Marie

Chapter 5

By the age of sixteen, the seven had grown into imposing figures. Michael, Justin, Austin, Samuel, Ethan, David, and Marie; they were the pictures of physical perfection. Seven had remained and seven had thrived. Michael, the strongest, his six foot four frame an imposing figure for any to behold, with green eyes and light blonde hair any girl would swoon over. They had all bonded; they were a family or at least what they saw as a family. They trained day in and day out. Bruce and Kenneth were proud of what they had accomplished so far. Bruce and Kenneth tended to watch the group from the overlook, a very elaborate set up. Bruce had planned it out himself. The open floor was where they trained the most, a padded floor for martial arts and weapon training. To the back of it was a range for gun practice and for Michael to practice with his bow and arrow. Michael was the only one who enjoyed the bow and arrow, but he could talk Marie into practicing with him. The range wasn't elaborate just five lanes with marks for fifty, one hundred, and two hundred yards. If they wanted to shoot further they would go outside to the long range, but that was only for sniper practicing and only Austin spent a lot of time out there. The obstacle course was very simple but was to the point, three climbing ropes, a tire set for running through, inverted monkey bars, a salmon ladder, and various tunnels and mats for practicing various maneuvers for agility.

"I think we should test them," Bruce said to Kenneth.

"Test them? Like throw them out in the field?" Kenneth replied.

"No, they aren't quite ready for that, but we need to see who the leader is," Bruce responded.

"Michael. Duh I can, see that I thought you were smart," Kenneth laughed.

"Thanks for that, yes in the gym and in the 'nursery' as they call it yes but in a real situation will he take lead and actually be able to hold it in a test is what I want to find out," Bruce replied.

"Ok so what we create a situation here for them to get out of?" Kenneth asked.

"Yes, only we can't have them think it is training. We have to make it so they think it is real," Bruce replied.

"So we are going to potentially have to bury bodies afterwards?" Kenneth hated dealing with dead bodies. He didn't mind making them, but cleaning up wasn't his thing.

"It's possible we may lose a few guards thrown into the mix, but the plan is not to lose any of them. I really would hate to have to explain that," Bruce replied.

"Yah, that would be fun," Kenneth laughed.

Kenneth and Bruce were overlooking the training center below are all seven of them. Today was Bo practice and Justin was leading since it was his specialty. Nobody could spin the staff like Justin, he was so graceful and powerful with it.

"Now today I will be learning you some new shit," Justin said with a laugh.

"It's, 'I will teach you,'" Samuel replied, always trying to make sure everyone's pronunciation was correct, he was always proper like that, uniform always in order black hair in place and always clean shaved.

"Keep it up and we won't let you lead any exercises anymore," Michael responded.

"Oh, you would have to stop me and with this bad boy none of you stand a chance," Justin said with a laugh. His eyes lit up when he laughed. They were the brightest of blue and just shone when he laughed which was most of the time. Justin spun his bo, "So who wants to be embarrassed first? Oh I think ladies first," Justin said pointing his bo towards Marie.

Marie stepped up, "Ok let's do this," she said as she picked up her bo.

Marie and Justin squared up, tapped the bos and held their stances. Marie attacked first but Justin was prepared and struck back, Marie blocked his attack but opened herself up to another. Justin capitalized on that and knocked her to the ground. She landed with a loud thud on her back.