Mission 'Don't get killed'

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

A few hours later, I'm in the training area and Andy is ordering me and several others around.

'Faster!' He shouts. 'Come on, you need to run. This isn't running, this is crawling. Even snails are faster than you!'

I feel like I'm dying, my legs burn and my throat is dry. The sun is rising outside, causing orange light to stream in through the cracks between the wooden boards that cover the empty window frames. My feet pound on the dusty concrete floor and finally Andy gives us a sign to stop.

'That was very bad, crew.' He says while we're standing bend over, our hands resting on our knees. I take a sip from my water bottle and want to sit down but Andy is already making us pair up for the next exercise.

'Hello buddy.' My friend Karen has suddenly appeared by my side. We always pair up for fight training, even though Andy wants us to choose different opponents from time to time.

'Hi.' I'm still panting from the running. Karen on the other hand, looks like she only went on a stroll.

'Get up, Zoë, in a real fight you don't get to rest either.' Andy calls out. I sigh and get up, taking my position opposite of Karen. She tries to hit me, but I manage to dodge her strike. I hit back but Karen avoids my fist and hits me in my stomach, causing me to double over.

'Sorry about that.' Karen grins. We throw some more punches at each other and I manage to give Karen a nasty kick against her shin. When she finally hits me in the face, we're forced to stop.

'Ow, that hurts.' I squeeze my eyes shut. That's going to be a nice black eye.

'What's going on here, why aren't you two training?' Andy asks when he sees we've stopped.

'I hit her in the face.' Karen explains. 'I didn't mean for that to happen though. I'm sorry.'

'It's no big deal.' I say. 'I've had black eyes before.' All caused by Karen.

'Go put some ice on that.' Andy instructs. 'Blade, you're dismissed.' He continues to Karen.

'I'm really sorry.' Karen says again.

'Really, it's no problem.' I grin weakly at her, though the pain is not fading yet. 'Now I have something to show off with.' My smile grows bigger and a smile also appears on Karen's face. We reach the infirmary and I find Ellen there, who's busy stitching up Scott. Scott is twelve and always looking for trouble.

'He tried to climb out a window and cut himself.' Ellen says before Scott can come up with some kind of sensational story.

I walk over to the sink and pack some ice cubes from the freezer in a cloth, which I press against my face. Karen is examining the glass shards that came out of Scott's hand.

'Looks pretty rough, buddy.' She says. 'But pretty cool that this came out of your hand.' She grins at him.

'Don't encourage him, please.' Ellen warns her. 'What you did was stupid, Scott.' Scott just grins and when Ellen is has wrapped his hand in a bandage, he jumps of the table and runs off, probably looking for new trouble already.

Later in the morning a shipment of cocaine is brought in, straight from the airport. I wait for the scouters to arrive and want to help them unload the drugs but Matt tells us not to bother.

'It will be picked up later today.' He explains while lighting a cigarette. The scouters disperse, the truck left on the dusty floor of the downstairs area, where we also train and have a storage area.