Ava giggled. “No, not always. Usually it’s stopping terrorist attacks way before they happen…or stopping metahumans who go on a rampage. Sort of like what you did earlier today. Granted, in the latter case, those aren’t ‘mission days’ so much as emergency calls.”
That made me pause. “Wait, does that mean all of you were there today? At the mall?”
Ava’s expression was suddenly serious. “Nope, but I’ll give you one guess who was.”
“Trinity?” I asked breathlessly.
She nodded. “Lucky for her, you were already done by the time she got there.”
I just stared at her. “Don’t you mean, lucky for me?”
She stared back at me, her expression still serious. “I thought you said earlier you were confident you could take her in a fight?”
“Yeah, well I was sort of kidding. Just teasing her. Why?”
“Because once they had gathered data on you, their super computer determined that you would win ninety-three percent of the time. Margin of error was only about two percent.”
I gawked at her, and then looked at Zane to see he had the same serious expression. I was suddenly reminded of Trinity’s fearful expression earlier – I hadn’t thought she was afraid of me, but maybe I was wrong. I decided to ask. “Do you think…” I began, pausing and then starting over. “Do you think she’s afraid of me?”
They both laughed at that. Ava tried not to, but she couldn’t help herself. Zane was the one to respond. “Highly doubtful. If anything, she’s probably afraid of how she feels about you rather than being afraid of you.”
“Zane!” Ava snapped, the amusement in her expression completely gone.
He looked at her and then back at me. “Look, just give her some space. She’s our leader – she’s your leader. And this is the military, not some frat house. You are only to speak to her if you are spoken to. You don’t get to socialize just because you want to.”
I stared at them both, sensing this conversation was over as far as they were concerned. There wasn’t room for argument. “Fine. But let me just ask this.” There was one thing that was pressing on my thoughts. It had been all evening. Something I had to know. “Zayden said that today she acted different than usual. So, then I assume that means she does have feelings for me, right?”
Zane shook his head. “Jake, you aren’t getting the point. It doesn’t matter if she does or not. This is the military. Think about our time here like a specialized prison. You aren’t free to do what you want, even if the environment is a little more relaxed, and that includes having a relationship.”
I found that hard to believe. “You’re telling me that in all your time here no one has ever had a relationship?”
Zane hesitated. “That’s not the point. A relationship can get you in trouble on the field. You can’t go disobeying orders to protect one of your comrades. If it’s determined that a person is your priority, instead of the mission, then not only will you get kicked off the team, you’ll never see them again.”
Suddenly a new realization hit me, as I considered how Trinity had looked at me when I had said ‘I’d rather not’ earlier. Her expression had been exceptionally serious, her tone cautious, sending out an unspoken warning for me to obey. I couldn’t just do what I wanted anymore, but it was more than that. If she really did have feelings for me, then that meant she might also be afraid of what would happen if I didn’t comply. It wasn’t just that she wanted me to obey her. It was that she knew the consequences of what would happen if I didn’t. Best-case scenario was that I would have a personal session of torture, and worst-case scenario was that she would never see me again – I would get kicked off the team…the team that was so elite that it took years to get on.
If she wasn’t afraid of her own feelings, at the very least I realized she was probably afraid of the potential consequences of those feelings, for the both of us.
I sighed, making up my mind. I would comply, no questions asked, like I had agreed to. Not because of some duty to the military, or even because of the fact that this was my only hope of a semi-normal life. Instead, I would comply so that I could stay by her side. Even if I could never crack her shell and make her admit she had feelings for me, I wouldn’t leave her. I would show her I could be good, for both our sakes.
Chapter 6: Diet
That night is when I began to suspect I didn’t need to sleep anymore. I never felt tired, or even fatigued. I was wide awake all night. I reached out with my sixth sense for Trinity’s presence, but she never came back. Finally, after a while, I went outside and sat down on the concrete, leaning against the wall next to the front entrance to the barracks. The fresh air seemed to help calm my churning thoughts. The orange light just outside the door buzzed loudly, with plenty of bugs dancing around it endlessly. I knew it was warm outside, since it was in the middle of summer, but I couldn’t help but feel a little chilly.
They had soldiers patrolling at night as a general security measure, but for the most part we were free to go where we wanted on the small base. Zane had said he occasionally went to the gym late if he needed to work out some frustration by lifting weights before sleeping. I found that surprising since they clearly did a ton of physical activity on a daily basis.
However, while the curfew was highly encouraged, it was not technically enforced. Only waking up was enforced. I glanced up at the security camera that was looking down at the doorway, wondering if someone was watching me. I had thought about going off to a location where I didn’t have a camera on me, but I didn’t want them to think I was trying to escape. They would probably figure out pretty fast that I wasn’t sleeping, but I also wasn’t trying to hide it from them – only the team.
Once it was close to time for everyone to wake up, I went back inside and rinsed off in the shower. I was slightly shocked to see that my outward appearance was different. I had always been in fairly decent shape, but never ripped. Now, as I looked at myself in the mirror, I was mesmerized by my own muscles. I could see basically every detail, as if there was absolutely nothing hiding them underneath my skin – no fat at all.
