FUGITIVE

CHAPTER 20

Day 3

6:38 am

I feel my muscles tense as I pick up the weights. I'm almost out of breath and my thighs are on fire. I give myself a final push and as I set the weights down, I collapse on the floor.

~

As I slightly open my eyes, my vision is blurry but all I see is white. Is peers over me as she examines the back of my head. I feel my pulse throbbing at the base of my head and as she applies pressure on an extremely sensitive spot, I slightly wince.

My stomach tightens and just like that, as I turn away from Is, the contents from my stomach come spewing out. I groan and Is walks over to wipe my mouth.

"There's a chance you may have a slight concussion", the nurse tells me. "I would advise you to stay in bed and rest today. Any strenuous physical activity would only make it worse."

I groan and turn towards Is. "But today is the final day, Is and we have that competition! I can't afford to miss it. What if my scores aren't good enough for the department I want?"

"I'm pretty sure the Sergeant would understand Marie. She's right. There's no way you can run and jump and fight in this condition", Is tells me as she rubs my arm in an attempt to comfort me.

She leaves me to get ready for the assessment and I turn towards the window, sulking in my bad luck.

~

I watch the wall clock slowly tick and just like that 1 hour passes by. I slowly roll over and get out of bed, placing my feet flat on the ground. On the table next to my bed, there is an apple and a granola bar, and still hungry after hurling my breakfast, I wolf it down. As I regain some strength in my legs, I grab my shoes and sneak past the nurse to the open ground outside. I see most of the recruits already in the third task, the combat.

As I watch the recruits something clicks inside me and I walk over to the only vehicle left at the starting line. I grab the keys and as I rev my engine, all the attention turns towards me. The officer who is supposed to be my perp immediately gets into his car and starts driving away.

As I chase him, my head pounds, my stomach grumbles and a wave of nausea hits me, but I grip the steering wheel and force my mind to relax and focus. As we come to a dead end, my perp exits the car and starts running towards the obstacle course.

My real strength lies in my speed and agility and today it looks like that might be the only thing to help me catch up to the rest of the recruits. I chase my perp over the 3-foot wall, the 6-foot wall and finally the sand pit. As he runs across the sand pit, he flicks a little sand in my eyes and as I accidently inhale it, I double over while coughing and fall face first into the sand. As the second wave of nausea hits me, I grab a fistful of sand, get my face out into the air and take a deep breath.

One of the challenges in the obstacle course is to carry a 100 pound dummy, which mimicks a wounded officer, into safety. As I try to drag my dummy, my legs give out and I fall into the sand. I stop for a second and try to remember what we were taught in training.

I set my dummy in sitting position, get behind him and grab him under his arms. As I stand up, I place all his weight on my hips and thighs and grab him out of the sand and into a safe place. As I look up, I see my perp running up the stairs of the nearby building and I chase him, taking it two steps at a time. We reach a large hall and my perp points a gun at me.

I walk towards him with my hand in the air, and out of the corner of my eye I see most of the recruits moving towards the firearms. The sooner I arrest my perp, the faster I can catch up with my batchmates.

As I get close to him, I drop my eyes to the ground and as he does the same, I grab the gun out of his hand and throw it away as far as possible. Startled by the lack of defense, he panics and while he does that, I drop to the ground and sweep his legs from under him.

Before he falls to the ground, I get myself behind him and just as his back hits the floor the handcuffs are in my hand and his hands are in them. Cuffed and arrested, I celebrate for a split second, till I hear the first shot. I run towards the shooting arena and grab the gun out of the holster, shooting 8 perfect holes on the target sheet. I can already see the recruits running towards the finish line and as I run over to join Is, she beams at me with an expression that can only be called pride.

As we cross the finish line, Is grabs hold of me and we collapse together on the floor.

~

Although I didn't come first or second or even third, I feel quite accomplished. I started 10 minutes later than the other recruits and still managed to finish it with them.

We gather around as Lieutenant Alexander congratulates the recruits who bagged the first three positions. After the photos, Lt. Alexander clears his throat and looks at us.

"In all my years of teaching and training, I have come across some excellent officers, who have shown grit, determination and a great deal of courage in the face of fire. I have been conducting this 3-day training programme for 8 years now and I have seen 24 bright, young recruits blow my mind away. But never have I seen a recruit with so much potential and will like I saw today. Officer Schulz, please step forward."

As my legs freeze, Is gives me a small push towards the front of the crowd.

"When I heard that Officer Schulz would be unable to join us today due to a fall resulting in concussion, I was quite disappointed. Over the course of the past 2 days, I was quite impressed by the flair she showed for one department in particular and I was especially excited to see her performance today. But what I saw today, was beyond anything I could have ever imagined. The resilience, strength and willpower she exhibited today is the very core of the principles we teach you here at the academy."

I shift my legs in discomfort. All my life, I have always been criticised for the work I do and hearing appreciation of this order for the very first time in my life, evokes emotions in me that I don't quite understand.

Lt. Alexander turns towards me. "There is a Jewish proverb that says, 'The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way'. Today we have seen your desire, your dream and we have seen how high you can rise after you've been hit with an obstacle."

"In Hebrew, the name Talia means 'to bloom' and in these three days I have seen you bloom and grow bigger than anybody ever has. So henceforth, in this academy, you will be known as Talia, a true gift to the police force."