This chapter is brought to us by none other than Isisnicole, who's no stranger to action when it comes to Richonne. She brings us day three of training, that has the team learning knife throwing skills to add to their arsenal of weaponry. Not only does the competition continue, we also find out how important it is to focus on the right thing when you need to hit your target.
Please be sure to check out her other works on her FF page.
-We're The Ones Who Write
Chapter 3: Sticking it to you
"Good Morning everyone. Today we are going to work on knife throwing. Michonne will be assisting me today. As you may all know guns are great at taking an enemy down, but they are noisy and bring extra attention that you don't want. So having a reliable knife on you can help save your life," Abraham's loud voice cut through the mornings light fog that blanketed the grounds of the practice field. Abraham paced in front of the still recovering group. The two days of grueling practice was already taking its toll on some. Aching muscles and sleep deprivation shone on everyone's faces. Tara was still running to the infirmary for every little ailment and flirting with Denise.
He paused his pacing directly in front of Michonne making steady eye contact with her as he continued "I'm going to let Michonne take the lead on this training and Sasha is going to be her helper. She is the most disciplined amongst you when it comes to handling a blade. So I want you to pay close attention and not muck this up," Abraham stepped away from the group as he called over his shoulder "Alright Michonne you're up."
Michonne pushed herself from her seated position and walked to the front of the group Sasha following. Her eyes swept across everyone's face and body postures making a mental note on who seemed open to the lesson and who would be a possible problem. She quickly found her problem student. Rick Grimes.
Rick was seated on top of the wooden picnic table his head bowed as he stares at his boots flicking bits of dirt off. Rick was a little miffed at the off-handed compliment Abraham gave to Michonne. The samurai sword strapped to her back did not automatically make her the Wikipedia of knives he thought inwardly. He quickly went over the countless times that his quick skills with his bowie knife got him and others out of a tight situation. Michonne loudly cleared her throat to draw his attention away from his well-worn brown boots.
"So the most important survival skill that we have learned to master for the most part is stealth. Being able to quickly to move from place to place quietly could mean the difference between you getting pinned in by a small group of walkers or easily sneaking past them."
Shane raises his hand "What does stealth have to do with knife throwing?" he scoffed.
"Your knife is your best weapon as you are retreating from a hostile situation. If you can take a walker out by stabbing it in the skull to avoid the noise of you lets say, firing a Python, then I highly recommend it." Michonnes eyes swept over everyone till she landed on Rick.
Rick looked up his mouth turned up into a smirk as he caught the not so subtle comment. Andrea placed her hand over her mouth to cover her giggle at the loaded diss. Rosita poked her in her side to shut her up.
"Burn," whispered Glenn to Noah who just smirked keeping his eyes focused on Michonne.
Michonne continued speaking her eyes leaving Ricks amused face. "Knives are also effective when dealing with other people. A knife thrown properly can immobilize a human threat quickly. Does that answer your question, Shane?" She narrowed her eyes at him daring him to challenge her.
Shane adjusted his stance as he nodded his head. Glenn leaned in as he whispered to him "I guess you just blew your chance."
"Shut your ass up," he said whispered through clenched teeth.
Rick shook his head at his friend's horrible attempt to impress Michonne, but he understood why. Michonne was quite an eyeful. Ricks' eyes traveled up and down her svelte form. Her pants hugging her supple bottom and her tank top covering her ample sized breasts. He tried to refocus his attention back on the lesson she was teaching. Michonne who was speaking about proper kill moves on a walker that won't cause your blade to get stuck. "Eyes, back or side of the head, are effective takedown spots for walker and you are less likely to lodge your blade." She demonstrated each move on an invisible walker. Her muscles tensing as she showed the amount of force necessary to lodge the blade effectively. Yeah, she was an eyeful, and he was drinking in every curve.
"The first thing we are going to work on is proper handling of a blade and strike movements. Like Abe said earlier Sasha is going to be helping with today's demonstration. I'm going to break everyone up into two teams. I will take one and Sasha the other but before we do that let's go over the basics."
