New Americana (peterick)

2

The next morning, I felt a pit of guilt in my stomach. Was Pete this nice when people joined, or was it just me? And should I tell Ashley about what happened last night or keep it to myself? The thought of keeping it to myself made me feel even more guilty. Pete had given me new clothes before we called it a night, which was really just a lot of black everything. Ashley had arrived at my room this morning and invited me to sit with her at breakfast which is where I was currently headed. The room had tiny circular tables on one side, and one long table that held the food. I wasn't really hungry so I just grabbed a little container of yogurt and some granola.(A/N:which is the best thing in the world I'm not even joking try it)
"Patrick!" I turned around to see Ashley waving her arm to signal where she was. I noticed she was seated with two other girls, but didn't mind it and walked towards her. "This is Melanie," Ashley gestures to a girl with two-toned hair, one side blonde and the other side black. "And this is Billie." Billie had long, blonde hair that fell down to her lower back and bright blue eyes, though her expression was dull. "Hi guys, I'm Patrick." I looked down shyly, and Melanie was the first to speak. "It's nice to meet you, I heard you just joined." "Yeah, Ashley brought me here yesterday. I didn't even know the Americanas existed still." I lowered my voice, worried that I might offend them. Ashley laughed,"I'm surprised you even wanted to join! Hey, did I tell you guys he was from the Chicago region?" Melanie gasped. "What?! You traveled all the way over here? We've never had anyone from there before! Last I heard they were..." She trailed off, not finishing her sentence and not making an attempt to. Ashley cleared her throat,"I'll tell you another time, but for now let's just eat. We're preparing for an attack that will take place in 2 weeks and we need all the training we can get!" She started eating her plate of eggs while Melanie laughed, let's just say Ashley was a messy eater. I noticed throughout the meal that Billie didn't talk much, and by that I mean at all. She stared down at her lap, taking a few bites of the fruit cup in front of her from time-to-time. But I noticed the looks she had given me, angry glares, as if I had done something unforgivable. I tried brushing it off, I hadn't spoken to her so why be quick to judge?
-
The training center was quite empty today, Ashley told me that everyone preferred to train outside during the summer since the room was so stuffy.
"So I was thinking we could test your skills today." She handed me a basic pistol, nothing special. "Shoot that bag across the room for me. Get as close as you can to the center in one shot." The gun was loaded, all I had to do was aim and pull the trigger. I took a deep breath and positioned myself, taking the gun in both hands. The room was silent, not a single sound was heard from outside.
The sound of the bullet was deafening. My ears were ringing but I could care less, it was common and I had depended on that skill for so long that it didn't affect me anymore.
"Holy shit, no one has ever hit the dead center before."
What?
I looked at the bag and sure enough, the bullet had hit the center of the target. "Jesus christ, it went through the fucking bag!" I exclaimed. "Damn Patrick, I didn't know you had those skills." Ashley gave me a playful punch on the shoulder. The next few hours were spent testing my strength and basically getting me in shape. Sure I had good weapon skills, but I wasn't exactly the most fit guy you'd meet. Not to mention I'm not that confident with my body, so working out in front of someone isn't exactly my cup of tea. Soon lunch came and I was exhausted. We walked back to the dining room and I collapsed into a chair at one of the tables. "I have never felt more dead in my life." I said, my words muffled since my face was down on the table. "Get used to it pal, this place is intense and slows down for no one." Ashley replied. I sat up and saw that a shadow was staring at me from the shadows of the room. The person's eyes were like daggers, sinking deeper as each second passed. "Patrick? Patrick!" I snapped out of my trance and when I blinked, the figure was gone. "You okay?" Ashley showed a look of concern, but I simply nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
And never did I think that I could be so wrong.