The Unwanted

Chapter 13- Training Part 2

Chapter 13- Training Part 2

The snow floated weightlessly downward from the grey sky above, each flake swirling and dancing, as an icy wind carried it. The snow began piling up. It soon hugged the floor and piles of trash as it settled all around us. Our breath rose in visible puffs to join the darkened clouded sky. There was a freezing chill in the air that brought crispness to the leaves and numbing to our fingers until they ceased to bend properly, stiffened and frigid.

"You can't be serious." Anthony said, "shoot you?"

"Of course not," I replied. "I said to shoot at me. You'll be aiming for a can of soda near me."

"How can you be sure I won't hit you?" Anthony asked.

"I trust that creepy accuracy of yours," I said with a smile.

"How can you ask for my help then call me creepy!" He yelled jokingly as we both began to laugh.

Even in this situation you always make me smile. I absolutely won't let you or Emma be taken away from me.

"Let's do a test shot first," I said. "First you pump air into the bottle using the car pump, but make sure the tap is closed. Then place the nail in this slot and point the end of the pipe where you want the nail to go. Finally, you open the tap and the nail is fired off. The faster you open the tap, the faster the nail is fired out which also means the greater the recoil."

Anthony nodded in understanding.

"Alight, aim for the centre of this can," I said as I placed an empty Fanta can about 50 metres away from him, "you should probably start with a less powerful shot, so you can get used to it. When you're ready don't turn the tap too fast or completely open it. Take it slow."

His face tightened up as he began to show that same intense focus he had during the volleyball game. He began to slow down the pace of his breathing as he placed the butt of the gun to his shoulder.

"One,"

"Two,"

"Three." He counted.

He suddenly released the tap as fast as it could, to the maximum limit. The nail gun flew across the cold air at incredible speeds knocking over the can. We walked over towards the can, I was astonished he was even able to touch the can on his first try from that distance at full power. I picked up the can and saw...

He didn't just touch the can, he shot straight through the 'n' in 'Fanta'. He got it perfectly.

"You really are creepy," I said with a disgusted face.

"Don't look so grossed out!" He yelled sarcastically.

"I'm more surprised your gun was actually able to completely pierce it from this distance." Anthony said, "You're the weird one for being able to make something as powerful as that while improvising. Maybe you really could use this thing in the fight. Just as a threat."

"It was pumped up to the max which took several minutes," I explained, "and you turned it so fast you almost broke the trigger off. That was probably the fastest it could possibly go. A real gun wouldn't need that much start-up time or effort and would be able to pierce the can at twice that distance. This would be useless against those guys."

"Then what's your plan?" Anthony asked again.

"As I said before, training," I answered. "I'm going to catch the nail mid-air."

"Be serious," He said thinking I was joking. "It's getting cold out here. What your real plan?"

"I'm serious," I responded as I placed a piece of paper on a car about 50 metres away.

"You're not going to be able to catch that nail," he said in disbelief, "even if you are, how is that able to help you in a fight?"

"Have some faith," I answered, "aim for the paper. But try and make it little less powerful, I didn't think the gun would be that strong."

This training isn't about trying to win the fight. I can't learn to fight in less than a day. So, I'm not going to try. I'll focus on protecting what's important to me. If I can improve Zero-Tempo, then I can do that. I'll lose the battle to win the war.

I did my best to recreate the murder scene as I remembered it. I stood midway between Anthony and the paper, about the same positions Anthony, the shooter and I were before. Present Anthony representing the shooter and the piece of paper symbolising Anthony.

"Shoot it!" I yelled at Anthony when I was in position.

Zero-Tempo!

The nail whizzed through the air at a great speed. But nothing happened. Zero Tempo didn't work.

"What were you trying to do?" Anthony asked, "You just stood there."

"Sorry, can you do it again?" I pleaded as he got set up again.

"Shoot it!" I yelled again.

This time for sure. Zero-Tempo!

The nail whizzed passed me once again.

What is going on? Why won't Zero-Tempo work? Did I actually just imagine it? No. I'm sure it's real. Then why won't it work? My guess is when I used it before I was already warmed up with adrenaline pumping throughout my body. But I can't just hope that adrenaline would be flowing through me every time I want to use Zero-Tempo. What do I do? If I can't even find out how it works, how am I going to train? I need to be able to activate it at will.

Wait. The first time I experienced this day, Anthony described how he aims, it sounded very similar to when I use Zero-Tempo.

"Anthony," I said. "What is the first thing you think about when you're about to aim?"

"When I aim?" He replied. "The first thing I do isn't thinking. Thinking makes you get in your own way. My body already knows what it has to do, thinking would just slow it down and hinder the process. The most important thing is to get rid of any nervous or negative thoughts that make you doubt yourself."

"Is that why you were counting earlier?" I asked.

"Exactly," He responded as though I was his student that just got an answer right. "Once I count to 3, I do whatever I plan to do. It completely clears me of all negative thoughts. Once those are gone, that when I begin to think about things like air resistance, drag, weight, recoil and so on. But honestly, it's sometimes better to stop thinking altogether and just go off instinct. It's a lot faster and sometimes I don't have the time to be thinking about all that stuff."

So that's the trick. Removing negative thoughts.

"But." Anthony continued, "you probably shouldn't try and copy my counting thing. I don't think It would work for you. People relax in different ways. Just think of a unique way you relax."

My own unique way. I think I've got an idea.

"Do me a favour and reduce the strength of the gun to the lowest level," I requested, "It may seem uncool to start from such a low level but first I'm going to master it. Then I'll make it stronger."

"What are you talking about?" Anthony asked still confused, "What are you trying to do!"

"One more," I answered, "let me show it to you."

"Shoot it!" I shouted as I got back into position again.

I place my thumb below my other four fingers and squeezed until it made a releasing, light popping sound that sent calming chills around my body.

Once more! Zero-Tempo!