Chapter Forty Eight

After all that transpired that morning, Katie made the decision to walk back to the school and check through the attendance list. Her gait wasn't as perfect as it should have been once she got up, aches riddled her body from the strain she had just gone through. It wasn't like she wasn't used to the pain of muscle aches, but it was an old feeling that stirred up old memories. Memories of the time she was aiming for heights that felt like mere dreams.

.....................….

"Katie, hurry up or we'll leave you behind," Sandra called back to her friend. Katie was having trouble walking even though she did not want to trouble the adults with the details. She was secretly prolonging her training so that she could learn more and faster than the average student. Relaxation just wasn't a part of her vocabulary.

It was just a matter of time before they found out unless she did everything in her power to conceal the fact that she was in this much pain from the intense training they were going through. All junior hunters in training at the time were required to be present for one joint training session where they would spar with each other and receive quizzes to test how much they'd improved during that week.

Katie had been training too hard for an eleven-year-old, and the signs were quite clear. However, the adults that led them through the forest to the Hunter's Training Ground were not about to let her skip a very crucial part of the Hunter training scheme. There was no way out of this one. "I'm coming, Sandra."

"Katie, when you get there, you don't have to push yourself too hard," one of the adult handlers said to her. On this occasion, parents and mentors weren't allowed to be present as the children were being tested on what they themselves had learnt and truly mastered. They were to know what kind of level of mastery they had attained in the skills that were being imparted.

A few more minutes, the children found themselves at their destination. Many of the junior hunters in training used this time to show off to the rest of their peers that they had learnt more than the other. For some of these children, this was a time to show off their skills. None of it, however, impressed Katie for as long as she was unable to take down a werewolf, those measly skills were just what they were and all the same useless in the real world.

No one knew just how much this little girl understood about the cruelty of war or how much it haunted her dreams to be useless in the time of an attack and watch someone die because she was unable to save them. The adults got the tests shortly after and had the hunters go through drills. First, there were drills of endurance which meant they'd have to be running a really long distance and making it to the finish line in the shortest possible time without passing out or burning out.

In a way, the jog helped alleviate the stress that Katie's muscles were under if only to make the next activities easier for her. Next, were stretching exercises which the supervisors handled themselves. They made sure everyone stretched past their previous limit and kept in the best of shape. Those that had slacked off during their training were given a warning. It wasn't unheard of for someone to be kicked out of Hunter's training. It was harder if that person didn't come from a Hunter family.

Lastly came the one-on-one battles where junior hunters were paired against others that the handlers thought were their equals based on their assessment. This was not a place that showed much compassion. The handlers had too many juniors to deal with that they didn't have time to look at every detail. They'd make an assessment and make a match and this kept the children either constantly improving under the tough conditions or the other way round.

Once a child's body simply denied the improvements they were trying to grind into it or if the child happened to be too busy that week that he wasn't able to keep up with his previous progress, it was usually a tipping point when they were ashamed in front of everyone in this last session. The fights took place one at a time for three minutes each with the partner everyone was assigned. This meant that everyone was watching as well. Working under such pressure was also something that they were supposed to overcome for emotions meant nothing but slack to a hunter and so they were to be shut out when in such situations.

Katie's match was announced and she was to face off against a fourteen-year-old in the shape she was in. She knew the system and that this was someone who either matched her in combat abilities or was much stronger than she was. The older boys that got matched up with her carried looks of resentment in their eyes each time they got to fight her and this had been their downfall as they'd undermined her every time.

But this one was different, the boy carried a look of amusement when he saw his opponent. "Many have made the mistake of undermining you, but I've been wondering just how far up you are willing to advance."

"Are we going to talk or fight?" Katie asked him.

"Is fighting all this is to you?"

"I just want to get this over with. If you want to talk, then maybe after it's over," Katie knew the power of speech quite well and didn't want to allow the boy a chance to get into her head. Their fight raged on for the entirety of the three minutes, Katie collapsing once they were over, but something wasn't right. Throughout the whole of it, the boy didn't do anything serious to fight her and merely evaded or blocked her attacks. It was frustrating and he made it seem like she was weak.

Once the fight was done, he approached her, serious for the first time with the intention of pinning her down. This wasn't going to count now that the three minutes were done, but he didn't expect Katie to collapse before he even touched her. The girl was panting heavily on the ground and a look of frustration was stuck on her face, "Get up. That's no honourable way to end a fight. Get up," he said.

"What are you mad about? You should have defeated me. You had the power to. Rogues won't spare you just because they are weaker than you," she said.

"But I'm still weaker than them. I expected more from you though. You let me down," he said. Katie got up only to get back down on her knees.

"I did not come here to impress anyone," she replied before another attempt at standing. Her muscles had never screamed fatigue louder than they did on that day. Sandra ran up to her to help her stand.

"Katie, what's wrong? You're not usually like this," she tried. The handlers surrounded them and one of them began checking Katie. The man looked like he knew what was going on. He merely needed to give any one of her muscles a squeeze and watch Katie flinch in pain.

"You aren't allowed to push yourself that hard. You know it's not good for you. Honestly, don't your parents teach you anything about muscle fatigue," the man asked, "Sandra, escort her back to her home and make sure she gets to rest."

"So that's it. A pat on the back for mere muscle fatigue," the boy mused.

"It's as I said, you should have defeated me when you had the chance. You won't have the pleasure of fighting me in a weakened state again," I said.

"Big words coming from someone who can't stand…"

"You disgust me. We are here to get better, not care about whether or not someone is impressive. We are here to train and push ourselves further so that we might someday become hunters and bring an end to this war. Trying to make small talk… talking about honour when our enemy kills without a second thought. I don't even know what you're doing here," Katie's words were harsh, but the message reached the boy. Katie cared about nothing, but getting better. That was her purpose for training. Everything else was minor to her and she cared nothing of it. Her current weakened state was a reminder of that.

...............…

Katie snapped back to reality, the memory of that day was still clear in her memory. She'd looked for the boy to apologise and been told that he quit trying to be a hunter on that day. He had left a message, however, saying that he was sure she'd make the youngest hunter of their generation and he wasn't wrong. She'd then hunted for his name, Jeremiah.

He wasn't from a hunter family and he had hoped to be the first hunter in their family, but what Katie had told him that day had made him realise that he had no business being a hunter or so that's what she had been told. She continued walking to the school and soon enough she was there. Balloons, ribbons and decorations of all sorts covered the school in an organized manner. The preparations for the festival the next day were done and she was going to do everything she could to enjoy that day.