William
By the time my second class had started, I understood things a little better. So basically this school, Clearwater’s School of Innovative Education, really had an innovative education. The students here are trained to kill monsters and save the human race, I guess. It's still a bit confusing. I asked about why kids are being forced to do this: those who survive till all the beasts are gone will be paid handsomely. The program we the students are part of is called the Humanitarian Protection Project. The project prevents students from communicating with their parents or guardians because they don’t want word to get out; the project is supposed to be a secret. If anyone found out then, well, let's just say it wouldn’t end well for them.
All of my classes are pretty normal besides PE. At this school, PE doesn’t stand for Physical Education, it stands for Post-Apocalyptic Education. I asked why it was Post-Apocalyptic and not Pre-Apocalyptic. It's because the apocalypse has already begun, they’ve just been hiding it from the general public.
Throughout the day, I received a lot of attention from everyone. They were all asking me how I killed the monster called “Level E.” I marveled at the fact that they gave that thing a name. After my first class, I had PE, which took place in the training area. I now know where most of the things in school are, so I made it there just fine. I was surprised to find that when I arrived the large metal door marked “Training Area, ” had been opened. Outside, I saw a wide area with kids lined up in rows facing each other. Behind them was more of the fence and beyond that was an endless stretch of trees.
Our PE uniform was a simple white and green top with green shorts. At PE, they train with knives. I wondered how this was considered safe and got my answer as I entered the area. The knives they were training with can’t hurt human skin. They’re engineered specifically to harm Levels. Levels are what they call monsters here. Be that as it may, the knives still looked dangerous. Once I entered the Training area, I tried to find a place to stand, then I noticed how quiet everything got. Looking up, I realized that everyone was staring. After having people stare at me for the first 4 hours of the day I was used to it so I smiled, but they weren't staring at me. Craning my head around, I turned to see what everyone was looking at: a girl. She had honey-like skin and black hair tied up in a ponytail. In her right hand was one of the school-issued knives. I swear that she was glaring at me. Why is everyone looking at her like that? I felt sweat bead down the back of my neck as she walked toward me.“Hi. My name’s Lilian.” She extended her hand and I sort of just stared at it, unsure whether it was safe or not. After a moment I shook her hand.
“I’m William.”
“I want to test you. You know, because you killed that Level E this morning. That’s pretty impressive. Do you want to spar with me?” The question seemed innocent enough but if I lost this, people would see right through my lie. I need to get out of this somehow. Besides, she's not giving off a friendly vibe.
“I’m not that good with knives. Right now, I only really know how to shoot a gun.” Ok. That should be enough to get out of this.
She shook her head, “It’s fine, we don’t have to use knives. Hand-to-hand combat will work, I just want to test your reflexes and whatnot.” Behind me, people were looking at me as if my life was at stake here. Is this girl that good? If we’re not using knives, I think I could win with my strength. I should have the advantage here.
“Sure.”
“Alright. You can take your position. The rules are simple: one round, first to pin the other on the ground wins. Got it?”
“Yeah.” Ok. I got this, I use to wrestle guys all the time back home just for fun.
Everyone around us moved back, not wanting to get caught in the ring of fire. Lilian took a few steps back and spoke.
“We start on the count of 5.”
“Alright.”
I saw her get into a fighting position, so I mimicked her stance. Her face seemed so neutral; I couldn’t tell what she might have been thinking.
“5…”
My body started to tense up. What was she planning?
“4…”
I’ll go for her legs. That seems like the best way to end this quickly.
“3…”
How is she so calm?? It’s unsettling.
“2…”
Wait. What if she already knows what I’m planning? I have to change my strat-
“1.”
Too late. With that, she flew towards me. My legs didn’t want to move again. Crap. In a blur of motion, Lilian's right hand tensed up preparing to strike. Her legs are completely unguarded! Dodging her incoming fists, I threw myself on the ground in an attempt to grab her legs. My hands were inches from her calf when a sharp pain struck my back. In the short amount of time it had taken me to lunge at Lilian’s legs, she had swung herself over my shoulders and onto my back. Before I even had a chance to gather myself she yanked my back and smashed my face onto the ground. Ouch. I could feel her staring at the back of my head, waiting to see if I would get up. Needless to say, I didn’t. My body slumped under her weight as the verdict was called.
“The winner is Lilian Burns.”
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