The next day they filed into the main room, where Ivan informed them that the new people were to be trained.
"Today, the new recruits will be training. You will need to learn how to defend yourself for any situation that might occur."
"What kind of situations?" a boy asked.
"None of us know when any threats could enter this sanctuary. This is our home and all of you must be able to defend it and learn to kill," Ivan said aggressively.
The boy paled and said nothing else.
They were each to assigned stations, which would switch every few days. There was shooting, knive-throwing, archery, and hand to hand combat cause the more you know.
The group was led in hand to hand combat first, by a guy with purple hair named Jin. Judging by his muscles he was good at this. Toph pretended not to notice.
"You." He pointed to her. "Do you have any experience?"
"... No."
"Well I guess it's never too late," Jin said patiently, directing her to the platform.
"It wasn't really my choice to be here," Toph said with a bit of an attitude.
"Okay then, then you can come up first for your turn."
Toph nervously came up to the platform because she never fought anyone before.
"I'm joking. You wouldn't do very well with no practice. I'll teach you."
He told her the rules to winning a hand to hand * combat fight:
Commit to the fight and never back down.
Be confident, show them you are stronger.
Exhale with each swing.
Drive you elbow into the punch, and don't cover your eyes
She took in all the wisdom he had to offer and she soon knew all she needed to know. They did some practice rounds to make sure she was getting the hang of it and soon enough she was. He was impressed by her skill level and so was she.
"Wow. I'm impressed. You're a fast learner," Jin said to her.
"Thanks, I learned from the best." She said smiling at him quickly, before looking away.
"Haha, I'm flattered." He said looking right at her hoping she would catch his glance.
But to Toph the feeling she got when she was around Jin wasn't one of romantic interest, but rather one of deep respect for someone willing to help her be ready for the dangerous new world they had to face now.
Later they practiced more and she had a feeling they would become good friends for the coming future.
❋
Jules was placed at the archery station. She was doing pretty well. She went to retrieve her arrows to find a little grey and black kitten sleeping under a chair.
"Aw what are you doing here," she asked the cat as she slowly walked up to it. "There are arrows flying all over the place; it's not very safe."
It meowed softly.
"Little baby. You're probably a while from your home." After a second of debate she picked it up gently. It pawed at her sleeve.
"Hm, I think I'm gonna name you Jorge," she said with ease. "Now, let's go get you some food and water. I'll take care of you, don't you worry."
❋
At first the definitive bang of the gun going off in her hand startled Violet, not by the noise but by the notion that she could have such an impact with a move of her finger.
Jonas stood close next to her, coaching her as she took aim. "Don't hesitate. Being tense won't help the momentum of it."
"Okay- I'll try." She still did hesitate anyway, due to herself being nervous.
"You have to perfect it if you want it to get anywhere."
"But no pressure, right?" she said sarcastically.
"Sure. Not at all."
She took aim and did not hit the center. He realized that she was still tense and nervous to shoot. He put his hand on her shoulder and waist to position her and relieve the tension to hopefully make her shoot better. They both looked at each other and she felt calm. She then squeezed the trigger and it hit right on the bullseye.
"There, you're getting the hang of it," he said while looking at her with a smile.
"Thanks," she said while looking shocked that she did that but feeling accomplished.
❋
"Okay, now just throw it," Jack was saying from some feet away. Sapphire turned to face him. "Not at me, Goddammit."
"I've never thrown knives before."
"I sure hope not. It's not that hard." He took the blade from her hand and tossed it at the board of a person in front of them, catching it in the shoulder.
She tried to do the same. It hit the board sideways, clattering to the ground. "I'm shit."
"For now."
Toph stood next to them, observing Sapphire's failure. "Wow you can't even throw knives; how do you expect to shoot your shot with Jack?"
"Hey, could you maybe shut the fuck up?" She blushed.
"Maybe if you stopped staring at Jack the whole time you would be able to throw it straight."
He came back from picking all of the knives that she had thrown that completely missed the board. "Are you ready to try again?"
Toph whispered to Sapphire: "If you want to impress him, try to stab him in the face. I'm sure he would love that," she said sarcastically and walked away.
She aimed and pitched the knife smack into the neck of the board.
"Where'd that come from?" Jack said, amused.
"I am full of rage."
"You're 5'3"."
"Less places for my rage to go."
"That's fair." He paused. "So, I'm having this party tonight in the city, if you wanna come and you can invite whoever?"
"Oh! Yeah man!"
"Cool, I'll see you there then?"
"Yes you will," Sapphire said, blushing beet red.
आप पढ़ रहे हैं
➵ 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐭
कल्पित विज्ञानTWENTY one days later the kids started going missing. Their absence was felt but it was numbed. And no one thought a thing of it. Twenty one days later weaving around and through the mountains, over forests, the train rumbled onward.
