Layla
What on earth is shooty. I ask Zack just that and he almost jumps up in joy from wanting to explain it.
"It's one of the best things ever!" Zack is hyperactive over this.
"Calm down Zack. Just because you invented it" Maylock rolls his eyes. I guess Zack is the one that comes up with most of the ideas and from Maylock's reactions, some are good, some are a bit wacky and some lack timing. "Haven't you had enough of Abbey whopping you?"
"Oh no. You know I'm good at this" he grins and Maylock shakes his head. "I'll show you how to play Layla" Zack beckons in continued excitement but I don't move.
"No, I can't stay here" I glance at Maylock, getting my thoughts and motives back on track. "I want to leave"
"Your going to ignore what Maylock said about you staying" Zack smirks.
"Trust me Zack, it's not the first time" Maylock plays the same expression.
"You can't hold me against my will."
"I know" Maylock mutters and looks away from me.
"But you're still asking me to stay here?"
"Yeah you can do shooty with me" Zack fist pumps the air.
"But then what?" I contemplate. "I can't stay here" I'm adamant of my thoughts and feelings.
"You're in danger" Maylock utters and finds my gaze. At his voice, Zack looks at him in a way I can't work out. He just looks bewildered, yet a little uptight and anxious. All of his joy and bundles of energy he had about shooty have been completely wiped from him.
"I'm in danger?" I frown. "Of what?"
"We have been studying the monster for three years" Maylock states as he glares at Zack and points to the archway which causes him to leave and walk through it. "and we think that the danger is linked to it" he softens his gaze.
"Think? That's not very sure."
"We know the monster has a purpose and prowls the Folklore woods daily but we are yet to find the focus of its movement"
"So how does that justify that I'm the one in danger?" I'm puzzled. "You don't have anything to go on"
"Okay, I'll make a bargain with you" Maylock suddenly suggests, noticing Zack still hovering near the archway. "You play shooty with Zack since he's not left!" he raises his voice and as soon as the raised decibels reach Zack, he leaves from earshot. "and I will explain more about the danger afterward"
"Why don't you just tell me now?"
"No" he simply answers. "You do shooty and then we can talk" I don't have much choice in this. "It's just down those stairs" he points to the archway.
"Fine" As I head down the corridor and stairs, Zack is at the bottom, pacing back and forth. He stops once he sees me. He looks cautious - worried even and I wonder why.
"Hey Layla, I'll be with you in a minute, I've just forgotten something" he doesn't give me time to reply as he runs up the stairs.
++++++++++++++++
Zack hasn't returned yet. As soon as he left me, I could hear raised voices of him and Maylock. Zack seemed disgruntled that Maylock made that bargain with me. He said it went against what they stood for which doesn't make any sense. Surely creating a bargain to tell me the danger I am in would protect me? Therefore, carrying out the duty of a Guardian Angel. It's all a bit weird.
Turning my focus away from Zack and Maylock I'm met with a fenced-off grass field. There are several multi-coloured differently sized targets placed at varying distances across the field. Thesetargets are littered with dents and scraps. A black circle marks the dead centre. The rim of each coloured target is lined with a thick black square. A smaller square is marked just above the centre circle.
Six grey cabins stand in front of me, each one with a number spray-painted in yellow on the side, a square opening at the front which looks out toward the field and a flat counter within. 'Shooty' describes exactly what this training exercise involves.
Abbey is at the second cabin, stood with her legs wide and both her hands steadying a pistol. Her dark trousers are so tight, they look like they have been painted on and her laced boots have a deep wedge underneath. She tucks her blonde hair behind one of her ears and fires two shots but I don't see what target she hits. My observation is further halted as the targets on the field sink into the ground and Abbey walks out of the cabin, her hair falls from her ear and bounces on her shoulders effortlessly.
"Watching the best were you?" She snidely comments.
"Well, I didn't see where those bullets hit, so the best is still up for interpretation" I snap back at her.
"Oh, you didn't? Well, you'll know I am the best when I beat you" she spites but I need to stamp on this bad blood between us before it gets out of hand as it always does with me.
