Chapter 41: Training

"Now kids, I want you to split into the teams. Each team will consist of two people. Tina and Gary, Evelyn and Charlotte, Janice and Caleb…"

"This is how it's going to work; we are going to play a game of cat and mouse. The cat's responsibility is to sneak around and be as quiet as possible. The mouse's role is to observe and listen out for any noises that are made by the cat."

"After 5 minutes, you get to swap roles, the cat will become the mouse, and the mouse will become the cat. Hopefully, you have been paying attention to the cat, because you will now be responsible for improving on the previous cat. And the cat will be able now to see what they did wrong and see if they can improve. Once this is completed, we swap again."

"We will keep doing this for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon, learn well my children because when we get back into the academy we will be sent to our rooms, and the evening we will begin the stealth test."

"Now go, spread out. The forest is huge, but make sure you don't wander off too far. I would hate it if I lose another one of you before the test. Evonne, you come with me. I'll be your partner."

A girl with dark black hair, wearing tight tracksuit pants and top stepped out. She had sporty shoes. The type that you could run in for days.

I walked towards Charlotte. She was 16, Asian appearance, with golden-brown hair, a face full of freckles, and a straight fringe which showed off her forehead. She said that she did it because it made her look young.

I couldn't agree more. She looked nowhere near her age.

"Let's do this together. You and me. We will make a great team."

"But first, who's going to be the mouse?"

I think I was way too excited. I couldn't stop talking. It reminded me of playing tips back at the orphanage. I was just so thrilled that we were doing this activity together with another person, and the best part was that no one was going to die. At least not today anyway. I hope so.

"You can do it, kid; you are the smaller one."

"Perfect. It's going to be so much fun."

We moved about 300 metres away from the teacher, to the edge of the forest. There was a pathway in the middle only dry leaves that swamped the floor in burning orangey-red colour. And what made it even more impressive were the trees that extended out, they were all dark ashen black coloured.

This place looked both dead and alive. But its beauty was just too amazing to miss. At least that's what Charlotte said anyways.

Charlotte had told me that it reminded her of where she lived and her early childhood, where she would run for hours, on beautiful dry, crispy leaves, that rang and crumbled with every step.

We were not the only one here though, Janice and Caleb, and Tina and Gary were also here.

"Of all the places, we could have done the training, why did you have to choose the driest place?" Gary grumbled as his feet crumbled with every step.

"Take it easy, man. We are going straight to the deep end. It will mean we'll save time. Even if will be a hell of a challenge." Caleb responded.

"Who asked you?"

"You're embarrassing. Let's get this over and done with already." Tina replied as she stepped out.

"I guess you're the mouse as well." Janice came after. I haven't forgotten about you. I am going to show you."

"Bring it."

"It's just meant to be training. We're all team mouse. So, let's do our best."

Jeebus, it was like these two were already hating each other.

Forget it. Maria always said we should just focus on ourselves. So I lowered my body. Tina and Janice had both done this before. Now I just need to move my feet forward and land at the tip of my toes, and we are smock!

Easy said than done though, I stepped out with the tip of my toe, and lowered it slowly on top of the closest leaf.

Crunch.

Shambles. My toes had barely touched it, and it wasn't as if I had let the weight of my feet even land on the leaf, but it had crunched. I must be so bad at this.

Stopping, I turned just as Janice took a step forward, the tip of her toes touched the leaf, and not a single sound came out, but as she tilted her feet so that the edge landed first, a soft swooshing noise came out. It was not a crunch, but it was definitely a sound.

"Did you see that, Caleb? Clean."

"Not perfect."

"Sorry miss perfect hunter, I am not as good as you. Why don't you try?"

"This is stupid. How many times do I need to embarrass you on the same day?"

And she moved again, just like the previous time, step after step, not a single sound. It was slow, but not a single sound came out. She moved like a fox, hunting its prey.

I had to copy her.

Crunch, Crunch.

This was not my day. I tried lowering my body, like nearly touching the floor. I tried shifting my weight to the tip and sides and slowly come in, but it just didn't seem to work.

This was hard. I never knew sneaking around would be this hard, and had this much skill, precision and timing to it. At this rate, I was never going to learn in time.

And as if Xie Li could read my mind.

"SWAP!"

We stepped back and let Gary, Charlotte and Caleb move to the front. Charlotte was first to move, but she had barely taken a step when a loud crunch and a booming noise met her with every step.

It must have been her size. She was at least double my size, broad shoulders, and legs that look terrifyingly strong. As she kicked the branch leaving a massive hole in the trunk.

She tried again, and the same thing happened. This was not working out for her. She looked ashamed, angry and hurt. She even tried to crawl on all fours, which only made it worse. I felt so sorry for her. I wish we could share our weights.

Caleb, on the other hand, didn't even need to bend over, he was just walking silently. It was as if this was the perfect activity for him. There was not a single sound.

One the other hand, Gary was being told off again and again. He tried to smile and ask for Tina's advise only to be repeated thrown back with one-word replies.

"Again."

"Repeat"

"Idiot."

Even though it looked like Gary was trying to talk to her or ask her maybe they could work together in the next test. She just repeated told him that she works alone and that he should do the same.

We swapped again and again. I tried what Charlotte had done, and I tried what the others had done, the crunch of leaves were getting softer, but it was not gone.

Now and then Caleb would give me a tip or two, but this only made Janice gives me cold, dirty stares. And she seemed to get angry because she would tell Caleb that they were a team and it was not right for him to give me advice.

She must have loved him and wanted to impress him, but Caleb seemed to be always giving me tips, maybe because I had saved his life.