my shoulder. "Which one?"
I sighed. "Dogs."
Sarah shivered, and I heard Thomas sigh. I looked over at him and he shrugged. "I hate that one."
I nodded. "I'll be alright."
Sarah looked into my eyes. "Promise?"
I smiled at her and nodded. She stared at me for a few moments before nodding and taking her hand off me. It had taken me a while to get used to the different methods used, and I still had nightmares about them almost every night. Sarah was worried for me, but there was nothing to be done. I would get used to them sooner or later. I hoped for the sooner.
Thomas gave a cry of frustration. "Crap. I forgot I had to do the laundry tonight. You ladies mind if I shirk my cleanup duty here for one somewhere else?"
Sarah pretended to contemplate this for a few seconds, before smiling and giving him a nod. "You better make it up to me."
"Oh I will." He walked up and kissed her goodbye, then left to go to the barracks.
Sarah turned to me as we started packing up the gear from the evening's training session. "So what's the go with Bradley?"
I frowned at her. "Bradley? What do you mean? Did something happen?"
She waved her hand. "No, no. I mean with you and Bradley."
"Nothing." I turned and threw the mats into the storage room with much more force than I needed. "That's never going to happen."
Sarah's mouth dropped open. "What? I thought you liked him?"
I sighed and turned to her. "I liked the idea of him. The cute guy I met who took me away from hell and showed me this whole new world. Reality's a different matter."
"What do you mean?"
I sighed and locked the shed before making my way over to the stands to get my jacket.
I shrugged at Sarah. "What I mean is that he doesn't like me back. He never did. I worked that out, so I stopped thinking about it. I have more important things to worry about anyway."
"Like what? Your hours and hours of studying and training? Honestly, Alex, you work yourself too hard."
"No such thing." I zipped up my jacket and walked with her to the front door. We stepped out into the chilly night air and made our way back toward the barracks.
Sarah started skipping as I walked. "You're wrong anyway."
"About what?"
"Bradley not liking you. I know he likes you."
"How?"
; "The way he looks at you."
"Ah, yes. That look of disgust whenever he gets near me. So romantic."
Sarah laughed. "Considering how smart you are, I sometimes forget that you know nothing about boys."
I raised an eyebrow at her. She just poked a tongue at me and continued. "That isn't disgust, but I'm not going to spell it out for you. Anyway I was talking more about the way he looks at you when you're not looking."
I crossed my arms. "And how is that?"
"You should ask him." Sarah poked me in the side making me drop my arms and squirm out of her reach.
I sighed and shook my head. "No thanks. Like I said, that was then, and this is now. I have my training to consider. I don't have the time for that kind of thing."
"Well that's boring. I was going to ask you to go on a double date with Thomas and I."
I laughed. "Well I'm sorry I can't be the friend you always needed."
Sarah sighed and put her hand up to her forehead. "It is my burden to bear, darling."
I giggled as we made our way back into our room and started getting ready for bed.
Just before I fell asleep that night I considered what she had said, but dismissed it after a few moments. I had sleep to get, and things to train for. That just wasn't on the cards for me right now.
TWENTY-ONE
I stood at the front of the entrance to the obstacle course and planned my way through the most complicated of the routes. The sun wasn't up yet, but there was enough light for me to make another run at it in the minutes leading up to sunrise.
For the past month I had spent every Sunday morning pushing myself to my limits through the obstacle course. I had been getting closer and closer to the course record for the past few weeks. It was something I did on my own time, not during training, as I didn't want the others to think I was showing off. I needed to do this for myself, not to prove anything to anyone else. To live up to the General's expectations I had to get faster. Had to get better.
It wasn't against the rules per se, but I was sure that Bradley wouldn't be happy with me being out here without supervision. He was right of course, but it wasn't like I was going to hurt anyone else. It was only myself in danger, so it was worth the risk.
I closed my eyes, evened out my breathing, and began to visualize the course. Free running was an amazing thing, and something I loved, but to become good at a course you needed to memorize it. It had to be instinct, not reaction. I opened my eyes and exhaled. The opening of the obstacle course was at once familiar and daunting.
I had already primed the electronic timers, so all I had to do was start running and it would register my take-off. I stepped up to the starting line and got down onto my knees. When my palms were flat I raised my knees off the ground, holding myself like a coiled spring. I closed my eyes one more time, took another breath, and then opened them.
I exploded off the starting line and tore down the track toward the first obstacle. This path also held vertical and horizontal bars, but the difference was that they were in the same section. I dove forward between two and rolled under another, twisting and snaking my way through the pipes until I had cleared them.
The second obstacle was another set of pipes much the same as the first, except these were covered in tiny spikes. I went slower here and used the smooth sections of pipe to swing through. Once I was at the end I put on another burst of speed as I ran through the first intersection. One of the features of the hard track was that it was straight, so I didn't have to worry about corners.
The next obstacle reared its head and I dove out over the abyss. I planted my feet onto one of the small sections of floor that were still beneath me. There was nothing but a two by two square of wood on top of a pole. I used my momentum to keep hopping from one to the other. The fall wasn't far, but I would lose too many seconds climbing back up if I fell.
