The Blood Pawn by Tillman Nicole

Author:Tillman, Nicole [Tillman, Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Zombies
Published: 2017-04-25T04:00:00+00:00

The people running this program pack everything they can into every single day. You'd think with so much to do it would be exciting, but it's not. It's becoming monotonous.

Every day I spar with Cain in the training room. Then I help Tara on the range. Slowly, she learns her way around every gun I put in her hands. When Cain can spare time away from his Alpha brothers and sisters, he and Brian help me practice wielding my ax and machete. Sometimes Cain gets a little too into it and Brian has to step away so he's not designated as the target.

“It's all in the wrist,” Cain says, gripping the machete. “You don't swing with a stiff wrist. You whip it.”

He demonstrates the proper 'whipping' technique and I copy him. It's harder to work with than I thought it would be, but I'm learning.

“Nope. That's not it.”

I lower the blade and look to him, but he has his back to me.

“How can you tell? You weren't even watching me.”

“I can tell by the sound.” Cain abandons the gun he's cleaning to approach me. “When you do it right, there's a certain sound it makes. Like a whistle.”

“A whistle.”

“Yeah.” His arms cross over his chest as he looks at the ground. “As a kid, did you ever take a twig or a stick and swing it through the air as fast as you could? Like a sword?”

I did actually. A lot. I was a small child, much smaller than my classmates, and doing things like that made me feel big. Strong.

“Yes.”

“Do you remember the noise it made as it slashed through the air?”

Glancing down at the ground, I try to remember. I summon the memory and erase everything but the noise. My father at the grill, my mother bringing in laundry off the clothes line, the neighbor's dog wagging its tail by the fence. I block all that out and focus on the noise...

He's right. There's a distinct sound to it.

“It's like the wind yelling,” I say. “Like a breathy whistle. It's quiet, but it sounds-”

“Dangerous,” he finishes for me.

Right. It's invisible, subtle, but dangerous.

Out of the blue, Cain lightly grabs me around the back of the neck and presses his forehead to mine.

“If you're going for the kill shot, aim right here.” His fingers move back and forth just under the base of my skull. “This is mostly cartilage and small pieces of bone. It's one of the easiest places to slice through. Aim for that.”

I swallow hard, thrown by the heat of his hands on my cool flesh.

“Got it.”

I won't forget that spot.

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