Afterlife

Chapter 18

DPOV

I woke the others up at 6 am. There were a lot of moans and groans even from Rose. but I wanted to get a good idea from their skills and wanted to scout the city in daylight. It would be a full day, so we had to start early.

"At least it is an hour later than I would have had to get up at the Academy."

I chuckled. Now that Rose and I were sharing a bed, I started to realize she was a heavy sleeper and that all those early mornings at the Academy must have been brutal on her. I know she was late most of the time, but seeing her try to wake up now, I was surprised she made it to any of the training sessions at all.

I had prepared breakfast for everyone. Rose raised an eyebrow at what she and the others were served. I had made a quick stop at the supermarket just around the corner. I had made eggs and bacon but also a fruit salad for everyone. I knew I was dealing with young adults here. But they would need a well-balanced breakfast. I had found a gym not far from here and called ahead to see if we could use their private room for the morning.

They gave each other some questionable looks but ate the cooked breakfast anyway. Even though I was only a few years older than they were, I was feeling the age difference now. I never noticed much with Rose, even though she would have preferred a chocolate donut over her healthy eggs, but now that there were five of them, I stood out like a sore thumb. But since I was taking charge of this mission, I didn't mind the separation.

"There is a gym a few blocks away. I thought we could train there. Then after lunch, I want to scout the city in daylight. Denis, I would like you to come with me."

I knew Rose wasn't going to be happy to be left at the apartment, especially with the language barrier, but I needed to include Denis in some things, otherwise, he would feel left out. He had been the leader of those four and he would have to be again when we went our separate ways.

We made our way towards the gym. It took me about thirty minutes to get a good reading on all of them. They had some skill. I was actually surprised by their fighting technique. It was a little rough around the edges and I could definitely give them some pointers. But they seemed to have realized that to fight Strigoi, you can't just have basic training. However, I encountered a serious problem with their stamina. They had focused on skill rather than endurance. And although I understood that decision, you really couldn't afford to compromise on either one of them.

So I went back into mentor mode.

"When you are out of your league and walk into a nest of several Strigoi. What do you do?"

All four came up with strategies that would get them killed. The strategies themselves weren't bad and I could tell Denis had a strategic mind, but in the end, all their ideas would end up with them dead.

I turned to Rose. She was smiling. She had seen the same thing I had. They lacked endurance. It had been the first question from me to her too. If you are in a situation that you can't fight your way out of, what do you do?

"Rose?"

She turned to the four Russians standing in front of her.

"You run."

This seemed to shock everyone. They were looking to me to tell Rose off. That she had the wrong answer. But when I was nodding, they looked confused.

"Your main priority is to stay alive. Yes, you chose to hunt and by doing that are putting yourself in a lot of danger, but when you come across a situation you cannot hope to survive if you engage, you need to think about yourselves and your teammates first. You run and come back with a new plan the next day. And right now, all of you won't be able to outrun a Strigoi. You will be winded after the first block and you will die."