CHAPTER 2
Theo
I awoke in the middle of the night to use the bathroom; I’d only managed to reach the middle of the room when Stryker sat up in bed, his blade pulled out of its holster and held between us.
I startled, stopping to stare “it’s just me” I muttered uncertainly, kind of hoping I wouldn't get stabbed and that I hadn't been put in a room with a nut job.
Stryker lowered his knife a couple of inches but didn’t put it away.
“Sorry.” He offered.
Sorry? That's it? You wanted to stab me for going to the bathroom, mate.
My gaze didn’t leave Stryker’s weapon. “Do you always sleep with that?”
He offered a wry smile “you never know. People can get dragged out of their beds in the middle of the night.”
“Yeah but...we’re not at war or anything, so I-”
“You never know,” he repeated, finally tucking the blade back under his pillow.
I relaxed at that.
“Sorry for startling you, anyway.”
“I think I startled you,” I pointed out.
Stryker shrugged.
“Anyway, I was just going to the bathroom,” I explained awkwardly, waiting for my roommate’s stiff nod to continue on my way.
“John tell you about training tomorrow?” Stryker called after me.
I turned back “uh...no.”
“Well, we do. Have training tomorrow, I mean. Need to see what you’re made of.”
“Skin, bone, flesh, muscle-” I began listing cockily.
“Go to the bathroom.” Stryker cut me off with an eye-roll, lying back down.
I snorted.
The second I spotted Johnathan in the kitchen the next morning, I sucked in a breath and marched up to him.
“Theo! Good morning! How are you?” He asked with a wide smile when I stopped right in front of him.
“Stryker said I'm starting training today. Is that true?” I asked, voice wavering.
“Yes, we do like to get started straight away, especially since we’ll be leaving soon. You up for it?”
“Yeah. Yes, of course.” I replied, furrowing my brow, not feeling up for it at all.
“Brilliant, eat your breakfast, then we’ll see how we start.”
About an hour later, I was stood next to Stryker at the training fields, accompanied by Johnathan and a few other lads from the unit: Dean, Max and Nico.
We spent our time warming up by jogging around the grounds, then Johnathan sent Dean, Max and Nico to do their ‘usual exercise’ and led me and Stryker down a path leading towards a line of old trees.
There were a dozen small, pretty unused training arenas behind us, each of them surrounded by tall bushes that had probably once formed neatly trimmed fences.
Johnathan led us to one of the arenas, then clapped his hands together.
“Right then!” He said cheerily “today we’ll focus on basic close combat exercises so I can start planning on how to proceed with your training. So, Stryker will act like our average target. He’s unarmed and is coming at you, and you need to neutralise him.”
“Yes, sir,” I said, blinking at the wooden knifes I was handed, feeling a little disappointed.
“What...?”
“We don’t need anybody getting hurt.” Johnathan murmured “we’ll use real knifes when I know you won’t end up accidentally stabbing your partner.”
Stryker looked amused, gaze flickering to the scar on his arm to make a point.
I laughed softly, then shrugged, taking my stance and holding the fake knives up.
Johnathan stepped out of the way from between us, and Stryker didn’t waste a second before trying to bulldoze me to the ground, arms ready to grab me.
It became quickly apparent that Stryker was going easy on me.
Instincts kicking in, I brought my knives up in front of me and jumped at him to thrust them into his chest and lungs upon impact. We both ended up on the ground, him on top and me- surprise surprise- underneath, but had the knives been real and had he been my enemy then he’d have been dead.
Stryker let out a few coughs and rolled off me to let air into his lungs.
“You good, son?” Johnathan asked, clapping Stryker on the shoulder as I sat up.
“Yeah, good.” Stryker assured him, getting to his feet. Satisfied, Johnathan turned to me.
"Nicely done," he told me with a smile. "Let's try that again. Show me something different."
We faced each other once more. Johnathan told Stryker to rush at me the same way.
He shook his head, mumbling something about bruises, but did as he was told.
I didn't want to get tackled this time, so I brought my left hand to his right shoulder, packing all the strength I could muster with my knife ready, and stabbed Stryker hard on the side of his neck, sending him off balance while I used the momentum to get out of his way when he fell, groaning, to the ground. He was up as quickly as he’d gone down, tackling me.
I gave Stryker a little surprise by making a short dash at him, grabbing him by his arm and launching myself around him. Once Stryker was on his stomach on the ground, I tapped him on the back of his neck, right below his skull, with the other knife.
"And that's what I'm talking about!" Johnathan cheered.
"We neutralise them quick and easy, then move on."
