3.4
With the arrival of evening, Eve and I headed out for another training session. It had been an unusually cool day, and I could even see my breath as we left the tent behind us, proceeding on into the darkening forest. But I noticed something strange.
"Did you forget the bag?" I asked her.
"No," she replied, as if offended. "I wouldn't forget something like that."
"Then why don't you have it?"
She fixed her familiar cold stare on me and declared, "Don't need it."
She must be expecting some gratitude from me, I concluded. After all, she'd been going out of her way to help.
But it wouldn't hurt to prod just a little more. "Why not?"
"Because we're fighting with our hands today," she replied.
I cocked my head. "Our hands? But that's not fair, is it? I mean, I have some experience… and on top of that, I consumed that element."
She narrowed her eyes and retorted, "You're either sexist or grossly overestimating yourself."
I met her glare and said, "Huh? It only makes sense that I'm stronger than you."
"Then we'll just have to see if you're as good as you say you are."
"Never said I was good," I muttered.
"So you don't think you're good, but you think you would easily beat me? Then you must be sexist."
Ah, she heard that? I wondered how I would get out of this one.
"Well," I replied carefully, "maybe I did speak a little too soon."
"I would say so." There was a hard expression on her face.
This time, we stopped at a completely unremarkable part of the forest–no massive trees or ominous power.
Eve turned to face me. "Here are the rules: anything goes, except you can't hit my face or neck. But I can do whatever I want."
"Fair enough," I agreed, doing some arm circles to warm up.
I cracked my knuckles. Based on her confidence, I was guessing that she was pretty good.
"Alright," she said. "Go."
I preferred to wait for my opponent to make a move and then counter, but after our conversation earlier, my pride told me that I needed to step forward first.
I lunged at her, figuring that I would do the simple thing and see what kind of response she could come up with.
Although I shot an arm towards her shoulder at full speed, my fingers clenched on nothing. She'd slid to the ground beneath me, and I clenched my abs instinctively, bracing for impact.
She drove her toe directly into my stomach, just beneath my ribcage. Her boot was stiff, and it hit hard. I coughed, struggling to find any air.
She'd exceeded my expectations, but it wouldn't be enough. Still airborne, I extended my right foot out in front of me, and as I landed on it, I shifted all my momentum back in the other direction and contorted my body, reaching for her as she tried to slip away from under me.
Only just, my fingers found the fabric of her hood and I wrenched her back, securing her in a chokehold. She tapped my arm, and I let her go.
Turning to face me again, she said, "I got you."
"Yeah," I admitted. "Sorry I underestimated you."
"Round two," she announced, putting her hands up, her fierce eyes glaring at me from between her forearms.
The sun crept well below the horizon as we fought round after round. Eve was incredible when it came to technique in martial arts and self-defense, and she taught me a few of the basic ideas as we went.
When we finally accepted that it was too dark to continue, we called it a day and walked side by side through the dark forest.
As soon as we'd set out, she asked, "I can tell you know what you're doing, but you fight so roughly. How'd you learn?"
I hesitated.
Should I tell her the truth? I wondered. There was no reason not to.
"I grew up in a gang-ridden city," I replied steadily, although something was shaking deep within me. "I got into trouble with guys like that all the time, so I had no choice."
She raised her eyebrows in surprise when she heard this. "Oh? So you're not actually from Hoodsdale? And a gang-ridden city… that would have to be Russon, right?"
"Yeah," I confirmed with a nod. "I sorta lived on the edge between the south side and the north side–right in the middle of the conflict."
"Wow. So how'd you get into Hoodsdale?" she questioned. "Security is tight, isn't it?"
I recalled staring at the exterior of the high, wire-topped wall. My fears had been outweighed by hunger and thirst–and pain.
"I pretty much just begged at the gate and they let me in."
We continued in dark silence, so dark that I couldn't take my eyes off the ground for fear of tripping on a rock. The soft sounds of our footsteps were immediately swallowed by the forest–nothing else could be heard.
Eve's voice cut into the night. "I guess I won't ask you anything else."
– – – – –
Like any other day, we packed up early and began our hike, but I noticed something odd about Blake's posture. He seemed stiffer than usual, and he whispered something to Nikki a few times as we walked.
Our pace was also unusually fast, so, thinking we were trying to cover a lot of ground, I was surprised when, early in the afternoon, Blake stopped and said we wouldn't go any farther.
Just gotta listen to orders, I reminded myself. It was kind of a relief, being able to leave everything to someone else.
As per usual, Eve and I left together, but this time, since she'd been digging into my personal life, I thought it would be only fair to dig into hers.
The silence was harder to break than I'd expected, but I eventually managed, "Hey, Eve, you seem even younger than I am, so why are you out here?"
Her shoulders tensed, and she briefly shot a glance in my direction. I could tell that she was going to say something.
Finally, her response was, "I don't want to talk about it."
Oh well, I thought, never having expected anything in the first place.
"Wait," she said with some urgency.
"What?" Thinking we were in danger, I swiveled my head on high alert, checking our surroundings.
"O-oh, no. I-I didn't mean that."
I stared at her downturned eyes and rounded shoulders in wonder.
She continued, "I-I was living in a foster facility… when I ran off." Her voice was shaky, and her words certainly weren't coming out easily.
She took a deep breath. "I was separated from my mom, but I think she's… she's still out there, somewhere. I came here because I want to save her."
She wants to help her mom? I hadn't realized she was capable of that sort of empathy.
"...And I'm not that young."
"What was that?" I asked. She'd whispered something, but I hadn't quite caught the words.
She jumped in surprise, as if she'd been physically struck, and muttered, "O-oh. Nevermind."