Reversal (Camren/Norminah)

Chapter 29: Strike to Kill

XXIX. 

"Because C comes before J in the alphabet, and I'm generally better than you." I told her, grinning and narrowing my eyes out the front window. "I'm ready though. Let's do it."

From that moment on, the two of us would stop every hour or so by the side of the road and find a nice quiet secluded area to be alone. She would teach me everything she knew about combat, from ways to move and dodge to the sheer muscle power needed to strike. Slowly, Lauren helped me channel all the negative thoughts from my past into my fists, and from my fists into a blade.

With a rather lengthy stop in Atlanta, I learned how to meditate, and in turn, heighten each defensive sense in my body. We would make a routine of breaking at a small park built around a large billowing water feature, and proceed to sit in the grass for hours on end cross legged and facing each other. I began to hear little things around me, from winged insects flitting through the warm air, to the water trickling from the lion heads a few feet away.

Some people stared, but to deal with it I would stare right back. It was a fun feeling, to let go and throw a bad attitude right back at it's owner.

In terms of fighting, I found myself learning more and more about the ins and out of hand to hand combat. The next two encounters with the black eyed, mouthless creatures involved Lauren flinging me through the night to manipulate blades and other hidden weapons that I had stashed in every viable orifice I had. As each day passed, I began to discover more and more dormant energy in my body that I had never used before.

"Perhaps there's power locked in everyone." Lauren told me as I questioned why I had never felt this way before. "There's a little bit of the supernatural scattered in everybody, but you're just never given the chance to let it shine."

"What kind of chance would we need?" I asked back, gripping one of the knives that Lauren had somehow got her hands on in the dead of the night. There were two of them, both just a few inches short of a forearm, gleaming silver, and razor sharp. The handles were perfect for my tiny, child-like hands, while the blades bent at a slow angle to tear through whatever they were plunged into. I was proud to say that the weapons were quickly becoming an extension of my body, despite them still belonging to Lauren. As for where she got them, I never asked. I had finished asking questions about her hobbies a long time ago.

"I don't know." Lauren pulled her the hood of her sweater halfway up over her head, blocking out the cool night wind. I watched, smiling at the way just a portion of her dark hair was now visible. "I could probably figure it out one day though, maybe you'll help me?"

"Sure." I held the blade out. "You never know, one day we could end up changing the world. We could go down in history."

"Well that'll only happen if you stay focused ." Lauren lifted her hand, and I felt a small puff of cool air to my right. Swinging the knife, I hit it head on, splitting open the small field and letting it dissipate into the air.

"Is that all you've got?"

"Oh, we're going to be sassy, are we?" Lauren gave me a smug look, then reached in her back pocket and pulled out the scarf that she had bought at a strip mall a few hours ago "Alright, if you think you've gotten so good at this, then turn around."

"What are you going to do?"

"Get over yourself." Lauren spun me around and whipped the scarf over my eyes, tying it into a tight knot at the back of my head. "Now if you get hit, then we're starting again, clear?"

"Clear."

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath in and focusing on the sounds around me. Without sight, it was true that the other senses were heightened, and over the past few days I had been working hard on using it to my advantage. I heard a soft click to my right, and spun around to meet an invading field of air before it struck my body. Another click behind me, then one to my left. One above, and a final one directly in front of me.