I hit the ground once again. I wiped the sweat and blood off of my face as I glared at Niko. Yeah, let me explain. After I accepted her challenge she walked away from me and walked over to the wall of weapons. She got out some sort of wrap and began to wrap her hands. After she was done she walked over to me and began wrapping up my own hands. From there she taught me some basic offensive skills and then defensive skills. She gradually began getting more serious and rougher with me. Kane tried to step in and help me out but when he did she knocked him down to the ground too and turned her attention back to me. All I have to do is land one punch on her and this training would be over for the day. At first I thought that it would be easy but I was so very wrong. Now my nose is bleeding and I'm drenched in sweat.
"Get up." She said as she walked around me.
"Niko that's enough. She can't handle anymore." Kane said as he walked over to her again.
"Stay out of this Kane." She hissed. I got up to my feet once more. I faced her as she walked around the room.
"It's okay Kane. I accepted this challenge. I can do this." I said as I advanced towards her.
"There we go." She said as a smile grew on her face. I swung my arm at her but she quickly dodged it. "Sloppy. Clean it up. Remember what I taught you." she said as she kept walking and dodging my swings. I bent over gasping for air. I was tired. We had been at this for hours now. The longer we kept going the sloppier my swings got. How did she expect me to be able to punch good after hours of her throwing me around the room.
"Niko at least give her a break." Kane pleaded. He was still trying to persuade her to stop but that wasn't the deal that was made. I swung again and almost had her, but she was still fast enough to dodge me.
"That's a bit better." She said. She looked pleased and it gave me a burst of confidence.
"Niko that's enough!" Kane yelled. We both stopped what we were doing and focused our attention on him.
"Kane I need you to leave now." Niko said camly. He looked angry all of a sudden. Either that or he's been angry this whole time.
"No. I'm not leaving unless Belle comes with me. She's had enough of this for today." he said sternly. His whole body was tense. He looked dead serious as he spoke to her. It looked like he was trying his best not to explode, not to challenge her himself.
"Kane. Stop. I need to do this. I have to finish this challenge." I said as I walked over to him.
"No. She is throwing you around this room for her own pleasure." He snapped.
"Leave Kane. I have to get better. I have to get a hit on her." I said as I looked up at him.
"She said leave Kane. Now go. I'm sure your father will enjoy this little report. Go run and tell him. We'll be here training." Niko said. He huffed and stormed out of the room. He made sure to slam the door to the building shut as he left.
"Let's continue before the old man gets here." she said with a small chuckle as she got back in a fighting stance. I nodded my head and began watching her movements. Concentrating on where she will be making her next move. I swung again, getting close to her face. She now had a smirk on her face as I kept getting closer to hitting her. I kept swinging, nonstop. She was still dodging my hits, but barely now. She had to start actually blocking with her arms now, but her doing that just made me want to try harder. I continued to advance towards her, swinging with all of my might. I don't know what came over me but I ended up swinging my leg up and hitting her in her side. She winced as she stumbled to the side. She gave me a small smile as she looked at me.
"Good job. You actually landed a hit, and just in time, might I add." she said and then Kane along with his father and two other guys.
"What is going on here? Why is she bleeding like that?" the old man asked as he was now in front of the two of us.
"We were training." Niko said calmly. The old man looked at her then at me. He completely ignored what Niko said and was still looking at me for an answer.
"She's telling the truth. We were only training." I said to him.
"You don't have to cover for her Belle. What she was doing was wrong." Kane said as he stepped in front of me and grabbed my hands.
"Kane. I am fine. What she did worked. I finally hit her. I did it Kane. I'm fine. It was just a bloody nose. It'll be fine. Thank you for caring but out there it won't be easy. What if someone gets me when we're out there and I can't defend myself. I need this training Kane. It'll make me stronger. I need this Kane. I can't go out there and not be prepared for what could possibly happen." I said as I looked up at him. I knew he hated this. He hated having to see me get thrown around and hurt for hours but this had to happen. This would make me stronger. I have to get where they are physically and mentally otherwise I won't last out there with them. He looked away from me and off into the distance.
"Niko, you went too far with training today." the old man said. He had a frown on his face as he looked at her.
"I know I did sir but your son abandoned his right to be in charge of her the minute he stormed out and left showing her around to me." Niko said sternly as she looked at him.
"Is this true Kane?" he asked as he looked at Kane who was still holding onto my hands. He let my hands go as he turned and faced his father.
