Not Human

Chapter 5 -Training

"Where is he taking us?" Andy whispers, tickling Nixon's ear by her breathy murmurs.

"Hahaha, please, don't do that again," He laughed hard, pushing her face away with his hand. "Why are you leaning in so close anyway? Look at all this room." He sways his hand around the area.

"So, I can see you turn red again," She says, coolly. "You seem to do it a lot around me."

"Do not!" He retorted glaringly, masking his blush with his hand.

They were all outside in light clothing for the hot weather. They were hiking up and down the bumpy, uneven dirt path through the woods Blade had hidden behind the mansion.

"I'm tired." Cherry moans like a zombie who hasn't eaten flesh in days. "Are we there yet?"

"Stop you're complaining," Jax snaps. "Or we won't ever get there!" Jax was leading in front of Cherry; she was lagging behind everyone else. Blade led the group and Lily stayed by him with her hair up in a tight ponytail. She wore a white tank top, and athletic shorts, with running shoes. Everyone else's attire consisted of shorts, a tank top, or a t-shirt, well, except Angelica's and Cherry's outfits. Cherry had on her usual mini pink skirt and sparkly top, while Angelica replaced shorts for bright colored leggings which were better than Cherry's choice.

"We will be there soon, patience." Blade informed her, ignoring Jax's rude outburst.

"You don't talk much, huh?" Zane looks at Angelica, her glossy red hair is braided over her shoulder, and her curious green eyes staring back. There is a slight smile on her features.

"Neither do you." She replies, warmly.

"It's a pretty day isn't it?" He smiles back. Angelica raises an eyebrow. 'A pretty day?' She couldn't picture that line coming out of his mouth with that intimidation and cold stare.

"Yeah, it is." She was stepping in step with him.

It was a pretty day, the sun was up greeting them with light, warmth, and the trees were glowing green, the ground was mixed with green, brown, and black from smashed bark, acorns, and bugs crawling, birds singing. It was early in the morning. Blade woke them up at 6 in the morning. Then, they all ate eggs, bacon, toast, and Andy had chips on the side. There was entertainment too, with Jax and Zane fighting early.

"We are here!" Blade announced. Cherry's face brightened for a moment before she took in the place. It was an open space, surrounded by trees on the outside. It was a wide circle, fencing blocking the woods, target dummies lined up on one side, then ropes hanging off the other, then a ring, an obstacle course, and lastly weights including some other gym equipment.

"Nice place, I could work some steam off here every day, damn." Jax sprinted to the gym equipment lifting a weight, his biceps flexing as he curled it.

"Show off..." Cherry muttered under her breath.

"Impressive," Zane said, looking over at the obstacle course. Angelica looked overwhelmed by it all. She wasn't good at an obstacle course nor lifting heavy stuff. She was a good runner but that was it.

"So, we will be coming here every day to get some training done. Everyone will be doing the obstacle course, and the workouts I plan for you all. But there will be certain things on the side I'll have you working on individually. Not everyone is doing the same thing. Is that understood?"

"Yes, it is well understood," Nixon said. "However, I do wonder if I have to participate in it all. I'm not that athletic." His eyes roamed the heavyweights and the high bars that looked like they were meant for pull-ups and he winced at the idea of doing all of that.

"You will, but don't worry it'll toughen you up." Blade grinned. Nixon had an unnerving feeling about this. He was going to look like a fool trying to do any of this.

"Hey, don't worry so much." Andy clapped a hand on his back. "If you suck that's good-"

"How?"

"It means you have room to improve. All your failures get you closer to a win. It's good to learn from them. So, no need to see it as the end. I know you are worried you'll make a fool of yourself, Nixon. But who cares. Just try your best, okay?"

"Yeah, thanks, Andy. I needed that." He wondered if she could read minds. How did she know he was afraid of that? Was he that obvious?

"Alright, we'll start with a few tests to see where everyone is right now." Blade walked in front of Lily and put a hand on her shoulder. "Lily, you will go first."

"Wow, are we in the military now or what?"Jax laughed, seeing the great wall that they had to climb over, and then the ropes, after that came the bars, then the tunnel of mud that they have to crawl through, and a beam they have to balance on, and if they fall they land in the lake.

"Okay, no problem, I can do this." She sped up there to meet her first obstacle. Everyone was watching her closely hoping they could learn something before their turn came. Lily was hiding her nerves with anticipation, and determination. She moved up the walls, her hands clutching the board with her life, and her feet holding on step after step as she climbed the wall pacing herself. She made it to the top finally.

Andy and Cherry cheered her on, "Go, Lily, you can do this!" They chanted.

Nixon joined in," You can do it!" He yelled out. Andy smiled at him, thanking him silently.

"I made it!" She cried, throwing her legs over landing harshly on the dirt, luckily catching herself. "Ouch."

"You okay?" Blade walked over holding a hand out. "You gotta pay attention." He smirked.

"Now, my turn." He smiled. Everyone looked surprised he was doing it with them. Forgetting he was the leader, still meant he needed to train with them. For it to be fair. He moved swiftly on his feet, he was fast up the wall and he landed perfectly on his feet without a speck of dirt on him. Lily, on the other hand, was covered in dirt and sweat.

"Alright, now everyone else follows along," He directed them through the course.

Andy was quick over the wall, so was Zane and Jax was slower but landed well on his feet, and Angelica lacked her upper body strength; she struggled climbing but made it over just fine. Then, Cherry couldn't do it in her skirt. Blade told her to sit and watch, and next time to wear the appropriate clothes. Nixon was the slowest he landed flat on his face cracking his glasses. Blade told him that he could get him new ones.

