Estranged [Completed]

Training

On their way up to the third floor, Erit explained how several rooms had been converted into fitness rooms. Walls had been knocked out, wrestling mats added to the floors, padding installed along the walls, but no weights or treadmills. Estranged were pretty much frozen in the bodies they were converted in, so no amount of exercise would make them stronger. Instead, the fitness rooms were primarily intended for training reflexes and combat skills.

When they finished climbing the final set of stairs, Kalei followed Erit out of the stairwell and into the hallway. The flat, green floor was ripped and torn at regular intervals in front of the open doorways along the hall, the cuts and tears reminding Kalei of a remodeling project she had seen at a friend's house, leading her to suppose that construction work was probably the cause of this damage too. As they passed the open rooms, Kalei saw that they were indeed padded with light blue mats across the entire length of the floor and halfway up the walls. The padding on the floors appeared to be made of a sturdier material than that on the walls, but both seemed newer than the rest of the hotel, albeit worn with years of use.

Erit took them to one of the smaller rooms and handed out long-sleeved workout shirts, pants, gloves, and even cloth ski masks that reached all the way down their necks. He insisted that they tuck in the garments wherever the seams met so that not an inch of skin was showing when they were done, apart from around their mouths and eye sockets.

Shenaia made a comment about being dressed for robbing a bank, then the students waited for Erit's instructions, sweating before they even threw a punch.

"I understand that the level of combat experience among you three varies considerably. Kalei was trained traditionally by the local force, Shenaia has what she would call 'street' training, and Mar has almost no combat experience at all."

Mar scoffed. "Yeah, right. You don't get to be my age without learning how to knock a few heads around."

Erit ignored the comment. "To rectify this, we will go through the basic hand-to-hand fighting styles that are accepted and used by SWORDE."

For Kalei, this meant the rest of the afternoon was a test of patience. She went through the motions as Erit instructed, she listened to Shenaia argue with everything the instructor said, and she tried to help Mar wrap her head around the importance of fighting stances.

"Why don't I just stand here and punch you in the face?" Mar asked. "Why do I have to do all this weird shit with my feet?"

"Because when you stand like that, your abdomen is an open target. If you turn to the side, then there will be less for your opponent to hit."

"They won't be hittin' nothing after I knock 'em on their ass!"

Kalei sighed. It was a very long afternoon.

Once the physical training started, the recruits got their own rooms and started to receive weekends off. That first Saturday, they all went their separate ways: Shenaia disappeared into the city, Mar would go do whatever it was Mar did, and Kalei would head down to the shooting range to blow off some steam. By the time Sunday came around, Mar joined Kalei at the range, muttering about having nothing to do.

The next weekend, Shenaia joined them with a dozen pistols, and after they blew through a small mountain of ammo, the range officer cut them off and kicked them out, so they went up to Shenaia's hotel room where the two younger women taught Mar how to disassemble and clean a gun. It was an important thing for Mar to know, although Kalei suspected that Shenaia just wanted an excuse to put the work on someone else.

After they cleaned the first pistol together, Shenaia went to the closet and came back with three more pistols, one for each of them.

"Where the hell do you get all of these?" Kalei asked incredulously.

"Don't worry about it," Shenaia replied with a grin.

Kalei took one look at the .50 caliber handgun Shenaia plopped onto the bed and decided not to ask again.

Kalei took the pistol Shenaia had assigned to her and went to work. She got as far as pulling off the slide when she heard Shenaia ask, "So, Mar, why do you wanna join SWORDE?"

"I don't wanna talk about it," the old woman grumbled as she pushed a wire brush down the barrel of the revolver.

Kalei noticed that Mar had forgotten to take off the cylinder. She reached over to take the gun. "Here, let me help you—"

Mar pulled it out of her reach. "No, I've got it." She noticed what Kalei was getting at and started to pull the cylinder off.

Shenaia started up again, "If you don't tell me, I'll pull out my hollow points and see how many it takes before you talk." Again, she smiled.

Mar stared at her blankly. "What are hollow points?"

Kalei replied, "Not something you want to learn about first hand. It's probably better if you just answer the question."

Mar grunted and went back to work on the revolver. The smiley on her nails took on a deep frown, and its new eyebrows alternated between sharp downward angles and a level plane. Shenaia started to get up from the bed when Mar finally answered with a barely audible rasp, "The past doesn't matter. What matters is, I'm gonna set it right." She picked up an oiled rag and made a couple of swipes down the barrel of the gun. Her smiley's mouth flashed into a full frown, then an angry grimace, then struggled to maintain a flat line. Kalei glanced at Shenaia, and Shenaia met her eyes. They would let it lie at that.

After a moment, Mar looked up and asked, "So what about you girls? Why do you want to join SWORDE?"

Franklin's plan flashed through Kalei's mind, she thought about her desire to wipe Estranged off the planet, and she thought about her hatred for Xamic and Terin... but instead, she answered, "I've spent the last six years of my life protecting the people in this city. I'm not going to stop now just because the darkness shows up in my nails." Kalei hadn't forgotten about all of the trouble-makers and screw-ups, all of the victims and civilians she met in her former line of work... some hated her, some loved her, but in the end, she was able to make a difference in their lives... what she did meant something to the world. Kalei had never realized that before. Joining the police force had just been a means to make her way into SWORDE. The people she worked with were just coworkers. But the thing was, they weren't just co-workers.

Every Thursday, Debbie would visit Kalei in the locker room to talk about the latest episode of Professor Where, and Talwart was always shining his flashlight in her eyes, or pretending to check if she was intoxicated. Even their chief would sometimes come out and joke with them for a few minutes before brusquely sending them on their way. And then, of course, there were all those hours she had spent on patrol with her partner Marley... After being with these people five days a week for the last six years, they had become her family. And she missed them all. But thanks to the darkness, she could never get that life back.

Mar asked Shenaia, "What about you?"

Shenaia shrugged and looked at Kalei. "I became a Recruit because I care about my family."

Mar and Kalei glanced at each other and started laughing.

"Hey, I'm being serious, guys!"

Kalei wiped a tear from under her eyes. "Sorry, but the thought of you, being all lovey dovey—" She started to laugh again.

When Shenaia started to load the .50 caliber, Mar and Kalei ran for the door.