Way More Than Flesh And Bone

IV - It's time for restitution

Naya

Naya felt a very strong urge to let out a colorful string of curses as she groaned, on the floor, drenched in sweat.

"I... I need... A minute" She panted, weak, huffing.

The twelve year old girl winked and laughed.

"You can't! You still have two sets left"

Naya panted again and groaned.

"I'm too tired to point my finger at you, but I'm starting to hate you, S"

S smirked and kept giggling "Hate me all you want, it's not gonna help you get through training... What if I tell Zeta you can't do a push up?"

Naya scrambled to her feet quickly, this time pointing her index finger at the younger girl.

"I swear, if you tell your sister..."

S giggled and winked "then get back down on the floor, you still have two sets left"

Training was absolutely killing her. She had forgotten what it was like not to be sore. Also, S had been self appointment as her personal trainer (read: torturer)

When the bell rang, at seven pm, Naya sighed in relief and got up.

Zeta entered the room right then. She had the laurel wreath on and looked incredibly uncomfortable with that fact. She had probably been in a meeting and would be grouchy all evening.

"Come on, showers, everyone. Whoever smells like a wet sweaty dog doesn't eat dinner"

Yup, she was most certainly grouchy. Everyone in the unit took two steps back, except for S and her. S knew perfectly well Zeta wouldn't get mad at her. And Naya knew she could probably go as far as touching her and she wouldn't snap at her.

Just to test her luck and to add a bit of fun to the day, she walked closer to Zeta and held her hand.

"Yeah... Stinking sucks..."

Zeta didn't seem to mind or even notice, she just shrugged it off and kept walking. Everyone eyed Naya with wide eyes as she stuck her tongue at them and walked, beaming, the other girl by her side.

That felt so good to do.

They all showered quite quickly. The showers were shared, a room lined with white cold tiles and eight shower heads that only had two temperatures: cold and colder.

It had taken Naya a lot of convincing herself to actually get naked in front of everyone to shower, but most of them were so used to it they didn't mind it anymore.

Dinner was no better than the showers, but at least it was filling and it was hot. Since the outbreak, there wasn't any easy access to actual fresh fruit, vegetables or meat, so all of them gulped down the mushy brown stew without complaint.

The bunks were shared. Back in their dorm, which had a big six painted over the door. It was the same size as every other dorm, yet everyone showed the utmost respect at it. Of course. They were the sixth unit, after all.

She was alone in her bunk. The blankets were thin as a tissue and white as snow. Zeta insisted that all of them sleep at exactly 9 pm as to be fresh to train early the next morning.

She slept on the top bunk, with S underneath, her auburn hair nearly over the pillow like a halo. Her chest rose and fell evenly.

Naya couldn't fall asleep. She tossed and turned, like she usually did. How could she even sleep? When there was so much sadness she knew and didn't know, so many lights no longer glowing.

The world seemed to be ending in an oh so cruel way, and the fact that she was safe didn't make it any better. In fact, it made it worse, as the air grew more and more sorrowful.