Training Montage
The next morning, I was greeted by a knock on the door quickly followed by Holly’s expectant face peering through the opening gap. I was staying in one of their “guest” rooms. It was barebones with a concrete floor and brick walls. The metal door would have made me feel like a prisoner if I hadn’t thought myself capable of barreling through it, or at least the brick wall next to it.
The room was furnished with a wooden dresser and nightstand, metal sink with a dusty mirror hanging above it, and a wire-framed bed bolted to the wall. The mattress was comfortable enough. At least they spent where it mattered.
“Ready to begin?” Holly asked, a smile tugging the corner of her lips.
I had no idea what to expect from this new arrangement, other than I would be training with some of the most elite operatives the US had to offer. Yesterday’s events had helped boost my confidence, but most importantly, Holly was here.
“Yes,” I responded.
I slid out of the austere bed. The floor was cold cement against my bare feet, not that it bothered me. I was starting to get used to changes of my body’s reaction to physical stimuli. Small matters such as heat and cold, my body could feel them as intensely as ever, but then dismiss the sensation almost immediately. They seemed unable to penetrate any deeper than a visceral feeling.
Take the floor. My first step sent signals to my brain, much as before the change, that the cement was indeed cold. But instead of feeling the need to pull my feet back or find the nearest carpeted area, the feeling faded to a dull, background sensation. If I concentrated on it, I could bring it back to the forefront and feel the heat very slowly draining from my body, through my legs, into my feet, and then the floor itself. But if I did not focus on it, if I pushed it away, the floor felt no different than walking with shoes on any other surface.
I wondered if this was a physical or mental phenomenon. Perhaps it was all in my mind, and I was actually exposing myself to dangerous environmental conditions. Like a child who can’t feel pain and touches a hot stove because they don’t know better.
It didn’t seem like that was the case to me, but maybe I would die to exposure in cold weather because I failed to wear a jacket. That would be an ironic twist to my supposedly hardy body—superhuman dies of hypothermia.
However, Holly’s touch, even just her gaze, sent involuntary shivers down my body. I had little control over that reaction. Her eyes were wandering over my exposed skin, she bit her lip. I was only wearing the plain grey sweats they had provided.
I coughed lightly, and she quickly snapped out of her own reverie and moved to the dresser. There she retrieved some matching sweats and socks.
“Here,” She held them out to me. “Put these on.”
“If you insist.” I gave her my attempt at a teasing smile.
“I really do.” But she did smile in return.
I quickly donned the drab uniform and retrieved my own sneakers from where I had stashed them with the rest of my stuff under the bed. I followed her out of the room, down the hall, and downstairs to the landing where I had first entered. We walked past the front desk, again manned by Derek. We all nodded in greeting as Holly led me past.
We entered a door just past the desk on the left. I had missed it upon my first, cursory inspection of the place.
Inside this new room was what looked like an industrial kitchen against one wall, a counter and prep area taking up the middle space, and a large metallic table with a dozen metal chairs placed around it. Logan sat alone at the large table. The two women I’d seen before and someone I didn’t recognize were all working in the kitchen on various things. I could smell bacon, and my stomach growled.
Holly greeted the three working on breakfast, and I learned that the two women were named Lily and Mia. Mia looked to be of Hispanic descent with olive skin, dark hair, and dark eyes. Lily was true to her name, pale as could be. Her dark hair and green eyes stood out in stark contrast. Neither was very physically imposing, both a few inches shorter than even Holly. Though, there was no denying their athletic builds.
I leaned awkwardly on the counter, watching them work. Lily was chopping vegetables for an enormous omelet. Her hands were a blur; the scallions stood no chance. Perhaps she was a chef in another life. Then it occurred to me she had obtained these skills for more sinister reasons, and I shivered. I glanced over at Logan and saw him staring at me. He gestured me over. I looked for direction from Holly, but she was already moving towards the counters to help with the cooking. I shrugged to myself and slowly walked over to where Logan was seated.
He nodded for me to sit as I approached, so I took the chair across from him.
“No hard feelings?” He offered a hand.
I shook it hesitantly.
“We were just checking to see if you really belonged here,” he said with a sardonic smile.
“Did I pass?” I asked.
“Evidently!” he laughed, then winced.
“Couple of broken ribs,” he explained.
“Sorry…”
“No. Don’t worry about it, comes with the territory.” He waved his hand dismissively.
