-John-

"You've got to be kidding me Adam!" Six sneers. "Is that really the best you can do?"

Adam lays flat on the basement floor wheezing. "I was—never good at-combat."

"Excuses, excuses. Come on, round two. We've got to toughen you up."

Adam pushes himself up and makes eye contact with me. I shrug and he turns away to make a proper fighting stance.

"No like this." Six moves over to Adam and re-positions his footing. "Alright."

"Ah!" Six charges and swings an arm at Adam's face. Adam quickly deflects it and takes a step back. Six lunges another fist and when Adam moves to block Six has changed hands and a blow lands right in the middle of his sternum. Ouch.

Adam takes a sharp intake of breath and prepares for another blow. Six charges again and swings fist over fist and arm after arm. Adam fakes right and is able to frog Six on the shoulder.

"Yeah!" Sam cheers.

It's been two weeks since we all packed into the van and headed West after a long long debate. We decided our best chance was to leave America all together, but remain close enough that if needed then we could cross the border in no time. We found an empty farm way out underneath El Paso, Texas, but inside Mexico. Right now the plan is to train like never before. All day long is drills, drills, drills. Taking one hour break and two thirty minute ones when we feel the need to do so to eat or drink. There isn't much water available and what there is, isn't exactly what you'd want to gulp down. Instead of worrying about water we use the blue cube and for groceries Six runs to market and picks up a few bags.

The area is secluded enough, but it just so happens that the farm we found sported a hatch underground where we do most of our training. If it weren't for Marina we would no doubt die from the heat. When it gets too hot she will activate her legacy and all is good. We were just about to wrap it up for the day after Adam got a little more time with the teacher.

With the right timing and exhorted force Adam surprises us all by flipping Six over his shoulder. She lands with a thud on the same dusty floor that Adam had just been dusting with his back not too long ago. Six doesn't miss a beat. She lifts and kicks the legs right out from under Adam.

"Oomph!" Dust scatters through the air like clouds.

"Almost Adam." She slaps him on the arm. "Keep practicing.:

Adam is breathing heavily, but not quite as heavily as he had at the start.

"Here Adam." I push off the installed counter and press the blue cube into his hand. "Thanks man."
Adam presses it to his lips for a solid minute before handing it to Six.

We finish a bit early so I take my sweet time hydrating. The past two weeks we have all hit it hard. Every possible moment is spent making us better, faster, and stronger. Adam ranked in skill right above Sarah and Sam, but in my opinion evenly with Marina. Which makes sense as she had spent basically 98% of her life untrained. Adam could have been a seriously hardcore fighter, but as he had admitted to me reluctantly, he had shirked off during most of his instruction as a mogadorian warrior.

By now the sun has begun to reach the end of its path, and the light outside dims. Around this time we gather for the last meal of the day and eat. After dinner we will gather in the basement and discuss plans and progress. After a long day of exensive training and evening of discussion we spend the rest of the night resting and reflecting. When the sun rises, we do it all over again.

Six unwraps the fabric from her hands and makes towards the door. "I'm gonna see if they need any help with dinner."

-Six-

I step through the old door and into the kitchen where Sarah and Marina look up from chopping.
"Hey Six." Sarah calls. "Finished with training Adam?"

"Yep." I say stepping over to a stool in the corner. "A lot of improvement there."

"That's fantastic. I hope I am getting better too, I feel like I am at least."

I appreciate Sarah's determination. "It takes time, but every session can only help."

A softened tomato rolls of the edge of the counter and I catch it with telekinesis.

"Thanks." Sarah murmurs.

Marina looks at the hovering tomato and then continues
to chop three skinny stalks of squash. One with her hand and the other two with telekinesis. We've been trying to push the limits of our legacies and doing multiple things at once is a good focus. I lift the tomato up into the air followed by a knife that I know Nine personally sharpens every night. Both hover and I focus on cutting it to square cuts. It might have been really difficult if I hadn't practiced this before with other items, but as I don't want to ruin a good meal I have to be extra careful. When I'm done I drop them into the bowl that Sarah is prepping a salad in.

I step over to Marina's side and watch her cut the squash into good slices.

"You've really mastered multitasking." I applaud her.

Marina pushes up the corner of her mouth in a bland half smile. "It's just cooking."

"For now, but it's good for concentration and flexibility."

"Yeah."

Lately, talking to Marina has not been the easiest thing. For the past two weeks she has shut us all out. Occasionally I think that she tries, but it's all clockwork like. I try to cheer her up without going overboard. I know we have all been down too, it's not just Marina. The only ones who have changed extremely is Nine and Marina. The rest of us are still the way we have always been, just more focused. Except for Four and I, no one has really opened up about their feelings. And So far, the only time Marina isn't contained is when we train. All day long she pushes herself and when we fight hand to hand she never holds back.

"I love squash." Sarah admits.

"It's definitely one of my top veggies." I say back.

