Her Compound

Chapter 18

"Alright," Zack said as he towered over all of us at the table. "Your fifteen minutes are up. Follow me."

I pushed my empty plate away from myself as I stood up with everyone else and then followed Zack out of the cafeteria towards the training room. As we walked, I looked through the gaps that the teens in front of me formed and I could see the gun from the day before strapped to the same spot on Zack's thigh.

My only hope as I entered the empty room was that he wouldn't have to use it again.

We walked to the target range side of the room, looking like an exact replica to the way it had been yesterday, right before what had happened to Logan. My eyes found their way to the spot on the ground that they had to scrub and bleach, and I immediately bit down on the inside of my cheek to stop myself from crying.

I then quickly forced my eyes away from the area in which I had watched the life leave Logan's eyes and looked at Zack who had stopped next to the table with all of the knives.

"We will be doing this again," Zack said, looking at each of us with his smile no longer present on his face, "but I don't want anyone attacking one another. I don't want a repeat of yesterday and above all, I don't want to lose any more of you."

I could feel myself nodding along with everything he said. I didn't want that to happen again either.

"So," Zack stepped out of the way and gestured to the knives on the table, "Come on up and retrieve your three knives."

I took a deep breath as I walked forward with the rest of the pack and grabbed the first three that I could get my hands on. The metal felt weird in my hands, but it was different compared to the way it had the day before. The power it gave me yesterday made me feel strange, but now... all it did was send a ripple of pain through me as the realization that one of these knives that were in our hands had killed one of my closest friends.

* * *

I stood facing one of the targets on the far side of the room. I could hear everyone around me breathing and talking among one another as they talked about technique and if they were even throwing the knives right, but I ignored their noises and pushed all thoughts away from my mind as I squared up with the target a few meters away from me.

My feet were about shoulder width apart and I raised the knife as Zack had demonstrated. The soft thuds and ting sound of the blades bouncing off the targets and hitting the ground could be heard, but I pushed it all out and stared at the target and the little red dot inside the larger circle.

I could see my first knife still embedded in the outer circle of the second ring on the right side and I could feel the other knife in my left hand while my right still had the second between my fingers.

Then without too much thought, I threw the knife and watched it sail through the air, the blade lodging itself into the center of the red circle.

"Not bad," a familiar voice said from behind me.

I whipped around and looked at an impressed looking Zack. His arms were crossed over his chest and he was staring down at me with a small smirk.

I rolled my eyes and let out a breath while a smile of my own crept onto my face. The knife in my left hand migrated to my right and I raised it again like I had done before. Even with the extra pressure with the knowledge that Zack was watching me caused a slight shake in my hand, the knife left my hand and planted itself on the inside of the second circle.

I turned around to see Zack typing something into his watch before glancing around the room, -seeing that no one was really paying much attention- and then staring back at him.

"How come you didn't sit with us?"

"Hm?" He looked up from his watch, momentarily confused, until his expression changed as realization flooded in. "Oh, this morning?"

I nodded and glanced at Willow and Matteo who both were still unable to have their knives stick to the targets.

Zack shrugged and looked back down at his watch as he typed some more things into it. "I just thought you wouldn't want me intruding. There was also something I had to discuss with Alex."

My eyebrows raised as I gave into my curiosity. "What did you guys talk about?"

He pressed something on his watch before dropping his arm away and looking up at me. The smile that had been on his face moments before had now disappeared, leaving an almost sad, yet, angry expression in its place.

"I'll tell you later," Zack said as he looked around at the rest of the teens and my two friends. "You'll find out soon enough anyways."

Confusion made my mind spin and I went to open my mouth to demand that he tell me, but he just smiled and looked passed me towards the target.

"I know now which weapon you'll be using in battle."

He then stared at me for an extra moment with the large smile still present on his face until he turned away to help some of the other teens with throwing their knives, all while leaving me just as confused as he had done the day before.