We sat in silence for a minute. The air was filled with the greasy smell of bacon. I could hear it spitting and cracking in the pan. Other, more obscure scents also flavored the air. Vegetables frying in a skillet, eggs, and perhaps pancakes, if I wasn’t mistaken. Breathing it all in reminded me of Saturday mornings when I was a kid. One of the few times we would sit down as a family and enjoy a meal that wasn’t dinner. It was strange to feel such nostalgia and a sense of family in a setting like this.
“So, do you do that to every new recruit?” I asked Logan.
“Hmm?” He looked up at me.
“Fight them?” I reiterated.
“Oh. Well, to be perfectly honest, you’re the first new recruit we’ve had in a while. But no, we don’t typically do that,” he answered.
“Then why me?”
“It was Aaron’s idea.” He shrugged. “Guess he should have been the one to have to fight you.” Another wry smile.
“But it was only because Holly hyped you up so much. Supposedly you’re… different from us. Aaron wanted to prove her wrong, I suppose.”
“Oh.” I wasn’t sure what to make of that, but at least Logan didn’t appear to harbor any resentment, even with a few broken ribs.
“No hard feelings?” He reached across the table again.
This time I shook his hand much more definitively.
“I’m just excited to see what you can do,” he said.
I smiled in response. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.
“Foods ready!” Mia called from behind the counter.
We all lined up and I piled a plate high with food. Scrambled eggs with onion, pepper, tomato, and ham. I sprinkled cheese on mine. I pushed them to the side to fit three pancakes. I had to place the bacon on top of everything because I had failed to leave any room on my plate. A quick glance at their portions revealed I’d taken more than everyone else.
“This is James, by the way,” Holly said as introduction for the man who had also been cooking.
“Nice to meet you,” I held out my free hand while balancing my plate on the other.
He shook it firmly.
“James is second in command,” Holly explained as we sat down.
He had light brown hair and eyes that seemed to change from blue to green depending on the angle. I wondered if he was the one “keeping tabs on me” as Holly had put it. He could have sat in on any of my classes and I would have never noticed.
They all made small talk over breakfast while I scarfed down everything in front of me. I stayed out of the conversation, and thus finished everything far too quickly. Not yet full, I sat staring at my plate internally debating if anyone would mind if I had seconds.
“Still hungry?” I looked up to see Holly smiling at me.
“Yeah,” I admitted.
“Take as much as you need.” She gestured back toward the food.
I obliged.
“How much have you been eating?” James asked me as I sat back down.
“Ummmm…” How could I phrase this without getting kicked out for doubling their food bill?
“Quite a bit. But less than immediately after the virus cure procedure. The first few weeks I couldn’t stop eating.”
“That’s normal, right?” I looked around at them for confirmation.
James nodded slowly.
“The more changes your body goes through, the more energy you need for them to take place,” he said. “So it only makes sense you would need even more, given your unique case.”
I shrugged and kept eating. Made sense to me. I was just happy someone else was providing the food for now.
Lily and Mia finished first and left. James, Logan, and Holly all finished and started discussing the day’s activities. I paid loose attention, but mostly tried to finish quickly so I wouldn’t hold them up. I walked my empty plate to the sink and set it by the others. I glanced around. Was I supposed to do the dishes, since I didn’t help cook?
“You can just leave it there,” Holly called to me from the dining table.
“Don’t make the new guy do dishes?” I asked as I walked over.
“No, Aaron and Michael will take care of it,” James answered.
Something in his voice made me wonder if it wasn’t some sort of punishment for yesterday’s antics.
“Shall we?” Holly asked.
As one they all stood up and headed for the door, I followed. We moved down the hall and took the elevator back down to the training area. James outlined the day’s training plan on the way down. We would spend most of the day seeing what I could do. Holly surmised the virus should have had long enough to finish most of its work by now.
“See,” Holly explained, “the virus changes your DNA, often in ways that are vast improvements. At least, that’s what it is designed to do. One of these improvements is an ability to heal very rapidly. Logan’s ribs will be fine by the end of the week. However, this comes with a drawback. Your body’s DNA now has a set point, an equilibrium it always tries to reach. And the virus isn’t just gone; it is a part of you now. Like your own blood cells fighting infection, the virus is always repairing you.”
“So I can’t get cancer again?” I mused.
“Actually, that’s a good point,” James said. “Since cancer is mutated DNA in the body’s own cells, I bet none of us can. Pretty smart connection.”
