I looked in the mirror and noticed that my shirt had two bright orange stripes around the left bicep. I hadn’t seen that on any of the other Seam Wardens’ shirts and figured it was some sort of insignia to mark us as cadets.
I checked the pockets on the vests and cargo pants and was excited to see the pockets had that extra-dimensional storage Spencer told me about. There was nothing in them yet, but I could stick my arm in way farther than should have been possible in such small pockets.
I opened the door to my room and was blasted by the sound of Logan playing his guitar at a volume loud enough to disguise the presence of any jets taking off nearby.
Logan really was good, but I was very glad the rooms were practically soundproof. I had a feeling he would be the kind guy who would practice at all hours of the night and not care what anyone else thought about it.
He lounged on his bed with his door open and the amplifier facing the communal area. I guess he wanted to make sure we could all hear every single note. He was still in his same clothes and seemed to be in no hurry to change.
Gabriel noticed Logan wasn’t ready and pulled the cord from the amplifier, cutting off the music.
“Come on, Logan,” he said. “You need to get ready. We have to leave in five.”
Logan rolled his eyes and stretched. “What are they going to do if I’m late, kick me out?”
“No,” Gabriel said. “But they might make us all do punishment duty for your slacking off.” He picked up Logan’s uniform and threw it at him. “So get up and get dressed.”
Logan gave Gabriel a dark look. “Fine.” He picked up his uniform and slammed the door.
Gabriel threw his hands in the air and gave an exasperated groan. “Seriously?” He turned around, saw me watching, and shook his head. “I grew up with Logan. I knew he wanted to be a rock star, but I always figured once we started cadet training he would come around. I guess I was wrong.”
Kevin, Zach, and Caleb were all ready and waiting. We waited in an uncomfortable silence while Logan finished changing. As soon as he opened the door, Gabriel headed out of the barracks, not even bothering to look back and see if the rest of us were following.
I looked at Zach who shrugged and followed Gabriel. He seemed to be the one who knew what he was doing. We followed him down the hall and into the training room.
It looked a lot different.
When I had last looked at the room, it was almost completely empty. Now it was filled with stairs, rooms, and passageways. I had no idea how they managed to set it up in a matter of hours, but it was pretty impressive.
Training Master Brewster stood with his feet spread apart and his hands clasped behind his back with a woman next to him standing in the same position. She was average height – maybe five six – with long, blond hair and a pretty face which looked vaguely familiar to me. I wondered if I knew her when I had stayed here.
The six of us guys lined up next to the four girls who were already there. Alexa was the first in line and I was seventh, after the other three girls, Gabriel, and Zach.
I risked a glance over at Alexa and smiled. She made no eye contact or any other indication that she even noticed me, but I thought I saw the corners of her lips twitch up.
It could have been wishful thinking.
“Welcome, cadets,” Reid said. “I am Reid Brewster and this is my wife, Abby. We are the cadet training masters. It’s our job to prepare you for becoming Wardens in Training and eventually full Seam Wardens. This training is vitally important not only for your own protection but for the safety of the world. The Seam Wardens are the memory keepers. We are the shield against otherworldly forces that would prey on humanity. If we fail, there is no one else to save us. That means we cannot fail. We must be prepared for all likely scenarios, as well as some of the unlikely ones.”
Logan rolled his eyes and expressed his skepticism verbally, poorly disguised as a cough.
Both Reid and Abby completely ignored him. It was quickly becoming apparent that Logan’s attitude about becoming a Seam Warden was widely known among those who lived here.
Abby nodded to the rest of us. There was something almost familiar about her mannerisms. I stared at her, trying to puzzle it out when suddenly it clicked – she reminded me of Tamara.
Now that I made the connection, the resemblance was pretty strong. I would guess sisters, but they could be cousins.
“Welcome,” Abby said. “I’m Abby Brewster, and I will be working with Reid to train you on everything you need to know to become Seam Wardens. It will be a long and difficult path, but one that is necessary for your survival. There will be times when we feel like friends and there will be other times when you will think Reid and I are your worst enemies.”
She smiled and raised her hands in mock defense. “I’m just putting it out there now. That was how I felt in training, and I wished someone had warned me I would feel like that and that it was perfectly normal. Anyway, I know that not everyone here has met, so let’s start out with some quick introductions. Your name and a couple of pertinent facts you think your fellow cadets would be interested in knowing.” Abby pointed to Alexa. “Let’s start with you and move down the line.”
Alexa nodded. “My name is Alexa. Both my parents are Seam Wardens, and I have been looking forward to this since I was old enough to know what a Seam Warden was. I'm the oldest of three children in my family and have trained in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai kickboxing, and Eskrima – Filipino stick fighting."
Zach perked up when she started talking about martial arts. I had to suppress a pang of what was, undeniably, jealousy. That was unexpected. I had just barely met her – well, again. Why would Zach showing interest make me jealous?
“I’m a pretty good shot with the Boom Sticks, and I really, really hate to lose,” she added.
When she was done, I noticed her eyes dart over to look at me and then quickly look away. Now it was my turn to smile.