"Yum, my mom used to make this salad for Thanksgiving." Sarah babbles. "She'd put strips of squash, zucchini, and bell peppers. Then she'd fill it with salad and sunflower seeds and top it with homemade ranch. So good."

I can see how much she misses her mom, it's too bad that it will be a long time before they see each other again.

"In Spain we had salad with every meal." Marina says quietly.

"Oh yeah?" I ask, hoping to stimulate more conversation.

"Yeah…I guess you could say I was kind of sick of it, until now when I am kinda hungry for anything."

"I understand." Sarah smiles wistfully. "Can't be too picky."

Marina half smiles. "Nope. Food is fuel right now. First chance we get though, I am all for some pizza."

I can't help, but smile. So grateful to see some life in Marina.

"I second that." I rub my stomach.

Marina half smiles, but the front door slams opens and Nine walks through. Marina's face is wiped blank and I think I notice her shoulders tensing. Is she mad at Nine?

"Salad again? No one is going to build muscle on plants." Nine snorts.

I roll my eyes. "Hell why don't you go shopping then?"

"Nah, I'm sure there are some coyotes near us."

Sarah's nose wrinkles in disgust. Maybe there was a time once when I would turn up my nose to coyote steak, but not today."

"Ready to work?" Nine shouts. The hot sun beats down on our shoulders and despite the cool air Marina is supplying it still hurts. Fortunately sunburns are healable so Marina and I wear tank tops while the boys go shirtless.

"Loser has to do suicide!" Nine calls to us as we stretch our legs. I groan quietly not wanting to be heard. Yes training hurt. Bad. But it's necessary and to complain about it is really stupid. I never have lost a race so far so I don't worry too much about suicide which is basically an extra hardcore workout with objects being thrown at you and Nine yelling.

"Go!"

The three of us bolt from behind a drawn line in the dirt. The whole run I have to worry about fighting for lead and jumping over natural obstacles like cactuses and rocks. Plus, I have to keep in mind Marina's unfair advantage. One of her legacies just so happen to be super speed similar to Nine's.

I keep that fact in mind, as well the fact that her legacy doesn't quite mean anything yet for me since as long as I am in front of Four I won't have to do suicides.

Something goes horribly wrong this time, but not for me.

Suddenly Marina goes down and we have to jump over her tumbling body. I slow down but Four doesn't. I feel bad but I know that regardless of what accident occurs, suicides are still going to someone. I pump my arms and hurry over the line drawn in the dirt marking the end. When I turn around Marina is sprinting after us but I notice she is walking in an injured way.

"Are you alright?" Four asks walking forward, hand extended to heal.

"Yeah." She grunts, bleeding from several areas, the worst is a small gash on her forearm.

"Way to go!" I pat her gently on the back. "Just getting back up like that."

"Yeah." Nine sneers. "You'll want to not trip during battle though, a little scrape is the least of your worries." He points to the gash on her forearm as if she was boo-hooing about it.

Marina narrows her eyes. "I-"

John makes a sound. "Marina—your leg!"

I hear John and Nine make a sound of disgust and for a second I don't want to look. When I look behind her the first thing I notice is three inches of a glass shard protruding out of the side of her leg. Blood has streamed and is pooling in his shoes. Marina reaches down and pulls it out without missing a beat- revealing two more inches. I feel nauseous at the sight.

"Here." John steps forward and places her hand over the gash. I feel a cool tingling and then nothing. Blood ceases to flow and the wound disappears.

"Thanks." Marina mutters shakily.

"Looks like it's suicide for you," Nine grins.

-Marina-

"Two hundred and twenty-eight, two hundred and twenty-nine!" Several voices count each pushup I manage. My arms are on fire but I keep going, I have to do five hundred. The first half is the easy part. Plus, pain is good. Pain helps me keep a clear mind and quite frankly...keep bad thoughts away.

"Two hundred and fifty!"

I breathe out shakily. Several items are chunked at me and without missing a beat I stop them all in mid- air.

"Two hundred and fifty-one!"

The more items tossed my way the more energy I burn up. Several objects from rocks to chairs are thrown my way. I hold them there and they shake in midair as I start to tire out.

"Four hundred and fifty-four!"

I hear something hit the ground, something I didn't see.

"Start over!" Nine yells.

Damn.

Finally I finish and I can barely see, my vision is blurry and my head throbs. Four has to help me to a sitting position.

"Here." He pushes the blue cube into my hands and I press it to my lips. Ice cold water fills my mouth and I gulp it quickly.

"Thanks." I breathe.

I am able to stand and I kind of wobble for a moment. I feel incredibly sick to my stomach and I think it has something to do with the heat. To cool off I drop the temperature and lift the bottom of my shirt to wipe the sweat off my brow.\

-Six-

"You let something drop." Nine reminds Marina. "What if that was a bomb, or a bullet. You or someone else could have gotten hurt or killed."

I feel like rolling my eyes but I mean—if we can't get it during training then how are we supposed to fare during real fights?

"Alright!" Nine calls to Adam, Malcolm, Sam, and Sarah. "It's your turn!"