Never Again

Chapter 17

Katie's - POV

I had steadily been improving my knife skills over the last couple of training sessions to where I was actually able to block most of the blows, only getting cut a few times.

The cuts I was getting, although probably more severe, didn't seem to hurt as much, which I took as a good sign.

I was getting better and I could not only see the results I could feel them.

My reaction time felt a lot better, my hand eye coordination was much better and I was actually very good at dodging hits from knife fights. Even to the extent where the instructor had a hard time hitting me.

I had started to feel excited for my training sessions.

Excited to improve my hand eye coordination.

Excited to hone my ability and become a good blade wielder.

I was looking forward to all of this and couldn't wait until I was good enough so that the teacher would struggle and maybe even be forced to give up. I knew I could get that good.

Of course it would take a lot of hard work and dedication but I was willing to put that in as the results spoke for themselves.

I didn't have much time to dwell on my thoughts as I had to get to the main hall quickly. We all had letters left on our beds telling us to come to the main hall at four in the afternoon and it was five minutes to right now.

Drew hadn't given anything away, although she seemed relatively excited about the whatever it was that was going to happen.

I got to the door of that main hall and walked inside, seeing almost everyone already there.

I knew the other girls weren't going to be late though. We couldn't afford to be when in a place like this.

I hadn't bothered making any friends here as I didn't need anyone else but Drew and myself. If I had other people they would just be a distraction, unnecessary interferences. So I held off and kept to myself.

By the allotted time everyone had arrived and no sooner had that occured Dr Rodriguez walked into the room, confident and uncaring. She seemed to be more focused on the tablet in her hand.

We quietly waited for a few minutes while she finished up whatever she was doing.

"Now," Dr Rodriguez said. "The reason you've been ordered here is because you're all going to be going on your first missions within the month."

The silence got quieter, if that were even possible, and no one seemed to know what to do.

"Good, I'm glad you're all taking this well." Although her words may have appeared to be kind I could definitely see from her smirk that she understood how we were all feeling and reveled in that fact. "You're going to come up one by one and get your assigned mission. This is a solo mission so everything is on you." She looked around the room with her piercing gaze. "We don't accept failure."

I let her cold words wash over me, using them as motivation to work as hard as possible so I didn't fail. I would do anything to succeed. Anything.

One by one we went up, collecting the location of the place we were traveling to and before I knew it, it was my turn.

I walked up and was about to walk back when I felt a hand grip my arm and I froze.

"You'll get to talk to your partner and they'll give you directions and help you out." Dr Rodriguez said, squeezing my arm tigher. "Don't fail. You have potential."

She released my arm and I felt a massive wave of confidence flow over me. Dr Rodriguez believed I had it in me to get the job done. Someone who I'd never seen praise anyone or even be remotely nice to anyone or anything thought that I had what it took to do this. Now I didn't have any room for failure. I had to do this.

I walked back to my room and found Drew waiting there for me, sitting on the chair in the corner.

"So, you've got your first assignment now?" Drew asked, flipping her book closed and putting it down. "Where are you headed?"

"Yeah I did, how did you know?"

"Every year it is the same day. I caught on quickly and remembered the date after the second time."

"Oh." I said. She had never mentioned how long she had been here before and this alluded to it being her third year here. "I haven't looked yet."

"Hand it over." Drew said, getting up and flopping down next to me. "I'll do it."

I handed it over to her and she looked at the piece of paper for a few seconds before looking up at me, a mild look of surprise on her face.

"You got Krasnoyarsk." She said simply.

"Where the hell is that? I've never heard of it. Ever." I said, bewildered by the name I'd never heard of before.

"It's in Russia." Drew said, "but don't worry, it isn't as cold as some other parts of Russia."

Thank God for that because I didn't know what I would've done if I had to go on my first mission and the climate was terrible. I'd trained my mind and body in a warm room and hadn't been outside or in freezing cold for a long time. The closest I'd got is how cold the rooms could get.

"I know nothing about the place so you'll have to help me a lot." I said, nervously wiping my hands on my trousers. "That's what you're there to help with isn't it?"

"Of course." Drew said softly "I'll always be there if you need me."

Drew had helped me out every day since I had come here and had protected me and taught me everything about this place that I needed to know. I was so grateful to have someone like her as my partner. Someone who was always looking out for me.

I leaned over to hug her and she instinctively wrapped her arms around me in return.

"What's this for?" She said, seeming to be happier than before.

"I'm glad I have you as my friend." I said into her shirt.

Drew seemed quite touched by my words as she squeezed me tighter before letting go.

"I'll have your back, always." She said with a smile on her face.

"I'll do as much as I can for you too." I smiled back at her.

"Right, now back to business. We need to get you familiar with the territory, learn the basics of the language and learn about your target." She reached into her pocket and brought out a little calendar to check the dates. "So we have 28 days until you leave and we've got to get that done by then."

It seemed extraordinarily tedious and extremely hard but if this was the time that they gave us then it must mean that they're confident in our abilities to get it done and I trusted them.

"Right, let's get started then." Drew said, standing up and rubbing her hands together. "Let's get you read for your first mission."