The next girl had long, blond hair pulled back into a ponytail and a splash of freckles across the bridge of her nose. When she spoke, she had a bit of a rural Midwestern accent. Her name was Sierra and she had learned about Seam Wardens when a monster attacked and killed her brother. She tracked it down and ran over it with a tractor. When she brought the remains to the police, the Seam Wardens were notified and invited her to come here.
She was about as outdoorsy as it was possible to be – camping, hiking, hunting – she loved it all. She claimed to be a great shot with a rifle and a bow and was excited to test out the Boom Sticks and give those a try.
At least there was one other person who hadn’t already practiced with them. I felt petty, but the competitive side of me really didn’t want to be the worst cadet, and I was still afraid that might happen.
The next girl was tall and thin with wild curls of brown hair and fair skin. She introduced herself as Kathryn. Her parents and grandparents were all Seam Wardens. It was all she’d ever known. She had studied quite a bit about the different customs and cultures of the creatures from the Seams that were allowed to live in our world. Her goal was to get into the diplomatic corps and work as a liaison.
The final girl introduced herself as Mariah. She was a little shorter than the others with a Latina look about her. She had long, dark hair and big, beautiful, brown eyes. She was very striking and honestly, pretty hot. She grew up in the rural outskirts of the Bay Area in California. Her parents were migrant farm workers who moved around finding work picking various crops where they could. She helped the Seam Wardens track down a fugitive Stoki who had killed over a dozen women. She also had a photographic memory and could quote the entire works of Shakespeare as well as tell you Pi to a thousand digits.
Impressive. I was always attracted to smart girls.
Next up were the guys.
Gabriel also grew up among the Seam Wardens. Like Kathryn, he wanted to go into the diplomatic corps, but that meant going through cadet training. He was the youngest of four. The other thre
e had all taken first responder positions and joined the special forces when given the opportunity.
Zach told about helping the guy being attacked by the giant spider-like Bryling, and Caleb told his story about hunting down the Edelgrim.
All the cadets who were born into the Seam Wardens looked impressed as he told his story. I guess the Edelgrim were even more vicious than Caleb had told us.
I kept mine brief, explaining that my family had been killed, but I didn’t remember any of it. And yes, I did notice Alexa watching me intently as I spoke. I found myself wondering just how close the two of us had been.
For Logan's turn, he mostly talked about what an awesome guitar player he was and how much he wished he could just leave and form a band. Those of us cadets who had had not grown up with the Seam Wardens varied in body language from confused to somewhat hostile. Those who already knew Logan simply looked bored.
Kevin was last. I hadn’t had a chance to hear his story yet. He was also born into the Seam Wardens and was an only child. Ten years ago, his mother was killed by something called a Haddrek while investigating a murder in a sanctioned colony.
He spent the next several minutes railing against Seam Warden policy that allowed for sanctioned colonies of what he described as “foul, predatory monsters.” He concluded his tirade by saying, “When I graduate from Cadet training, I want to join the Monster Control team so I can kill as many monsters as I can.” The anger was audible in his voice.
There was a moment of awkward silence as we processed what Kevin told us. I could understand the anger directed at the things that had killed his mom, but this seemed to be a bit more than just anger at that particular Haddrek. It had a vaguely fanatical ranting quality to it as if he had been listening to political propaganda and was spewing it back in only a half-coherent form. He didn’t know the rational arguments himself, but he clearly agreed with the conclusions.
I probably wasn’t going to be best buddies with this guy.
Reid coughed uncomfortably before speaking. “Thank-you everyone for sharing a bit of who you are. You will all be working closely together during your training and will have plenty of time to continue to get to know each other.”
Abby took a step forward and spoke. “Today we are going to start with a group activity. You can see that the training facility has been transformed to approximate conditions you might encounter in a populated, urban area. Each of you will receive a bag containing nine discs. Your goal is to be the first to place a disc onto each of your nine opponents.”
She went on to explain that when we touched a disc to an opponent, it would stick there and slow down their movements for twenty seconds, giving us time to get away. After the twenty seconds was up, the effect would wear off.
The lights in the room would be turned down to simulate near-dusk conditions and there was to be no intentional physical contact or attempt to attack or disable your opponents in any other way besides placing a single disc on each opponent.
“Once someone has placed a disc onto each of their nine opponents, the exercise will be over and we will end the session. Are there any questions?”
“What’s the prize for winning?” asked Logan.
Abby shook her head and glared at Logan. “Nothing. There is no prize. This is a training exercise, not a game. You are not children who need to be bribed. You are adults learning skills that will save your lives and the lives of your fellow cadets.” She broke eye contact with Logan and glared at the rest of us. “Any other questions?”
Shockingly, there were no questions.
Abby had us spread out and line up at different entrances to the simulated city. The lights went out and it took a few minutes for my eyes to fully adjust. It wasn’t completely dark, more like twilight with a full moon. It made seeing difficult, but not impossible.
Reid's voice boomed out, amplified over a speaker. "On my mark, you will enter the city and start the exercise. You will continue until one person has placed a disc onto each of their opponents." He began to count down. "Three, two, one. Begin!"
