Page 16 of Marked for Extinction
“Alright men, gather round. Who here has experience with a long range rifle and or bows?” I asked, refusing to let myself dwell on the past.
A few of the people mumbled a yes and a few others mumbled that they’ve held a bow but had never used one in real life.
“I’ve experience with a rifle,” came a familiar feminine voice. Inés stood off to the side with her arms crossed, partially hidden behind a few of the men. She was in cargo pants today and boots. I couldn’t help but be pulled to her confidence as she bore her eyes into mine before flicking it behind me to our weapon supply.
“Alright, we’ll start from the beginning. Hand to hand sparring for the rest of the day. Tomorrow we go topside within the woods, rotating in small groups with rifles. Remember that the bloodsuckers are not stopped by bullets. All of your skills will have to be put into play in order to survive a fight with a vampire. In order to make sure of a kill, you’re going to have to aim for head decapitation.”
“What about Disaris? I’ve heard horror tales about their regeneration rates,” someone asks with panic in their voice.
“Then you cut off all their limbs and separate them,” Amir answers calmly. “They’re not immortal. Death is possible. You just have to figure out what their weaknesses are and exploit them. If you’re unsure as to which clan a bloodsucker belongs to, then give them all you got. Impale their hearts, take off their heads and separate their limbs. It’s a war zone out there, don’t turn your backs on anything you think might be dead. You need to make sure they are.”
“Why are we even in a war to begin with?” someone mumbles in the back.
Didn’t they understand? We all had to work to keep this place safe. If Clan Shaye or even Disaris happened upon one of our entrances, this entire underground compound would be destined for a bloodbath.
“Who said that?” I barked.
No one answered.
I paced in front of the group slowly, staring each and everyone one of them in the eye.
“Get it into your head, right now. Understanding why we’re at war will not change the fact that we are. It won't stop the bloodsuckers from plucking us off one by one for food or entertainment. Vampires are out to kill, out to establish their dominance in a world that never belonged to them. It is our job to put them where they belong, dead and buried. It's the only way to protect not only our lives, but our future. We need to do what has to be done in order to retake this world and give our children any sort of chance in living normal lives.”
“Almost sounds like you prepared this little speech of yours,” Amir snickered under his breath.
I glared at him before returning my sights on the people before me. “Training starts now. You and you, you're up first to spar. Show me what you got.”
Most of the established resistance fighters had honed their bodies for warfare. We trained tirelessly with pushups, sit ups and pull ups and a lot of jogging and made sure to further develop our hand to hand techniques with short weapons and without. Our skills had to be crisp, we needed to be ready at all times to fight to the death.
Boys were allowed to volunteer at the age of thirteen and were taken and put through rigorous training. We were at war and they needed to know and be prepared. These guys in front of me right now, had me running my hand down my face in frustration. Though they all showed up for the call, their hearts weren’t into it. I was beginning to feel like this was all a mistake.
That was, until I watched Inés moments later take down an opponent bigger than her out of sheer will and refusal to give up. Her skills were lacking but her desire was strong. I admired it—from afar. I couldn’t show any sort of favoritism.
Beau came up behind me and tapped on my shoulder. “I have a message from Dean. He’s calling a meeting in the next thirty minutes, says it's of grave importance.”
Amir, who stood beside me, nodded his head and hollered to the other people who looked like they needed a break anyway. Their forms had gotten sloppy in the past hour. Everyone let out a relieved groan at their dismissal—everyone except one woman.
She stayed until the last man left, and only then did she turn to leave without a word.
Beau led us both westward toward the strategy room. Dean, Ozzy, Carson and the rest of the men were already there.
“So glad you could join us men. I was starting to think we’d somehow gained two more casualties for some odd reason,” Dean smirked.
“They were training the new recruits, Dean,” Ozzy interjected. He was expressionless, without a care in the world.
“I see, I see. We have more important matters to discuss. Your little training sessions are going to have to wait, Vik.”
Keeping my thoughts to myself, I sat down at the table across from him while Amir sat beside me.
Dean leaned in and his countenance changed, making my body tense. “One of our scouts discovered a location in the middle of the woods, southwest from here. It would seem there’s a hole in the ground, one that looks to have been made years ago. Our scout didn’t have enough time to stay and investigate since he ran across a rogue vampire. He was forced to leave the location and get the vampire off his track before returning back to the compound.”
I knew where this was going and judging by the way his eyes flicked to both Amir and I, I knew who he was addressing. Carson quietly sat in the corner, intently listening. He was aware of where this was going as well as his fingers softly drummed on the table, waiting for Dean to get to the point.
“There’s a good chance there may be supplies hidden within. We can’t pass it up. Who knows what might be of use there, what might help strengthen us. We need a volunteer to go and investigate the hole and report back to us what they find.” Dean leaned back and placed his elbows on the arms of the chair, clasping his hands in front of his face.
The room was quiet and tense. Ozzy stared at the table with a frown on his face while the rest of us all looked at one another. We were barely given any reprieve since our return. With Carson courting Vanessa, that only left me and Amir. The other crew was sent out the moment we returned to scour the south for nearby threats.
We had one more crew of five. Since they weren’t at this meeting with us right now, I could only assume they were sent out on another task as well. Crossing my arms, I leaned back in my chair and scrutinized both Dean and Ozzy. The corner of Dean’s lip curled into a slight smirk while Ozzy continued to glare at me. I still didn’t understand why he was so pissed when I literally only did what he assigned to me.
