Cracked Glass chapter 5

Now it's Ed's turn at telling the story!

Benny: This should be good. Just imagine what goes through his head every day...on second thought, don't.

Training is like preparing for war. As a famous guy whose name escapes me once said, "War is hell" and after the day I had, I could conclude that he was damn right.

The vampires told us to meet them in the nearby forest the next afternoon. That day was partly cloudy, quiet and chilly. I was glad that I had my jacket because I thought that a tornado was going to swallow us up.

The forest kind of freaked me out then because the part we were in had almost no trees and it looked like something out of Children of the Corn without the corn or the fields.

But Eddy looked at me weird and said "Oh, chill out, Lumpy. It's just the boring, old forest. Why would they want us here, of all places?"

That Ryder vampire came out of nowhere, almost like he was a ghost. I guess he could have been hiding behind the tree the whole time but we would have heard him or Conrad. Plus, he was wearing fatigues like the soldiers do in the war movies. Ryder wore a beige jacket over his green ones while Conrad had his a light gray. Ryder had his shirt unbuttoned and Conrad looked awful, like he did a all-nighter.

Ryder replied "We wanted you grunts here because this part of training is physical and somewhere rural, like a forest, seemed like an ideal training ground."

Double D responded with "It seems like we're in the Hunger Games. The forest, the military uniform and the outfits you told us all to wear."

The vampires gave us these clothes to wear. Our normal clothes went into bags and we put on these shirts and pants. Double D wore a red shirt with dark camouflage pants. Eddy wore a blue shirt with blue, baggy sweatpants. I wore a dark green shirt with green pants. We seemed more like people going to jail than three kids about to go through physical training.

I said "Yeah, it's weird. Why are you vampires making us dress like we're in Battle Royale?"

Ryder raised an eyebrow and asked "Let me guess. Ed is the movie buff?"

Eddy answered "Yep, that's our Ed and he's got a point. I get that we're gonna be running and climbing trees. But why have us wear this stuff?"

Conrad answered "We had you wear that for that reason. See, the other teams are going to be out here as well. So we're going to have a little competition to see how good you are physically."

That's when he unzipped this duffel bag he had and gave a weapon to all of us. Eddy got a BB gun, Double D got a dagger and I got a club. We were confused, a little curious and in Double D's case, scared. Why were these guys giving us weapons?

Our shock, confusion and horror must have shown on our faces because Ryder said "Calm down. You're going to have to fight with weapons. If it makes you feel any better or stronger, the other teams have weapons like those."

Eddy replied "As cool as this is, we have to fight other kids with these?"

Double D said "Ryder, excuse me but I'm a pacifist. How am I going to fight people? People, who have done nothing to me at that?"

Ryder answered "Yes, scammer, you do. Double D, I know you're a pacifist but in this world, it's hurt or be hurt. Those people are going to attack you or try. The least any of you can attempt to do is defend yourselves and fight back."

Double D looked like he wanted to say something but he just stayed quiet. But Eddy glared at Ryder.

Eddy sighed and said "Just tell me that these guys have worse weapons than we do. Like a frying pan or a tennis racquet."

Ryder and Conrad looked at each other before Conrad replied "Sorry but we can't make any promises. You guys got your weapons at random. The only thing nobody has is an actual gun. This is DA training, not a gang fight. We're trying to see how you fight, not watch you guys kill each other."

Double D asked "Pardon me but how long are we going to be out here?"

Conrad answered "You're all going to be out here in the forest until either one team or one member of a team is left or we call it off. In other words, if you want to go home before the weather gets worse, then you're going to have to bring your A-game."

Eddy sighed and said "We're so screwed."

An uncomfortable silence fell over all of us. We didn't know where the other teams were and all we had was a BB gun, a dagger, a club, our experience, our skill and the clothes on the back. But then a determined expression came across Eddy's face.

Eddy put the BB gun over his shoulders and across his back.

He said "You know what, if I'm going down, I sure as hell ain't going without a fight. What about you two?"

Double D put the dagger, handle up, in his pocket and nervously replied "Well, Eddy, I may be a pacifist but we do have to defend ourselves."

Eddy and Double D looked at me as I picked up my club and shouted "Ed is ready to fight the army brats!"

Ryder chuckled and said "Yep, they're determined, alright." before he handed us each a piece of paper. It was a map.

Ryder continued "Here's a map of the forest. Group 1 is in the north part of the forest. Group 2 is in the east part and Group 3 is in the west part. We're in the south part, of course. The signal is about to go off so I'd start running and set up camp."

I asked "Don't we have a base or something like that?"

Conrad answered "In a forest setting like this, camp is your base. Besides, the enemy doesn't have a base. Why should you? Anyway, good luck to the three of you."

The signal went off and it seemed like an alarm. We started running north and began to devise a plan as we were running.

We'd lay in hiding and wait for a group to come for us. Then we would take them out before we would head north and hide again. One of us would act as a false sacrifice and as the group surrounded him, the other two of us would attack then the third one would get up and we'd go on the offensive. For the final group, we might have to improvise.

We hid near a river. I lay down on the ground and out of sight while Eddy and Double D both hid behind two trees nearby. Group 1 were coming towards us but I didn't think they saw or heard us. Good thing, too. The one thing we didn't get as a replacement were shoes so we wore our own.

Eddy took a couple shots with his BB gun. The first shot had missed on purpose but the second hit one of Group 1's members, a red-haired girl with green eyes. She kind of reminded me of Sarah.

The girl looked around and said "Somebody's here."

