The Alpha, My Salvation

Training

~Training~

Maria fell to the ground the air forcing its way out of her lungs as she collided with the soft grass, blood seeped from a cut on her forehead, trickling down the side of her face, her braid was coming loose strands of her falling in her eyes. It looked as if she had been raised in the wild. 

"Again" her Father growled somewhere from behind her. She blew the hair out of her face, eyes narrowing in determination as she clambered to her feet. "How any spawn of mine could be this useless is beyond me" she heard him mutter. Maria huffed, he hadn't given her any guidance, he placed a wooden stick in her hands and was forced to fight against a guard. As if they were children, playing pretend in the backyard. 

"Why am I not learning how to use a gun?" Maria questioned breathlessly turning to her father. 

"Because, a gun is basically useless against those creatures, they move faster than a bullet and what do you do once the guns empty huh? Do you plan to stand there whilst they rip you half?" 

"Not when I have the most powerful weapon of all time in my hand" she bit back sarcastically. She hissed in pain when his palm connected with her face, head snapping to the side blood spraying from her mouth. 

"Again." he hissed angrily. She turned back to the guard, whose name still remained a mystery to her. He was twirling the stick in his hand smirking before he advanced on her, knowing full well it would be a matter of minutes until she pummelled into the ground again. 

Maria rolled onto her bed in exhaustion pain rippling through her entire body. Two weeks of this, fighting guards with sticks. She had improved slightly, now lasting several minutes before she was defeated instead seconds but she still felt as if she were getting no where. She rubbed her lower back mindlessly, the wound had almost healed but now itched mercilessly, it took everything in her power not to scratch, not to make the scarring worse. The sun was beginning to dip behind the horizon outside washing Maria's room in an array of colour. She didn't pay it much mind as she got to her feet and dragged herself to the bathroom. 

Maria grimaced at her own reflection, her face was covered in blood and mud, the two substances swirling together to make one putrid mess. Bruises littered her entire body, most in the shape of the sticks the guards used, some were dark and ugly, standing out sharply against her pale skin, others were older yellowing around the edges as they healed. In the two weeks she had been training she hadn't set foot outside the house and no one had set foot in, her Father didn't want to risk the questions accompanied by her many injuries. Maria didn't mind missing school, it allowed her to avoid her problems. 

Maria showered quickly, watching mud and blood swirl down the drain. The evidence of her hard days work disappearing. Dressing in warm clothes, Maria drew a thick cardigan around her shoulders and smiled blissfully at the comfort that it brought her, that fact that it was a stunningly bright pink barely registered in her mind as she curled up on her bed, her muscles turning to liquid as she did so. Maria's hands ached, she had been told to bandage them herself because once she was fighting alone there would be 'no one to kiss her better.' So she bit back her pain and wrapped her hands to stop them from falling apart, she had done a poor job and knew that the bandages would do nothing to stop anymore injuries from occurring. A month ago Maria was convinced that her life could not get any harder, now she knew it was only going to get worse. Maria welcomed sleep with open arms, knowing it would bring brief respite to her aching body. 

Maria awoke with a jolt when she felt someone grab her arm, heart hammering in her chest she sent her fist flying towards the intruder. It was another of her Father's tests, she was sure of it. The first time he had her dragged from her bed in the middle of the night she thought she was going to be murdered. That he had come back for her.