The Foreshock Project

Chapter Ten

I woke up with a gasp. I was covered in cold sweat. My dream was fading quickly. I knew I had been hooked up to some kind of machine with white lab coats surrounding me. The rest slipped away as I tried desperately to remember. It felt very important. I sighed in exasperation and looked at the time. It was 4:52.

I stretched my legs and swung out if bed. Padding silently in my bare feet to the dresser, I pulled out a uniform. I turned on the bathroom light, hoping no one woke up, and pulled the door closed. Showering quickly and getting ready for the long day ahead of me, I managed to forget about the events of the previous day.

In another fifteen minutes, when I was sitting on my bed waiting for my hair to dry, I remembered. All the confusion and anxiety came flooding back. With nothing to do to distract myself, I replayed the attack over and over in my mind.

Around 5:15 everyone else got out of bed and did what I had done a half hour ago. Gwendalynn and Allissia groggily explained that breakfast, which was at six, worked the same as dinner. Liberty would go with Gwendalynn after breakfast for mental training and I had to go with Allissia for physical training. From, what I understood, we each had our own trainer, which meant I would spend every day with Jarek.

I groaned inwardly. I didn't know whether I wanted to be around him or not. I wanted to have Jarek as a friend, but if I went animal I could easily push him away. Until I figured out what caused it, I would have to be extremely careful.

We sat on our beds, trying to wake ourselves up for ten minutes until the tinny voice came on the loudspeaker again.

"All mutants report to the meal hall at this time."

"That has to be the most interesting job in the world," I muttered.

Liberty answered with a tired "yeah" and yawned as we walked out the door.

The hallway was even worse than yesterday. I don't know whose idea it was to have a hundred tired teenagers in a hallway at one time, but they obviously have never been in said hallway. I was jostled and elbowed by uncoordinated and groggy kids. I barely managed to stay in one piece and keep up with the 34's. Sighing when we made it into the meal hall, I followed my group through the line and to our usual table.

Breakfast passed quickly and no one said much. I returned my tray with the rest of my table and followed Allissia to the physical training room. We reached a set of double doors that Vedaric had pointed out yesterday on the tour. Above them were the letters 'MPT'.

"What does that mean?" I asked, pointing.

"What, that? 'Mutant physical training.' Gwendalynn and Liberty go to mutant mental training. In here we call them mentals, just to look tough. Got it?" Allissia explained.

I nodded and stared at the doors. Allissia stepped forward and pushed them open. Inside was a huge room, made to look like a supersize high school gymnasium. I swear it was the size of an airplane hangar. People were already training, in mock fights or self defense scenarios. Others were shooting guns and dodging bullets. The crack of gunfire and the clang of swords were accompanied by the battle cries of recruits lashing out against their trainers.

"That's my trainer, there," Allissia said to me. She was pointing to a tall, large muscled guy. He was standing along the wall, looking pointedly at Allissia, waiting for her to come over. I gave her a nervous look, fearing for her safety.

"Dont worry, I can take him. I do it every day." She ran over and grabbed a pair of boxing gloves for him. "Hit me harder this time, Maxim. Last time I couldn't stop laughing at your pathetic punches," she said to him, pulling on her own gloves.

Maxim took the insult in silence and flared his nostrils. He looked ready to explode. I was distracted from the oncoming fist fight by Jarek jogging toward me. He skidded to a halt, looking much more comfortable in his army uniform than I was.

"Hey," he said, smiling. "Can you get me two foils from over there?" Jarek pointed to a sword rack behind me against the wall.

I hurriedly turned around and tried to remember what a foil was. I knew they were used in fencing, but my school didn't have the money for such extravagant sports. Grabbing two swords that looked like toothpicks and hoping for the best, I turned around and handed them to Jarek.

"Hmm. I'm impressed," he said. "Most people don't know why a foil is."

"Well, that explains why I just took a random guess and against all odds in the universe, picked the right one," I replied.

Jarek handed one foil back to me.

I raised an eyebrow. "I thought you wanted two."

"I did," he answered, "but you're going to need one of them."

My heart beat faster at the thought of a fight. Who knew? Even a sword fight could trigger my inner animal. I didn't want that to happen. Not here.

Jarek noticed my apprehensiveness an mistook it for something else. "Don't worry. It's only your first day," he comforted. "I'll teach you everything you need to know."

He lead me away from the wall, so I wouldn't hit anything. He taught me how to hold the foil, the correct stance, and the main moves used in fencing. It was a very hands on process. I tried to ignore the tingles that his touch left behind as he corrected my posture and foot position.

"Question," I said while we were practicing parries. "Why are we fencing when there's this new fabulous thing called a gun that kills people faster?"

"This is mostly a control exercise. It sharpens your reflexes too," Jarek explained. He ran his eyes over my stance on last time. "I think you're ready. Let's get down to business."

Jarek put his left hand behind his back and shifted his feet, lifting his heels off the floor slightly. He held his foil out, pointing it at my chest. I followed his example. We circled each other twice. I watched his movements, studying his footwork. Jarek was tensing up for a strike. I blocked in record time and slapped his wrist with my foil. He stepped back, out of range but still on guard.

"Very good," he said.

I shifted nervously. I was surprised by how well I was doing. I'd never fought before and swords were just as strange to me. My animal instincts hadn't surfaced yet, but taking it slow would be the best option. I had to find the point where I stopped and the beast began.

"Ha!" Jarek shouted as he lunged again.

I parried it and twisted my blade around his, flicking it into the air. Jarek had backed up when I knocked away his foil. I could have stopped there and won, but my instincts told me to keep going. I ran forward, preparing to strike as Jarek watched his foil twirl through the air. I changed my mind at the last second and drop kicked him in the chest. Jarek flew backward. I fell to the ground and quickly got up, feeling everyone around me stop what they were doing.

I ran over to see what I'd done to Jarek, fearing the worst. I knelt slowly beside him, watching him get his breath back. He was sprawled on the ground in a very undignified way.

"Oh my gosh," I apologized. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened. Are you okay? I didn't mean to do that, it just sort of happened."

Jarek sat up and coughed. "Well," he sighed, turning his head towards me, "that's a first."

I let out a relieved laugh. "Don't scare me like that."

"Don't scare you? You were the one who drop kicked me. We were supposed to be having a fair fencing match," Jarek said, getting to his feet. He retrieved his foil and trotted back to me. "Training isn't over for another three hours, so we'll take it slow, yeah?"

I nodded.

"And no drop kicking," Jarek added firmly.

"Alright, alright," I said with a smile.