Chapter 13

A week passed, then another, as Abigail became more familiar with Wonderful. Undertaker was snooping around, and she'd cut him off at every turn, doing it with a smile. Her story had never changed, not once, and nobody knew anything about her, not really. The day after the bonfire incident, she began training and pushing herself, focusing on her upper body strength. Of course, she didn't neglect her job at the common house, so around 4 AM every morning she would get up to start training.

There was a workout facility with weights that were saved, mostly for men, and Abigail knew that's where she had to go in order to build upper body strength. She started out with a measly 20 pounds, doing reps, remembering how the soldiers did it in the DOV. Then, she added more weights after a week passed by, lifting 50 pounds now. Every morning it was the same routine along with every night. Amy had gotten her a long stick of sorts and began teaching her something called martial arts. It was an old-school style of self-defense and worked in a woman's favor. Abigail had nothing else to do, nobody to spend time with besides the girls, and focused all of her strength and energy on training.

By week three, Amy was impressed with how fast Abigail's ability to pick this up was and they began sparring with the sticks, crashing them together. "Watch your footwork!"

"I am!" Abigail went down as soon as she spoke, her focus still not at 100%, and landed on her back, breathing heavily. She had on just a black sports bra – Stephanie's idea for training – and black tight shorts with her black tennis shoes on.

"Again?"

Abigail nodded, a smirk curving her lips. "Yeah, again."

"I'll take over." He had been amused, watching, and she did not have the footwork down at all. Abigail was applying herself, that was for sure, but… this art wasn't something one just 'picked up', even Amy was still training to reach the next skill level. Taker took Amy's bo-staff, eyeing it, and then ran his hands over it, lengthening it for his size. "Your staff is a bo-staff." He informed Abigail, today sporting auburn hair and a mustache/goatee combo, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans and his boots. "And what she's been teaching you is a martial art known as Bojutsu."

Why did he want to train with her? Taker had kept his distance, mostly, for the past week, after she reiterated the same story to him about her arrival the previous week. He didn't believe her, she could see and sense it.

"Bojutsu, okay…" Abigail gripped her own staff, stick, whatever it was called, and they began circling each other. "You're going to hand me my ass, I already know that, Undertaker." But she wouldn't go down without a fight as their staffs began to clash and she hit the ground again. "Damn it, why can't I get the footwork down?" He extended his hand and she took it, feeling him pull her up with ease. Her body was already coated in a fine sheen of sweat, her black hair pulled up in a messy bun on top of her head instead of in its usual braid.

He had stayed away from her for several reasons. One, he was a busy man and a single woman wasn't more important than the collective whole. Two, she was hiding something from him, from them. While that wasn't unusual, because a lot of people had their secrets, their demons, it was annoying the piss out of him because she wasn't… like others; she intrigued him. Taker wasn't really alright with that.

"You really don't know why you can't get the footwork down?" He asked curiously, raising his bo-staff again. When she shook her head, he was suddenly in her space and she went down again. "You're relying too much on your staff to keep people away."

"Okay…"

When he ordered her to go again, Abigail obliged and tried taking his advice, allowing her body to control the way the staff moved. This was also spiritual, according to Amy, though Abigail didn't know if she believed that. To her, there was no god, not with the way Vesperia was these days. Down she went again, groaning while staring up at the slightly cloudy sky. Taker reached down to take her hand, pulling her up again to her feet.

"Thanks. By the way, I did what you said, or advised, I guess. Worked on my upper body strength and I think I'm getting stronger." Maybe. Hopefully.

"You are." She was starting to develop muscles actually and he hoped she knew when to stop or else she would have very grotesque-looking arms. He rather liked her arms the way they were, his emerald green eyes raking over her thoughtfully before snapping back to attention. His distraction cost him when Abigail lunged forward and knocked her bo-staff against his knees. Taker started to buckle, stepping back a few paces and managed to keep himself up. Knees on a big man, smart woman. He would also not be checking her out again, while she was holding a weapon, and flashed her a grin.

