Grounded

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Let's start with the training room." Korwin leads me from the lab into a maze of corridors. He's giving me the tour of the Stuarts' facilities. I'm hopeful that it will get my mind off the image of the sharp edges of my supercharged cells. We start in a gym as big as our hay barn, maybe bigger. A section of odd machines lines one wall across from a thick mat and rack of weapons.

"What are those machines?"

"What? The cardio equipment?"

"Cardio equipment." I think back to my book but can't remember anything that looked like this.

"Wait. Are you serious? You've never seen a Holotread?"

I step onto the mat and press a button on the console. The belt makes an odd sound and jolts backward. I trip to the floor.

"Easy." Korwin steadies my shoulder. His mouth forms a tight grin, like he's trying not to laugh. "Here, let me show you." He stops the Holotread and climbs onto the one next to it. "Step on up," he says, slapping the console.

I get back on the strange machine and fold my hands in front of me.

"Here, start slowly. One is the slowest and twenty is the fastest." He punches a one on his keypad and starts walking forward. I do the same and quickly grow accustomed to the feel of the machine shifting beneath my feet.

"I use it to exercise. I can't go outside anymore because they know about me, so I have a training program to stay strong."

I smile. "This makes you strong? Walking without going anywhere?" My silver slippers fall rhythmically on the belt. "I run faster catching our chickens."

"Oh ho ho! That sounds like a challenge. Let's add a scenario." He punches a code into the keyboard and suddenly I'm walking on a path through a forest.

"How?" I reach for an oak tree and my hand passes right through. I trip.

"Careful. It's a hologram. You have to keep your feet on the treadmill."

"I understand." I center myself on the revolving belt.

"Take it up to five." He pokes his console.

I grin and press the five on my keypad. The belt speeds up, and I break into a light jog. It feels good.

"How are you doing?" Korwin asks. With longer legs, he's able to keep up at a fast walk.

"Piece of cake," I say. The expression is considered prideful in Hemlock Hollow, but given the circumstances, I indulge my will. As Jeremiah says, when in the English world, act English.

Korwin laughs and hands me a long plastic rod from the front of my treadmill. He unhooks his own and punches another code into the keyboard. "Don't let them hit you."

"Don't let what hit me?" He doesn't have to answer. A spiky ball sails toward my head. I use the rod to slap it away. The hologram responds to my swing, and a blue number one pops up in the corner of my vision.

"Good! Faster." He punches ten into my keypad. I lurch back, laughing, and have to run to stay on the platform. I reach over and punch the same number into his, sending him sprinting forward. We fall into a rhythm, running side by side.

A barrage of spiky balls attacks me. I swat at them without breaking my stride. My head knows they can't hurt me, that they'll pass through me like the tree did, but I can't stop my heart from pounding. It seems so real. I fight like my life depends on it.

"How fast can you go?" I ask.

"Right now, we're running ten miles per hour. Most people can't keep this up very long, but being a Spark gives me more energy and endurance. I usually run an hour at fifteen."