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A COUPLE WEEKS or so after my arrival- I didn't know for sure exactly how long I had been in Barracks 10- I had been fully emerged into the life of a soldier.
We followed the same strict schedule each day, consisting of hand to hand combat, P&D, shooting practice, field work, and hardly enough time to eat or sleep.
Not to mention, the lack of proper free time. If we got lucky (and Reznik decided not to be an ass), we got a small rest before and after dinner.
Nugget and I took full advantage of our free time each day, using it for some hand to hand combat practice (yes, more training). I looked forward to it each day, knowing I'd have a small moment of peace from Ringer's anger issues and Zombie's irritating nonchalance.
"Canary, you still haven't shown me how to do that punch that you did to Zombie," Nugget said, a small whine tinging his voice.
I gave him a slight smile. I'd been putting off teaching Nugget how to do the punch because I still didn't know how I had done it. The previous practices I had done with Nugget had mainly consisted of him teaching me how to do some push and side kicks.
"Um yes, ok," I said, pulling myself together.
Nugget's face lit up as he jumped up and down in excitement. "Yay!"
"So, before I punched Zombie, he threw me to the ground," I said, adding a light cough at the end. "Zombie kept me on the floor by holding me down with his body weight," I continued, "So this will be a good option when you can't resort to one of your awesome kicks."
Nugget nodded, concentrating on my words. "Yeah, I remember him holding down your legs," he said.
I nodded in agreement. "The punch I gave is what's called 'a right hook'," I said, recalling what Dumbo had called my punch after I'd asked him about it that first day. "It's very effective if you can throw your weight with it; In other words, you need to punch with as much strength as you can muster. By doing that, you can throw your opponent off balance."
"And that's why Zombie fell off you?" Nugget asked.
"Yes," I said, a wave of pride rushing over me again.
I wouldn't say it was my strength that had knocked Zombie off me. It was definitely more anger than anything.
I was still beyond pissed about the little incident we had had at the shooting range earlier on in my stay here. As a result, Zombie and I had barely talked. There had been a couple small exchanges but overall our relationship was nonexistent.
"Zombie's face was so funny!" Nugget said, laughter erupting from his tiny body.
"What's this about my face looking funny?"
I froze, my smile dissipating within seconds. Nugget and I had never been interrupted during one of our training sessions.
"Oh, Zombie! Do you remember when Canary punched you?! That was so awesome!" Nugget said excitedly.
