Walls

Chapter 13

We left the elevator on the sixteenth floor (Liv had informed me there were forty floors, but the first two were closed off. She didn't say why.) and walked around until we reached a section of the wall that was all glass, and strangely, was missing a door. Inside looked like a gym, aside from the range of weapons that hung on the wall. In the middle of the gym was a large mat with some training dummies pushed off to the side.

Liv pulled a key card out of her jacket pocket and swiped it in front of a small black square in the middle of the glass wall. There was a quiet beep, the black square turned green, and a section of the glass popped forwards and slid to the left. My three new friends walked forwards through the opening (Ducky smacking his hand on the 'door') as if they'd seen this a million times before. I stayed back and gaped until Felix motioned for me to come in. I'd never seen this kind of technology, and to see it in an old place built almost solely of concrete was kind of surprising.

Felix and Ducky sauntered over to a couple of benches against the wall, and Liv to the weapons. She scanned the many tools, obviously knowing exactly what she was looking for, and reached for a pair of small knives with some sort of finger-ring things on the handle.

Felix and Ducky started giggling. I turned, feeling slightly self-conscious, but then realized they'd been laughing at something on a small tablet in Felix's hands. I turned again to face Liv, who'd still been engulfed in the weapons wall, then I did a double take. I stared at the tablet, a black square about a half foot by half foot. I've never even seen technology like that. How did they get them? Where did they even come from?

My mind wandered vaguely until Liv walked over and handed me the two knives. I was extremely awkward with them, and it obviously showed because Liv snorted and took them back. "Like this." She held them facing down with her thumbs on top and stood with one leg closer to me than the other. She handed them back to me. I tried to recreate what she did with them, with no success. I looked back up to Liv and shrugged weakly. She smiled and stepped behind me. "Try to bring your hands farther out, like this-" Liv brought her arms around me, put her hands on mine and positioned them like she had with her own. I was suddenly aware of how close the knife's blade was to Liv's arm and fumbled with it.

"I guess i should apologize for stabbing you in preparation to me actually stabbing you?" I mumbled awkwardly, still trying not to stab Liv or myself. She chuckled and let go. "Don't worry about it, it wouldn't be the first time I've had to deal with these kind of cuts." She paused, "You should see Ducky try to fight with these things. He wouldn't know the front of the knife from the back of it if it stabbed him in the arm." Liv punched me lightly in the shoulder. I smiled weakly and turned to face her. At that moment, Felix and Ducky had broke into another giggling fit.

I realized then that this place, these people, might not be so bad after all.

Liv took one of my knives and stepped back a couple feet. "So. You ready to learn how to fight?

                                       *****