Hunted |h.s

|1|

~Elliot~

"10 more push-ups Elliot, c'mon!" Melody clapped with encouragement. Beads of sweat covered my forehead and back, the burning feeling in my upper arms and back slowed down my pace which made each push-up seem heavier and heavier making me take in deep, agonizing breaths.

"You're almost there, just one more set!" Melody yelled, she did this everyday. She was our coach, well one of our coaches for fitness training. Melody made sure every single one of us was in shape. We ran at least 5 miles everyday in her class, she tested our physical strength with different exercises everyday.

"-and 10!" She did one final clap before helping me up, her hand in my sweaty ones.

"40 freaking push-ups." I huffed out and put the cold towel she had passed me on my face, the cooling feeling against my warm skin was all sorts of amazing.

She laughed at me "We are only getting started." I groaned, my body was aching not to mention that I was already sore from yesterday's session.

"Class is over! Go and get your asses out of here." She screamed as we walked out, patting a few of us on the back.
I grabbed my black duffle bag and walked towards the exit. Up next was special defense. I always hated that class, getting beat up just wasn't my thing.

As I ran up the main staircase and looked at the time on my watch. I only had 2 minutes to get to class, which was all the way to the 5th floor.

I sighed and maneuvered my way up through the swarm of people walking up and down the stairs. Books, bags, and shoulders continued to shove me aside as I made my way to the 4th floor. Believe it or not it was like this everyday, unfortunately there were no elevators. Trainers believe the stairs is an easy way to get us moving, I think it's utter bullshit.

You would think that I would have gotten used to all these stairs but I haven't. I have been here for 3 weeks and walked up these stairs everyday and I still get tired going up them.

I walk up the final set of stairs and pass the glassed office cubicles. I took a deep breath in and looked over at the large clock to see I was already 1 minute late. I shrugged it didn't seem like a big deal, it was only one minute.

As I walked closer to the thick glass doors I noticed an unfamiliar man standing next to Jackson; our special defense teacher. He stood straight, both of his hands behind his arms and legs shoulder length apart. His hair was wild, cascading all the way down to his shoulders.

I pushed the door and entered, everybody's gaze, including his was focused on me. "Ah, Elliot let's catch you up shall we?" Jackson ran towards me and gently grabbed my shoulder, directing me to the unknown man.

"This is Harry, he will be your new defense teacher." I frowned, well he got straight to the point.

"Wait, what about you?" Jackson was my favorite trainer, this wasn't my favorite class but he was still my favorite trainer. He was always easy on me, didn't push me because he knew my limits.

"I will be going on a small break, I will be back in a couple of months." He patted my back.

"But-"

"No buts, this is not my class anymore. Your new trainer Harry here will take good care of all of you. Now I must get going." He patted my head and smiled, grabbing the suitcase that had been sitting on one of the mats. But before Jackson left he passed over his class key Harry. I silently cursed at myself once I realized that he wasn't going to take any of my shit.

Once the door closed Harry finally spoke, his voice deeper and slower then I had imagined "Everyone follow me." he kept his hands behind his back and walked towards the other side of the room. Everyone looked at each other in uncertainty before slowly following behind him.

"May I ask what you are doing?" One of the girls sucked her teeth and crossed her arms, refusing to move from her spot.

Harry turned around and stood in the center of the mat raising his eyebrows clearly stunned by her attitude. The room went silent as he raised his hand and motioned for her to come closer to him. But soon gasped filled the air when he grabbed her manicured hand and flipped her over. Dark blonde hair whipped in the air as her back landed on the mat and the impact made her let out a hiss. "What the hell was that for?" She screamed at him and got up, her fist immediately flew forward but she was too slow. He had already leaned down and low kicked the back of her foot causing her to fall back down to the mat.

Harry got back up and ignored her rude remarks. "We are going to start with hand to hand combat, also know as H2H." his voice echoed through the room as he looked at every single one of us, his eyes stopping at me and lips quivering in a smirk.

"Since Elliot here was late to my class, I would like to use her as a demonstration buddy, think of it as a punishment." My eyes widened at his words. I looked over at the previous girl who had gotten thrown on the floor by Harry to see that she was rubbing her back in pain. I didn't want to be thrown around like a doll.

I was hesitant as I walked towards him. I was terrified honestly, I didn't know what kind if moves this guy could pull on me. I gulped and almost prayed when Harry started to position himself, cracking his neck and knuckles.

We were both on the mat now, circling each other. I could tell that he was waiting on me to pull a move, well he was going to have to wait a while.

I looked at his built body, he was in a great position, his hands balled into fist and arms raised high for a block.

"Come on Elliot, don't be scared." Harry smirked at me.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes before approaching him, I had absolutely no skill when it came to this so, I let Jesus take the wheel, though he wouldn't be so proud of this violence.

My sweaty hands balled into fist ready to attack my opponent, maybe I could do this. Maybe this was going to be the day that I would finally accomplish a single strike.

I ran towards Harry with full confidence and threw my fist to his stomach giving him a hard punch but much to his satisfaction and to my self esteem that apparently didn't affect him, he didn't move, not one bit. As I attempted to throw my second punch, much harder this time, Harry grabbed my hand and slightly twisted it making me flinch. I felt his hand creep under my thigh and lift me up. All of these actions happened all at once, and in less then a second my body was being thrown onto the mat.
The impact in my back and head hurt, but not as much as it would have if the mat wasn't there.

The second my body landed on the mat was when Harry's fist arose, I let out a small squeal and scrunched my face up waiting for the impact but it never came. I slowly peeled open my eyes to see that his fist had stopped a few inches away from my face. I looked up to see him staring down at me. It was over.

"Rule number 1!" Harry yelled and stood up, leaving my weakened body on the mat.

"Always know your opponents weakness."