"All right again, darlin'." Staff was up.

While he checked her out, she gave him a scan of her own, though she wasn't as blatant as him. Abigail didn't know how to feel about that; she had noticed a twinkle in his eyes and it made her smile, butterflies erupting in her stomach. Why did she feel a strong connection with him? She felt like a magnet being sucked in by his forcefield and she was powerless to stop it. Her distraction cost her a shot to the arm, making her drop her staff before being tripped as she landed on her back again.

"Will you teach me the footwork?"

Amy wasn't able to do it, but maybe Taker could as he helped her up again, midnight blue on emerald green. Abigail didn't realize she'd rested her hand against his sweaty bare chest, holding her staff with the other or how close they were now. What were these sensations she felt, this heat? Abigail hadn't felt remotely anything close to this with Bray in all their make-out sessions.

Taker wasn't entirely sure what he was doing, or what he was feeling himself. He had been in love, once, and she had… well, she had been murdered. DOV, of course, same story as many others, like Melina, which was why he had empathized with her so much. Except he didn't have any children, they had talked about it of course, but… they hadn't. She had gone down fighting, refusing to be taken for breeding, and he had been fighting to get to her. It had been in the early days before he knew the extent of his magical abilities. He would never make that mistake again.

"Yes." He answered quietly, not moving because then she might pull away and he was rather enjoying this.

Why did it suddenly feel like an inferno had sparked inside of her? It was hot outside, but she felt as if she'd been doused in fire. Did a simple touch really cause this much intensity? Apparently so. Did he feel the same way she did at that moment, like his entire body had been engulfed in flames? Abigail sincerely hoped so and felt her heart rate kick up a notch at the color his eyes gave.

Suddenly, she wondered if he'd use magic on her the same way he had a few weeks ago to eat with him. Was he forcing her to feel this way or was this all of her? Would he be that sneaky? The Chet thing came to mind. Instead of pulling her hand away, she took a chance and slid it a little more to her right – his left – over his heart. Sure enough, it was pounding like a beating drum against his chest and it made her brows furrow in wonder.

"Hey, you two, enough with the fuckin' goo-goo eyes, we got work!"

Steve was still holding a grudge, all these weeks later, over the penis thing… sighing, Taker pulled away from her. "Tomorrow, you're coming with me on a run outside the gates." He informed her, reaching down to brush a strand of her ebony hair out of her face. "Bright and early, I will clear it for you with Stephanie." And then he realized, he probably should have asked and not told, clearing his throat. "If… you want too." A little better.

"Will it be you or…Chet?" Abigail remarked softly, smiling when he rolled his eyes and giggled, nodding. "Just us?" He affirmed with a nod. "Alright, I suppose I can keep you company for a while, Taker."

Winking, she walked past him and jogged off to go help with dinner, knowing she was late because of Undertaker…again. Damn him and his distractions! Or being a distraction! Why did he want to spend the day with her alone? The thought both alarmed and excited her all at the same time.

"I'm here, I'm here!"

"Geez, cutting it a little close, don't you think, Abbie?"

"Get in the kitchen and get started. You already know what we're having tonight." Each day was a designated set menu, so they knew exactly what rations they had and what they needed on the excursions.

"Sorry." Abigail mumbled, rushing past Stephanie and began cooking.


"Thought you didn't trust her?"

"How am I supposed to trust her if I don't know her?"

"Since when do you care?"

"Man, can't we just use magic?"

Johnny didn't give a fuck who or what Taker was doing or trusted, he just wanted to get the job done. They had been experimenting with that solar power stuff since Spring, and so far, it was working. It was Jeff and Matt's design, these storage things for winter and, since those weirdos were also kind of brainy, they were trying it. But that also meant installing more of these damn solar panels.