Then, next was the beam Angelica walked gracefully making it across the fastest. Lily wobbled slightly at the end but her eyes never looked down. Blade did not look like he could do it with all the body mass, and muscle made it almost as good as Angelica did. Was he just good at everything Lily wondered? Zane came after watching the sky as he moved. He did okay but wasn't the fastest.

The strugglers were Andy who splashed in the lake water laughing like it was a joke, then Jax who dropped the minute his foot hit the beam, Cherry laughed hard at that, and the last one to go was Nixon.

"Okay, I can still see. Well, barely." He swallowed down hard. Nixon was bad at the wall climbing, he hoped he could at least be good at this one. His lens was cracked, which messed with his vision a bit. But he could still manage for now. He walked slowly, one foot after another. He watched his feet move, and could see the shiny lake water below. He was a weak swimmer. He couldn't risk falling.

"Nixon, you can make it. Just take slow deep breaths, don't think about it too much." Andy gave him a thumbs up from the sidelines. He appreciated her advice a lot. She was right he could do this. He moved in a slow steady space and made it without breaking a sweat. Andy greeted him at the end with a hug.

"Great job! Did better than me." She squeezed him tightly in her arms. Nixon noticed she was an inch taller, he wondered how much taller she'd be in heels. "Hey, don't go red on me again."

"I'm not, it's just hot out here, " He lied. He responded to the hug by encircling his arms around her and tucking his head in her shoulder. "Thanks for the uh...cheering."

"No need to thank me. I just thought you could use it."

"Hey, love birds, we aren't done yet ya know!" Jax hollered, pointing to the muddy tunnels.

"Well, that looks fun." Cherry sarcastically said, feeling happy she didn't have to lift a muscle. She sat on a log watching everyone. She felt a bit stupid for wearing a skirt to training. But at least she now knows what she has to do.

"Right." Nixon mentally slaps himself for feeling freedom for that fleeting second. Andy breaks apart from the hug and turns to him.

"We can do this. What's a little mud gonna hurt?"

"A lot, we have to crawl like worms through it." He replied.

"Good point, but come on it'll be fun."

"Yeah, you are the weird one for sure." He laughs.

"No, I'm not." She slaps him upside the head.

"Ouch, that hurt."

"You are the weird one." She stuck her tongue out.

"Are you a kid?"

"I may be a tiny bit childish."

"A tiny bit?"

Blade was first this time, he lowered himself onto his stomach, and he used his elbows to crawl through the muddy slime, he had to get pretty low when it came to the tunnel, it was a silver cylinder tunnel, pretty tight. He was sucking in as much as he could, and when he came out everyone gasped.

"Is that a lake monster?" Cherry burst out in a fit of laughter Jax joined her laughing his head off. Zane couldn't conceal his snickering, and Angelica's eye grew big, while Nixon covered his eyes, Andy just giggled like a little girl, and lastly Lily she wasn't laughing.

"Blade, do you need to jump in the lake or something? Er, you have mud all over you." Lily pointed out the obvious. But she was only wanting to help.

"Funny, is it?"

"No, I wasn't laughing at you." She blurted out.

"Why not? I'd be laughing if it was me." He chuckled. "I'll be fine, but you're up next. Good luck," He winked at her. Lily knew it wouldn't be right to laugh, especially since she was next. She'd be the laughing stock next.

"Here goes nothing." She got on her stomach and laid in the mud. It was cold and wet. Nicely refreshing in this heat. Maybe that's why pigs like it so much. She wriggled on her elbows and legs, like a snake in the grass. She got a face full of mud and spat the icky bits that got into her mouth out. The tunnel was a very dark and confined space. There was barely any room to move around. She needed to stay calm. She was glad she didn't have claustrophobia. She could feel her elbows hurting, and she wanted to stand up, but couldn't.

Soon there was a speck of light she crawled through. Everyone looked at her as she stood up, mud-caked all over her. She must look funny. It was all stuck in her ponytail too.

"Not as funny as Blade, sorry Lily," Cherry said.

"Yeah, agreed." Zane joined in.

Wow, no one cares at all about it. It was only funny the first time or maybe it was just Blade. He was the leader and a very serious guy. Lily saw Blade washing his face at the lake, and he was shirtless. His toned skin glowed in the sunlight. There were dribbles of water falling off his chin. It was like she was seeing this in slow motion. He ran a hand through his hair pulling at the dirt, cupping another hand of water pouring it over his head. It leaked down, and he smiled a smile that looked at ease.

Her face flushed, and her breath was caught in her throat. What is happening? She is an adult now. Not a high schooler anymore. So, why is she flustered over something so little? She's seen plenty of shirtless men. And it's just sunlight, it doesn't make people glow like an angel.

"I know what you're thinking." Andy leaned in whispering. "Admiring that work of art, ya?"

"What?" Lily looked like she'd been caught. "uh, how did you get there, Andy?"

"Teleported." She joked. "I guess you weren't paying attention, huh? Distracted, were you?"

"We are done now. Didn't you see me go through the muddy tunnels?" She asked.

"No." Lily noticed Andy was covered in mud head-to-toe too.

...

"Alright, everyone did an excellent job today. We finished the obstacle course, or well most of us." He peered over at Cherry who didn't seem embarrassed whatsoever. "But we will continue training again tomorrow. Today was the easiest training you'll have. Just practice, you know. So, eat up, we have a bigger day tomorrow." He sat down next to Lily, digging his fork into the salad.

"You did good today, Lily." He said as he poured her a cup of wine. "Here, cheers to killing the aliens together." Their glasses knock, clicking as they both drink the fine red wine.

"Thanks."

Lily fell asleep not knowing what awaited her in her dreams...