Legacy's Ghost

Episode 31: Learning Curve

Our class is lined up along the mat of the combat room, each of us with a bo staff in our hands and arranged by size.

I'm on the very end, with Nash, a member of the L.A.'s who is rumored to be an ancestor of great American Boxer from the 1900's Muhammad Ali, on the opposite end of me.

Now that I'm getting three solid meals in me, I've begun to grow, but I have a lot of catching up to do. I'm still definitely the smallest person in our group, probably hitting Nash at the armpit.

And I'm the weakest.

Even Trina's been beating me day after day during classes. But I'm slowly getting better.

Having to wear my Ghost robe makes things harder. It's practically impossible to see what's coming at you when there's a stupid hood over your face. Or goggles covering your eyes.

It feels as if everything I do as the Ghost is harder because of this stupid robe. And I'm the only one of the Ghouls in full Ghost garb. At least the others can whip off their hoods when they spar. But not me.

I asked Edmond once why I need to be fully dressed when everyone knows what I look like. He said that memories fade, staff comes and go, and I will change as I grow. The sooner they forget what I look like, the better.

When I first started wearing the robe, I thought I looked mysterious. Now I think of it as one giant annoyance.

Our instructor, Sensai Tatsumi, is the only person smaller than I am. But only by an inch. He's a slight man with silver hair, wrinkles as deep as the Rictor Trenches, and hands so calloused they make the Swarm's armored skin look like silk.

He was one considered the most accomplished fighters in the entire LA army and now oversees their entire division. But one hour each day, he provides personal instruction to the TAGs to ensure they are properly trained in case we are ever cornered or attacked without the presence of protection.

"Atan," Sensei Tatsumi says. "Please step forward."

I step toward the middle of the mat with my staff and rest the tip on the mat next to my foot. "Yes, sir."

"Do you know how to fight someone bigger than you?" he asks.

I lift a shoulder. "Sort of."

"What would you do if they attacked you?" he says.

"That depends. How is he attacking me?"

"That's an astute question," he says, narrowing his eyes at me. "Not all attacks have the same response."

He raises the staff in his hands. "What are the chance you'd have a staff with you if you were attacked?"

I remember back to my time in the cavern when I was impaled by the Swarm. A jolt of adrenaline hits me at the memory, but I swallow it down and I shrug. "Not high. I don't normally walk around with one of these."

A couple of kids behind me chuckle.

"What are you more likely to have on you if you were attacked?" Sensei asks.

"Nothing?" I say.

He drops his staff to the ground and kicks it out of the way. "Correct. So, what would you do if I came at you, and you had nothing to fight me with?"

The alarms blare overhead. My gaze jerks from Sensei to the source of the sound.

Sensei's eyes move to the door and then back to us. "We have another attack. Let's move to the tunnels."

With only two weeks until the annual cease fire, we trudge to the underground caverns. Like every other time, our group peels off into our own section. As we wait, my mind wanders to the Ghost.

It's been months since the incident outside the bio dome. Where is he? What has he learned? Is he avoiding me? Why hasn't Edmond said anything about their progress?

Oliver grabs the cards he's stowed in one of the alcoves reserved for the mattresses and begins to shuffle the cards. Several of us sit cross-legged in a circle, picking up cards as Oliver deals them out.

Almost as if a whisper on the wind, a low hissing sound starts. Goosebumps form on my arms, and dread bubbles up inside me.

I cock my head to hear the sound better. Where is it coming from?

I elbow Oliver, who is sitting to my right. "Do you hear that?"

Oliver stops dealing, and turns his head, his brows furrowed, and lips tight. He squints. "Maybe?"

Trina cocks her head, as do the others in our group. We stare at each other, and narrow our eyes, straining to hear.

The hissing gets louder and louder, until one by one, each of the members of our TAG group hears the high-pitched sound.

My nostrils flare at the scent slowly permeating the air. Oily and pungent. It's a smell I will never forget. A smell that wakes me in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat. I swallow down a shudder.

The noise from the other colonists settles as they, too, begin to hear.

I trickle of fear runs down my spine. I turn Sensei Tatsumi and say, "It's the Swarm. They're here."