Rrinkers

Chapter 34

"You need to go harder."

Lucas squirmed his face. "Shut. Up."

Roaring with laughter, Zoe pushed him more. "Come on. Do you want to be remembered as a weak link?"

"I would like to see you shot and see how good you can exercise after."

"Well...no one told you to get shot."

"Well...no one told you to get kidnapped."

Zoe slapped his arm lightly causing him to chuckle. He pretended to fall.

"No!" She tried to grab his arm but he stood up right and hugged her tight. They both smiled and stayed together in that hugging position, both of them loving the closeness. It was a nice feeling: to be close to someone like that.

It had been a week since Janice's funeral. Things were starting to fall into place but there was a lot of work to be done. A lot. Lucas had to get in shape again so he could convince the FBI that he was physically and mentally able to return as a high ranking agent just like before the incident happened. It would not be easy to do. The FBI was adamant about the strenuous physical and mental tests he would be put through. Their top priority was making sure they didn't send in an agent that would get himself fatally hurt. Or worse, get others fatally hurt.

Today, Lucas had invited Zoe over to help him train for the physical tests. She was helping him restore his balance so that he would pass the tests. Zoe didn't want to lie to him, but she also did not want to tell him that he was doing good when she could see he was struggling to do one pull up. He had to do fifty pull ups to pass the tests. And that was only one part of the test.

The tests were set up two weeks from today so they had to move fast. Lucas insisted that he could do it, and Zoe was trying to be as supportive as possible, but the truth could not be denied when the time came. If he was not physically and mentally fit by next week, he would not make it into the FBI again.

-Two Weeks Later-

Lucas walked into his car and slammed the door.

"Fuck!"

He punched the passenger seat and stayed calm. After two seconds, he continued to punch the seat while screaming, "Fuck! Fuck!" *Punch* "Fuck!"*Punch* "Fuck!"*Punch* "Fuck!"

Finally being done with his own behavior, he broke down and started crying. He was bawling his eyes out like never before. It hurt. It felt like a knife to his heart. Everything that he had worked so hard for was gone in a blink of an eye. He wanted things to go back to the way they were before. He just wanted the pain to stop. But it wasn't going anywhere. This was his reality. And there was no way to change it. And that is why he bawled.

He thought of all that had happened in the previous year. The time he met Zoe, his dad going to jail, his mother dying, him getting shot, and even now this. He couldn't believe that he failed his FBI test. He couldn't believe that he could never be in the FBI ever again.

All he ever wanted was to help innocent people who couldn't help themselves. That was his main goal in life. Now that was taken away from him, and he had no control over it. There was nothing he could do to change it.

A few hours ago, he was excited, getting ready to do his FBI tests so he could be readmitted after his shooting. He passed the mental test with flying colors. Nothing and no one was able to crack his mind; his most valuable asset that had been molded to the way it is right now from years in the FBI and years in life coaching as a kid that his parents put him through.

There was nothing that he could not deal with. He was prepared for it all. Whether it was bomb threats, psychological warfare, or even death. He was made for that. But this...this just broke him because he could not get to do those things that he was made for anymore.