“Talked with him right after I took a shower earlier,” Steph said.
Eric overheard this part of the conversation and used it to his advantage, “Listen, Sergeant. You’ve already got two of the Nighthawks. You ain’t taking me. And, if your guys are staying here, they have to take up jobs, too.”
“Yeah,” Reid said, “we know. I’m joining the med-team.”
“Have they assigned jobs to the other three?” Cedric asked. He looked around for the rest of the soldiers, but other than Reid, Pearson, and Warner, the rest were not in the mess hall.
“Nope,” Pearson said. “But, I’ll be honest. Staff Sergeant Scott is one heck of a mechanic. Don’t waste that talent. I hate she’s not going with us.”
“Good,” Cedric said. “We could always use them. I’ll tell Charlie. I’m assigning Bennet and Warner to the Offense Department, though. They can take our spots.”
Warner nodded. “I guess I better start training hard again,” he said.
Cedric smirked. He hadn’t ratted him out for his lack of cardio endurance, but he was glad Warner was owning up to it.
“Three days?” Cedric asked.
“Yeah. You’ve got two nights in your own bed, then we’re off,” Pearson said.
“Seven of us is enough,” Cedric said.
“Seven?” Pearson asked trying to figure out who he’d forgotten.
“Davis,” Cedric said clearing up the confusion. “He’s hovering around somewhere.”
“Ten would be better,” Pearson said.
Cedric heard another plate clatter down and he turned to see Ron sitting next to Ross.
“If you only take seven,” he said picking into the conversation as if he’d been there the whole time, “it will conserve quite a bit of fuel.”
“Granted,” Pearson said.
“And that’s fewer supplies,” Ross offered up.
“Granted,” Pearson repeated.
“And if something happens to one of the Humvees, we can all ride in one,” Steph added.
“Seven will be fine,” Pearson relented. “You’ve got the experience in this new world, kid. I’ll follow your lead.”
Cedric was about to respond when he heard a commotion coming from the other end of the mess hall.
“I am not your damn assistant, woman!” Ben shouted.
Cedric was halfway across the room before he even realized he was on his feet.
“I’m trying to give you a promotion, you frickin’ idiot!” Sue shouted back. “Not everything is a dominance game!” Sue raised her hands and started to back up.
Ben took three steps forward and continued to shout, “I don’t take orders from kids and women! This is nothing but bullshit!”
Ben was about to take another step forward when Cedric jumped in front of him, “Calm down, Ben.” He held up his right hand in a slow down gesture.
Ben began to huff as his face covered in beads of sweat. “I’m done taking orders from kids,” he shouted. “This ain’t no game.”
Cedric saw him clenching his fist and he took a step to the side to get to a clearer area. “Ben, calm down. I’ve never given you an order. I’m not giving you any orders now. We all have jobs to do. We all have a place. Nothing’s changed.”
“I swear to God if you don’t go shut up somewhere,” Ben started.
Before he could finish his sentence, his daughter, Denise said, “Dad, let’s go back. You’re scaring Julie. You’re scaring a lot of people.”
Ben clenched his jaw and said in a low whisper, “They should be scared. There’s scarier things than me out there.” He unclenched his fist and turned to look around. After a brief moment, he turned to the door and left.
“I’m sorry,” Denise said to Sue after her dad was gone. “He’s all bark, though. No bite.”
“He’s a loose cannon with no safety,” Sue said. She turned and began to walk to the exit.
As she passed Cedric she said, “Are you sure you don’t want to take him with you, too?”
Cedric just shook his head as Sue left to go eat dinner with her family.
“Keep an eye on him, Warner,” Cedric said once he’d sat back down.
“Will do,” Warner said chuckling. “But really, guys like him, they’re all talk. He won’t do anything. He’s just scared.”
“Yeah,” Cedric said. “But he’s still a pain in the butt.”
After a few minutes of silence, Cedric looked at Ron and asked, “Is Karli not eating?”