"Hard work is good for you, man!" Jeff laughed wholeheartedly. "I like Abbie, she's pretty neat." He also thought she'd be good for Taker. Jeff was an eccentric, sometimes kooky, sometimes overly romantic, brainiac.


"So, why did Amy come back from training early, but you didn't?" Stephanie asked, observing Abigail kneading the dough she had spent a great deal of time on for the rolls for dinner. Amy already told her why, but she wanted to see if Abigail would tell her the truth.

"Undertaker intervened and wanted to take over for her." Abigail couldn't stop the smile stretching across her face whenever she said his name – or at least, that's what he called himself around everyone. "What is that look for?"

"You like him, don't you?"

"No, of course not!" That was a big fat lie and it was horribly done. "I mean…"

"Don't try denying it, girl. I know that look, believe me." Stephanie assured her with a smile, though it faded a little. "Abbie, he's had it rough. I know you have too, we all have, but…just be careful. Don't hurt him. He means a lot to us."

"Have you seen that man? There's no way I'd ever be able to…" Then she stopped, understanding what Stephanie was actually saying and felt her cheeks flare-up. "He doesn't think of me that way, so you have no worries. He wants to take me out with him tomorrow, just us, but…" Oh god, was this a date?! "Oh shit…"

"Yeah, oh shit. Look, we like you, but we love him, and we need him. For as big a bastard as he can be, and as weird as he is, we really need him." Stephanie's hands dropped to her stomach, which was beginning to show. "Of course, if he messes you around, we'll beat the magic right out of him." She added with a smile, letting Abigail know if Taker screwed up, they had her back. If Abigail screwed up though, they were going to have to bake her into meat pies. "So… you need a special outfit?"

"N-No…no I'm not going."

Stephanie was absolutely right. What the hell was she thinking?! This was no time to go on a date or have any kind of romance! They were at WAR and Bray would be here before she knew it. Abigail still hadn't told Undertaker who she really was and why she was here either.

"It's stupid and I'm stupid for even considering it. I'll tell him when I bring him his dinner tonight."

Bad idea, such a bad idea! She was a VIRGIN for fuck's sake and he'd lost the love of his life because of the DOV! That cemented her decision not to go; he would have to understand and if he didn't, well…better safe than sorry.

"First batch in!"

"You're not taking him his supper anymore, Abbie." Stephanie said, shaking her head when Abigail looked at her. "Nope. One, we have a new guy who wandered in, and Taker likes to rotate out the people coming in with his meal."

Anybody who was out to kill him might try poisoning him. Not only was he getting to know the new person, but he was also seeing if they were trustworthy. He had been poisoned two times so far.

"And two… if you're bailing on him, when he goes out tomorrow on a run, after he specifically invited you, you have no business being in that tower." Cause… why torture the guy?

"Okay, sounds good."

Less contact with Taker, the better. Abigail could not get distracted right now and continued cooking, alongside Stephanie and Amy. She had a feeling Stephanie was upset with her, but she'd have to get over it. It hurt her to make this decision, but at the same time, it was for the best. Once dinner was done and served to everyone, Abigail began doing dishes, trying to keep herself busy. Usually, she would stop and take a break to eat dinner, but not tonight.

Her stomach was in knots because she knew Bray wouldn't wait much longer and she had to act soon. Not tonight, but soon. Hell, Bray hadn't given her a time limit and, ever since she'd been here, there wasn't ONE problem or altercation with the DOV. It was because of her... because he didn't want her to get hurt and he was protecting her. Then her thoughts turned to the new guy that came into town…Abigail hoped Bray hadn't sent another one of his men in here or she was screwed.

Taker survived the night, no poison or poison attempt, which was great because the last two times had sucked. They had been fast-acting poisons and he was pretty sure the only reason he was still alive was because of his brother's magic. He really did owe everything to his deceased little brother and, hopefully, one day in the far future, he'd be able to thank him properly in the beyond.