A/N Another update! Let me know what you think.
The room paralysed as the Soldier walked through the doors of the combat room. He's finally back. Currently doing push ups, I got up from the floor and dusted my hands. Rolling his shoulders back with subtle movement, the Soldier took long strides and reached the middle of the room in a matter of seconds. I glanced behind his form, trying to see if there was anyone following in – there's nothing. That means only two things, Katlin is dead and I'd been right. Kindness did end up killing her.
Now that Katlin's gone, I noted that there's only fourteen left in the program. The numbers are dwindling and faster than I expected them to. We still have two months left, but graduation is getting increasingly closer. My gaze had lowered to the floor as I blanked out.
"Katya" snapping my head up at the growling voice, the Soldier had his grey eyes trained on me "Pay attention" I hadn't realised the other girls had lined up and Mira was now standing on one of the mats "Get into position. You'll be fighting today"
Nodding, I hurried in position and waited as the Soldier gave us a nod of his head. Ever since he'd stopped me from almost killing Mira, I couldn't help but hope for the chance to finally be able to finish it off. Through the last few days, Mira's been nothing but irritating me. She boasted about her target and the woman screamed.
Pulling my fist back, I went to hit her in the nose when she wrapped her thick fingers around my wrist. Raising my leg, I hit her in the side of the head while twisting out of her grip. Mira charged forward and knocked me to the ground with her heavy frame. Straddling me, she clutched my throat and I punched her in the ribs. Gasping in short breath, Mira closed her eyes in pain.
Grabbing her hair, I flipped our positions. The fight continued with swift blows from each of us as we both gained and lost the upper hand. Ending a decent half an hour later, I looked up at the Soldier. His cold eyes and posture is hard to read. Standing with his arms crossed, he stared at our bloodied forms. He signalled for us to get back in line as another pair of girls positioned themselves on the bloody mat.
Watching from the sidelines, the girls were vicious in their fights as we all ended up with bruises and cuts. Since training with the Soldier, we've become more aggressive and violent than usual. I don't believe it's a bad thing. Standing on one end of the blood streaked mat, the Soldier pointed to Abigail "You" he said while pointing his finger to the other side of the sparing mat "Come here"
Diverting from the line, Abigail walked past the Soldier to get to her side when he stuck his foot out. Tripping to land on her hands and knees, he delivered a swift punch to the side of her face. My eyes widened a fraction at the display. I wasn't expecting that and neither was Abigail. Since the day we were all introduced to him in the private training room, he'd never paired with us personally; let alone hit anyone. It's certainly a turn of events.
Kicking Abigail in the ribs, she had enough time to cough before he stomped on her back. We watched in the line as the girl cried and whimpered on the mat. Her sniffles and choked sobs echoed out "You two, take her to the Doctor" instructed the Soldier. Two girls emerged from the line to drag Abigail's body away "Katya" he called.
I took in a breath.
Keeping my distance as I went to the other side, I quickly got into a defensive position. Knowing the Soldier was going to attack at any moment, I tried to form a plan and be prepared. Lunging forward, I knocked his arm away as he reached for me. Taking a couple steps back, he'd covered the distance instantly and pulled out a knife from behind his back.
I frowned in confusion. This fight had just turned lethal very quickly. Missing the Missing the thrust of his arm as he went to stab me in the neck, I kicked him in the stomach. The Soldier grabbed my leg before I could pull away. Tugging me toward him, he plunged the knife into my thigh. Crying out, I muffled my screams as much as I could as he let go of me and took a step back; leaving the knife buried in my thigh.
Reaching down, I wrapped my fingers around the handle and pulled it out. The knife had gone in deep and blood trickled out of wound in a dream of red. Taking a deep breath, I twirled the knife in my hand and pushed past the throbbing pain. Even with my skill in knives and quick reflexes, the Soldier was quick as he managed to block of my attempts. It's starting to get frustrating. Anger boiled inside of me, spurred on by the pain in my leg.
In an attempt to stab the Soldier in the chest, he twisted the knife from my hand and slid the blade right between my ribs. Stumbling into his chest the knife went deeper and I sucked in shaky breath. I could only hope that he'd missed my vital organs. He couldn't be trying to kill me after saving my life all those weeks ago. But at this point in time, I wouldn't put it past him.
Tasting iron in my mouth, I looked down to see a few drops of blood dripping down the wound. I winced when he slowly slid the knife out of my body. Dropping to the ground, I stared up at the room with hazy vision. The bright L.E.D lights began to blur into one mass of white, and then nothing.