“No, she is,” he answered.
Cedric waited for more, but Ron didn’t offer up any extra information.
“Is she eating with us?” he asked.
“No,” Ron said. “She’s eating in our room with her mother. She’s about to get a new roommate. You know… when she moves to the main building. So, she’s taking advantage of some mom time.”
“That makes sense,” Cedric said.
“And she’s super pissed at you,” Ron added.
“And there it is,” Cedric muttered.
“Why’s she mad?” Steph asked. “Is it cause of last night? You had no control over that?”
“Oh no,” Ron said. Cedric gave Ron a look trying to emphasize the message of ‘shut up,’ but if he saw it, he didn’t get the message. “She’s mad because Cedric made the deal to go if they helped you,” Ron explained to Steph.
Steph immediately sat her fork down. “Dude, I am so sorry,” she said. “I’ll go talk to her…”
“That would make it worse,” Cedric said.
“She really doesn’t like you,” Ron added.
Steph bit her tongue. She really wanted to reply, but she liked Ron and didn’t want to hurt his feelings.
“So,” Cedric said changing the subject when he saw Pearson standing up to leave, “you said you’d follow my lead, right?”
Pearson nodded. “Yeah, what’s up?”
“Scott needs to report to Charlie at eight in the morning. The new Nighthawks and everyone who’s on the mission needs to report to training with the Nighthawks at six,” Cedric said regaining his composure with the subject change.
Pearson agreed and left.
“Now,” Cedric said standing up. “I’ve got three days’ worth of reports to go file with whoever is taking Ross’s spot.”
Cedric walked out into the parking lot at five thirty the next morning. He began to drag the training dummies from their resting place under a tarp lean-to. The sun hadn’t even started to rise yet, so Cedric didn’t see Charlie approaching from the side of the building.
Cedric jumped when he began to speak. “So, I guess it’s true,” Charlie said.
“Depends on what it is,” Cedric replied.
“You’re going.”
“Yeah,” Cedric said. “I gave my word.”
“What’s the play here, Ced?” Charlie asked grabbing one of the orange body builder dummies.
Cedric grabbed the last dummy and said, “They gave the cure-all to Steph. She’s my partner. What else could I do? She was dying.”
“You should have talked to someone first,” Charlie said sternly.
“It wouldn’t have made a difference,” Cedric said.
“It might have.”
“You’re right,” Cedric said standing his dummy upright. “If I had stopped to talk to you, or Sue, or Karli, or Eric, it might have made a difference. It wouldn’t have changed what I had to do, but it might have made a difference. Steph might be dead right now. You didn’t see her.”
Cedric turned his back on Charlie and walked back to the lean-to to grab the Bowflex he’d scavenged from the school’s weight room. It had been a lot easier to move one machine rather than a bunch of equipment.
“Do me a favor will ya,” Cedric said trying to cool his temper. “While I am gone, and since labor has the main building finished, get the field house cleared out and secured so we have somewhere inside to train.”
Charlie just chuckled as he grabbed the other side of the Bowflex and helped Cedric mov
e it.
By the time the rest of the equipment was moved out of the lean-to, the sun was beginning to rise. Cedric checked his watch. “Five-fifty-five,” he said. “You staying to train with us?” he asked his brother.
“Nah,” Charlie said. “I just got plenty of exercise moving this crap.” He paused for a moment when he heard voices coming from the front door.
Cedric was about to say something when Charlie interrupted him, “Look, man. I just want you to be safe. Be smart.”
“Always am,” Cedric said.
Before they could finish their conversation, the rest of the Nighthawks and the military personnel began to trickle in.
Once everyone was accounted for, Cedric began.
“Alright,” he said looking around at everyone. “You’ve got three minutes to get stretched out, then we run.”
“How far?” Warner asked.
“Until I say stop,” Cedric said. “Out there, you never know how much you’re going to have to run. You only know that you will, at some point, have to run. So here, you only know that you have to run. Keep pace with me and you’ll be able to outrun any of the infected that aren’t green.”