"Grimes," she called. Rick brought his attention away from gawking at her firm buttocks and back to her face where Michonne was looking intently at him "Can you come up here please and demonstrate proper knife holding."
Stepping down from his position on the table Rick walked towards Michonne his eye remaining focus on her. He was so focused on her that he didn't see the small knife that she held in her hand. She placed her hand up to stop his determined march. She motioned downward with her eyes towards the sharp instrument that he almost impaled himself upon. Rick stared at the medium sized knife, his neck flushing slightly at the thought that he nearly injured himself by being cocky and careless. Michonne continued speaking her voice giving no indication of the possible mishap. She moved around him as if the short encounter didn't happen.
"Now the best way to hold your knife is with the blunted edge toward your palm. You will keep the pointed end against the base of your thumb and your thumb on the side of the blade. Proper hand position is crucial. We are going to have Rick demonstrate proper handling and release a few times. So make sure you are paying attention especially you, Andrea."
"What did I do?" exclaimed the blonde who not a moment ago was openly ogling at Rick's backside as he stood in his current spot on the field waiting. Michonne raised an eyebrow at Andrea's feigned offense.
"Rick go ahead throw the knife."
Rick twirled the fixed blade in his hand as he walked to the white chalk line drawn in the dirt. In front of him was a wooden planked target with a bullseye clumsily drawn into the center. Rick lined up his aim holding his right arm out straight, bringing his arm back he snapped his arm forward his body leaning into his throw. The blade sailed through the air and landed with a loud "thunk" before crashing to the ground.
Intakes of breaths followed by "ohhs" and "damn" could be heard from the spectators. Rick placed his hands on his hips and hung his head. Not willing to be made to look like an amateur Rick asked Michonne for another blade. Michonne pulled a second blade from her leg harness and handed it to him.
"There is no quick trick to knife throwing. It will require constant practice to perfect your stance and release," she announced to the onlookers as Rick lined up his next throw. Michonne turned quickly and threw two blades in rapid session each embedding deeply into the targets center marks. Rick gawked at the two impaled knives. He was not going to be outdone by Michonne and her fancy knives. Straightening his posture and fixing his shoulders back as he blurted out.
"I'm not used to throwing this types of blade. I can do that with my knife," her said patting his strapped Bowie knife.
"It's not about size, Rick."
"Sometimes it is."
Michonne tilted her head to the side a bit a small smirk on her lips "Well, please show us what your 'big' knife can do," she waved her arm out towards the target giving him the go-ahead to demonstrate what he can do with his knife.
Rick pulled his knife from the harness. The large Bowie knife glinted in the sunlight as Rick twisted it in his hand showing off the sharp edge and pristine condition.
"Now that's a knife," said Jerry in a horrible Australian accent that was a mix between cockney English and god knows what else. The atrocious accentuation earned Jerry a few groans from Glenn and Noah.
"What?" Jerry questioned.
"Well, I must say that is a big knife," Michonne jested.
"You damn right it is," Shane shouted. Michonne looked over her shoulder at Shane who was grinning in Michonne direction. Michonne rolled her eyes dramatically as she returned her focus back to Rick.
Glenn leaned into Shane whispering "Man, I think you need to just give up because you are just digging yourself a deeper hole. She's just not into you." Shane crossed his arms scoffing at Glenn's accurate but unwanted comment.
Michonne continued her challenging tone prickling at the back of Ricks neck. "…but do you really know how to use it." Rick half smiled at the apparent challenge that was being made.
"Let's have a little friendly competition. Michonne versus Rick," Sasha stated. Her voice breaking up the stare down between the two alpha figures.
"What does the winner get?" queried Rosita.
"Hopefully a moment in the dark with the big knife," muttered Andrea but her statement was a tad bit too loud, and she drew confused stares from Rosita, Sasha, and Tara.
"What did you say?" probed Rosita. Her eyebrows raised at the bold lustful statement the overly pushy blonde muttered.
Andrea face flushing at the slip of speaking her thought out loud "What?"
Ignoring Andrea's clear mistake, Rosita spoke again "Back to what I was asking. What does the winner get?"
"The winner and 'her' group get the dessert of the losing team," Sasha explained.
