Finding ELE (ELE Series #2) Written By: Rebecca Gober and Courtney Nuckels (10 page)

I purse my lips unsure of how to respond.
“So,” I say trying to change the subject. I rub my hands together
in mock anticipation. “What are you going to teach me today?” Tony
rubs his chin in thought.

“
I think we should start with the
basics. But first, I need for you to show me what you can do so
that I’ll know a little better about where to start.”

Oh boy, I think. I know absolutely nothing
about self-defense or fighting. He’s probably going to think I’m
some lost cause or a total dud. I nod anyway ready to get things
going.

He waves me over to the weapons table. “Is
there anything here you’ve ever used before?”

I look down at the table. Everything is
foreign to me except the butcher knife. I point it out. “To be
honest I’ve never really used anything except for that knife. I
used to help my mom a lot in the kitchen when I was younger. She
would let me slice things on occasion with a knife that looks
similar.” I raise my eyebrows hoping maybe that will suffice.

To my dismay he doesn’t seem too thrilled.
“Oookay. Well, at least that’s something we can work with.” He
picks up the butcher knife. “Since you’re most comfortable with the
knife, let’s learn a few tricks of the trade that could help you if
you’re in a life or death situation. Let's start with throwing
knives.”

I try and swallow the huge lump that’s
lodged in my throat. “K,” is what I let out.

He hands me the knife handle first and I
begrudgingly accept it. He leads me over to the targets and backs
me up about twenty feet behind a line made from silver duct tape. I
put my toes on the duct tape and wait for instructions.

Tony comes and stands behind me. “Okay, so
you’ve got to hold the knife like this." He shifts my fingers with
his fingers slightly as I grasp the handle.

“
Now, you’re going to ready yourself
by looking at the target. With your left arm you need to point at
the target. After that, you’re going to pull your right arm back
and then release when you’re right arm is level with the
left.”

I scrunch my eyebrows together hoping I
understand what he just said. “Okay,” I reply. “I guess I can do
that.”

Tony steps back away from me then tells me
to go whenever I’m ready.

I right my stance making sure that both of
my feet are facing forward. I level my left hand toward the target
like he showed me. Then I pull back on the right, swing forward and
release. To my amazement the knife goes flying at an ungodly speed
and sticks in the wall adjacent to the target. I run up to where it
hit and gasp when I can only see a few inches of the handle
sticking out of it.

Tony comes jogging up beside me. He looks
completely baffled. “I forgot you now have the gift of strength on
your side.” He turns his head towards mine. “It shows in your eyes
too. We need to make sure you do something about that before we
leave.” He stands there staring at me.

I’m the first to break eye contact. “Sorry
about the wall. I’ll try to ease up a bit now that I know what I’m
capable of.” I give him a half smile and jimmy the knife out.

I walk back behind the duct tape and get
ready to try again.

Tony stands behind me and watches my form.
“Here, wait a sec,” he says. He places his hands on each of my arms
and repositions them. The moment he does this all I think about is
how close he is to me. The proximity between us is so immensely
minute that it begins to make me uncomfortable. I can feel his
breath on my neck as he breathes. Goosebumps form down my arms as
Tony takes a strand of my unruly hair and places it behind my ear.
He begins to whisper to me, “Much better. If you stand this way,
you’ll be more likely to hit the target.” His lips gently touch my
ear and that’s when I realize I’ve had enough.

I turn around so fast it catches Tony
completely off guard. He nearly falls to the floor but rights
himself just in time. I realize I’m still holding the knife and
waste no time pointing it in his direction. Tony lifts his arms up
in a surrendering position.

“
Don’t you EVER try that again! Do you
understand? I have a boyfriend whom I love and care about very
much. And even if he isn’t here right now, that doesn’t mean you
can take advantage of me. I’m here to learn about defending myself,
not how to cheat on my boyfriend!” I am seething at this whole
situation.

What must Tony think of me if he just tried
to pull that move?

"Whoa Willow. I was just trying to show you
how to hold the knife." Tony raises his eyebrows at me.

