Forgotten

Chapter Eight: Test One: Fight

"Hello?"
"Are you alright?"
"Terrance!"
Something snapped in front of my face and I came back to earth from my trance.
"What? Oh, sorry," I said, shaking my head. Felipe and Steven stared at me.
"You ok, man?" Felipe asked.
"Yeah, yeah I was just...thinking," I
said, my eyes drifted off into space.
"Hey," Felipe clapped his hands in front off my face, "snap out of it."
I shook my head again.
"Sorry, sorry."
"What're you thinking about?" Steven asked.
"What? Oh, uh...nothing, nothing, just...forget it," I told them.
"Right..." Felipe said.
A bell rang out through the room and everyone started to stand up and leave.
"Well, that's the signal," Felipe informed me, "ready to go to work?"
"Oh yeah, um, lead the way, I guess."
We got up, slightly clumsily, and took our plates to the kitchen area before walking out of the mess hall.
"I'll see you guys later," Stephen said as we walked outside. He waved and headed off somewhere, probably back to the house, while Felipe led me in the other direction.
The road we walked on used to be a paved road used by cars but that was in a different time, a much different time. The black pavement was now cracked and hardly recognizable as a straight lined road. The paint lines were faded. It was like seeing a ghost from the past. The dirt by the road was mostly black, as if it were just ashes and not actual dirt. But the houses were the worst part. Hardly any glass windows were left still intact, the holes were hastily boarded up with wooden planks, hardly expert engineering. Roofs had holes in them, plants grew up the walls, and those were the lucky houses. Some had a tree or two fallen on top of them, crushing the house to no more than rubble. Others were completely demolished, tilted to one side, half of it blown off, burned to black bricks, it was not a happy sight.
The sun was setting in the west, glowing its last orange luminescence on the few cumulus clouds in the sky. In the distance ominous, gloomy clouds were forming and slowly accumulating in size. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a major storm tonight.
"Ready for initiation?" Felipe asked.
"Yeah I....wait...what?" I stared at Felipe. He smiled at me.
"Sorry, I wasn't going to tell you about it, according to the rules I shouldn't. But it's much better to go into this prepared, unlike me. That was...well, you'll see."
"Oh, um, right... What's initiation?"
"It's not as bad as it sounds. Basically they just put you through three tests. One physical, one mental, and one will power."
"Will power?"
"Sorry, I can't tell you anymore without breaking the code. I technically wasn't even supposed to tell you that. You'll see once we get there. I just wanted to let you know what you're getting yourself into."
Oh great, what am I getting myself into? I thought.
I focused on minute details as we walked up a hill towards a worn-down, faded-red colored building. A few ravens sat on the barbed-wire-fence and opened there beaks to scream before they flew away. Guess they figured they'll find no corn here. A few spots of green grass shot up here and there, but most of the grass was dead and lifeless. I saw a single, minuscule blue flower growing in the ground by the fence. It looked so innocent, so pure, even up against a cold, sharp metal fence. Such beauty in the midst of such cruelty. Nothing like that could possibly exist in this world. Nothing.
We arrived at the top of the hill and walked up to the old school house. It was a plain elementary school, the faded letters engraved at the top spelled "EDAHOW ELEMENTARY" in white lettering. We trudged up the steps and Felipe knocked three times on the door in quick secession of each other in the center of the door and then four times slowly, one knock on each corner.
"Memorize that code," Felipe commented. I made a mental note of the pattern.
The door swung open and we rushed inside the room lit by lanterns and candles.
"Good evening, Felipe," a girl's voice said in the dim light, "and you must be Terrance."
"Uh, nice to meet you," I said, nodding in her direction. I suppose it's a small town, should get used to random strangers knowing my name.
"I'm Demetria," she did a slight curtsy, "Please show me your summons, Terrance, and your pass, Felipe, or I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave."
I handed her the crumpled piece of parchment containing my summons and Felipe gave her a card about the same shape as a driver's license.