The crew began to stretch while Cedric talked with Eric. “Yeah, boss,” Eric said. “I’m sitting this run out.”
“Kinda figured,” Cedric said eyeballing the crutches. “How much longer you on the hoppers for?”
“Doc says eight weeks,” Eric said.
“Yikes. Are you just going to stay here and do weights?” Cedric asked.
Eric was about to answer when Squirrel shouted, “Hey man, you ready for this run?”
Cedric laughed and said, “Yeah. Let’s get going. Keep pace. Six-minute-mile.”
Half of the people groaned; Warner included. Only Squirrel seemed excited about the run.
After just under twenty minutes of running, Cedric slowed to a walk and continued to walk one more lap around their half mile path. The path covered a few types of terrain, some of which was unexpected for the new recruits, such as running over piles of logs, up and down hills, and even through a very large mud puddle.
Once they’d made their seventh lap around the track, Cedric stopped back at the training area and waited for the rest of the crew to catch up.
“Not bad,” Cedric said into the crowd. “Most of us made it,” he said glancing around.
“Pearson,” Squirrel shouted, “what happened?”
“I’m too old for this crap,” Pearson said from his seat on the Bowflex. He’d made it the first two miles but then fizzled out into a walk.
“What’s your excuse, Warner?” Steph shouted.
“I’ve gotten fat and out of shape since I haven’t had to PT anymore,” he huffed out.
“Hey,” Cedric said. “He did fine. He kept up for the most part.”
“Is that before or after he threw up?” Bennet said chuckling.
“Which time?” Clarke asked.
“Lock it up!” Stewart shouted at the soldiers.
Cedric hadn’t heard this phrase in a long time—not since his dad used to say it when he was a kid. But, the meaning was still the same. Whatever you’re saying, shut up.
Cedric didn’t waste any time after this, he started right in. “Everyone who was a Nighthawk before last night, go do strength training. All Marines, Air Force, and Ross come to the dummies. Eric, take charge of strength.”
They obeyed and split up into two groups. Eric immediately began giving orders.
“Alright guys,” Cedric said but was cut off.
“And woman,” Stewart said.
“And woman,” Cedric added. “You know how to fight. You’ve all had some kind of training. But, let’s look at a few things.”
Cedric walked to one of the training dummies. “Clarke, come here.”
Clarke walked to the dummy and everyone else made a small semicircle around him to watch.
“Punch him,” Cedric said grabbing the dummy from behind to stabilize it.
Clarke nodded and slung a hard punch directly at the orange, rubber man. The blow had enough force in it to knock the dummy, along with Cedric, back and off balance.
“Good punch,” Cedric said regaining his footing. “But… you’re dead.”
“What?” Clarke said smiling. “Oh, I get it. Because there’s two more.”
“No,” Cedric said speaking loud enough for everyone to hear. “You died because of how you punched him. You punched this infected man in the mouth. A tooth punctured your knuckle. Now, you’re infected. Might as well be dead.”
Clarke turned slightly to look at Pearson. Cedric could tell there was an unspoken question on his lips, but Pearson just said, “I’d listen to him. He knows what he’s talking about with these things.”
“Alright,” Clarke said turning back. “What should I have done then?”
Cedric reached over the top of the dummy and patted it directly on the forehead. “If you have to punch, punch the forehead, temples, and back of the head.”
Cedric readied himself to brace the dummy again and Clarke punched. Again, there was a substantial amount of force, but this time, he’d punched the dummy in the forehead.
“Good,” Cedric said. “Now, I don’t know what kind of fighting training you all have. But, I’m going to show you some basic moves. Practice these. Forget the fancy moves when it comes to the infected. They don’t react to hits, so you only need basic moves.”
Cedric traded spots with Clarke and leveled up his stance.
“I’m not going to bother showing you a standard punch,” Cedric said. “Just remember, if you have to punch, go high or behind. But, you can always throw a backhand.”