I shake my head and lower the knife. "No you
were trying to kiss my ear and you were whispering all sexy like."
My face starts turning red and I begin wondering if I imagined
everything.

"Look, I wasn't trying to pull anything on
you. I'm sorry you felt that I was. I didn't try to kiss your ear.
I was trying to show you how to do the stance and if it seemed like
I was trying to take advantage of you I apologize. I respect you
too much for that." He runs his hand through his hair in
frustration.

Did I just imagine that whole ear kiss
thing? I immediately feel like a total jerk and a fool. What is
going on with me today? It's like I'm trying to over accentuate
that the jealousy I felt this morning was nothing. "I'm so sorry
Tony. I'm having a rough day. You haven't been anything but nice to
me, I'm sorry that I went all crazy faced on you." I put the knife
on a nearby table and start to walk out the door.

Tony stops me. "Willow." I turn around to
face him and he continues. "Maybe you weren't completely crazy
faced." He laughs nervously. "I can't say that if you were any
normal trainee that I would have been that close to you during
training." I raise my eyebrows and he continues really fast before
I can say anything. "I promise though that I wasn't trying to kiss
your ear or take advantage of you. I mean, I can't say I haven't
imagined what it would be like to kiss you though." His voice goes
soft at the end.

He gives me a steamy look that makes me feel
something deep down in my stomach. Something that is so very wrong.
"I have a boyfriend." I feel good that I manage to keep my voice
level and my conviction strong.

Tony's face crumples ever so slightly. If I
hadn't been paying such close attention I wouldn't notice the
subtle change. "I understand. I didn't know that you had a
boyfriend, but I totally understand. I respect that and I won't
make any type of move on you unless you want me too."

"I won't." I say a little too quickly.

He clears his throat. "I hope this doesn't
affect our relationship. I've grown to consider you a friend."

I look into his yellow eyes. "Me too. It's
all good. Look, let's get back to training, okay?" I wish there was
a rewind button to go back and redo today. I feel like I woke up in
an alternate reality. These feelings and this stuff doesn't make
any sense to me. I need to find Alec soon.

"Okay." He says looking relieved. "Do you
want to try using a gun?"

"Sure." I follow him over to the table that
holds the weapons. My stomach tightens as I watch him pick up a
pistol. He demonstrates how to remove the magazine, clear the
chamber and load the ammunition. Then he shows me how to lock the
magazine into the pistol.

He hands me some clear glasses for eye
protection and a pair of orange foam earplugs. I watch him put his
in and then repeat with mine. I can still hear but the sound is a
little more muffled.

"You ready to try it?" He asks handing me
another pistol from the table.

I gulp as I feel the cold metal grip in my
hand. I try to remember the steps he taught me. I feel surprised
that I move through the steps rather easily. The gun feels natural
in my hand.

I look at Tony and he raises his eyebrows
equally surprised at how I repeated the steps so fluidly. "Alright,
you ready to shoot?"

I nod. The tightening in my stomach
increases as I follow him to the target area at the other end of
the room. The target is a silhouette of the upper half of a
faceless human body.

"Now that you’re ready, chamber the round by
pulling back the slide." He says demonstrating with his pistol. I
do as I'm told finding it to be not as easy as it looked. I manage
it finally, so he continues. "You need to make sure your muzzle is
always pointed down range." He aims towards the target with his
pistol.

"Yeah, so I don't accidentally shoot you?" I
joke.

"This is nothing to joke about." He says but
I still see the humor in his eyes. "Okay, stance is important.
Start with your feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent,
arms extended but not locked. Like me." He takes the stance and
fires the first round.

I yelp and jump back in surprise.

"Whoa Willow! Watch it!" He says pointing
the muzzle of my pistol away from him and down range.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" I say feeling
like a rookie. Well, I guess I am a rookie.

"Okay, take the stance." He looks like he
wants to help me get in position but because the last time I nearly
stabbed him for getting close to me, he maintains his distance.

"Very good." He says looking me over. I
blush again. He doesn't notice as he continues with the lesson.
"You need to line up the front sight post between the rear dove
tail posts as you aim the gun at the target."

