The Fortress

Chapter 7 - Training day

IT WAS NOT difficult locating the tavern as Sarah could remember Riley's Bar like it was yesterday.

It was where she had her first kiss as a teenager, a feeling that still made her knees week. The outer view of the bar had not changed much from the years past. Although, it looked smaller than she could remember, she wondered if the interior of the bar was still the same picture she had in her head from years ago. She kept scanning the bar as she crossed to the other side of the road.

"Oops, sorry," She let out as she almost bumped into an old lady with a bag of groceries.

Just a few more steps, she could tell where the accident involving Ian and his family had occured. She lowered to the ground inspecting the floors as if she could feel something beneath the hard tar floors. She slowly let her palm reach for the surface of the earth. As she came in contact with it, she transitted. But, this time, it came in flashes.

She saw a male paramedic checking Ian's pulse and declaring him dead after the rest of his dead family had been bagged and put into the ambulance.

Almost immediately, she plunged into another transition that came in flashes just like the one before. She saw Ian escaping the hospital after breaking out of the morgue in the dead of the night.

It dawned on her that the robber was Ian and he wasn't dead. In split seconds, she was driving as fast as she could to Ian's already abandoned campervan at the outskirts of the city.

Sarah could tell that the campervan had been abandoned. She got into the campervan and started combing through every nook and cranny of the van wishing she would see something that could help her find more clues.

"I found it. Over here," A voice yelled from a close distance. She paused and her face flitted to the damaged door where the voice was coming from. She listened carefully and heard few steps approaching. As quick and discreetly as she could, she crawled to the window of the van, peeked and realized they were two policemen, dressed in their blue and black uniform with their badges at the right side of their chest. One had a gun strapped to his waist.

"Oh God!" She muttered under her breath. Several thoughts ran through her mind. She felt escaping will be impossible and opted for what she felt was best, she hopped out of the campervan.

"Good day sirs," She squeaked as soon as she was out of the campervan. The police men were startled like they were not expecting to find anyone in the campervan, most especially a lady.

"Good day miss, who are you and what are you doing here?" The policeman with a gun strapped to his waist grunted. He was a plus sized man with tints of grey hair and a completely dark moustache accompanied with tiny strands of hair at the end of his jaw.

"My car broke down and I saw this abandoned campervan and thought I should just rest my head here a little bit."

"Where's your car?" The police man grunted again with disbelief written all over his face.

"It's over there," She pointed to a distance.

"Would you mind if check it for ya?"

"No, you don't have to, it was just...uhm..overheating. yeah, that's the word. It should be cool now," She tittered and scooted to her car. She heaved a sigh of relief as she got into her car. The policemen were out of sight so she figured they were probably ransacking the campervan.

The first thing that crossed Sarah's mind as soon as she stepped foot into her house was her blog. She walked majestically to her room and punched her laptop keys few times and realized her writing on the extraordinaries had acquired about four hundred thousand reads in just five hours of release and a total estimation of one hundred thousand comments. She was shocked. She never expected it. She scrolled through the comments and some were in support of the extraordinaries, some of them opposed the extraordinaries and opted that they should be jailed or killed while some felt the extraordinaries was a form of human evolution. There were several opinions from different people probably all over the globe. But, it was a good thing she was anonymous as a blog writer. She shut down her laptop and headed to the living room to watch television and eat burgers while relaxing on her couch.

"What are we doing here?" Evan asked as he landed on the dried leaves all over the place. He scanned the tall trees all around them.

"This is going to be our new hideout and our training ground," Henry calmly replied as he punctured the watch on his left wrist slightly with his middle finger, the space ship went out of sight. They had all come out of the ship to examine the area and Henry concluded that it would be their new hideout and training ground.

"But, why here?" Ian also asked.

"Don't you enjoy nature's beauty?" Zoe directed her question to Ian in reply to his question.

"The cool breeze, beautiful trees which can act as shields against outsiders. It'll make it difficult for anyone to easily notice or locate us."

"I like it here too," Michael added with a smirk as he stopped to scoop the dried leaves on the ground. He let them slid out his hands. "Even the dried leaves smell nice and the tall trees will help me feel more invisible in case of any attacks."

"Here is kind of creepy to me!" Evan shrilled.

"Listen kid, you have to get yourself together and stop being afraid," Michael advised, patting Evan's shoulder.

"Listen everyone, a lot is going to happen and it's best we stay out of the sight of people and authorities. This place is the best I can do—for us not to get into trouble with authorities. I know it's not so conducive, please bear with me," Henry said, looking from one face to another. "Okay, I guess I'm understood so let's get to work."