My feet came back into contact with solid ground and I ran as hard as I could at the rope climb. Moments before colliding with it I blocked with my feet in front of me, transferring my forward momentum into upward. My hands wrapped around the rope, and I began dragging myself up the vertical sheet of wood. My legs gripped the rope to help with the load. This was my slowest section, as my upper body strength wasn't the greatest. I pulled myself up onto the next section of the course.
The barbed wire fence was next, and although it wasn't the hardest of the lot it wasn't my style of movement. I threw myself to the ground and, using my elbows and knees, dragged myself along the ground. My cheek felt like it was burning as I rubbed it up against the wooden floor, but I would rather a rash than slicing my face open on the wire above.
I came up to the tree section and threw myself into the lower canopy of the forest. Various rope swings hung from the thick branches which I now swung between. Halfway across I let my left hand release before I had a sure grip with my right and fell six feet before grabbing back on to the rope again. I cursed at the stinging in my hands and kept swinging, using the peak of each swing to get higher and back up to level before I reached the end.
I gritted my teeth and shook my head at myself. That fall had slowed me down.
My feet landed on the deck and I hit the rope slide that took me down another level at top speed. Unlike the other slide, this one had poles at random sections that required careful pendulum swinging to avoid. My elbow clipped the last one as I went passed, but I managed to keep my grip and dropped to the floor a few feet below.
I could feel my breathing coming heavy as I approached the last section of the course. This was the hardest section, not only because of its danger, but because of how tired I was from the rest of the course. This section wasn't dangerous for most people, but I had decided this time to invent another short cut that I had seen on my last run through. This is what had me confident that I would beat the timer.
If I didn't die that is.
The gap up ahead had been designed to drop the runner into a pit that required tightrope walking across to overcome. I was fine at that, my balance had been set in stone from years of climbing and roof jumping, but the thing I was going for was much more dangerous. The gap I was going to try to clear was the same length as the gap I had tried to jump in the city.
The one where I had almost lost my life.
I took a deep breath and pumped up my speed as I approached the ledge. This time I was confident in my abilities. I had trained for this. I had built myself for this. I would beat this.
I hit the edge and threw myself with as much force as I could muster.
It wasn't until I felt the wind flowing through my hair did I realize how much I had missed this. I had spent so much time concentrating on getting better, I had forgotten how it felt to fly. I forgot everything and let myself enjoy the moment. The wind in my hair, the lightness of my body, and the pure joy running through my blood. Yes, I had missed this.
As I started to descend I came back to my senses and watched my trajectory. It would be close, but when I saw I would make it a grin broke out on my face. I came down and touched on the wood a few inches past the edge, and ducked into a role to prevent jarring my knees. I jumped up and ran the last thirty feet laughing. I looked up to the finish line and crossed it, glancing up at the screen.
I was a full five seconds under the best time. I shouted for joy, throwing my hands into the air.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I heard a voice scream from behind me. I turned to see Bradley stomping his way toward me from across the field.
I had never seen him look so angry.
"You could have killed yourself!"
I gave a sigh. "Well I didn't." I knew I was being insubordinate, but at the moment I didn't care. I had just achieved something I had been struggling with for months, and I wouldn't have anyone ruining it.
"You think that makes it okay?" Bradley swung his arms into the air. "You think just because you didn't get hurt that the risk you put yourself under was worth it? How would I explain this to anyone if you'd injured you
rself?"
I grit my teeth and glared at him. "Well I'm sorry I inconvenienced you so much. I didn't realize I was such a burden. In future I'll consider you before my every action, sir."
Bradley shook his head. "This is your problem. You're so self centered. You never stop to think about how you might affect the people around you."
"The people around me?" I barked out some laughter. "You're going to act like this isn't a personal thing?"
Bradley folded his arms. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"
"It means you've had it out for me since I got here! You played the nice guy to get me to sign up, but once I was in I saw your true colors. You think I'm the self centered one? All you care about is what reflects on you as an officer."
"You don't know a thing about what goes on at this place, and you have the gall to tell me I'm the one being self centered? This place isn't only about being the best you can be. It's also about working within a team—something that I'm yet to see much effort in from you."
"I have friends," I said, a little defensive. It wasn't my fault I wasn't used to the kind of close quarters living and camaraderie that the others shared. I was trying as best I could.
Bradley gave a sigh. "I just want you to be more aware of your surroundings. Is that too much to ask?"
"What's the worst that could have happened back there? A broken leg? We have magic medicine that fixes everything, don't you remember?"
Bradley shut his eyes and placed his fingers on him temples. "Again it's all about you. Go get yourself killed, I couldn't care less, but when you leave the team hanging because of it you can be sure that I'm going to notice."
"Ah so that's it, isn't it." I stepped forward and pushed his chest, causing him to take stumble backward. "It's been obvious since day one that you didn't give a crap about me. I'm glad you grew the balls to say it to my face."
Bradley stepped up to me and got inches from my face. "You push me like that again and I'll write you up. Do you want extra time in the box? I don't remember it being fun for you the first time."
The Pulse Series (Book 1): Pulse Page 13