PSI Plague - Training Pt. 02

He jumped up to avoid the leg, no, he jumped up and forward. I rolled with the momentum of the kick and just barely avoided that huge boot that landed where I had been. I continued rolling until I had enough space to get back up just in time to grab his left arm, roll with the punch, plant my feet into his armpit and throw him when my back hit the ground.

I lost some wind when I hit the ground and was a fraction of a second slow getting up. That was all it took for him to roll back to his feet and bull rush me. I was off balance and faster than it took to read this, he had me in a bear hug. Exactly where I did not want to be.

He was grinning as he started to squeeze the life out of me. I thought about his eyes, but discarded the idea. I really had no desire to hurt him. If I couldn't get out of this, I was about 63.5% sure Leopold would step in once I was unconscious.

Instead, I rocked forward violently while I put my right leg outside his left and kicked my heel into the back of his knee. As expected, he braced himself for a head butt and was unprepared when his knee gave way. My momentum with his sudden unbalance rocked him down and I rode him to the ground. When the tree trunks he used as arms released when we hit the ground, I sprung up and backed away.

My first breath confirmed that at least a couple ribs were cracked if not outright broken. I threw up an arm and yelled "MEDIC!" as loud as I could.

By the time I saw two white jackets move forward, I had closed the distance back to Ginger. He hadn't moved, but he was still breathing. Not wanting to play the part of Oberyn to Ginger's Mountain I stayed out of arms reach. The medics reached him and I backed off. One of them said something into a comm and seconds later a large gurney rolled into the training room at top speed. As they loaded him up and strapped him down, I tapped one of the medics on the arm. Nodding, he pulled me aside.

"He got a nasty crack on the back of the skull. Most likely he will have a concussion, but we are going to give him a full scan and workup. He was starting to come around and we will let him get fully conscious."

I nodded my thanks and put a hand on my ribs, started to head for Leopold. The medic stopped me and unzipped my training suit. Peeling it down he poked at my ribs.

I was sitting on my butt on the concrete when I started to see the world again. A second gurney was just coming up alongside me. I waved the guys off and said, "As long as you don't poke me like that again, I'll walk with you to the infirmary. I don't need a ride."

They looked at the medic I was talking to. He nodded and when he did, I saw the three stars on his collar. Leopold had some pull to get the chief medical officer down to watch his fights.

An hour later, I was walking back to the training center. My ribs were taped and I had a cortisone shot in my side and a pack of pain killers in my pocket. Leopold met me halfway there. His face actually showed concern.

"Smith, are you up for a drink?"

My hand touched the pain killers. Doc said no drinking after I started taking them, but he didn't say anything about before.

"You buying?" I asked with a grin.

He looked at me and grinned back, "First round only."

"A first round is still a free round," I said. "Lead on."

I was pretty drunk when Honey found me back in our apartment. She was not happy. When I stood up and she saw the tape on my ribs (I had only pulled the training suit off to the waist), she was even less happy, but her target shifted to Leopold.

"It's not his fault," I slurred. "He only bought the first round and then we alternated."

"We will talk about this when I get out of the shower. I feel slimy."

"Can I help you feel slimy? No wait, that came out wrong. Can I help you feel not slimy?"

"No," she said. "I'm not going to call down for a medic because some drunk slipped in the shower and broke his neck. You stay right there and you can tell me all about your day while I try to forget all about mine."

"OK," I said in drunken agreement.

With that, she made a trail of clothes leading into the bathroom. I sat down and began rubbing the few not drunk brain cells together. When they finally reached a conclusion, I jumped up, quickly sat (or fell) back down with my head spinning. The second time I stood up at a safer pace and headed for the bathroom.

"What did you just mean by try to forget?" I said, holding onto the doorframe.

"It's ok," she said her sweet voice flowing over the shower curtain.

I opened the curtain and stepped in.

"Eeek," she squeaked. Then, "What are you doing in here with that still on?" she asked pointing at my training suit.

"I am coming in here to find out what happened to my lady and who I have to kill to make her day better."

She looked at me for a while and then slumped just a little. "Ok. I'll tell you, but you have to get that thing out of here before you ruin it."

"It's washable -- I think," I said as I tried to get the training suit off. Once I had it off, I tossed it out of the shower and into the tub and then sat on the bench. I was a little woozy from trying not to breathe ('cause it hurt like all fuck) and to be honest, all the alcohol I drank with Leopold didn't help.

She had her 'I'm concerned' face on when she said, "Oh, it was nothing."

Snorting, I said, "Let's just rinse off and go to bed."

She grinned evilly and said, "Now it comes clear. Big strong man just wants to get dainty little woman in bed and have his way with her."

Snorting again, I replied, "Yep. You guessed it. Beat up drunken slob wants to take his sexy, beautiful, smart warrior woman to bed so he can find out what kind of messed up day can take the smile off her lips."

She just came closer and smushed my face between her magnificent breasts.

I never did find out until much, much later what fucked up her day, but we certainly made some good memories before we collapsed into sleep.

In the morning, Honey was gone and I felt like shit. Shit with a big grin on it's face.

I got cleaned up and finally took a couple of the pain killers. Then I read the bottle, "Take 1 every 6 hours as needed. Do not take on an empty stomach." Dammit. Oh well, they were starting to kick in and I didn't care. And neither did the six guys from the hangover squad who were beating on my head.

Made it to breakfast without throwing up and got a stack of pancakes and a pound of bacon. Life was starting to be good. After breakfast, I headed down to the locker room, put my running suit on and headed out for a nice quiet run, sans pack.

When I got back, I showered and got into my combat gear and headed for the training room. As I walked in, I noticed that the mats were rolled back and there was a small group of people there. Leopold, I knew from the back, but I didn't recognize anyone else. And then out of the corner of my eyes, I saw the Professor's bodyguards, including Ginger with a neck brace, fall in behind me. 'Oh shit,' I thought, 'I am well and truly fucked.'

As the crowd became aware of me and my entourage, they folded back like wings and I was facing the Professor with the six of them in line behind him.

As I stopped a few feet short of him, the Professor acknowledged me. "John Smith," he said with a twinkle in his eye, "It is my pleasure to announce your graduation from what has been called 'The School of Hard Knocks'. You are being promoted to active duty on squad 13. You have been given the position of Point and will report to training pod 13 at the conclusion of this brief ceremony. Congratulations son, well done." He shook my hand and the other six people congratulated me and shook my hand. Leopold stayed as the Professor and the five that could only be The Council departed. Ginger stayed for a moment to shake my hand and tell me, "no hard feelings".

Leopold handed me a packet and with a conspiratorial whisper, "I don't know what you did to get the Professor's attention, but whatever it was, keep it up. I have been here 17 years and I have seen him present activation orders three times. All three are now on the council."

The only sound was the clunk of my jaw hitting the floor. Leopold woke me up by slapping me with the packet and pointing at the door.

I took the packet and just before I reached the door I turned and asked, "What about my gear?"

He just looked at me for a second and then said, "Don't worry about it. That was training gear. You will get new gear at your pod. Now go."

I nodded and walked out the door. I was no longer a recruit. I was no longer a trainee. I was now part of a squad. Picking up the pace I started to jog over to pod 13.