Humanity at Stake (Completed)

Chapter 4

"Forget about the life I used to know.
Forget about the one I left at home.
So, now I'm standing here alone.
I'm learning how to live life on my own." -"On My Own" by Three Days Grace

~~~~~~~

Nova wiped blood from the corner of her mouth. Her muscles ached everywhere. She was covered in bruises and cuts, and could probably easily pass as a mummy with the amount of bandaging wrapped around her limbs and torso. Her training instructor lended her a helping hand to help her off the mat. She gladly took it, but didn't expect the powerful blow to the cheek. It sent her crashing back to the ground, knocking a loud groan out of her mouth.

"Don't expect help. You're not going to get it from your enemy on the battle field," Harry reprimanded. Nova leaned onto her left as she spat a wad of bloody spit off to the side.

"Fuck you, Harry," she snarled. The man had the nerve to smirk.

"If only you picked up on fighting as fast as you have on fighting words," he teased. Nova struggled to her feet, bringing up her wrapped hands into fists as she bent her knees slightly, keeping them shoulder length apart. Harry nodded his head towards her.

"At least you have the pose down. Learn more, and maybe your skin won't be so decorated with colors and cuts!" Nova knew this was Harry's form of a compliment. The man didn't have a single praising streak in his body. He wouldn't congratulate anyone for any reason. Nova couldn't stand the guy, but she couldn't help but admit that he'd been a good teacher the last week she's been training with him.

Nova had arrived to the Resistance nearly a month ago, but they had to show her around, and she had to easily navigate around. They first started her off with simple tasks like tending to the garden to make sure she was trustworthy. Then they brought her her own uniform. They brought a few changes of clothing, one of which were work out clothes for times such as now with sparring.

~~~

"Your blocks are weak, Nova," her sword instructor Genevieve scolded her as the dull knocks of wooden swords sounded in the air. "And your defensive moves are sloppy! What are you supposed to do when someone does this?" her teacher asked before swing her sword down almost directly. Nova hunkered down, swing her sword up to knock it out of the way. At the last second, Genevieve switched her swords course, cutting it low and slicing across Nova's stomach. She winced at the pressure of the blade hitting some bruises. Her instructor huffed as she moved away from her, her hands on her hips.

"Nova! You're not supposed to cower away and fling your sword willy-nilly! You bring it up like so!" She demonstrated, moving her sword horizontally above her head. "Place your hand on the flat side to keep your sword in place!" she advised, doing so as she explained. "And once the swords clash, push against them. It should knock their sword away long enough for you to get a swipe at their torso." Nova sighed as she straightened up.

"But that's just that one move! I can't use it for everything that is thrown at me," Nova complained, pressing the top of her blade into the ground and leaning against it. Genevieve smiled at her student, bringing the fake sword to rest over her shoulder.

"That why we practice, dear."

~~~

"Come on, Nova! Pick up the pace! You run slower than a turtle! And you, Serena! Pick up the pace! Don't just try keeping people company!" Griffin, the endurance teacher, hollered after the two girls. Serena sent Nova an apologetic look before jogging faster, leaving the out of shape girl behind. Nova panted heavily, trying to ignore the painful stitch that was building up in her ribcage.

"What did you do before coming to the Resistance, huh? Sit on your ass all day doing nothing?" Griffin tormented Nova as she rounded a bend in the track.

"I fed vampires," Nova wheezed out as she passed her instructor. The man stiffened at her blunt explanation, leaving him speechless. He stayed silent for the rest of the exercise.

~~~

"Bring your elbow down so your arm is straight. The slight strain in your shoulder is normal until your body gets used to it," Levi instructed as he tapped Nova's elbow with the tip of an arrow. He folded his arms back behind his torso as he paced around behind his class.

"We are going to start with your feet shoulder length apart, but once we get better, we won't worry about that as much." He checked the positioning of his students' feet, adjusting some as he went.

"Next we are making sure the fingers pulling back the bow string rest behind the tip of your mouth. They don't have to rest directly on your face, but just in the general area. Make sure you knocked your arrow correctly, so that the different colored feathering is facing away from the bow. These are just practice arrows and the one you're given later will not have this coloration. We will learn how to knock those properly later," he explained as he walked back, making a few reknock their arrows, so the feathers were placed properly.

"What happens if the arrows aren't knocked correctly?" a girl asked. Levi paused in his steps, turning on his heels towards her.

"The arrows flight gets messed up due to the friction of a feather dragging across the arrow rest and eventually that feather will rip off, causing the arrow to become useless. Now sight where you want to hit. Release." Soon there was a steady stream of the bow strings going fwoonk, followed by the sound of arrow piercing the burlap targets. Nova grinned happily as she noticed her arrow landed in the inner red. Levi passed by, checking everyone's positioning on their target.

"Good hit, Nova. You'll make a fine archer one day." Nova beamed at the praise, thinking to herself that she was glad to be decent at something.