Zayden walking in with a grumpy expression is what jerked me back to reality. I quickly got changed in one of the stalls into a pair of tan military pants and t-shirt, before waiting for everyone to do our first morning jog. They used an oval shaped track that was large enough to only require two laps to run a mile.
Much to my disappointment, Trinity still wasn’t there. As far as I could tell, she hadn’t returned to the base yet. It made me worried. Zane took over instructing me on what to do – Zayden and Ava already knew the drill. They ran ahead to get their mile accomplished, so they could have breakfast.
The point of each run was to push myself just enough to be uncomfortable. It wasn’t a race, but it also wasn’t a leisurely jog either. Usually, the goal was to eventually get my speed up to running five minute per mile – equivalent to twelve miles per hour. At least, usually that was the goal. However, when he began running that fast to illustrate the speed I eventually needed to match, I kept pace with him without running out of breath.
He was surprised but didn’t try to go faster. There would be plenty of time to test my limits later. Five minutes per mile was considered fast for a normal person, but I quickly found out that all the members of the team were much faster. Zayden and Zane could both easily run fifteen miles per hours, although Zane could run up to twenty-five if he was running on all fours as a werewolf. Ava was the slowest, running an average of thirteen miles per hour, but in her shadow form she didn’t move like a normal person, allowing her to keep pace with Zane’s bestial form.
When I asked about Trinity, Zane shared that she could comfortably run thirty miles per hour, finishing a mile in under two minutes, with bursts of over forty-five if she really pushed herself. That wasn’t too surprising to me, since I had seen her sprint for myself. It was like watching lightning shoot away from me. But it was still odd to think that she could potentially keep p
ace with a car going at a normal speed.
Just as we were about to finish our run, I took a deep breath and sighed heavily, feeling a ton of tension leave my shoulders.
“What is it?” Zane asked, noticing the sudden change.
I looked up at him hesitantly, unsure if I should be honest. “Well…Trinity’s back finally. I can sense her again. Looks like she’s coming by car about a mile away.”
He gave me a meaningful look before responding. “Just remember what I told you. Follow the schedule – no deviations to go try to talk to her. You’re a soldier now, whether you like it or not.”
“R-Right.”
When we were done, we headed over to the mess hall for breakfast. I looked at the selection of food like I might look at garbage, or maggots, or something else unappetizing. I looked over at Zayden and Ava to see that Zayden had a massive pile of food he was actively devouring. Trinity wasn’t kidding when she said he burned a lot of calories, because the guy was skinny as a rail but packing enough food for a linebacker – maybe two linebackers.
Sighing in resignation, I grabbed a banana and then sat down next to Ava. I was more focused on Trinity’s presence off in the distance than I was on the people at the table. I could sense her go back to the barracks and stay there for a while. She didn’t seem to be showing any signs of joining us for breakfast. Granted, it’s not like I really had any idea what she was actually doing. When I felt her go to the bathroom, I assumed she was showering, but then she went back to her room and stayed there.
Ava seemed to know what was on my mind as I stared at the banana on the table. I wondered if she realized my abilities basically allowed me to stalk Trinity from my seat. She nudged me slightly, getting my attention. “Trinity generally doesn’t eat breakfast after a mission. Killing is sort of like eating for her in a way, so her body doesn’t have any desire for food immediately.”
“Oh,” I said absentmindedly, staring at the banana again. I wondered if killing was similar for me, or if I was just suffering from post-traumatic stress and didn’t realize it. Either way I wasn’t hungry.
Finally, Zayden spoke up with an annoyed tone. “Are you going to eat it, or shove it up your ass?”
I looked up at him in surprise, before my eyes abruptly narrowed. I picked it up and flung it towards him, just enough for it to land next to his tray. I tried to keep my own annoyance under control as I replied. “I’m not really hungry. You can have it.”
“I don’t want your asshole banana!” He yelled.
I just glared at him. “Then throw it away. I’m not going to eat it.”
“Whatever,” he scoffed. Then much to my surprise, he picked it up and began peeling it. I supposed that in the end, food was food to him and he didn’t let it go to waste.
I then noticed Zane raise his eyebrows in front of me. “Are you sure you don’t want to eat? Keep in mind that we’ve got a lot of training ahead of us before lunch.”
I shrugged. “I’ll survive.” Thankfully, he let it go. No one was going to stand over my shoulder and make me eat if I didn’t want to. It was clear that I was allowed to make at least some decisions and suffer the natural consequence if they were poor ones.
After breakfast, we all headed out for our two-mile run. I was kind of surprised they would run right after eating, but then discovered that they did some yoga-style stretching beforehand. We spent almost thirty minutes just warming up all our muscles in preparation for the more intense part of the day.
Trinity finally joined us once we were about ten minutes into it. I tried not to stare at her, since I could sort of ‘see’ her anyway with my sixth sense. She kept away from the rest of the group, staying behind me and out of sight. I glanced at her once, seeing that she was actually facing away from us too, doing her own stretches. She had her vibrant blue hair fixed in a single braid stopping at her upper back.
When it was time to run, she took off down the track like a bat out of hell. I just stared at her, completely baffled by her speed. Knowing how fast she could run and seeing it were two entirely different things. Zane rested his hand on my shoulder to get my attention.
