DYING MOURNINGS, original

eleven : one-v-one

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𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 : 𝐎𝐍𝐄-𝐕-𝐎𝐍𝐄

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The fog rolled in overnight. It coated the ground in white, the air a startling cold compared to what spring weather we were supposed to be having. The fog stayed heavy until mid morning and broke completely around lunchtime.

Blondie, Winker, and I ate in the courtyard with the sun shining down on our backs but it still didn't warm us completely. The chill in the air was just as heavy as the fog had been. By the time we went to training that afternoon, the chill had fallen back significantly and for a moment, I thought we'd finally get warm weather, but we all knew it would never be truly hot until the last month of summer where the chill would be fighting back through the night.

I couldn't wait for that time.

But you'd never make it 'til then. Foolish of you to think so.

I arrived later that Wednesday afternoon at the church to find Eva looking through her small but growing collection of guns. She had a case with her, proped open on our little table, and was showing Blondie one. The girl held it in her hands and didn't look too pleased but kept up with the engagement and we all knew it was only to appease the demon.

"We're working on one v. ones today," said Winker as I approached. He wore an old lacrosse jersey and I wondered if he'd come straight from practice or if it had been canceled. It was beginning to feel like Twilight, where on our one day of sun, we were all set loose and free from any responsibilities. "Monroe against Cass and Eva against the two of us."

"Who's going first?"

"Me, then Cass, then you."

"What are the odds we beat them?" I asked with a hint of a smile coming to my face as I sized up the way Eva was standing. She looked far too at ease.

Winker matched my smile but this one was pitiful as he sighed. "Slim to none."

Eva placed the gun she'd given Blondie back into the case and turned to face us as we quieted down. There wasn't a smile or indication of any type of happiness on her face and it was even more evident in her voice but it was the most pleased and interested she'd been since we made the knives.

"Today, we'll be focusing on close hand-to-hand combat," she explained, hands folded behind her. "Mainly on only one opponent. This will help us gage whether or not we see that you're fit to continue into this fight. If you lose, which is what we're expecting," her eyes ghosted over us, "then we'll have to go back to the basics. You've been working on this for a few weeks now, you should be more than prepared to keep up with me for the ten minutes I'll be allowing us to spar for. If not, then we'll reassess."

"Reassess how?" asked Winker, his arms crossed. If I didn't know him the way I did, I'd say he was confident in how his fight would go but the way his shoulders were a little too tense and the way he was working his fingers into his forearm told me otherwise.

"More training. More agility work. More one on ones."

"Basically, we'll be worked to death," muttered Blondie under her breath before planting on a smile. "And what happens if we don't perform to your standards?"