Grim Reaper

Chapter 4

    Within an hour the two boys had finished the training... And satisfied their hunger for agitating the soldiers. "God damn it!" A younger looking soldier yells as Jinx just starts laughing his ass off after jumping down from the tree in front of the boy. "You guys need a bell on you!" Looking behind him, Jinx could see that the General was having a hard time keeping in his laughter.

    "When he's not being a complete brat he's pretty entertaining isn't he?" Addax asks, putting an elbow on the Generals shoulder as if they were best friends since childhood. General jumps and looks to the young adult who gives an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I'm used to being around people who are used to that. In the Center it's common for someone to just show up and tap your shoulder." The General nods, "I'll ask you not to do that again. Yes, the kid is amusing, but it's almost like he's playing cat and mouse and every time he scares one of them it just assures him he's the top cat."

    "How should I put this? Jinx is like the Sabertooth in a valley of alley cats. That's the difference between him and every soldier here. I come second to him as a tiger. When it comes to those knife fights he does get hesitant though..." Addax sighs and sits down as if nothing was going on while soldiers were falling in the mud or getting stuck in the obstacle course. Someone even passed out.

    "Have you done it yet?" The General asks. "This whole training session? Yeah, we finished within thirty minutes. Why do you think he's playing with them now?" Addax grins and laughs as Jinx seemingly pops out of no where and effectively scares another soldier who passes out. "He's playing?" The higher ranked eyes widen as the young adult nods. "Let him be. He's not hurting them, simply scaring them. Think of it as part of their training. After a bit of this they won't be scared if an enemy somehow comes out of no where."

    Jinx soon bounds over to them. Literally. Like a baby deer. "Well, someone's happy." Addax laughs as the younger hops onto his back. "You should join! They're like rabbits!" Sphinx laughs, "I can't believe you've compared the most elite platoon here to rabbits." The kid shrugs, "Too bad they can't play our games. Hide-and-Seek was a good one."

    "Aha... Let's not talk about that." Addax pales slightly as the younger suggests the game. "Isn't that harmless? Just hide and be found." General gives a confused expression. "Huh? That's not how it's played." Jinx pouts slightly and gives the other a confused look. "Someone's got a sniper gun with paint bullets and the others go hide. The sniper's blind fold is taken off and they have to find the others and shoot them in a spot that would kill with actual bullets. Hide and seek."

    "Sometimes I think about letting the government know about that place." Sphinx sighs and face palms. "The government is the one who made it." Jinx nonchalantly lets out like everyone knew this. "Instead of putting all orphans in foster care they take a lot of them there. I overhead the Headtalks talking about it once. Got in trouble, fifteen lashes." Jinx shrugs although he doesn't seem completely there with how he was acting.

    "Kids between two and six came in every month. People die during training. You may get injured and have a tiny chance of dying here, but there it's kill or be killed. It's how he's become like this." Addax explains and adjusts the younger to a more comfortable position on his back. "I know you're about to ask about the knife fights, how I know he's hesitating when our strikes are fast and precise and usually non-hesitant. There was an incident a couple years ago with another kid. It was supposed to be training but he turned it into a death fight. Jinx wasn't prepared and got a single deep cut that was supposed to kill him along his neck. He had to kill the other kid to get out alive."

    "That seems like a bit much." The General mutters. "It was, to our standards at least, seeing as it wasn't just a cafeteria feud and most instructors were there. Supposed to be a normal training with some kind of cover over the blade so we wouldn't actually get hurt. The kid was holding a grudge against Jinx for who knows how long, he took it as a chance to take out the top kid. So taking the blade guard off he went for it. Jinx wasn't ready, none of us were for the one move the kid pulled to able to successfully pin him down. Grabbed his wrist, avoided the knife, grabbed his leg, then spun him so he fell and pinned him down. Took two seconds to bring the knife down to Jinx's neck. It went across, we all saw the blood spray up and thought the kid managed to hit the arteries and slice through his trachea. Turns out he missed the trachea in his blind rage and as the blood hit his eyes Jinx took his chance to spin them over so he was on top. Stabbed his heart, twisted the knife and then sliced the kids throat. It's why I have to keep him in check. He's more skittish and alert than the best soldier you have here which causes... Accidents sometimes." Addax tells the story, constantly checking with Jinx to be sure he's fine.