Her Compound

Chapter 19

An hour or two later and once everyone was finally able to get their knives to stick to the targets, Zack ordered us to stop what we were doing to follow him to the punching bag area of the training room.

It was a similar set up to the target range, with multiple bags hanging from a horizontal bar that created a long line on the other side of the room. Each bag looked worn down and like they had been used quite a bit, the fabric torn in some areas and taped back together with some thick strips of grey tape.

Zack then went through and demonstrated how to throw a punch before turning to us and getting us to get into pairs. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Willow glancing in my direction but she didn't make any move to join me, instead, remaining next to Matteo.

One by one, each pairing formed, leaving me alone since we had an odd number of teens. Zack then told each duo to use a punching bag and have one person throw the punch while the other holds the bag still before sending them off and walking up to me.

"I'll be your partner," he said while indicating to a free bag nearby with his eyes.

I nodded and followed him over to the bag. He immediately stepped behind the bag and held onto it with both of his hands. As I grew a little closer to him, I could see the redness covering his knuckles from the punches he had thrown while showing us what to do.

I brought my hands up to my cheekbones and had my feet about shoulder width apart, the left one a small bit ahead of the right. I could hear all around me the thuds of peoples flesh against the punching bags and the heavy breaths coming from their mouths, but I quickly pushed all the distractions out of my mind as I had done with the knife throwing and focussed on where I was going to connect with.

"You know you're not going to be able to punch anything from over there... right?" Zack asked with an arched eyebrow and a wide smirk.

I gave him a quick glare before taking a step closer to the bag. Then when I was ready, I threw my right fist forward, as Zack had taught us. The impact of my skin hitting the hard bag sent a jolt up my arm, but it was nothing that I couldn't handle.

I brought my hands back up to my face and punched the bag again and again, all while I could feel Zack's judging eyes on me. Then on my tenth punch, Zack straightened back up to his full length and let go of the punching bag, walking around it to stand in front of me.

"After taking the punch," he grabbed my hands that were down by my side and brought them back up to just in front of my cheekbones, "bring them right back here. You keep dropping your hands after throwing the punch and leaving your face completely vulnerable."

I nodded my head and he let go of my hands, his smile fading away to a frown. My heartbeat thudded heavily against my chest as I continued to look up at him and I could see him thinking something over while he attacked the inside of his cheek with his teeth.

"I won't be able to sit with you at lunch later," he said eventually. "Alex and I still need to... work some things out."

"What kind of things?" I asked, hoping he would finally tell me something.

I could still hear everyone around us throwing their fists at the punching bags, but I ignored all of them and remained looking up at Zack.

He let out a breath as he looked over my shoulder before making eye contact with me again. "Alex is going to be training the next group."

My eyebrows immediately shot up. "Next group?"

Zack nodded his head, his hair bouncing with the movement. "Yeah, they will be arriving sometime before dinner."

"Today?"

He nodded his head again.

"How many are there?"

Zack shrugged. "I don't know. Around twenty, I think."

I had so many more questions to ask him, but he had turned away from me to speak out to the teens who were still punching the bags. Zack told them all to switch if they hadn't done that yet, and he watched them do as he said, before looking back at me. He then backed up to our punching bag and held onto it like he had done previously.

"Come on, but remember not to drop your hands."