Cedric turned his body by putting his left foot back. He pulled his right fist toward his chest. Like a rocket, he raised his elbow to shoulder height and slung his fist out like a steel bear trap.
When the back of his fist made contact with the dummy a snapping sound reverberated from the impact and the dummy spun a few inches.
“When you backhand,” he said, “snap fast at the temples. Again, avoid the jaw. Also, tilt your knuckles outward so that your middle finger knuckle makes center contact.”
Cedric repositioned and showed them the hit again in slow motion.
He had everyone practice the hit a few times each before moving on.
“The next one may be tricky for some people. I know some of the Nighthawks don’t do it because they don’t have the flexibility,” Cedric explained.
Cedric lined up with the dummy again. “If you want to give yourself a little reach, or your fists are getting sore, or whatever the reason, you can throw a kick or two.”
“You expect us to kick them in the head?” Bennet asked.
“No,” Cedric said. “But, if the infected person doesn’t have a big belly area, you can kick them in the middle. Then, follow up by bashing them in the back of the head or grabbing them by the hair.”
Cedric slung a kick out and nailed the dummy directly in the middle. He then pantomimed punching in the air where a head would be.
“I thought you said they wouldn’t react,” Pearson commented.
“It’s not a nervous system reaction,” Cedric explained. “It’s a physical reaction. It has nothing to do with pain. The force of the kick pulls them down.”
Cedric again had them practice this maneuver. He continued to show them a few more basic moves before putting them into three groups to practice everything. “We practice until breakfast is ready,” Cedric said.
He glanced at his watch to see that they had just over an hour to practice. He set Steph, Collins, and Eric each with one of the practice groups to hold the bags and aid instruction.
Once his tasks were done, Cedric set the Bowflex weight rods to two-hundred-fifty pounds and began using the bench cords. As he was doing his reps, Squirrel walked over and whistled appreciatively. “Man,” he said, “you’re going to tear something if you keep increasing that weight all the time.”
“The be
tter I get, the better I survive,” Cedric said after his tenth rep. He paused and counted to thirty in his head before he continued.
“Yeah,” Squirrel said. “But too much too quick and all that.”
“I’m good,” Cedric said when he’d finished his second set. He began counting again, but Squirrel kept talking.
“I mean, we both started out at eighty pounds back in December,” Squirrel said. “Don’t push yourself too hard.”
“That’s some impressive gains,” Reid said from behind them.
“I try to train daily,” Cedric said before starting his third set.
“I just thought I’d try to get a workout in before breakfast,” Reid said. “Mind if I join?”
“Nah, that’s fine,” Cedric said. “I’ve got two more sets here, then it’s yours.”
Cedric and the others continued their training until they had just enough time to shower before breakfast. “Same time tomorrow,” Cedric said as they parted ways.
After breakfast, the crew went over maps and began to finalize all of their plans. They had worked out a way to take both boxes on the trip. Labor had one of their carpenters build a wooden lockbox that held all of the vials from Reid’s backpack. They then took the vials from Clarke’s backpack and split them equally between the two.
Karli continued to have her dad bring her food to her parents’ room while she packed. Cedric could only assume that meant she was still mad at him.
The crew repeated their morning regiment the next day. They proceeded to pack their bags, weapons, and all their other materials in the Humvees after breakfast.
The garages had mostly cleared out since most people were now moved to the newly renovated main building. Cedric was glad, except for one part. The meals were now being served in the main kitchen.
Cedric went in for lunch and continued to look for Karli. She didn’t have the excuse of packing anymore since she’d already moved.
“I don’t think she’s coming, man,” Ross said when he noticed Cedric scanning the cafeteria.
“You think she’s really going to avoid me still?” Cedric asked.
“Apparently, she’s super pissed at you,” Ross said. “Sorry, not my words. I was talking to Aggie at breakfast. Apparently, Karli’s still fussing about it.”
The Living Saga (Book 2): Enduring Page 13