Destruction - The Oasis Project Book 2 (Complete)

Eighteen - Ira

The cold fluorescent lights of the gym were all on when Nita led me inside the large space. The other recruits were spread out, stretching. It looked like all of them were there, except for Four, who I'd never met. Hearing the door, they turned to look at me.

"Hi everyone, this is Ira, but I'm sure you have gotten to know her a bit already," Nita announced in her musical voice. "Today will be the first time that she will join you for training. Her eyes are sharp, and she's pretty good at close quarters. Think about how you can best work together." She started walking towards the rest of the group and made sure I followed. I saw Desmond cross his arms as we got closer and Celestia was not standing next to him. I found her apprehensive gaze from behind a dark fringe on the other side of the gathering.

The door opened again and an older Chinese man dutifully walked over. He was half a head taller than Nita, wore a blue t-shirt that almost glowed against his tanned muscles, and he had two thin lips that were pressed together so tight I didn't think he remembered how to smile. Doctor Nita introduced him as Colonel Shao, who would also be supervising training today. When I shook hands with him, I felt tiny against his palm.

Nita led us through some combat drills, asking us to swap partners at the end of each set. Out of everyone, Wu was impossible to defeat. I almost toppled him over once and was about to pin him to the ground when he sprang back to balance and had me pinned instead. Nita walked over to us, urging us to not waste time with loud claps. Wu pulled me up with a friendly grin.

By the end of the drill, which involved everything from knuckles to heavy props to bruising oneself on the hard floor every now and then, my high ponytail had come loose and my skin was coloured like a nectarine smudged with sweat. We were all panting and looking at each other proudly; even Desmond had played nice. In the corner, Colonel Shao had looked impressed. "Now," he said, "come to the armoury."

We followed him back out the corridor, Keshav keeping the same pace as me. "I was wondering where you've been!" His dark brown curls bounced up and down his head. "You went all out! Did you always know how to fight?"

I realized that he was referring to my knee-jerk reaction when we first met. I smiled a little and tightened the elastic around my hair. "My life has been one big fight, but Nita thought I was sloppy and corrected my ways." Despite knowing that we were being used, it was a small relief to have people like Keshav around. "You guys do this every day?"

"Almost every day," he replied as Colonel Shao opened up a door that I thought I'd never seen, but then I realized that Doctor Nita had told me to wait down the corridor as she approached this door late at night, and came out of the room with a variety of firearms. Shao unbolted the door loudly and the lights automatically switched on inside from every angle - it was a generous space with rows of lights on the ceiling, lights behind the weapons on the shelves, and strips of light along the very bottom of those shelves. I was floored by the compound's arsenal - the most firearms I'd seen in the one place was in the basement of a large house, which I vaguely remembered to be the safehouse where Linkin, Stuart, Thierry and I took refuge for a while. This had maybe ten times that, and it made me wonder who else was here if they had this much supply.

Several long tables were positioned in the middle of the room, with ample space between them and the shelves of weapons. Shao gestured for us to stand next to each other around the sharply rectangular tables and handed each of us a piece of fabric along with a few guns of different sizes. "Disassemble, assemble, load," he ordered in a loud and clear voice, his Chinese accent giving each syllable more power. A few of the recruits nodded and began to wrap the pieces of cloth around their eyes. After needing so many blindfolds on Dell Island, I was embarrassed to not have guessed what they were.

Tying mine firmly on my head, I fought against the natural dilation of my pupils that automatically chased away the darkness. I drew in a deep breath and felt along the rifle, trying to remember what Nita had taught me about the different parts. The trigger guard, the firing mechanism, the assembly rod - I grimaced. Nita said this should be as instinctual as walking, but with my clouded mind, I was far from accomplishing that. I concentrated hard on finding the guide pin and the rest of the parts I had to disassemble. Reassembly was a slightly faster process, and I was relieved when I got to the smaller guns and the process became easier. I was not surprised that everyone was waiting for me when I took away my blindfold.

"Keep working, One," Colonel Shao said. At his side, Nita gave me an encouraging smile. They left us to put the weapons back - all except the heaviest rifle which we slung across our backs - and once again Keshav came to my aid, telling me where put each. Linkin would be good at this, I thought. I wouldn't mind having a small percentage of those memory abilities. I could barely remember her tattoos.

Everyone filed out with Nita, and she took us down to the very end of the hallway where the shooting range was outside. "They usually make us go through a hell of an outdoor course before target practice," Keshav told me. "I spend most days outside, but this is the absolute worst. I don't think anyone likes it."

It was gruelling even before we began. As well as the rifle, we had to carry a torturously heavy backpack. The steel flask on the side of the bag looked like it could barely hold our sweat at this point, and I took it out to make sure that it wasn't empty. There was a trail extending into the thick forest in front of us, and Nita told us that we had to complete the course in forty-five minutes, "as usual". I scanned the faces of the other recruits, which were tense with anticipation and determination. Desmond was standing next to Celestia again, but they were a distance apart and didn't look much at each other.

"Go!" Nita started her stopwatch and jogged ahead of us into the forest. We charged forward, our heavy duty boots kicking up dust, sweat already collecting on the sides of our faces. No matter how much I adjusted the straps of the backpack, they dug into my shoulders and made my back ache. It was even worse when we all had to cross a ditch on a rope that stretched between two trees. I almost lost hold three times and was bracing for impact, but I made it across. Eight and Nine struggled more than me, though, and Eight lost the grip on the rope with his legs and had to start again. When he finally crossed, we all cheered for him in our own languages - even Desmond grinned and clapped him on the back and Nita let out a cheer. As we headed deeper into the forest, we felt more like a team. Keshav and Wu kept shouting words of encouragement, and even I stopped to check that the people at the back were okay.

It was no surprise to me that Celestia began to fall behind as the harsh sun shone directly over us through the trees. Her skin was noticeably dry and she often stopped to gulp down some water. Seven and Eight fell back to flank her on either side and I slowed down to help her through the obstacles too. The others weren't alarmed, just kept checking on Celestia - this had to be one of her frequent shortcomings that they were already familiar with. When Celestia leaned against a tree to rest, I took out my flask and offered it to her without thinking. She gave me a look that I remembered, mellow guilt showing behind her long, dark eyelashes.

Why are you here? she had said when she first came into the small lab room. You could have found your way out.

I'm not leaving anyone behind this time, I'd said, thinking wistfully of the children I'd left in the snow. We're all getting out of here.

Now, it seemed, that none of us were getting out of anywhere. Celestia poured some water onto her palm and smeared it across her face.