I got up and charged at them. I managed to tackle one of them but this big guy tackled me. I threw him off of me and hit him in the stomach with my club. But I forgot about the girl that got hit with the BB gun. She snuck up behind me and wrapped a bike chain around my throat. I began to feel like I was choking.

The red haired girl said angrily "Now you're going to put down your club and surrender. Or else, breathing will be the last of your worries."

She stopped talking and the bike chain loosened before it was removed from my throat. I turned around and saw that Eddy had hit her with the butt of the BB gun.

I said "Thanks."

I really meant it. But we were the Eds and we were like a team. We helped each other. I probably would have done the same thing for Eddy or Double D.

Eddy replied "No problem, Lumpy. We're the Eds. We help each other out. Come on." before he and Double D started heading north.

We were stopped by a smirking, dark skinned man with dreadlocks. He had an axe in his left hand as he had an evil smile on his face.

He said "That's right. Stop running because I've got you now-"

Eddy shot him with the BB gun and I head butted him as he was still in shock. But I'll give him credit since he recovered fast. He punched me in the stomach really hard and then lifted his axe up.

Eddy shouted "Double D! Throw the dagger!"

Double D seemed hesitant to throw the dagger but then he noticed who the man was aiming for. Seeming a little less hesitant, he threw the dagger at the man's left shoulder.

The man shouted in pain before I got up and hit him three times with my club. He went down to the ground, unconscious and I got the dagger out of his shoulder and handed it to Double D. He grimaced at the blood while I patted his shoulder in sympathy. Double D wiped the blood on the man's T-shirt and headed north with the rest of us.

We heard a shout "We need four medics in the south part of the forest, near the river! Group 1 is out. Group 3 has 2 members left. Groups 2 and 4 have all 3 members left."

Eddy smirked as we got to a clearing in the central part of the forest.

Eddy looked over at Double D and said "You know what to do, Sockhead."

Double D reluctantly nodded in reply as he lay down as if he had been hit. Eddy and I hid in the nearby bushes and waited. Soon, our patience paid off. Group 3 surrounded Double D as we noticed one of them had a bow and arrow.

A girl with red braids said "Alright, we got another one. I say we cut him up this time.

The leader, a beige skinned girl with blond hair replied in a panicked way "Wait a minute. I don't see a wound on him. This is a trap!"

I thought "Damn. They just realized it. We have to be fast." as Eddy and I attacked.

Eddy hit the only guy with the butt of his BB gun while I hit the leader with the club. Double D got up and kicked the the guy in the stomach. The guy collapsed to the grass on his knees but we had no time to wince in sympathy. Definitely not when you consider that they were planning to kill us.

I aimed my club at the girl with red braids but then I looked at her. She was probably just a year older than us, at most. Plus, she was a girl. I couldn't kill her.

I said "Eddy, she's a girl. I can't hurt her. Sarah will find out and she'll tell Mom and Mom will tell Dad-"

Eddy interrupted as he replied with "Ed, Sarah's not here. She won't know. This girl planned to kill us and slice Sockhead to ribbons. We're not gonna kill her, just rough her up."

Double D noticed the girl was aiming her bow and arrow and shouted "Fellows! The bow!"

I hit her with the club as hard as I could. She had to be knocked out after that. I grabbed the bow and arrow and gave it to Double D.

We headed east to Group 2 as we heard another shout.

Someone shouted "We need four medics in the central part of the forest! Groups 1 and 3 are out. Group 2 has 2 members left. Group 4 has all 3 members left."

We were near Group 2's camp when Double D noticed that the fire was still going.

Double D said "Gentlemen, the fire is still going. They're still here."

Eddy replied "OK, something ain't right. Hold on to your weapon. If you see the slightest thing move and it isn't any of us, aim and attack."

That's when Group 2 attacked. One of them hit Double D with a club while the other one tackled Eddy. Eddy tried to grab his BB gun which was just a foot away but he didn't get the chance. He got knocked out.

Double D and I shouted in concern "Eddy!"

We heard a shout "We need a medic in the eastern part of the forest! Groups 1 and 3 are out. Groups 2 and 4 have 2 members left."

Double D hit one of the guys with an arrow while I hit the other one with my club. He groaned but then punched me in the gut. It hurt but it would take more than that to knock me out. I head butted him and took his weapon, a slingshot.

Unfortunately, the guy Double D was fighting was good at hand-to-hand combat. He swatted the bow and arrow out of Double D's hands. I picked up a rock and put it in the slingshot.

The guy said "You're toast, you little maggot. I'll get you down and then I just have to deal with your freak of a friend."

I aimed for his forehead and fired. He went down and Double D picked up his bow and arrow. Double D aimed at the guy who was now getting up. He fired and the guy went down for the second time.

We heard another shout "We need three medics in the eastern part of the forest. Groups 1, 2 and 3 are out. Group 4 has 2 members left. Group 4 wins the competition!"

Double D and I heard a truck behind us. Ryder and Conrad came out of the truck.

Double D asked "Is Eddy alright?"

Ryder answered with a relived look on his face "He's fine. He got knocked out for a little bit but he's OK now. Good job, guys. I think the other groups know who they're messing with now."

Double D asked "Speaking of the other groups, are they alright?"

Conrad answered "Most of them are OK, just unconscious or minor wounds. Only bad one was a kid in Group 2 who got slashed in the stomach by someone in Group 3. He's in the hospital now but he's excepted to recover."

We both sighed in relief, for the fact that Eddy was fine and that we didn't kill anybody. But Ryder had one point. Now the other groups knew who they were messing with.