"I didn't mean to storm off and leave her under Niko's care. I was angry." he said.
"You know the rules Kane." the old man said.
"Father don't leave her under the care of Niko." Kane said as he stepped forward.
"She will be left under both of your care. You two either agree how to train her or she doesn't get trained. You both have to agree or it doesn't happen and after this incident I will be expecting a full report on the training session. Do I make myself clear?" he said as he looked between the two of them. They both nodded and after that the old man turned and walked away.
"Happy now Kane? You got your wish. We will not go easy on her though. She needs to be trained properly and just because you find her attractive and want her pretty face to stay intact does not mean we will baby her. Like she said herself. She needs this so she can be ready for what's out there." Niko said. She was glaring at Kane now.
"Fine but it won't be how it was today. You can't go rough on her like this. She'll be determined to beat you that she won't be able to stop. If I say stop then that means stop." he said.
"Deal but only if she starts bleeding or gets seriously hurt." Niko said with a small smirk. She had a way of getting what she wanted. That I already knew.
"Fine. We have an agreement." Kane said as he gave her a small nod. "Come with me Belle. I'm going to get you cleaned up and checked in with the doctor just to make sure you're okay." he said as he grabbed onto my arm.
"Stop it Kane. I'm not a child. I'm fine. Let go of me." I said as I tried to pull my arm away from him.
"Belle. Please." Kane said as he turned around to face me. He was practically begging me with the way he was looking at me.
"Just go. Our training session is over. You've completed what was asked of you. Go get checked just to ease him. Please B. Go do it." Niko said. This was the first time she's even asked me to do something. It's more like a demand with whatever she does. I sighed and nodded my head. These two were going to agree on everything now so there was no way I would win an argument about being fine.
"After your check up, find me and we'll get you some more clothes. I don't need you parading around in my clothes all the time." Niko said and then she walked out of the room. She didn't even give me a chance to say any objection. I had no choice now so I looked at Kane giving him a silent nod to go ahead and lead the way. He gave me a small smile and then turned and began walking away. I followed all the way to the buildings that Niko said belonged to the doctors. I walked in and was hit by the smell of bleach and disinfectant. It reminded me of when I was a child. When my mother fell sick. It was the start of the apocalypse.
"Dad what's wrong with mom? Why won't you tell me anything?" I asked him as I rushed into the hospital where I was told my mother would be.
"It's not that simple honey." he replied to me as he walked up to me. He looked terrible. He looked like he hadn't slept since my mother fell sick.
"Dad. What is wrong with mom?" I asked again. I said it more sternly this time. I needed to know what was wrong with her.
"I don't know honey. The doctors don't know. None of us know. It's like nothing we've ever seen before." he said as he looked at me with a small frown on his face.
"Breaking news. There has been a series of major outbreaks recently. The victims have come down with a serious fever and cough. They have been covered in sweat as well. That is all we know but it has been spreading rapidly. We were issued to make this announcement on order of the president. Wait what is going on? Who's that screaming? Oh my God!" the lady on the news yelled. My father reached for the remote and quickly turned off the tv.
"Let's go honey." My father said as he grabbed me and lead me out of the hospital. I tried to pull against him but it was no use. He was determined to get me out of there and when he's determined to do something there is no stopping him.
"What about mom? We can't just leave her here alone. You heard the tv. This is a serious illness. We need to be at her side." I yelled at my father. By now there was so much commotion going on around the hospital.
"I'll come back for her okay. We just need to make sure we have a safe place in case things get worse." I said nothing more and let him drag me out of the hospital and to the car. We first went to the house and got clothes and canned food along with anything that was packaged. We grabbed all the water that we had and put it in the car. As we were driving there was complete chaos. People all of a sudden didn't know how to drive or how to even act. There were people running throughout the street and even some people fighting. As I looked out the window I witnessed a man getting shot in the head. I gasped loudly as my father continued to drive. What was happening to everyone? The chaos continued as we made our way through town. My father took us to the grocery store. Already there were tons of people there. We both got out and my father locked the car. We quickly made our way into the store and my father told me to grab a shopping cart as he grabbed one. We spent the next couple of hours fighting to get food and taking it out to the car. We started putting the food in the back seats and then we filled the trunk. We also put as much as we could in the front passenger seat. He took me to the factory where he worked and unlocked the gate. He drove us in and locked it behind him. He was the only one who had a key to this place so no one could get in easily. They would have to climb the 20 foot fence to get in here. We quickly went inside and took the food with us. We secured one area and that's where we stayed. We would go to check on my mother when we could but as the days passed it got worse. One day when we walked into her room the machine that was letting us know that she was alive was no longer beeping. The nurses couldn't do much seeing as they were also frantic and running around trying to keep their patients that were alive, alive. My father walked towards her and I was frozen in place. My mother was dead and there was nothing we could do. I let a lone tear fall from my eyes and looked down at her pale body. That's when I saw her hand twitch.
