“You’re dead,” Elese says as she presses her forearm against my neck, cutting off my air.
With no breath to speak, I slap my hand down on the mat. Hard. Probably harder than needed to concede the match, but, give me a break, at least this time I didn’t panic.
Elese rolls off me and I remain prone on my back, gasping. The odor of hot sweat mixed with the funk of feet is a fine perfume to my starved lungs. I’m already well acquainted with the view of the bland cream-colored ceiling above the training room and it’s only been eight days since my funeral.
Yes, you read that right. I officially died—killed by my ex-friend Jarren, the murdering looter—for about a minute before the good Dr. Edwards revived me. The funeral was to say good-bye to Lyra Tian Daniels and hello to Ara Yinhexi Lawrence—my snazzy new name. But I’ve gone almost eighteen Actual years being called Lyra so it’s gonna take me quite a while to get used to it.
With a groan, I push up to a sitting position. Muscles unused to such activity ache in protest. Elese stands next to me. Her chestnut-colored skin contrasts nicely with her white—still very clean and dry—training uniform. Not a single short brown curl is out of place on her head. Unlike me. Most of my long hair has sprung from its braid. Black strands stick to the side of my face, which, despite my olive-colored skin, is probably dark red from exertion. And let’s just say I’m damp in places better left unmentioned. Ugh.
Around us, a couple other off-duty security officers spar. Their grunts echo off the walls, two of which are covered in floor-to-ceiling mirrors. Yep, my face is red. Along the opposite side is a row of workout equipment. Bendix lifts weights. Figures. The muscular guy is about as wide as he’s tall. Elese says she can toss his “fat ass” across the room despite the fact she’s a hundred and seventy-seven centimeters tall—about ten more than me—and is lean. After seven days of working with her, I now believe she can do anything.
“What went wrong?” she asks me.
I consider the fight. “I blocked too wide, leaving my solar plexus unguarded.” Rubbing my stomach, I remember her jab—not too hard as this is training after all. “Distracted with the need to breathe, I allowed you to get too close and you took me down.”
“Yup. Classic rookie mistake. All right, on your feet, Recruit. Let’s try again.”
Rookie. Recruit. Newbie. Take your pick, I’ve been called all of them by various officers of Planet Yulin’s security team. As the newest member, I take it in stride and hope it’s a phase. It’s a thin hope as all the rest of the team have nicknames.
“Once more.” Elese sets her feet into what I now know is a fighting stance.
I face her, copying her posture. She attacks, I block. Or I try. In my defense, she has years of experience. This time I last a bit longer before she takes me down…again. I wonder if I could decorate the ceiling—maybe have Niall paint a mural.
“You need to keep your guard up,” she says.
Talk about stating the obvious. I bite down on my sarcasm—she is trying to teach me—and climb to my feet.
“Let’s work on your blocks.” Elese faces me.
Overheated, I roll up the sleeves on my tunic, exposing arms covered with an assortment of colored bruises from dark red to muddy green and a few mat burns just to make it interesting. My legs and torso sport the same coloration. Sexy, I’m not. But, at least my stomach no longer twists with apprehension when I put on the loose cotton training pants and shirt. Progress.
I block her punches and kicks for hours. Okay that’s an exaggeration, but at the end of a long day, I’m entitled. Training, I’ve learned, is repetition. Lots and lots of doing the exact same thing over and over and over again. Words like “muscle memory” and “instinctual reactions” are drilled into my mind and body. I understand why. After spending eight hours a day in the training room, I’ve seen the other officers also come in each day and work out for a couple hours to keep their skills sharp. Plus this will probably save my life someday.
And that’s the kicker right there. Jarren, the murdering looter, is still somewhere out there. He could be anywhere in the Milky Way Galaxy or he could be hiding right on Yulin. Yeah,