Shields

Chapter 8: Training Room

The room was huge, lit by softly glowing lights on the ceiling. Brikan had expanded it a lot in the past three years. Steps went down twenty feet to the rugged floor and we all walked down them, looking around in awe.

A tall rock climbing wall covered one side of the wall with proper climbing gear attached and everything in neat piles next to it.

A treadmill and other various exercise equipment had been lined up on another wall, leaving space between them for a door that extended into the living area. Weights of various sizes were on racks up above a couple of different biking machines.

My eyes were drawn to and empty corner of the room that was roped off and separated from the wall by at least five feet.

Starting with the rock wall, the entire room was actually an obstacle course of sorts now. If you climbed up to the middle of the rock wall and climbed over, you could get onto monkey bars and go across them from halfway up the wall. After you get halfway across the room, the monkey bars end and you have to jump to a trampoline and bounce over a high pole onto a small platform that attached to a relatively thin, but sturdy log stretching across ten feet of space from five feet above the ground.

I had no doubt in my mind that Brikan was going to test all of us on this course. There was probably more to it, before or after the end of the course, but I didn't bother dwelling on it. Brikan would tell us when he decided to tell us, not before.

I scanned the room again and found the weapons section, just after the boxed ring. I pulled a belt of knives out of their place on the wall and strapped it on with a couple of extra throwing knives and three grenades and two pistols.

Narian joined me and strapped a similar array of weapons, but when Thomas put out his hand to look at a knife, Brikan grabbed it. "You can't have anything until we test you," he told Thomas firmly.

Downcast, Thomas sighed. "Can I at least use the exercise machines while I wait?"

"Go ahead," Brikan conceded after a moment. "But if you break anything..."

"I'll just move on to the next one," Thomas finished with a grin.

Brikan almost growled, but I put a hand on his arm. "He won't break it, Brikan. He uses our stuff at home all the time and they don't have a scratch."

Still eyeing Thomas suspiciously, Brikan nodded. "Fine. There's a bed in the extra bedroom, Demetriot. Go lie down and try to sleep."

"I'm not tired. I need to start doing something again or I'll be out of shape," I protested, eyeing two different knives before shoving both of them into my now-full belt.

"Training's tomorrow. I want you to be ready to do it without having too much pain. If you can't do it tomorrow, I'll put you through until you can, so go get some rest and give your body time to heal," Brikan ordered, raising an eyebrow and giving me a look that dared me to protest further. "And Narian, add a couple of concussion grenades to that. Then you're running through my course."

I conceded to Brikan's demands and walked off to find the bedroom he told me about.

I closed the door and disarmed myself, laying my weapons next to the bed and sticking a knife under my pillow, just in case. After I finished I pealed my sweaty shirt off. Carefully, I pulled the bandages away from my bullet wound and examined the area. The area around the wound was light pink and the wound itself was still clearly visible, but it looked more like a scar now than a wound I'd received three days ago. It's nothing short of a miracle, really, that it could heal so quickly.

I probed the area gently and found that it didn't hurt too badly when gentle pressure was applied. If Brikan's sources were correct, then whatever Julius had me pumped full of should help my body heal the wound completely by tomorrow.

I threw the bandages away and searched around in the bathroom inside the bedroom for some antiseptic to put on it. I found it, smeared the lotion on and then collapsed into bed, flipping off the lamp next to my bed and closing my eyes. Tomorrow's going to be rough. I thought, with a small sigh. May as well get to sleep early.

***

I woke up in the pitch black room and sat up. The pain in my chest was a memory, but it still irritated me that it could come back and any moment and affect my performance.

Unsure of what woke me up, I pressed the LED light button on my watch and it illuminated the room and watch face. It was only five o'clock a.m., but since I was awake anyway, I flipped on the light and rifled through the dresser on the far side of my room.

Eventually, I found a shirt that fit and put it on. I put my weapons back on, leaving the one under my pillow, and open the door.

I looked down the dark hallway. It was empty, only slightly illuminated by the lamp by my bed. I glanced around for a light switch and flipped the lamp by my bed off, plunging myself into darkness.

I clicked on my watch light again and headed down the short hallway, through the living room where Thomas was passed out on the couch and into the training room.

Brikan was already there, throwing knives at random targets and consistently hitting the bulls' eye.

I pushed a lock of my black hair out of my face and watched him for a couple of minutes before announcing my presence. "I'm here now," I said casually.

Brikan's last knife went wild. Clearly I'd startled him. I enjoyed the moment, since it only happened once in a blue moon. He turned, scowling. "How long have you been standing there?" He asked me.

"Five minutes tops. You're getting rusty," I informed him, pulling a knife out of my belt and sending it into the furthest target with ease and hitting the perfect middle.

Brikan's scowl deepened. "You're getting better," he agreed grudgingly.

I forced a smile down. This was the first time I'd ever gotten the upper hand with Brikan other than in our weaponless combat, which was generally fifty-fifty.

"Alright, let's run you through the course," Brikan changed the subject quickly.

He explained it to me and I raised an eyebrow. That doesn't sound challenging. I thought. Except maybe with my wound...