"Thanks for not breaking my neck," Stryker grinned, chuckling.
"You're welcome," I said, patting his shoulder before getting off him.
“Now, Stryker, why don’t you give him a little taste?”
I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that, but Stryker sure did.
He shot Johnathan a grin, then gave me a split second to prepare myself before launching himself at me like he'd done the first time, attempting to tackle me. Trying to think fast, I decided my best option was to stab him in the heart and lungs like I’d done before.
It was not my best option. I wasn't sure if I'd even had an option.
Stryker made a sudden stop right when I was about to thrust my knives into him.
He used one hand to block my attack and grab my left arm to pull me to his right, then he pressed his free hand on my back while I dropped down on one knee, pushing me hard against his raised leg, clearing all air from my lungs.
It took me a moment to even understand what had happened. I could only lay there on all fours, partly on top of Stryker’s leg with his knee in my guts, like I was about to get spanked. Then I coughed hard and rolled onto my back on the grass, gasping for air.
"You good, partner?" Stryker asked, grinning at me. Asshole.
I wheezed as a reply.
Screw me... I really had some serious training to do.
Johnathan stepped forward so that he was next to us, and he peered at me carefully. "Hanging in there?" he asked.
"Yeah... Yeah..." I muttered between coughs. "Just need... a moment..."
“Take all the moments you need.” Stryker laughed brightly.
“Should we wrap up here?” Johnathan asked with a smile.
I glanced up at him, smiling sheepishly and offering a hopeful “yeah?”
Stryker offered his hand and pulled me to my feet with surprising ease.
“We can go for a walk through the training grounds, if you want.” He offered.
“Yeah, that sounds alright.” I breathed.
I wasn’t expecting Zeltron soldiers to be training too when I got there, and I rapidly recognised Matthew in the mix. We stood there for a while; they were fun to watch, and I was sure I’d never seen anyone fight as well as the men training.
“You were good” Stryker said after a moment, leaning against the fence that separated us from the grounds “for a beginner.”
“You think I'll ever be as good as you?” I asked.
Stryker gave a small grin in response “well...I’ve never been beaten in a sparring match before.”
“What, in the month you’ve been here?” I shot back sarcastically.
“Since I was five.” Stryker snorted “so as good as me? Doubt it. As good as them?” He nodded towards the men on the field “sure.”
“Someone’s humble.”
“I’m just answering your question.” Stryker shrugged nonchalantly.
He followed my gaze “you know him?”
I looked over at him, tearing my eyes away from Matthew who I hadn't even realised I'd been watching and who was sparring with some other young lad “sort of. Bumped into him last night.”
“You stunk of weed.”
I cleared my throat awkwardly, wincing.
“I’m just as bad, don’t worry about it.” Stryker grinned reassuringly.
I blinked in surprise- he didn’t seem the type.
“Is he?” Stryker asked.
I shook my head and laughed “he’d never smoked before I convinced him. Kept going on about how I wasn’t allowed weed here.”
Stryker snorted “we shouldn’t go out drinking either, but trust me, we do plenty of that.”
Without warning he jumped over the fence “lets go and say hi, then.”
I shrugged and followed along.
Almost as if they'd sensed our approach, both Matthew and the other lad turned to face us when we were only a few feet away. Matthew raised an eyebrow at the sight of me, then his gaze fell on Stryker.
“Hey.” He greeted us both slowly.
I raised my hand in greeting whilst Stryker ignored him “Hale, fancy seeing you again.”
The lad standing next to Matthew, who had more of a thicker build and darker features, let out a small snort “Aisen” he greeted “your nose better?”
“It’s fabulous, thanks for the concern.”
“You know each other?” Matthew asked skeptically.
“Little spat in the pub.” Stryker tilted his head.
“It was nothing.” Jack said dismissively at Matthew’s clearly disapproving expression.
“Hey, Matt, you the fun police or something?” I chortled, feeling the need to say something to the boy.
Matthew looked back at me “no” he remarked stiffly, as if he’d just been offended “what are you two doing coming over here anyway? We were in the middle of a match.”
“Theo was staring.” Stryker shrugged dismissively “and I recognised my fellow broken nose companion.”
“I wasn’t staring” I grumbled defensively “I was watching-”
“Whatever” Stryker cut me off dismissively, waving a hand. He eyed the weapon in Matthew’s hand “can we have a match?” He asked the lad “you looked good.”
“Sure.” Hale shrugged “Matt, pass it here.”
Matthew grumbled something under his breath and did as had been requested. Stryker’s eyes lit up.