Demetria studied both before handing them each back to their original owners and looking back at us. That's when I noticed her eyes, shiny, cat-like eyes the color of diamonds. They were actually quite beautiful. They were literally stunning, as the light reflected off of them they shone like a rainbow. I began to notice other details about her as well. Her eyelashes were long and thick, they seemed to kiss her cheeks as she blinked, the skin was white and flawless, not a blemish could be seen. Her blonde hair caressed down her shoulders in waves like the ocean, and her red lips were perfectly full and curved. She looked like an angel.
I slowly shook myself out of my trance and forced myself to look away, I hadn't even realized I had been staring at her.
"Go on in than," she said, even her voice was exquisite.
"Thanks," Felipe said and started walking away.
I followed after him- slowly, but I turned back to look at Demetria before I exited the room. She smiled at me, brought her hand up to her lips, and blew me a kiss, winking at me with one of her dazzling eyes. I had to force my legs to work and move away from her to catch up to Felipe.
Felipe stared at me.
"What?" I asked.
I glanced back towards the room Demetria was in, but to no avail, I definitely couldn't see her now.
"Don't," he answered, "she's bad news, trust me. You probably didn't even notice the shackles on her feet, did you?"
"What?" I asked, astonished.
"She's pure evil, Terrance, we finally had no choice but to chain her up so she couldn't go out and cause trouble."
"No way, how could you imprison someone so...perfect?"
"Trust me, you do NOT want to talk to her. She'll ensnare you in a heartbeat to get what she wants and then...well, you won't be doing much clear thinking afterwards. She literally drives men to insanity. Besides, I thought you hated aliens."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. But I didn't have much time to ponder Demetria for just then we arrived in a room that looked much like a gym with about fifty-some people milling about all dressed like they were going to war.
"Ah, Felipe, Terrance, we were waiting for you," the man, Robert Dace said as he walked up to us, smiling. He was no longer in his cowboy costume, but now wore army type clothing minus the camouflage design, nothing green left to really blend into now.
"Terrance, I assume you'd like to fight with your rapier rather than a gun?" Robert asked.
"Um, yeah," My fingers tingled at the prospect of wielding my weapon again.
"Refer to me as 'sir' from now on when when we're on duty, Terrance."
"Oh, right-I mean, uh... yes, sir," I stammered.
"Good, now please excuse me for a brief moment before we get started," Mr. Dace turned away from us and shouted: "Captain Calliope!"
Oh, shit. Her again. My blood boiled at the sound of her name, but I maintained my "calm" demeanor.
The she-demon came almost immediately, her black hair was tied back in a tight braid and she was still dressed completely in black attire and a strange, alien-type gun was fastened to her waist.
"Yes, Commander Dace?" She sounded slightly annoyed, (what's new?) but she never glanced in my direction. Ignoring me probably. I scoffed and rolled my eyes. How childish!
"Take your squad and begin the nightly routine. I will stay here with my team to train the initiate." Robert indicated me by waving his arm in my direction.
Callie glanced at me for a split second and I stared into her brilliant purple eyes before she turned away quickly. Purple...like the snake's venom. I wouldn't be surprised if she was related to that demonic creature.
"I don't see why we have to sacrifice half our troops for this human!" She spat the word, "We're stretched thin as it is!"
"That's the point, Calliope. We need all the Warriors we can get!"
"Why do we need this one?"
"You're the one who found him, remember? You did an excellent job in that. He seems well rehearsed in the way of sword-play already, you know how valuable that is? He should have no problems passing the tests and we'll be back with you in 2 hours tops."
"But he's incompetent, Commander-"
"That's enough Calliope! You may be in control of this town in most aspects, but you put me over control of the military, and for good reason. I have more extensive knowledge in the area of war and survival. Now, no offense, but let me do my job, or leave this unit."
Callie genuinely looked hurt. Her pride was damaged, I saw it on her face for only a second before she composed herself, bowed respectfully, and turned to leave, calling for her army to follow her. I noticed Vince and Brandon in the crowd that followed her. Hope they knew what they were doing, Callie's not exactly what I would call "trustworthy" plus Brandon was about the closest person I had to a friend right now, and Vince did save my dog, a debt I vowed I would repay, somehow.