I ran up the stairs and into the city. I found myself in a street with buildings filled with doors and windows lining each side. I checked the doors and saw that some of them were open while others were locked. I couldn’t find any pattern for determining which were which.
It was time to think strategy here. Given the fact that I could attack someone and still have time to get away made setting up an ambush the obvious approach. I needed to find a place where people would run past, and I could reach out and attach the disc before they could attack me. The problem was, all of the best ambush places were off the main streets in the smaller passageways. That meant I would have to rely on luck and hope that someone came past where I was waiting.
Relying on luck is a pretty crappy strategy.
I turned a corner, searching for that ideal spot with a mixture of concealment and traffic, when I caught a glimpse of someone just turning around a corner and running out of sight.
While I liked the idea of playing spider and waiting for my prey to come to me – it was certainly the safest strategy – I also had to consider that the objective was to complete this before anyone else did. Staying safe and protecting myself wasn’t the goal. In fact, they never mentioned what would happen if you had all nine discs attached to you. Did you have to leave? Were you out? I wasn’t sure, but the more I thought about it, the more I doubted that was the case. They wanted us active and attacking, not worrying about taking damage. I suspected that may even be the primary lesson of this training exercise.
So, rather than play the role of a spider, I would be the silent predator secretly stalking my prey. I might get tagged a few more times, but I was more likely to tag everyone else, too.
It was time to try it out.
I moved as quickly as I could while still staying relatively silent and followed the figure I had seen before me. I turned the corner and saw that the passage led past a staircase going to an upper floor and down a hallway lined with doors and passages connecting to other hallways.
The figure was nowhere in sight.
I held still for a moment, watching and listening for any signs of movement. I gripped a disc tightly in my hand and took two silent steps forward.
An almost imperceptible noise to my left brought me up short. I would have never noticed it if I hadn’t been straining to hear it. I held perfectly still and waited to hear it again.
The seconds dragged by. Five. Ten. Thirty. And there it was again – a soft, shuffling sound from behind the stairs. It was a perfect place for an ambush. I would have to walk past it to continue down the hall.
But now that I knew where they were, I had the advantage. I pulled out a second disc and crept forward with a disc grasped tightly in each hand. I stopped several feet from where my opponent was and tossed the disc in my left hand so that it landed right at the corner of where my passage and the stairs met.
At the same time the disc hit the ground, I leaped forward to where I envisioned my opponent would emerge. Just as I expected, a figure slid out from around the corner, disc in hand ready to slap it on me.
And this is where reality took a sharp detour from my plan. Instead of attacking me while standing up as I had expected, the figure rolled on the ground presumably attempting to put the disc on my leg.
The end result was that I sailed over my opponent and my opponent rolled under me. Which I doubt was what either of us had envisioned.
We both tried to make last second adjustments. I dropped my disc onto my opponent at the same time she reached up to place her disc onto my thigh. We both tagged the other at exactly the same time.
Some type of force enveloped me and prevented me from moving my arms or legs. That meant I couldn’t cushion my fall or change how I landed. Which, believe me, is a really bad situation to find yourself in.
Fortunately, that same force ended up protecting me as I landed and rolled several times, ultimately only stopping because I hit
a wall.
A girl with strawberry-blonde hair and beautiful eyes glared over at me from where she lay, unable to move.
Alexa.
I felt a smile curve my lips, and then I started to laugh. I’m not sure why I thought this was so funny, but something about that look on her face caused me to go into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.
Alexa continued to glare at me for a moment and then her angry façade broke, and she started to laugh with me.
We were so busy laughing that we didn’t even notice when the force that held us immobile wore off.
“You almost had me,” she said.
“Almost?” I said. “That sure looks like my disc attached to your...” I trailed off. I couldn’t see the disc attached anywhere. “Where is it?” I asked. “You were just as frozen as I was, so I know I got you.”
Alexa felt behind her and blushed. “Never mind where it is,” she said.
And then I knew where the disc had landed. Alexa had seen it coming and tried to roll out of the way but failed. The disc had landed and attached itself to her butt.
I burst out laughing again.
Alexa turned an even brighter red, a look of real anger crossing her face. She stood up and started to stalk away. Watching her leave with a disc attached to her butt was really funny to me, but I pushed down the hysterical laughter that threatened to come out.
“Alexa, no, wait!” I called after her. “Look, I’m sorry, Ok?” I put on a serious face. “See, I’m done laughing.”
Alexa glared at me and then burst out laughing. “You always were a gullible sucker,” she said.
Had she been faking the anger? And I fell for it? Dang, this girl was good.
I made a mock bow. “Well played,” I said. “You win this battle of wits and bluffing, but I warn you it will not be so easy next time.”
Alexa rolled her eyes and flipped her hair at me. “Believe me, I’m trembling,” she said. But then she flashed me a genuine smile, and I felt myself smiling in return.
Then, an idea hit me.
“How about we team up?” I asked. “We’ve both tagged each other. There’s nothing more we can do to each other.”
Thirteen Forgotten Worlds (Seam Wardens Book 1) Page 8
