War Dog

Chapter 37

The rest of the afternoon passed by quickly. Ghost took the recruits into the large training room filled with mats and training equipment. He partnered them off with training knives and had them complete cloe quarter combat training. I watched Ghost carefully as he patrolled through the recruits. He didn't say anything, just made them nervous as his looming form hovers over them watching carefully. 

After watching each of them carefully he calls for a stop, each of the recruits humming in gratitude after sparring for nearly ten minutes. He points at one of the bigger recruits and I can scent the mix of relief from everyone else, these man's fear hitching up a notch. They'd all started out cocky this morning. assurance lacing through their every move. Ghosts uncanny silence and dark cold eyes had slowly warn them down. He didn't answer there questions. He didn't repeat instructions. If they didn't move quick enough his judgemental eyes landed upon them with a squint of dissatisfaction. I followed Ghosts lead, keeping quiet and watching. There eyes darted towards me with curiosity. The longer I stayed silent and by Ghosts side, arms crossed with a cool glare directed at anyone who stared too long, I could feel the discomfort racketing up second by second. 

The recruit stepped to Ghost, uncertainty rolling from him. Ghost stood facing the crowd of recruits. "You're all sloppy. Your footwork is slow, your guards are down and none of you can punch for shit." Ghost turned back towards the recruit he'd picked on. The man was putting on a facade of indifference as he faced off with Ghost. "Stance." Ghost barked. The man hopped into a typical martial arts stance I'd seen in the movie, hands up, foot back. I watched Ghost tear the man to shreds. 

"Your back foot is flat. Lift up the heel. More. Now bend both knees. You look like a fucking tree stuck to the ground. Turn your hips forward. Facing your opponent. You're opponent should be in front of you, not ninety degrees to the left. Shift your front foot wider. Wider! Dickhead, do you know what wider means? That's narrow you fuckwit." Ghost slammed his boot against the recruits ankle, sending his leg buckling underneath him. "Wider," he growled. When the recruit finally had his legs and hips in position Ghost started attacking his upper form. "Hands up, guarding your face." Ghost moved fast, a blur of speed as his hand struck out slamming the recruit in the center of the chest without warning. "Elbows in." The recruit stumbled backwards gasping for air at the surprise attack. Credit to him, he immediately got back into the position Ghost had been pushing him into.

The other recruits watched on, eyes wide as Ghost worked on their fellow recruit. The man now stood looking more naturally in a fighting stance. Ghost squared off against the man and the recruits watched eagerly. It wasn't them against Ghost and so they could relax. The recruit in front of Ghost however smelled of anxiety and fear. He'd felt Ghosts foot and hand already, but hadn't even seen the bigger man move. I moved in closer, the scent muffled through the mask I was wearing. I paused as Ghost noticed me, his own scent changing to warn me to stay back, and I moved back a step letting him know I'd noticed. I watched keenly as the recruit moved carefully around Ghost. He was keeping his footwork steady with a shuffle, keeping his knees slightly bent to keep himself stable. He stepped forward, impatience driving him forwards, arm outstretched aiming for Ghosts sternum only to find Ghosts solid arm diverting the punch away from his body with a slight twisting movement of his hips. 

The recruit stumbled, losing his footing. Ghost took the moment to sweep the recruits leg out from underneath him, leaving him to land face first into the floor. "Where did he go wrong?" Ghost snapped out. The recruits all looked at Ghost, but only one hesitantly raised his hand. "Yes?" Ghost snapped again, impatience in his voice clear.

"His footwork-"

"Wrong." The recruit shrank back like a wilted flower under Ghosts cold tone. 

After a moment of silence, Ghost turned to me with a cocked eyebrow. "Wolf?" He snapped, arms crossed as he waited for my response.