"Look Abbey, we hardly know each other"
"Damn right" she places the pistol on the table beside her.
"But you seem to have taken a dislike to me"
"Well who wouldn't?" she sneers and takes her black jacket off.
"You what?" I scrunch my fists, absorbing the anger coming from within me. I have always had problems with this emotion - this thundering feeling. My anger has got me places and has got me taken out of places there's no in-between.
"Think you heard me" She throws her jacket on the table but it falls and she doesn't bother to pick it up. Instead, she grabs the pistol and walks back into the cabin.
I have to stop the urge to follow her because Zack comes down the stairs and my anger diminishes slowly.
"Hey you've already started Abbey" he picks up her discarded jacket and places it back onto the table
"Yeah, I was giving her a demo" She narrows her eyes at me but I don't let her reignite the flame to my anger so I walk into the fifth cabin, well away from her, and plant my hands on the flat surface.
Breathing out the tension caused by Abbey, I relax and take in more of my surroundings. A fence to the left cordons off the Folklore woods - dividing two distinct environments from each other. The light and dark.
"That fence is the border of Miscellania and keeps the monster out" Zack states.
"Is it even tall enough?" It's smaller than me and I am five foot six. I could easily vault over it, so I don't think it could prevent the monster from coming through.
"Yeah, don't we already know" he leads me to the last cabin where there is a long three-lined scratch engraved into the side of it. "That was an interesting day to say the least. The monster managed to get through our camouflage technology so I had to improve it. I won't bore you with the details but the civilians of Lakeintown and any others from nearby cities don't actually know that the home of the Guardians is within these woods. We are the only ones who can see Miscellania for what it is because of our angels. The camouflage is basically a perception filter that our angels decipher. The antenna is the only thing that can be seen though" he points up to a tall thin antenna sticking up from the roof with a red flashing beacon at the top.
"And no one has become suspicious of a random antenna in the woods?"
"No. The stories with the monster and stuff prevent people from investigating but if questions were asked, we would say that its an old antenna used for Tellgrail station. That's what it technically is anyway, just with a few modifications from yours truly" he smirks and bows exaggeratedly. "We are safe but because of the isolation, we are the ones who end up doing most of the maintenance here. Baymin goes into Lakeintown for the odd stock up of things."
"Why do I keep hearing his name?"
"You haven't met him then?" he looks at me; surprise is laced through his voice and plastered all over his face. "He is the brains of Miscellania on par with me. Albeit a little higher, just a little" he pinches his fingers and narrows his eyes to show his point and I can't help not to smile as he has such a bubbly personality. It is infectious. "I think he's out at the moment but when you meet him, don't call him old"
"Oh right"
"He may look it but he isn't. He has the fighting ability of a ninja and a brain like Einstein. I always joke that he will literally break a leg, don't I Abbey?" he calls but she doesn't even look over at us.
"Are we going to do this or what?" She curtly states instead. "Come on Zack"
"Okay blimey." He rolls his eyes.
"You going to explain to the newbie what the rules are because she doesn't look the type to fight" Abbey spites and I smoulder my burning anger once more.
"I thought you gave her a demo?" Zack puts her on the spot and I wait for her to crack under the hot seat.
"Well yeah, but she's probably forgotten" she manages to survive the spotlight.
Zack shakes his head, unamused by her.
"So shooty is simple really. Where you hit the target determines the number of points you get. If you hit the middle you get double points"
"Let's just start this off. Grab a gun and go into the fourth cabin" Abbey grabs another pistol from the table but that's when I realise the extent of what else is in front of me.
I was so engrossed in the cabins, fence, bright multi-colours of the targets and anger toward Abbey that I didn't even notice the variety of guns racked up on the wall behind it all. There are stacks of padlocked black crates and guns in holders up on the wall with some standing up against it. They are mostly pistols with the odd machine gun and shotgun.
"Oh, and there is a safety line, do not cross it" Zack points to a thick red line on the floor which is just in front of the cabins. "Choose your weapon"