His intrigue by this thought seemed genuine. It made me wonder how much even they knew about the virus. What had been kept from them?
“As I was saying,” Holly continued, “whatever state the virus leaves you in is what you are now.”
“What do you mean?”
“When you work out, the muscles in your body break down, and then your body builds up even more of them to better deal with whatever caused them to breakdown in the first place. Basically, you are injuring yourself a little, and your body is repairing the damage in a way to prevent future damage by building more muscle,” James answered.
“But your new body won’t do that. Instead, it will only fix the damage to the point it has been programmed to by the virus,” Holly finished.
I found this new information fascinating, but it also helped explain why my body had been growing stronger despite my lifestyle. I hadn’t been working out and had been eating way too much. But apparently this was all just to get my body to the point the virus was building me to.
The elevator came to a lurching halt at the bottom of the giant cavern. The lights were on, and Mia and Lily were at the mats sparring. I expected Logan and maybe even James to go do something else, but instead James led the way to the weights with Logan and Holly right behind. My own little entourage. I guess they were all curious. Even Mia and Lily paused to watch.
“For how long?” I wondered as we made our way across the room.
“How long what?” Holly asked.
“Well, what happens when we grow old?”
“No one has an answer to that, yet,” James answered carefully.
“Ah, just too new of a program?” I speculated.
“Something along those lines,” Logan spoke up for the first time.
I shuddered at way he said it.
“We’re not actually certain that you work the same way we do,” James said. “The virus used on you is new to us all. So we want to establish a baseline and test again in a month or so. We can start with major muscle groups. We don’t want to stress anything too much right away, since you are still developing. We’ll switch between upper and lower body, aerobic and anaerobic.”
He made his way to a squat rack. I was immediately thankful I worked in a gym. I may not have worked out much myself, but I had at least been able to watch others. I hoped my observations would pay off.
“How do you know I’m still developing?” I asked.
“Because of how much you’re eating,” Logan answered. “Once your body is at its equilibrium, you won’t need nearly as much energy to maintain it. Unless you get hurt or something.” He gave himself a disparaging tap on the chest.
Holly helped James load up the bar. They started at a weight much higher than I had been brave enough to try when I’d first discovered my own strength.
“Ready?” James asked.
“Um,” I glanced nervously at the weighted down bar.
I looked to Holly for encouragement, and she nodded me forward. I took my place under the bar. It resembled the equipment we had in the gym back at school, but a closer inspection revealed it wasn’t quite the same. For starters, the weights were metal, not rubber. They looked quite a bit larger than the standard plates I was used to. The bar itself was much thicker, especially toward the ends.
“We don’t drop the weights,” Logan said, watching me examine everything. “We aren’t lifting to get stronger, more for recovery. It can help with rehabilitation from injury, encouraging cell regeneration. It also works well as physical therapy and muscle training. Since we aren’t pushing to build more muscle, there’s no need to lift more than we can.”
I nodded and attempted to imitate what I’d seen others do at the gym.
James sighed, Logan laughed, and Holly shook her head before stepping forward.
“No, no, tsk.” She began manipulating me into position.
“I thought you worked at a gym?” she chided.
“Worked at, not worked out at,” I muttered under my breath.
She helped me get my hands placed, get the bar correctly positioned on my back, and kept kicking my feet until they were where she wanted.
“There!” She stepped back and smiled at my new posture.
“Either way, he should do a few without any weight first,” James said.
Holly nodded along in agreement, but Logan sighed and sat down on the bench. We heard the elevator begin its journey back up. It was my turn to sigh. Looked like Aaron and Michael were on the way, and here I was about to practice lifting air. That would surely impress them.
I followed along with Holly’s example as she demonstrated a perfect squat. I couldn’t help but admire the way her body curved and arched as she went through the motions. I tried to concentrate on copying her movements and not marveling at her figure.
Fortunately, James deemed me ready for real weights just as the elevator stopped. Small victories.
I resumed my place beneath the bar, with only minor adjustments required from Holly. I pressed upward with my legs, careful to keep my back straight. To my surprise I stood up easily. I took a careful step backward and began my best imitation of what I had done without the weight. Much like school, my body remembered more than I did. It moved effortlessly down and back up.
“Again?” I glanced over at James.
“How did it feel?” he asked.
“Easy.” I was quite proud of my single squat.
“Not necessary then,” he said, answering my initial question.
