Two days later
Wednesday
West Ridge
Josh has now healed enough for his training to start!
"You're gonna go easy on me, aren't you?" Josh asked, sounding worried.
I grinned at Josh, like a crocodile about to kill it's prey!
"Should I be worried?" Josh asked, looking at Chloe.
Chloe just grinned back, "Oh, yeah!"
"You two are so fucking evil!" Josh growled unhappily.
"It's why you love me!" Chloe said, blowing a kiss.
"Well I've led a short life, but an entertaining one!" Josh whined.
"Quit the whining, jeez!" I complained, before kicking out at Josh, aiming for his stronger left side. The bullets had hit him on his right side, so I was going to be nice, to start with...
"Oh no you bloody don't, bitch!" Josh said, smartly moving out of the way and swinging around in a fast roundhouse kick, which I dodged.
"That all you've got Brit boy!" Mindy growled.
"Just getting warmed up, Yank; expected more from you!"
"Cheeky little wanker!" I growled, impressed.
Josh then span around in a fast double roundhouse kick, which I tried to dodge, but then he changed the second roundhouse kick into a spinning hook kick. The kick caught me on the right shoulder, sending me spinning to the ground. The fucker tricked me!
"Good to see that you're not all talk!" I said, getting back to my feet. That kick hurt! Josh is actually quite good!
Josh kept up with my attacks, for the next ten minutes, before he started to tire and I noticed him gripping his right side.
I called a halt.
"You okay Josh?" I asked, concerned.
"Sorry, I don't want to sound like a wimp, but I think I need to sit down," Josh said and he was starting to look pale.
I got a vicious glare from Chloe!
Josh saw the glare too.
"Chloe I'm fine, I can look after myself, okay. Mindy's done nothing wrong, so cut that crap out, right now!" Josh said and Chloe looked a little embarrassed.
"Sorry, Mindy," Chloe said.
"Don't worry, I've not broken him!" I teased and Chloe blushed a little, but all the same, I was a bit worried about Josh.
The Farm
After lunch we headed up to The Farm, for a different form of training.
Kim was waiting for us when we arrived. I parked the SUV beside the barn and I opened the tailgate. Inside were four large, black cases and I handed one to Chloe and another to Kim.
"Okay! Show us what you two can do!" I said.
Chloe and Kim, placed the cases down on a table and opened them up.
Chloe let out a small squeal.
Kim just said, "Wow!"
Inside each case was a custom Oneida Kestrel compound bow. Each bow was flat black with black carbon fibre limbs. Also with each bow was a quiver of eight arrows.
"You two familiar with these?" I asked.
"Compound bows, yes, but not elite bows like these!" Kim said, picking one up and looking it over.
"Same as what Kim said!" Chloe replied, looking the other bow up and down, in awe.
Both Kim and Chloe then pulled out an arrow each and after a brief check of the mechanisms, sent the arrows down range, to a target at the opposite end of the barn. Both arrows impacted the target, with a solid bang and both Chloe and Kim had enormous grins on their faces!
"Damn, those are powerful weapons; those shots would have hurt!" I exclaimed.
"Okay Mindy, you've fired a cross-bow, right?" Chloe asked.
"Yeah, but this is very different," Mindy said.
"What about me?" Josh asked.
"You'd better not, not in your condition. Mindy stressed you too much earlier!" Chloe said, grinning at me.
Bitch!
"I'll give you a personal lesson when you're better!" Chloe promised, with an evil grin.
"Can't wait!" Josh said, blowing Chloe a kiss and making her blush.
"Talk about hormones!" I groaned.
"Okay, key parts of the compound bow: nocking point, peep sight, arrow rest and forward sight," Chloe explained, pointing to each part in turn. "Normally... Mindy pay attention!"
"Sorry!" I said, sheepishly; I'd been checking a text from Dave.
"Before I was so rudely interrupted... Normally we would use a 'release'; this helps prevent sore fingers and makes an accidental release more difficult. Now we will have our armoured gauntlets, which will protect our fingers and the release won't be compatible with combat. We have them, in the cases, so we can use them, if you wish," Chloe continued and showed how to strap on a release, to her wrist.
