I have been awake for far too long. I saw the sun rise and I am about to see the sun set. The days seem longer when dad is in one of his training moods. Which nowadays, it seems like he is always in his training mood. He knows something is up and it doesn't look like he is willing to share that information anytime soon. My hands are sore from the recoil of the handgun. My feet are numb and it's getting painful to continue standing on them. I have been standing in the on spot for almost three hours now. I regretted not bringing my sunglasses down with me almost instantly when the sun rose this morning. It's the hottest day so far this summer. If I squint anymore, I will be running around with my eyes closed. And I will not give my father anymore ideas for the training sessions.
Dad says I need to train. Mum tried talking him out of it around lunch time. I can see the strain in mum's voice when she pleads with my father. She wants to say my sister's name, thinking maybe it will snap him out of his trance. But the last time she did that, he went mental. I don't think either of us want to see that happen again. Unfortunately there is no way I can stop, considering I've already had too much time off already.
I was bed ridden for three months last year. Mum didn't think my body would react so badly to the bite. She was hoping I wouldn't get sick like my sister. Dad complained the whole time I had been ordered for bed rest. But when I got really sick, he did shut up for a while. Even though he doesn't show it, I can see the concern and love in his eyes. I'm their last chance at a proper daughter and even though I complain about these sessions, I don't want to screw up that chance for them.
"Can we please stop now? I'm sore."
"No, you need to know how to shoot."
"Can't I just go back to using the bow?"
"No. You've mastered the bow and now you need to master the gun. Stand up more, you're slouching."
I try to straighten my shoulders, biting back the stab of pain. I am beyond burnt now. If I was still human, this would have been torture or even defying basic human rights. Dad knows I can handle it. Plus he is right, I do need to master this. I try straightening my shoulder again and I can feel them start to heal my already peeling body. I should be used to this. Dad trained me harder when I was still a human. Mum says it's because he's the general but I still wonder, what the hell is he training me for?
"Come on Dad. Can't I go inside now? I can smell mums al pie from here."
"Nina, listen to me. You've heard the story too many times now for me to even bother telling it to you again. You know where we are and you know what they will do to us if we act up."
"But I was a human. Won't you get into trouble for turning me?"
"Shhhh. You shall never repeat those words ever again. You hear me?"
I nod my head, as my father grips into my sore shoulders. He's starting to scare me now. What will happen to me if they find out I had been turned? What will they do to my parents?
"You were born as one of us and that's how you shall tell everyone from now on. Do you understand me Private?"
"Yes Sir."
"Good. Now back to your position."
Sighing, I return back to my original position and shoot the magazine empty. As I reload the gun, I turn to face my father. He sighs when he sees the obvious look on my face and nods.
"Why do I have to do all of this?"
"You are the daughter of the General. You have to be prepared to take my position when the time comes. I had already mastered everything but the time I was seven."
"But why?"
"The human government is a ruthless group of men. They will stop at nothing until they understand every single aspect of our species and when they do, they will stop at nothing until every single one of us is hunted down. That's why you need to protect yourself in every single way possible. You've mastered hand to hand the staff and the great sword. You've mastered the bow and now you need to master this."
"I can protect myself enough dad. Why can't I play with my friends?"
"No."
"But Dad."
"No."
"Come on honey. I think you've pushed her enough today. Remember she's still new and still healing."
I turn to see mum standing by the edge of our training circle. I can smell the contents of the ale pie on her and my mouth starts to water. There is only a small amount of food on this planet that we can eat. Human food is bizarre to me now, not that I had much time on it anyway. We really don't need to eat to survive. Mostly it's to keep up with our human identities and to calm our cravings.
"She needs to learn."
"She is eleven and a newborn. Get a hold of yourself. You may have mastered this by the time you were seven but you are a born Zion. Nina was a human and it will take her a lot longer than you did. She will not end up like Fluer and she has proven that to you time after time."
"Fine. We still run at dawn."
"Yes sir."
I salute, drop the empty gun and skip towards mum. She gives a huge hug, before pushing me towards the house.
"The ale pie is on the window sill."
"Oh my god, I love you."
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I don't know what woke me up first; the heat, the smoke or the screams. All three surrounded our home. I scramble out of bed and crawl along the floor. I fumble through the dark, coughing the smoke out of my lungs. I can see a thing.
"Mum, dad."
"Nina where are you?"
"On the ground, somewhere down the hallway."
I hear shuffling and mums face lights up the smoke, She's drags my close and pulls me along the hallway. She picks me up and rushes through the flames that block the front door. I almost start patting myself down from the flame until my eyes see what is happening around us. I can see dad nearby barking orders as our people try to escape.
The night sky is orange and filled with the smell of burning corpses. Dad spots us and makes his way up the hill. I crawl into his arms and he hugs me close.
"I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for? This is not your doing."
"I knew something was off. I'm sorry I skipped out of training early yesterday."
"It's okay Nina. This is not what I had expected them to do, but it's done. Let's get out of here."
He puts me on the floor and I grab my mother's hand. We rush up into the hills with the rest of our surviving people. Once we reached our cave, I turned back to watch the camp continue to burn. Dad was right, they did figure out everything there is about our species. For far too long we lived in our camps, protected but unaware of how much the humans hated our kind.
An hour after the blaze started, more people started to join us. Dad is already in full general mode. Until we find the council elders, dad is in charge. My body hurt more than yesterday but I dared not to let it show. Instead I stood by my father and took the orders I received. We guide our surviving people into our doomsday bunker, if you must call it that. We are cave people but we lived in tents and houses that the humans made for us.
For now we will rise underground until we have the manpower to get our revenge and take over the world. Nah, I'm just kidding. Considering how they just slaughter ninety percent of our people, we are kind people. We will hide and wait. Humans have a tendency to kill each other off eventually.