The first thing I saw after I opened my eyes is that I'm in a small room and lying in a hospital bed. An I.V stand stood next to me as it dripped fluids into my system. Looking around to the other side, I could see doctor Yossiv writing on his clipboard before glancing at the heart monitor "Doctor" I mumbled to get his attention. Startled, the balled man turned to smile as he saw me awake.
"Katya, you're awake. Good, good. I must go tell Krupin" before I could stop him, doctor Yossiv had fled the room and left the door open a sliver.
Finding the strength, I sat up and pulled off the heart monitor cords as well as the I.V in my arm. The sound of the monitor going flat had my skull pounding. Pushing over the machine, it landed with a loud crash and the sound stopped. Flicking off the blankets, I placed my legs over the side of the bed and gasped as a sharp pain took over me. It pinched in my ribs and on my thigh but I ignored it. I need to get out of this room.
Getting down from the bed, the floor is cold beneath my bare feet. Reaching the door way, I stumbled down the hallway and into the shower; leaning against the wall as I walked. I feel disgusting, as if there's dirt caked all over me. Turning on one of the showers, I took off the gown I'd been dressed in and sat on the tiled floor. The warm water rained down and the steamed enveloped me.
My eyes caught sight of the two white bandages, one wrapped around my ribs and the other around my calf. A small patch of blood seeped through the gauze and I winced. Reaching down, I unwrapped them to see I'd torn the black stitches beneath. Collecting some water in my hand I began to wash the blood away, but it wasn't any use. The more I wiped, the more blood began to flow. Giving up, I sat back against the wall. My thoughts and visioning became a little clouded. They must have given me drugs of some kind.
"You weren't supposed to leave. They'll be looking for you" came the familiar gruff voice. Looking up, the Solider stood leaning on the wall with his arms crossed. When did he get here?
"Get away from me" I don't want him anywhere near me. Memory told me that he did this.
"You tore your stitches. You need to go back" leaning up from the wall, he made quick steps toward me and turned the shower off. Shivering, the cold air had wisped past my damp skin and the comforting heat left my body.
"Just leave me alone. I can take care of myself" the Soldier squatted down in front of me and stared with his grey eyes. There still the cold steel that dared anyone to challenge him. Reaching forward to pick me up, my hand flew up and quickly slapped him in the face. The palm of my hand stung as it made contact with the metal mask. I winced and anger flared in me.
The Soldier gave a harsh glare at my sudden assault. His flesh hand reached forward to clutch and press my wounded leg. Whimpering, my hands wrapped around his hand as I tried to pry it away "I wasn't asking for your permission" he tightened his grip and the pain worsened as my whole leg seared.
"You're hurting me" I growled through clenched teeth. The Soldier's only making my wound worse. Letting go, he pulled leant in and picked me up from the tiled ground. He didn't care that I was wet or naked. The only thing he cared about was that I went back; whether I wanted to or not.
Taking me back to my room, Krupin and Yossiv were in a heated argument when they turned to see us. Krupin was first to speak "Soldier?"
"She ran away" he replied before placing me down on the bed. I clutched the blankets tighter to cover my exposed form.
He nodded "I'm glad you were able to find her" spoke Krupin as he looked at me "We were beginning to worry. You won't do it again" I didn't answer but turned my head away.
Lying in that same horrible bed, I'd been locked in the room so that it wouldn't be so easy for me to slip out again. Nearly a month had passed since the Soldier had stabbed me, and when I returned, he was nowhere to be seen. I found it odd how he'd suddenly disappear. Instead of being taught by our instructor, we were forced to train by ourselves and a handful of guards.
Growing suspicious of the Soldiers long absence, I'd asked doctor Yossiv on one of my recent visits to the medical bay. He'd told me that the Soldier was impaired until further noticed. I had little to no idea as to what that could have meant.
It was early in the morning when I'd been summoned to see doctor Krupin in his office again. I wondered if it was another mission, but it's too close to graduation for that. I'd have thought that it'd be an intelligent decision to keep the remainder of us girls together and monitored for our final weeks.
Approaching Krupin's office door, I knocked before entering. Sitting behind his desk, he looked up from a file of paper "Katya. You have another assignment"
"Its two weeks until graduation" I replied.
"I'm well aware of the date, but this task is very important and must be taken care of immediately" Krupin handed me a folder "Find this man and bring him back to the Facility, alive. This mission won't be like the last. Your target is skilled and intelligent. It'll take you the remainder of your two weeks until graduation. Of course, this isn't what we had planned, but I'm sure you'll manage. I know you're more than capable to complete graduation"
I hadn't opened the file yet. There was silence before I nodded my head "Yes Sir"