I look over at him with my eyebrow raised,
not knowing what the heck he's talking about.

He smirks. "Three in a row, you're ready to
go." He says as he points to the sight alignment.

"Oh." I say with a quiver in my voice
because I know what's coming next.

"With the pad of your index finger squeeze
gently but firmly straight back on the trigger." He says.

I take a deep breath and everything in me
wants to put the gun down but I don't. I slowly pull back on the
trigger and close my eyes as the round goes off."

"Hey!" He yells at me. "Watch it! Don't
shoot the ground. Do you want those bullets to come ricocheting
back at us? Don't close your eyes!"

The intensity in his voice scares me. "I'm
sorry, I didn't try to shoot at the ground." I try to hand the gun
back to him but he quickly pushes the muzzle back downrange since I
was accidentally pointing it at him again.

"Crap!" I say feeling stupid. My heart is
pounding with adrenaline and for some reason I feel like I want to
cry. I look down at the pistol. Nothing should have this kind of
power. It's like I felt it in my bones, the power this machine has
to take a life. I start feeling nauseous and my hands shake as I
continue holding the pistol point down range. I want to get it out
of my hands but we didn't really go over what to do once I took a
shot, so I just keep it aimed.

Tony's hand goes to my back. This time I
feel comforted by his gesture. "It's okay Willow. It's scary the
first time you shoot." He takes the gun from me and I feel as if a
thousand pounds have been lifted off of me. I shake my hands out
several times and wipe my sweaty palms on my jeans.

"I don't think I want to practice anymore."
I say still feeling on the verge of tears.

Tony's face turns gentle. "If you don't want
to practice anymore that's fine, but I can promise you that if you
keep practicing you will feel more confident. You just got scared.
You closed your eyes and dropped your aim when you anticipated the
recoil of the gun."

"I just don't like it." I take a deep shaky
breath and shake my hands out again.

He puts his hand on my shoulder then removes
it quickly. "I understand. Are you sure you don't want to try
again?"

I think of my mom with that question. She's
so strong and carries herself like the leader that she is. If I am
going to fight with her, I need to learn to do this. I need to be
brave like my mom is. I look down at my pistol in his hand then
back up at him. "Okay, I’ll try again." I feel the nausea start to
build up again as I take the gun from him.

He demonstrates his stance and aim for me
again. He takes a shot and hits the target in the middle of the
head. He gestures for me to try. "Aim at the chest for now." He
says.

I take the stance and breathe a few deep
breaths as I aim the gun. "Three in a row, ready to go." I whisper.
I will my eyes to remain open as I gently pull the trigger back and
shoot. The recoil is not nearly like I imagined it would be. I look
at the target. "I hit it!" I say excitedly. I want to jump up and
down but I remember the deadly weapon in my hand this time.

"Yes, you did!" Tony's unable to keep from
catching my excitement. "Okay, this time try to aim for the chest."
He says.

I laugh nervously. I hit the target sheet
this time in the lower corner. Nowhere near the drawing of the body
but I’m just happy to see the small hole that hit the white paper.
I steady myself and aim again. This time I take several deep
breaths and focus everything into lining up the sights on the
middle of the target's chest. I pull the trigger and manage to hit
it in what might be the stomach.

"I'm getting better." I say excitedly.
Although the gun still freaks me out, I'm getting more amped up
about actually being able to hit something.

"Yes you are." Tony smiles at me.

I shoot a few more rounds and manage to get
a pretty good shot in the chest. It's no bulls eye but still, it
would do some damage if I had to go up against a Reaper. Tony lets
me practice for a little while longer until it's time for lunch. We
put everything away and then he graciously reminds me to do
something to change my eye color back again. I decide to walk
through the wall, ignoring the door and disappear from his sight. I
laugh when he calls for me. He catches up with me out in the
hallway.

"They are mostly brown now. Nice." He smiles
and then lets his smile drop again. I hate that there's this
uncomfortable tension between us. I’m glad that my eye color is
changing colors quicker now than when I first arrived.