"Dad, she's still alive." I said and he backed away from her to see if it was true. Quickly she had reached out and grabbed my father. Only it wasn't my mother now. It was a zombie. Her eyes no longer had color, instead they were cloudy. My dad figured this out as well. He began to pull away and I searched frantically for something to help him. I grabbed the tray that still had fresh food on it and hit her with it. It gave my father time to back away and for us to run out of the room. We closed the door behind us and backed away even more. That was no longer my mother.
"Belle are you okay? Belle?" Kane said as he was now holding onto my arm gently. I realized I had zoned out and stopped walking entirely. We were still at the entrance of the mini hospital. I gave him a small smile and nodded.
"Yes, I'm fine. Just bad memories really." I said as I began walking again. He walked along my side and I followed him to the doctor.
"I was expecting y'all." a young lady said as she smiled at us. I gave her a small smile back and after that Kane left me alone with her. It was a short check up. She checked the basics. It was just like a regular check up at the doctors before all this happened. I walked out and realized that not only was Kane waiting on me but so was Niko.
"You good?" Niko asked.
"Yeah she said I was good to go and that I was in perfect health." I replied. They both nodded and then Kane walked out the house.
"Let's go. Time to get you your own clothes." Niko said. I followed her out of the house and to the little place that all the clothes were. Niko smiled at the elderly lady that was there. I assumed that she was the one in charge here.
"A runner?" the lady asked.
"Possibly. She's aced the tests so far. We just need to see how she is out there, but she is staying so she needs clothes." Niko said.
"Well you know my policy. Y'all get whatever y'all like for free. Y'all feed us, it's the least I can do to help out." she said.
"Thank you. We won't be long." Niko said and the lady walked away.
"People really like runners huh?" I asked.
"We do help provide for everyone. We get a bit of special treatment but it's important that we don't let that fact get to our heads. Most people want to be runners but they don't have what it takes. Best to stay humble." Niko told me. I nodded my head and began looking for comfortable looking clothes. I got ten outfits and a pair of running shoes. Niko helped me carry everything back to the house and into my room. She set the clothes that she was carrying on my bed. I gave her a small thank you and she nodded in response before she walked out. I put my clothes up and sat on my bed. I haven't been around people for so long. I had no idea that anyone, well tons of people were living so close to where I had been staying. I had no idea how to properly act around everyone. If I became a runner people would love me and treat me differently than everyone else. I knew that Astrid would hate me for sure. I wondered if they would ever give her another chance to prove herself. Or maybe it was a one time thing. She probably only wanted to be a runner because of Niko. It was clear now that she had deep emotional feelings for Niko but Niko didn't seem interested. Niko barely seemed interested in anyone or anything. She was different when training. That was obviously something that she liked. I wonder if it was pleasing to her to know that she was protecting the people behind these walls. Maybe she was just dedicated to doing her job.
"Hey there's an emergency. Let's go." Kane said as he opened my door. I quickly shot up and followed after him and Niko. They ran to the same building that I was training in and they went to the wall of weapons. They each grabbed blades and I grabbed the one that I liked.
"Let's go." Niko said as she ran out of the building and towards the front gates. I saw that they were open a little already and wondered why. Niko slipped through them and then Kane. I followed behind them as well. There were at least twenty zombies walking around. They were slowly making their way towards the gates.
"Stay close and don't act brave. We take them out together. Got it?" Niko said.
"Got it." Kane and I replied in unison. We slowly one by one started to take them out being sure not to let any pass us. We were to protect the front gate until they could get them fixed. Hopefully it didn't take them long. I had no problem taking them out but I don't know if we could go hours doing this. A couple of minutes had passed and we had killed all twenty of them.
"Alright stay in formation and back up. Let's stay close to the main gate." Niko told us. We all backed up still on alert. We stayed out there for about an hour before someone poked their head out letting us know it was now safe to come back in. I figured everyone would be happy and joyful that they were safe and most of them were except for Niko and Kane. They looked furious.