“Want to see if you can keep up with my normal pace?”
“Which one?” I wondered seriously.
He examined my expression for a moment before responding. “Just how easy was it for you before?”
“Didn’t break a sweat.” I answered honestly.
“Sure, then why not. Let’s see what you can do.” Then on cue, I watched as Zane’s head transformed into a black-haired wolf with a massive snout. I heard cracking, snapping, popping as his legs reshaped slightly and he kicked off his boots. He then fell down on all fours, landing on humanoid paws, his overall size roughly the same. He glanced at me just briefly with a toothy grin before he took off running.
I was a little shocked to actually see the abrupt transformation, but I quickly recovered and ran after him. He didn’t run at full speed right away, waiting for me to catch up. However, he continued to keep just out of reach, speeding up the moment I was close. Very rapidly, it was clear I could keep pace with him even when he ran at top speed.
It felt amazing to run this fast, and even more amazing that it wasn’t exhausting. If anything, I felt exhilarated for the first time. However, my high mood got the better of me. I was always aware of Trinity, and when she saw me keeping pace with Zane she slowed down briefly in surprise. She then picked up her own the pace. She had been ahead of us by about half the track, but now was quickly coming up from behind to lap us.
As she passed, I noticed just the slightest smirk touch her lips, and that was enough encouragement for me. I picked up my own pace and chased after her. She didn’t notice right away, but when I got close enough, she looked back at me in shock, her eyes wide. Her expression then became pissed unexpectedly, and she took off even faster. For a split second, I didn’t speed up, instead evaluating whether or not I should continue the chase. I couldn’t tell if she was really angry, trying to get away from me, or if she was annoyed that I was challenging her again.
After a second, I decided I at least wanted to know for my own sake if I could keep pace with her fastest. I sped up, and when she saw me catching up, she sped up even more. Before long, the two of us were virtually a streak on the track in comparison to everyone else. We lapped them all twice, their expressions shocked, especially Zayden, as we neared the end of our two-mile race.
As I tried to catch up, several things became clear to me at once. For one, I couldn’t catch her, at least not when she was sprinting as hard as she could. She was just too fast. However, it was clear that she was going much faster than she was comfortable with, because her breathing became significantly more and more labored. On the other hand, I felt fine. I couldn’t run any faster. I had definitely reached my maximum trying to chase her, but my muscles weren’t fatiguing and my breathing was still as calm as if I was relaxing in a chair.
It was an extremely surreal sensation, running this fast without tiring. When she finally reached the finish line, she slowed down to a jog and then bent over panting heavily. Her heaving torso was mesmerizing, and I found myself wishing it wasn’t covered up with a shirt. I had fallen behind by about fifteen seconds, and finished just after her, stopping a few feet away. I tried not to grin too widely, but that two and a half minutes of running two miles with her had been the most fun I had experienced thus far in my entire life. She glanced up at me, seeing that I wasn’t even remotely out of breath and then got that pissed look on her face again.
Once she could speak, she scolded me. “I don’t need your pity!”
My grin vanished. “What are you talking about?” I asked in disbelief.
She looked at me like I was crazy. “You let me win!”
I stared at her for a second, and then laughed. She snapped straight up and glared at me, still breathing heavily. I gave her an apologetically look, and I tried to control myself. “No, I didn’t. That was as fast as I could run.”
&n
bsp; Her eyes narrowed, her voice cold. “I told you I don’t like being lied to.”
I looked at her seriously then. I knew exactly why she didn’t believe me. “Trinity, I promise you I didn’t let you win. I’m not that noble. I ran as fast as I could.” When she continued to glare at me I asked, “Why don’t you believe me?”
“Because you’re not even remotely tired,” she snapped. “Like you weren’t even trying.”
“You’re right,” I snapped back. “I’m not tired. I could probably run that speed for forever, but that was still my fastest.”
Her expression softened slightly as she considered that. She then hesitated. “You really didn’t let me win?” Her voice was quiet as she watched my expression carefully.
“No, I didn’t. If anything, I sort of thought you might think more highly of me if I could beat you. Although, I realize now that was a stupid thought since clearly you prefer to be the best.”
She abruptly stuck her hands on her hips and fully faced me. “Well, you’re right about that!” Her expression was serious, but I saw just a hint of a smile touch her red eyes. But then that faded, and she looked back towards the track.
Zane was finally done with his two miles as he ran up to us and stood up on his hind legs. His body shifted back to his human form as he glanced from her to me repeatedly. “Well,” he began, after taking a deep breath. “I guess we’ll have to get a speedometer to find out how fast you can really go.”
Trinity scoffed. “Jake has assured me that he gave it his all, and that I won fair and square.”
Zane looked at me in disbelief, so I quickly tried to explain. “It’s true that running that fast didn’t make me tired, but I did go as fast as I could.” His eyebrow arched as if he didn’t believe me. I tried to find a logical reason to defend myself. “Hey, I’m not lying. I can heal instantly remember? Doesn’t it make sense that my muscles might not fatigue like yours do?”
Omega Squad Page 8