"Next: nocking the bow. A properly nocked arrow contacts the bow at only two points, the rest and the string. This ensures that at no point during the shooting process, does the arrow make contact with any other surface, which could send it off course. Begin by placing the arrow through the rest; in this case a 'biscuit' rest, for obvious reasons. This rest is most suitable as the arrow won't fall off, which benefits us. Next, take the arrow and rotate it so that the one off-coloured vane is facing upward. Press the nock firmly onto the bowstring in the centre of the string loop, until you hear a click. If the off-coloured vain is facing upward, the arrow is in the rest and the nock has 'clicked' onto the bowstring, the arrow is properly nocked."
"Stand roughly perpendicular to the target, though the exact angle isn't important, the stance is mostly determined by personal preference and any roughly perpendicular stance will work, as long as it is not extreme enough to cause the body to twist, during the shot. After a few shots, you'll settle into a natural stance that is comfortable for you... Hit Girl are you listening? Are you pissing me off on purpose?"
"I would never do that!" I said with an evil smirk.
"Yes you would, bitch! Now listen, or you aren't shooting a single fucking arrow!" Chloe ordered, angrily.
Okay, pushed too many buttons; I remember vividly what happened last time Chloe stood up to me!
"Okay, for those interested in learning... Place your non-dominant hand on the grip... Your other 'non-dominant' hand, Joshua, jeez! Your hand should be directly behind the grip so that there is no twist, when the bow is drawn. The hand is only there to support the weight of the bow and give the dominant hand the necessary resistance to draw the bow. Straighten your arm to put the bow into position for the draw," Chloe continued.
"Begin by clipping the release onto the string loop, directly behind the arrow, then pull back on the string. The bulk of the power should come from the muscles in your back. Additionally, make sure the bow grip is centred in your hand, with the force of the weight running straight back through your arm. Even a minimal amount of twisting can make the draw more difficult, and extreme twisting can cause injury. Once the bow is drawn, you will feel the amount of pressure that it takes to hold it, decrease. This is one of the major benefits of compound archery; at full draw, it only takes fifteen to twenty percent of the total draw weight, to hold the string back. That's good for wimps like Joshua!"
"Hey!" Josh moaned.
"You'll find that the nock naturally settles somewhere on your face. This is called your anchor point. Everybody's is different, so use what you feel is best. You might need to adjust it to look through the sight. Now another advantage of the compound bow is attachments. You have the optical sight, but we can also add a laser sight... Thought you'd like that Mindy! I assume you know how to aim and pull a trigger, Hit Girl?" Chloe finished, with an evil smirk. "See it's easy, even Hit Girl could manage it!"
"Evil little bitch!" I growled.
"Oh, I learned from the best!" Chloe said, grinning.
..._...
Twenty minutes later we had all embedded several arrows into the target. Josh only managed to send a couple of arrows down range, before he started to go pale again.
It was actually quite good fun. These bows could make damn good weapons! I needed to look into some proper arrows, I've already come across explosive tips, I want to see what else we can get together!
"Thanks Chloe, you're not a bad teacher!" I said.
"Thanks Mindy. I'm starting to respect my school teachers a lot more now! They put up with a hell of a lot of shit!" Chloe replied.
That evening
West Ridge
Marty was finishing his packing and moving to his apartment today. Kim was helping him and would be keeping him company tonight!
Mindy was arguing, after watching some eighties television.
"Absolutely not!" I said.
"It would be really cool!" Mindy whined.
"Not seeing it! You cannot paint Airwolf purple!" Marty exclaimed.
"Why not, that helicopter is so me!" Mindy insisted.
"Sometimes you're as nutty as squirrel shit, Mindy!" I groaned.
"That's not fair!" Mindy whined.
"You need a hand Marty? I need to find some sanity!" I begged.
"Cunt!" Mindy growled.
"No, I'll be fine, Speedy's loaded and Kim's waiting," Marty said. "I'll leave you with Little Miss Nutty!"
Marty got an evil glare, but Mindy still got up to give him a big hug.
"Thanks Marty, it's been great having you here. I hope your apartment is good for you, we'll come around one evening!" Mindy said.
..._...
"It won't be the same without him here," Mindy said, once Marty and Kim had left.
"At least he won''t be living in a mad house!" I said.
"You trying to say something!" Mindy asked, indignantly.
"Trying, no!" I said, laughing and Mindy scowled.
"Don't worry, we now have the house to ourselves!" I said, grabbing Mindy and she screamed as I threw her onto the couch.
I dived after her and we started kissing, while I pulled at her t-shirt; Sophia took one look, woofed and fled downstairs!