The Unwanted Ones - Book One

Chapter Thirteen

"To see where you're each at physically we'll have you do some fitness exercises. Then you'll be able to join the other recruits as we work on agility, strength, and weaponry." Greg explains to us.

"So drop and give us twenty," Diane says, pointing to a mat. We all get to the ground and start doing pushups. I'm glad that I'm not out of shape. I'm definitely no athlete though, but I still manage to do the twenty pushups.

Then they have us run back and forth from one end to the next. After that, thirty jumping jacks.

Ropes release from the ceiling and they have us climb up. By this point my arms feel like they've been lit on fire and I'm trying to maintain my breath.

After a few more exercises we finally are done.

"You all seem yo be in decent shape, you'll likely catch up with the other recruits quickly." Diane says, seeming satisfied.

I stand next to Lena, and she dramatically leans on me.

"If I move another step I think I'll die. My legs will turn to dust," she says. I pat her on the arm reassuringly.

"And mine will just burst into flames," I tell her, laughing.

Diane cracks a smile overhearing our exaggerations. She looks over at Matt who's being kind of quiet.

"Hey, what happened to you?" she asks, gesturing to his face.

"We ran into a little bit of trouble on our way here. Some officers." he explains.

"What kind of trouble?" she asks.

"They were going to hurt Malcolm over something so stupid, and they weren't very happy about us stepping in," Matt says, running his hand through his hair.

"Hm directly standing up to them? I'm glad you all decided to join us, you'll fit right in," Diane says. "Won't they Greg?"

Greg is looking intently at Matt, and his face seems troubled. He looks up at the rest of us quickly and nods. "Yes, they will."

That was kind of odd. I've been getting an weird vibe from him for a while, but I try to shake it off.

"Well time to meet our other newest recruits. They joined us about a month ago," Diane says, striding out of the training room. We trail after her and I end up next to Matt.

"Is it just me or is there something off about that Greg guy?" Matt leans over and whispers to me.

"No, it's not just you," I whisper back, my eyes trained on the back of Greg. He's walking up ahead of us next to Diane.

We walk into another training room. It looks a lot like the other one, except there are people in here. Four of them to be exact. Two girls and two guys. They're sparring with each other, delivering kicks and punches with precision and speed.

My focus falls onto one of the girls. They're all around our age, maybe a little older. Her dark auburn hair is in a short mohawk and she has tattoos all along her arms. Despite these seemingly hardcore features, she herself is short and petite, maybe around 5"3. What's striking is how well she's holding her own against the tall guy she's fighting. She lands solid punches and kicks against him, and easily dodges his own attacks.

The guy she's fighting isn't too shabby though. His form is really good, and he moves quickly for his size.

They all see us and halt their fighting.

"Hey you guys are looking pretty good. I'd like you to meet our newest recruits," Diane tells them, waving her arm at us.

More introductions. The short girl with the tattoos introduces herself as Carrie Bryant.