"Work! What work?" Evan asked sheepishly.

"Training my boy, training. Anytime, Henry says let's get to work, he means training," Michael replied Evan patting his shoulder again.

"Thank you for that Michael. Now, everybody, on a queue, follow my lead". Henry ordered as he proceeded to the thick of the woods. They all marched after him on a single file.

After few minutes of scouting the woods, Henry came to a halt and everyone halted too.

"I believe this space is enough for our training. Not like the space is really necessary but I just felt we should locate somewhere spacious," Henry shrugged as he walked in between his team who were still queued up, paying rapt attention to what he was saying.

"So, today we are going to be testing each of our abilities and pushing beyond what we normally do but let's start by introducing ourselves. I'm Henry," Henry pointed at Zoe. She introduced herself the same way Henry did and everyone followed one after the other.

"Everyone, stand still, Evan come forward," Henry yelled and startled everyone a little bit. Evan walked slowly to meet Henry who was less than ten foot away. Henry put his hand around his neck. "I want you to run to the end of this forest as fast as you can". Evan nodded.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes, I am, I guess."

"Go!" Henry yelled and Evan zoomed off. Henry activated the stop watch as soon as he zoomed off. In few seconds, Evan was back, panting like a dog.

"How did I do?" He muffled amidst panting.

"Not so impressive, forty-five seconds," Henry replied without taking his eyes from the stop watch.

"What? That's not impressive?" Evan scowled.

"Yes, you can cover the distance you just covered in ten seconds if you utilize at least seventy- five percent of your abilities," Henry nudged him smirking. "Let's try one last time, then we go to the next person, I'm not going to push you too much today."

"Okay."

"Are you ready?" Henry asked and Evan replied with a nod.

"Go!" Evan sprinted and in split seconds, he was back, panting harder than before.

Henry nodded while staring at the stop watch. "It's not so impressive, but it's good, twenty-five seconds."

"Let me go one more time," Evan requested amidst panting with his hands resting on his knees, stopping.

"No, get back in line, you are done for today. A little stretching of your leg muscles can help you," Henry patted him at his back before he sprinted to his former position.

"Oh, I almost forgot. What did you see at the end of the forest?"

"A river," Evan replied as he returned to the queue.

"Ian, you are next," Henry called out. "Everybody stand still." Ian marched out like a soldier.

"Hey big guy, I need you to uproot as many trees as you can within thirty seconds." Henry whispered.

"Alright. I got this." He replied.

"Go!" Ian scooted to the nearest tree, it was a brown rough bark giant tree. Nevertheless, he felt he could do it. He gave the tree a snug and tried lifting it off the ground. He felt the roots shaking a little but didn't feel like they were coming off. He pulled harder and he could feel the roots coming off at the same time the bark piercing his skin. Suddenly, the tree came off the ground and he dropped it safely, making sure it didn't hurt anyone. Everyone was amused and chattered among themselves except Henry. Ian rushed over to the next tree and just like he had done earlier, he gave the tree a snug and lifted with all his might. This one seemed more easier than the first one, he thought.

"Time up," He heard Henry say just as he removed the second tree from it's roots. He grunted and sent the tree spinning in the air. Dirt from the bottom of the tree splashed on everyone.

"Ian!" Zoe screamed as she felt the cold sticky substance on her face.

"Uhm...sorry," Ian apologized immediately.

"Well Ian, you did good, but still not pleasant enough. Just two trees, you could have done four." Henry remarked. Ian scowled just the same way Evan had earlier.

"Would you like to try again?"

"No, thanks. I'm done for the day," Ian walked back to the queue.

"Okay everyone, listen up, the next person is Michael and I need you to lynch him if you find him in anything less than thirty minutes. Immediately, Michael went out of sight.

"I haven't even said go yet," Henry yelled.

"I thought he could just pass through things, never knew he was invisible too," Evan said with his eyes widened.

After an hour of searching for Michael and he wasn't found, they all decided to return to the ship.

"Everyone, find your way back to the ship. Zoe is with me, we will meet you all later." Henry signaled at Zoe to come to him.

"She was the only one who didn't train today," Ian's eyebrows knitted together.

"She is going to train with me and it's none of your business. Find your way back to the ship," Henry replied calmly.

"And make sure you rest," He added.

"What are we staying back here to do?" Zoe asked as soon as the rest of them were out of sight.

"Your training, Come with me," Henry replied grabbing her by the hand.

Most times, Zoe felt she feared Henry more than she loved him, he was so unpredictable and never ceased to surprise her despite all the years they had been together. She couldn't really explain what kind of man Henry was but she knew she loved him and that was all that mattered to her.