eunoia ; malum

19

EMERGENCY DIPLOID TRAINING MEANT A DAY OFF SCHOOL, BUT THEY HAD TO BE SNEAKY ABOUT IT. So, they stayed for homeroom and Jackson played mind-tricks on all of the teachers beforehand to get them to mark them off on the roll.

First lesson started, and they were already in the parking lot. Jackson came in handy when he wasn't being a psychopathic fuckwit. Rodney raised the fire alarm once Michael had made the fire and everybody was flooding from all angles, trying to rush outside. They knew that if somebody was watching, they'd lose them pretty quickly.

Older diploids picked them up, driving in different directions to one another. They were all taken to different places that were all within walking distance to one another. Calum, Michael, Ashton, SarahandClaire, Alex, Jackson and Rodney were in a small, dingy house.

Alex, quite clearly the oldest of the group, clapped his hands to get their attention.

"Today, my friends, we learn to fight." He said, a smile on his face.

Quick as lightning, he went to punch Michael in the stomach, but the ex-hunter stopped his punch, grabbing his fist mid-air. "I'm trained." He said bitterly.

"Good. You can teach Jackson and Calum." Alex sent them to their respective corner.

SarahandClaire, who were currently merged as one, split into their own bodies while nobody was looking. Nobody ever wanted to see one person become two. It was disgusting.

The eldest raised his eyebrows, crossing his arms. "The thing I like about you guys, is that you're all very cleverly built. You two can become a twice as strong, twice as big werewolf-like thing. You can shapeshift into anything. You can kill someone just by a light tap on the shoulder. You can make fire. It's great."

He paced in front of them all, seeming to be giving them orders as they all stood perfectly side-by-side. "You have to expect that you will be on the front line if it gets bad. The others will be the brains, and try to keep you alive."

Calum grew upset at hearing this. His best friend and boyfriend were going to be the first things to be killed.

"We are going to do training today that helps you keep yourself alive. I pulled some strings and made some things specifically for you. You will all be armed with a gun and a knife. Use them wisely."

Every room is set up specifically to a diploid. Jack and Alex had been planning this for a while now. Each room looked like a very basic Hunger Games training room, because, well . . . they didn't have as much money as they would've liked.

"My job is to make things. So, I made this."

Ashton, the only one in the room, furrowed his eyebrows. "What is it?"

"A tennis-ball machine. I was going to make something more lethal, but Jack didn't want you hurt."

"Why am I using it?"

"You're strong, but you can't dodge. So, I'm not going to let you turn this off until you can dodge every ball that's coming for you."

Alex started it up, and left the room, explaining every exercise to the person or people that needed it.

"Alex," Michael said, calling the older man over once he had the two boys jokingly punching each other. "What do you want me to do?"

Alex led him away, his hand on the redhead's back. "Tell me everything you know about the hunters."