But, I couldn't think of that at the moment, I had my own problems to deal with right now.
"Now then," Commander Dace pulled my rapier out of thin air and threw it towards me. I caught it in my right hand by it's handle. "Let's get started, shall we?"
Robert backed away and everyone else in the room pulled out their various weapons: bows, swords, guns, knives, maces, spears, pretty much anything you can think of, they wielded it. A few had nothing but their fists and determined looks in their eyes.
Felipe strung his bow and the sharp arrow pressed against my cheek.
"Sorry, bro." Felipe said, "If you survive, we'll be great allies, I'm sure."
I closed my eyes, evaluating the situation within my mind. A sharp shrill filled the air and a dozen shots rang out at once. I heard the twang of Felipe's fingers as they released the string on his bow.
I swung around Felipe, grabbing his bow as I turned and kicked him in the small of his back. I aimed the bow at a random soldier and let the arrow fly, it sunk deeply into it's target's shoulder. I dropped the bow and turned slightly to the left sticking out my elbow into a man's throat, he dropped to the ground, his knife clanging on the metal floor. I pulled out my sword just in time to deflect a bullet. Then I opened my eyes and ducked, avoiding a swinging mace aimed for my head; I hit the attacker's Achilles heal with the butt of my handle and he fell.
The scene continued to shift between the room and that bloody night so long ago. I yelled and my mind turned to autopilot. I swung, dodged, jumped, turned; I couldn't hear anything but the pouring rain, the roaring battle, and my own heartbeat. I felt my cheek tear and was momentarily brought back to reality. Bullets flew over my head, the one that had scathed my cheek came from a woman holding a smoking gun at the other end of the room. I sensed someone behind me and twirled around, slicing the man's side.
The adrenaline pumping through me was the best feeling I'd had in a long time. Ever since...
I reached my right hand up and grabbed a woman's sword before she could slice me in half and pulled it from her grip, and threw it towards the ground, pinning her foot to the floor.
She didn't even scream in pain, but it looks could kill... I backed away and jumped to avoid another girl's knives as she threw five of them towards my torso. I grabbed one of them as they flew through the air, and it sliced my hand. I threw it back at the girl but she only caught it and then was lost the the crowd of the seemingly never ending flow of soldiers.
One guy (I swear he was seven feat tall!) swung his eighty pound hammer at my feet, I jumped and landed on top it. I stabbed the left side of his chest and blood oozed down, staining my sword. I quickly pulled it out and turned it to face the next enemy.
The sound of metal against metal reverberated through the fighting hall as my sword contacted another sword.
I stared into the eyes of Felipe, his eyes held a certain determination that I was certain he was not going to lose easily. Our swords formed an X in the air, mine was coated with blood, his was pure and clean.
"You're good," Felipe said. He got closer to me for a second and then pushed me away with his sword. Felipe stood in a warriors stance, his free hand reached out towards me and his blade pointed towards me, fire was in his eyes. It was almost as if his position was taunting me to fight him. Everyone around us stopped trying to kill me to watch Felipe and me fight.
Felipe jumped, swinging his sword and I blocked it with my own rapier and pushed him back. My turn, I rushed towards him and feigned an attack to the torso, then swirled last minute and stroke at his back. He seemed to have interpreted my move and once again blocked my attack with his weapon. He twirled his sword around mine trying to disarm me, I jumped back and then slashed at his face. He backed away, but I cut his lower lip leaving a gash from his bottom lip to half-way down his chin.
Felipe wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and attacked again. I attempted to block his attack, but he somehow seemed stronger now and when he hit my sword it flew out of my hand and skidded halfway across the floor. Felipe hit me in my chest and I hit the ground-hard. I felt the cool metal tip of his sword against my neck and I knew it was over. He had won.
"But I'm better," Felipe said. My neck began to trickle out blood as Felipe dug his sword deeper into my skin.
Then he released his sword from my throat and held out his hand toward me. I stared at it for awhile before I finally accepted his offer and grabbed his forearm. He helped me off of the ground and smiled.