Shane picked up on the slight towards him and the other guys hurriedly interjected "Hold up. What do you mean "her"? Rick is going to spank that pretty behind of Michonne's with no problem."
Jerry sheepishly raised his hand as he expressed his current concern about the competition "Can I exclude myself from this because tonight's dessert is cobbler and I don't want to risk it. Sorry, Rick but it's peach cobbler man." Jerry knew how good Michonne was with a knife and that she could easily wipe the floor with Rick. Rick nodded his head understanding that Jerry would want to stick with his community when it came to this friendly wager.
"I have no problem with that. Do you?" Rick said.
"None whatsoever. When do we start?"
Sasha spoke up again "Let each person warm up for about 2 minutes before we start. Deal?"
Rick and Michonne each nodded their heads in agreement.
"Cool. You both have your own target to practice on," Sasha waved her hand out towards each target.
Michonne and Rick went to their separate spots in front of their targets. Realizing that her blades were still lodged in the other target, Michonne turned to retrieve them but she stopped when she saw Glenn retrieving her blades and happily jogging towards her and placing them in her hands. Michonne nodded her thanks, and Glenn hurried back to his spot next to Shane and Noah.
Shane hissed "Traitor."
"Hey don't talk to him like that," Maggie blurted, her eyes shooting daggers at Shane.
Shane held up his hands "My bad."
"Alright, your 2 minutes starts… Now," Sasha announced.
Ricks first throw lodged into the wooden target, but it was way off center.
"Come on man," Shane yelled throwing his hands up in frustration.
Rick was distracted by the rapid sound of Michonne's knives landing successfully in and around the target. He fought to keep his eyes on his own target and not look at hers. She had landed three successful throws to his one.
"Keep your head in the game man, don't let her psyche you out," Shane called out.
Rick relaunched his knife towards the target this landing hilt first and falling to the ground. Cursing under his breath, Rick brought his finger to the bridge of his nose squeezing the small pressure point tightly.
"Here let me help you. I don't want you to make it too easy for me," said Michonne her voiced parroting Ricks cool timbre from yesterday when he helped her with her aim "Your stance is all wrong, and it's causing your throw not to have enough force behind it."
Michonne took position behind Rick and began adjusting his leg stance and arm position. Making sure to grasp firmly along his muscular legs and arms. Taking her time sliding her hands along the parts of his body that she adjusted. Rick cleared his throat as his face lightly flushed and his skin tingled every time she touched or grasped him.
"Hey…Hey… she is cheating! She is getting my man all worked up. He won't be able to throw a damn thing straight with his wood leaning to the left," Shane boomed as he jumped from the table taking a few steps toward the pair till Glenn reached out grabbing him by his arm.
"Chill out man it's not that serious."
Rick inwardly groaned at his friend embarrassing him even if he was correct in his observation. The growing push in his pants was definitely going to be a distraction. Rick said a silent prayer of thanks for wearing his more constraining boxer briefs which were helping to keep his growing problem under wraps.
"I'm sure Rick can handle the… small adjustments I made," said Michonne. Her bright brown eyes glinting mischievously.
"Yeah. I can handle it."
"Good," she said as she sauntered back to her spot. Michonne was not using her womanly wiles to confused Rick, but his mind imagined that she was tossing her hips from side to side just for him.
He cleared his throat as he tried to will his mind to erase the mental image of Michonne's firm apple bottom shimmying in her tight pants. Rick took his position behind the line the target in his field of vision. He rolled his shoulders and neck loosening up the suddenly tense muscles. He was ready. Lining up his aim. His arm was straight and his knife was position in his hand ready to take flight. Rick pulled his back arm and launched it towards the target. He watched his blade sail through the air and embed itself into the wood a little off center but it was there and it held fast. Yes, his mind roared at his success but triumphant soon turned to a warm wetness and pain in his hand. Confused on why his hand was hurting Rick turned his left hand over to see the cause of his pain. A long and possibly deep cut to the center of his palm.
"Shit," he said as he sunk to his knees already applying pressure to the wound. The chaotic sound of everyone rushing to help him was drowned out by the pain.