* * * * *
“So all of these places marked with grey have been invaded?” I ask touching the grey colored pins stuck in the globe. They’re covering most of all the countries completely. “What about the black pins?”
“The black pins are in areas we call the ‘blackout areas’. Those are the places where we haven’t been able to confirm.” Chris says pointing at different countries with black pins before stopping on North America. North America has black pins sticking out different cities in Arizona, California, and Nevada. All the other states have grey pins, including Oregon.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
I jump in my seat when the three thuds on the brick wall catch me off guard. Chris nods his head at Heather to open it. She moves to the door and pulls on the thick rope handles. It opens quickly, much easier than I had expected for someone with her skinny frame. Once Heather pulls the door inward Chad is standing there with a couple others. I recognize some who helped us fight against the looters.
“Chad, what is it?” Chad glares at me for a moment, before turning his attention to Chris.
“Your daughter, she’s asking for you.”
“You have a daughter here?” I ask curiously.
“Yes. Her name is Katie.” Chris replies. Turning his attention back to Chad, he says, “Tell her I will be there in a minute.”
Chad nods at the girl on his left side, motioning for her to go back up the tunnel. She nods back before spinning around on our heel. Her feet echo as she sprints away. When he looks back at us, he asks, “Sir, can we speak for a minute?”
Chris lets out a heavy sigh. His hands are covered in small age spots. Pressing them into the table, he stares down and grunts, “What is it Chad?”
“Are you sure we can trust these people?” He gives me the look of death as he speaks.
“Chad, a girl kicked your ass. Accept it and let it go.” Chris spits out and turns his attention back to the table. I chuckle at his response, my head staring down at the table. With my fingers reached out, I spin the globe in front of my face. There are so many grey areas. I stop on Libya, which has a black pin sticking out.
“She didn’t...” Chad begins to defend himself, but Chris cuts him off immediately.
“Make yourself useful and take them to the training room.” He says firmly.
Chad clenches his jaw shut tightly while looking at his Staff Sergeant silently. After a second, he mutters, “Yes, sir.” Shifting his eyes to us he says, “Follow me.”
We follow him out the door and up the dark tunnel. The sound of grunts and thumps echo in the empty hall when we pass a ladder leading up into a basement. I try to see what’s going on inside but it’s too high up without climbing the ladder. All I can see are people’s shadows while they run around inside. As we continue up the dark tunnel, we pass another open basement. The inside is set up like a firing range. The target boards seem to be from a gun range, or shop. Without any holes in the circular targets, I assume that no one has come in here yet. I stop for a second and poke my head inside; there’s no one here.
We walk towards the next open basement, hearing more grunts and thumps as we get closer. Following Chad into the well lit room, I can see people practicing hand to hand combat. There are four pairs training on different mats spread out in the large basement.
“This is the Training Room.” Chad calls out over the noise. “Here is where we practice hand to hand combat, work out, and prepare for battle.”
The people standing on the sidelines are talking amongst themselves as they focus on the fighters. A few of them cheer on the fighters in the center. They pay no attention to us walking through the room. We follow Chad to the back where a small gym has been set up. “You can work out here and practice fighting each other.” Chad looks at me and smiles, “Until you think you’re ready to try and take one of us on.”
“HA!” I laugh out, “You mean when you think you’re ready?”
“You blindsided me.” He says and steps up in my face. His cheeks become splotchy and bright red. Clenching both fists, his small biceps flex.
Travis instantly steps in between us. Huffing his chest, he pushes it into Chad’s. Before he can do anything more I pull him aside and say, “No I’ve got this.” My palm resting against his chest, I can feel his heart beating. It pumps hard and fast. I turn back to face Chad and ask, “You want another shot?” With a smirk, I tilt my head at the mats next to us. He stares back at me with a raised brow. I know he will accept my challenge when he grins from ear to ear.
“Hell yeah.” He laughs passing his gun off to the guy following him.
I hand my thigh holster with my lucky dagger back to Travis. I crack my knuckles and follow Chad to a mat where people are training. He stands above the fighting duo and demands, “Move. The new girl wants to see how we do it down here in the tunnels.”
As I step on the black wrestling mat, a “HA” escapes my mouth. I use the black hair tie on my wrist to wrap my long hair up in a bun.
“You done playing with your hair, Tinkerbelle?” Chad says, tauntingly.
“So it’s not enough to be a joke, you have to go and make them too?” I reply pulling my fists up to my face. “Let’s go, bartender.”
His crooked smile disappears instantly. He pulls his bony fists to his face, ready to fight. As his feet bounce from side to side, like a boxer, I think to myself how overdramatic he looks. When I chuckle at his form, he begins to shake in anger.
“Ready, go!” A girl’s voice yells out beside me.
He doesn’t waste any time. Trying to catch me off guard, he lunges forward at me. I dive and roll to the side away from him. His face plunges into the mat. As he struggles to get on his feet again, I hop back up. With a smile, I pull my fists to my chin. With his eyes locked in on me, his fist swings at my face. I drop to the floor; one leg bent the other extended out to the side. As he stumbles forward, I kick his legs out from underneath him. A loud thud echoes in the basement as his back slams into the mat.
I stand above him and joke, “Had enough?”
Without responding, he rips my legs out from underneath me. My head slams against the mat. As the world spins around me, I can see Travis and Cano standing at the edge. Their eyes are glued on me. On the other side, Chad jumps back up to his feet. When he pulls his clenched fists to his face, I roll backwards into a handstand and land on my feet. He storms at me with wild eyes. I use both arms to block my head from his blows as he throws punch after punch. His knuckles crack against my forearms before he finally kicks me in the stomach. I hunch over, holding my abdomen and gasp for air. He doesn’t stop though. He throws a knee up at my face, but I block the hit with my hands. I can hardly breathe as I stand tall. But I don’t let that stop me. I slam my body into his, tackling him to the floor. Straddling his chest, I punch him in the nose. I get a few good shots in before someone grabs me from behind; lifting me off him.
“Enough.” Travis says in my ear while he pulls me away from Chad, who is bleeding profusely from the nose.
“Come tell me when you’re ready to try again.” I say with a smirk. When I look down at my arms, I find the wounds on my wrists are bleeding. I hadn’t even felt it.
An eruption of laughter breaks out along with a few comments like “burn” and “ohh”. Chad gets to his feet, still covering his bloody nose. As his face begins to redden, he storms at me and shouts, “You bitch.”
“Chad!” I hear a man’s stern voice from the side. In the doorway is an older man with greying hair. Behind him, Chris stands with a girl around my age. She has a beautiful face, long dark hair, brown eyes, and light skin. There’s an obvious resemblance between her and Chris. She must be his daughter, Katie.
“Well done.” The man with the greying hair says while continuing clap. Everyone in the room stands tall, like they’re in the presence of a leader. As the room falls silent, he walks towards me with a smile.