“What’s crawled up your ass and died today?” I asked once Stryker and the Hale lad started sparring.
“Nothing.”
“You were much friendlier last night.”
“Yeah, well.”
“Did the weed freak you out? Or the shotgunning?”
Matthew screwed his nose up slightly “I just figured you’re a troublemaker.”
I was flattered.
“Nobody really follows the rules, Matt.” I sighed dramatically “loosen up. Stryker smokes weed too and he’s the prince.”
“Well that’s just brilliant for the future of your kingdom, a prince who does drugs and gets into fist fights with Jack at the pub.”
This was Jack, then.
“Seriously, what’s up with you?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
“Nothing.” Matthew shrugged.
I paused, wracking my brain for a reason why he'd suddenly be acting like this, then I grinned as it came to me “somebody caught you stinking of weed, didn’t they? You get in trouble? Is that why you’re in a strop?”
“I am not in a strop. And...yeah, maybe.”
“Relax, Matt. Nothing’ll happ-”
Jack suddenly yelped as he got slammed to the ground by Stryker, who laughed “well, you tried, mate.”
Jack grumbled something and took the hand he offered, allowing Stryker to pull him up.
“You want a round, Theo?” Stryker asked.
“What?”
“Sparring.”
“No, I’m good.”
“You did well earlier.” Stryker promised.
“Thanks.” I laughed softly, if a little doubtfully, “but no, I’m good.”
“What about shooting? You know how to shoot?”
“You new?” Jack interrupted.
I glanced at him “yeah, I’m-“
“Goodness, a rookie our age, Matt.”
My eyes narrowed at having been interrupted.
“So is he.” Matthew pointed at Stryker with a raised eyebrow.
Jack blinked a few times “no way.”
“Yes way.” Stryker snorted “but Johnny’s been training me my whole life, so-“
“You got beaten by a rookie, Jack.” Matthew teased, eyes bright with amusement.
Jack crossed his arms “atrocious.” He grumbled.
Stryker patted him on the back “don’t feel too bad about yourself. So, Theo? Shooting?”
“I’m alright at it.”
Matthew rolled his eyes, “I’ll spar with you.” He offered “and for the record, Zeltron has better training grounds.”
“We’ll be judging that in two days time.” Stryker retorted in a tone that suggested he didn’t agree.
“We’re not exactly staying in Zeltron long enough to-“
“Some of us are.” Stryker interrupted Jack “we’re getting picked, remember?”
“I’ll get picked.” Jack said stiffly “thank you very much.”
“To do what?” I interrupted. Why didn't I ever get told anything?
“Some of you lot are taking a ship straight to the eastern border. They’ve been finding burned down villages and need some trackers.” Matthew explained “I’m surprised they haven’t-“
“John hasn’t gone over anything yet.” Stryker muttered before he could finish “hasn’t had a chance to explain the situation to Theo, we have meetings for that.” He sounded defensive.
“You not good at tracking?” I asked after a moment, jumping at the opportunity to tease him, “not gonna get chosen?”
“Why’d you say that?”
“You said some of you lot.”
“He gets seasick.” Jack supplied boredly “he won’t be doing any sailing.”
“Thank you, Jack.” Matthew sighed sarcastically.
“The bodies are skinned.” Stryker added, diverting the topic and turning towards me, “some of them have had their skin literally peeled from their flesh.”
I screwed my nose up in disgust, a shiver going down my spine, and I saw Matthew shudder from the corner of my eye.
Jack grinned “yeah, I heard.”
“And what are we supposed to do?” I asked uncertainly.
“Try to find out who’s been doing it.”
I folded my arms “I’m not sure I’d be able to stomach a load of bodies with their skin peeled off their flesh, though.”
Stryker glanced at me whilst I was busy pulling a face “they’ll definitely pick you.”
“Why?” Panic spiked. As if I was ready for something like that.
“Because you’re a rookie and you need to learn.”
I groaned loudly “great.”
Matthew smiled sympathetically “sorry, mate.”
“Lucky me.” I cleared my throat, “I don’t feel like shooting right now.”
Stryker just laughed “I’ll be there too, don’t worry about it. I won’t make you do anything too gross.”
“Thanks.” I grumbled “now I feel loads better.” It was sarcastic, but I did. A little.
“You’re welcome.” Stryker grinned brightly “now, I recall Johnathan mentioning having to run through documents with you, if you’d like to get that out of the way. Lovely talking to you.” He added to Jack and Matthew with a grin “keep training, Jack, you’re getting there.”
“Ha ha ha.”