Commando

Commando Chapter 6

I walked into the training room the next morning and Reece was talking to some guy. “Reece!” I shouted. He sighed and said, “Excuse me I have to deal with this.” That made me go berserk. “How dare you take all this out on everyone else! This is between you and me! I hate you, you know that?!”
“Yes I know you hate me Layla. You’ve said it a million times.” And with that he pinned me against the wall and bent dangerously close to my ear, “I also know that you have past that you and no one else knows about. I know that some things should stay hidden but because of you nothing will. And I know that I love you.” He threw me over his body and I hit the wall behind him with a groan. The guy Reece was talking to stepped in front of me and yelled, “Reece! Stop it! What are you doing?! You can’t just hit her!”
“Get out of my way Levi! I will deal with her accordingly.” Reece growled. I groaned and stood up clutching my side, “How about Reece leaves me alone and stops hurting people every time something goes wrong and I get to my training.” The guy, Levi, helped me up a little bit and I shoved him away. “Get away from me. I don’t need your help.” I growled.
“Obviously you do. I won’t let Reece beat you up anymore. He talks all night about how great you are but at day he beats you and talks crap to you. I don’t want to leave you alone with him. I’m taking you to the Clinic.” He whispered. I looked at him in amazement and he chuckled while leading me to the Clinic. Reece ran after us shouting, “Where do you think you are going?! Put her down Levi! I can deal with her how I want too!” But Levi ignored him and kept walking. When we reached the Clinic the woman from before shook her head at me but then saw Reece screaming at us. Her eyes widened and she picked up a phone, “We have an emergency at the Clinic. Reece Antony is finally going crazy.” She chuckled at the thought. “It’s not funny.” I snapped. She quickly bowed her head and set to work saying I had two broken ribs and a concussion. Reece was taken away to be held until further investigation while Levi continued the training sessions. He was kinder but he still worked us hard. He didn’t have us stand in front of a target and watch while an unexperienced knife thrower threw knives at us, or he didn’t try and torture anyone at all. I liked him. He was nice and we had bonded a lot during the training sessions. But I felt something more than friendship was arising. That scared me beyond belief.
I was walking down the hallway about midnight when a group of Commando-born initiates passed me whispering excitedly. One of the guys, Allen Luck motioned for me to come with. I walked with the group confused about what was going on when we left headquarters. My head snapped to Allen and he just smiled. I shook my head but kept following. We climbed trees and hills until we reached a tall tree with a platform surrounding the trunk. From that was a straight line going between trees for as long as the eye could see. A guy and a girl were already on the platform hooking a kid up to the line. But he was on his stomach in the harness. The girl moved him so that he was facing downward a little bit and together the guy and girl sent him flying. All I heard was a scream and the zip of the line and then another kid was up. I realized they had formed a line and I was next after the girl before me. I looked around for Allen and realized he was the boy who went first. I gulped down the knot in my throat and watched as the girl went down screaming. A hand clouded my vision and I realized that the guy was trying to help me up. I took his hand and he pulled me onto the platform. The girl put me onto my belly and tightened the harness around my stomach. Then the guy lifted me up so that the girl could clip me onto a metal hook. My heart rate had picked up and the girl said, “Don’t worry, I can tell you aren’t from Commando. I’m Annie by the way and this is Chad. I smiled weakly and chanted in my head: I won’t scream, I won’t scream, I won’t scream. Then I felt a rush of wind and I was flying! Well, I was zip-lining. I laughed and smiled at the speed I was going, thinking that this would be the only time that I did this ever! At the bottom I could see Allen and the girl standing on the flat ground and I stopped right there. Allen and the girl held out their arms and yelled, “Drop!” They wanted me to do what?! I looked at them but then the girl got a look of horror on her face and she yelled, “Drop quick!” I could tell by her fear and the zip noise that another initiate was coming towards me fast. I unhooked myself and I felt myself drop into the arms of the two initiates. Then I heard the kid above me drop and we caught him. He looked at me and said, “Why didn’t you drop when you got down?!” Allen put his hand on the kids arm, “Easy Layne. She isn’t from Commando. She has never done this before. Take it easy!”
“Why is she here then huh?! No non-commando-born initiates remember?! Your brother’s own words Allen!”
“Did that stop him from lifting her up onto the line Layne? Did it? Stop making her feel unwelcome and enjoy the rest of the night!”
The last thing I heard Layne mutter was, “She isn’t welcome.” But Allen didn’t hear that he was too busy catching a girl that had just zipped down.
I dropped into bed weary of the action that night. When we had gotten the whole group we had to climb the mountain back up to get to headquarters. But I had made new friends and a new enemy: Layne. He hated my guts. I didn’t know what to do.