"What the hell happened? Who messed up the front gate?" Kane yelled. Niko had this look on her face. A look that could kill.
"It was Sam. We're sorry. He's new to the job and thought that he had everything under control. He tripped and hit the lever and the wall slipped open. We managed to keep it from opening so much but we had to fix the lever. It was jammed." A girl said. She looked exhausted.
"You're sorry. Sorry doesn't cut it. Lives were put at danger. We risked the life of our new trainee because of the carelessness that you all showed tonight. Do you have any idea what could have happened if we didn't get here in time. There were twenty of them out there. They would have overpowered all you untrained people and do you have any idea how much worse that would have been? No because you didn't think. You left a guy alone to man the wall without being cautious. We can't live if you are so stupid to do something so careless. The people behind these walls matter. They might not to you but they do to us. We are constantly putting our lives in danger to make sure the people here survive. That they live. What is wrong with you?" Niko yelled. That was the most I have ever heard her say. She was so furious that her face was now red.
"Niko it wasn't her fault it was mine. I thought he could handle himself." Astrid said. She looked torn. I knew she felt guilty for what had happened but when I looked back at Niko I swear she got even madder if that was even possible.
"You disgust me." Niko replied and then she walked away. Kane followed and I looked after them. Astrid was now in tears and one of the girls was comforting her.
"Belle let's go. We have to report." Kane yelled back at me. I ran and caught up with them and fell into step. We first put our blades up and then headed to the same office that I was taken to when I first got here. The old man looked up at us from his desk.
"Care to explain what that was down there. I saw that the two of you were extremely mad.�� he said as he looked at Kane and Niko.
"They weren't thinking and put lives at danger. That is why we were so harsh. They deserve punishment and feeling extremely guilty should do since you have a no violence policy. If the zombies got in and we didn't get there in time, it would have been a disaster. We are just trying to make sure it doesn't happen again." Niko told him. The old man nodded and walked over his window.
"That is a fair point. I would like for the three of you to start training everyone." He said as he turned and faced us.
"Father Belle hasn't passed all of the tests yet. We still need to go on runs with her."
"We can't just have an inexperienced person training our people and the rest of the people here are weak. They would never stand a chance." Niko added.
"I agree Sir. I should pass my test first before any of this happens." I said.
"No need for Sir. It's Marcell. And if you all agree on this, then after her passing, y'all will start the training. It will give people time to prepare for it. I'll take the liberty of splitting them up into groups myself to make it easier for you three." Marcell said as he sat back down at his desk. "Go, you three still need to do an inside inspection." he added. With that the three of us left and began our inspection. We had gotten our weapons again just to be safe. We went along the borders to make sure nothing had gotten in and that the gate was still intact. Next we searched the rest of the area making sure to look in areas where they could hide. It took us about two hours to thoroughly check everywhere. We returned to the armory building and put our weapons up. We walked out of the building and Kane and I waited on Niko to lock it up. Together we all walked back to our house.
"You did good today Belle. I'm glad you handled yourself." Kane said as he patted my back.
"Yes you listened. That was good. If it was Astrid, I doubt she would have listened. She's reckless like that.��� NIko said. She had so much venom in her voice as she said Astrid's name. Ever since I got here their friendship had gotten so much worse and I couldn't help but feel guilty just a bit.
"Thanks guys. I'm just glad that I could help." I replied to them. They both gave me small smiles.
"Okay so hit the showers and when everyone's out we'll have dinner. Sounds like a plan?" Niko asked. Kane and I nodded and we all went our different ways. I took some time in the shower feeling disgusting after killing so many zombies. I didn't mind doing it. It didn't faze me that much but their smell was just awful and I hated it being on me. I turned off the water and stepped out. I put on some new clothes that I had gotten earlier today. They were dark blue cotton shorts and a white t-shirt. I had tied my hair up messily because I didn't feel like brushing it while it was wet. I walked out of my room to see Niko and Kane already in the kitchen cooking.
"Sorry I took so long." I said sheepishly. Kane just gave me a huge smile and replied.
"Don't worry about it. We were the same way when we first got out there. You'll get used to it eventually."
"Dinner's almost ready. Would you set the table?" Niko said to me. I nodded and began setting plates down along with silverware. We ate and made little small talk here and there and then went to bed after we all cleaned. Today has been eventful. I wondered what tomorrow held in store.