I walked forward again, more confidently this time, and set the bar back on its stand. They proceeded to add two more plates to each side, and we repeated the exercise.
Three more times we repeated this procedure. We only stopped when there was no more room on the bar.
“Daaaaaammmm,” Logan whistled.
“Looks like he’s already got a cheerleader.”
I looked at James, Logan, and Holly, then realized none of them had spoken. I glanced at the elevator and saw Aaron and Michael watching us. They walked away to the training mats. Another look around suggested none of the others had heard them. Was my hearing also a product of my strain of virus?
“How do you feel?” James asked. “Good to continue?”
“Yes,” I answered quickly.
I would prove to them all what I was capable of. We spent the rest of the morning maxing out every weight-lifting exercise they could come up with.
“I thought we were going to mix it up with cardio?” I asked Holly after yet another lift.
“You are more capable than I thought you would be. I wanted to see if you would get tired or worn down,” James answered nonchalantly.
So we continued, and I didn’t get worn down. Not in the traditional sense, though I got very hungry. My muscles didn’t feel tired or sore, but they warmed up more after each exercise to the point of working up a good sweat. I also noticed the feeling from when I first lifted. Not right away, not at every lift, but whenever we pushed larger muscle groups to the extreme. I felt that familiar electric feeling, almost as if I could feel the flow of energy through each individual muscle, tendon, and even my very bones. It didn’t hurt, it never hurt. But it did leave behind a tingling sensation and a trail of heat that quickly spread throughout my body, then dissipated.
I wanted to ask if they felt the same, but didn’t want to reveal anything that could be perceived as weakness in front of Aaron or Michael. I kept the sensations to myself. I would ask Holly in private later.
We finally stopped for lunch, but instead of returning to the mess hall, Holly told me to go shower and change. I did so quickly, my growling stomach reminding me of how hard I had worked.
I exited the communal shower with just a towel around my waist. I had just reached to open the door to my assigned room when I felt a hand on the small of my back. I spun around to see Holly standing in the hall, an amused look on her face. She slid both her hands around me and pressed herself into me, her lips into mine.
I returned her kiss with a ferocity I didn’t know I had in me. She must have opened the door behind me, because it fell open as I leaned back into it. We both stumbled into the room. My hunger for food was replaced by another, more animalistic one. We never made it to the small bed.
____________________
Holly ended up taking me out for lunch after another shower. I wasn’t sure if anyone had noticed our absence, but I was happy to go out for food just in case they had. We stopped at a small sandwich shop a few blocks from their base. I ordered three entrees and two sides. Once the waiter left us alone, I bent forward conspiratorially, eager to talk to her about the morning’s findings. But she cut me off with the shake of her head. Not here, I guessed. My questions would have to wait until we were in a more secure place.
“Well… What do you think?” Holly hesitantly asked.
“Mmphhff…” I swallowed. “Love it!” I answered emphatically.
“Not the food, silly.” She lobbed a piece of torn bread at me. I caught it and ate that too. She smiled briefly and then looked down.
“What do you think of us?” She asked into the table. “I know Aaron and Michael aren’t the most agreeable, but they’ll come around. We’re really close, like a family.”
“It’s not quite what I expected…” I started, “but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
She started to say something, but I held up a hand to stave her off. She sat back, arms crossed, but waited for me to continue.
“I suppose my only knowledge of the military comes from books and movies or video games. But I’ve obviously never served or anything. I don’t really know how it all works. I guess I wasn’t expecting an introduction like yesterday.”
“Understandable.” Her expression remained unreadable.
“But that could be explained by the, err, nature of this particular group. So, it’s not what I was expecting, but it’s not bad. And of course, as long as you’re here then I don’t really care about the rest of them,” I finished with a smile at her.
She smiled back, but it faded too quickly.
“They are the only family I have now. And despite how they sometimes act, I hope you can see them the same someday soon,” Holly replied.
I nodded. How bad could it really be? I was certainly familiar with strained familial relationships.
Holly paid the bill and we took a long walk back. By the time we returned it was early afternoon. We headed down to the basement, and only James was there to greet us.
“Ready to begin again?” he asked.
“Yep!” I felt much better now. It was most likely just the food, but I felt like my time with Holly had helped too. It was also nice to not have an audience (even if I had been able to do everything they asked and more).
“Ok, good. We are going to work on a little movement and cardio and call it a day. Sound good?” he asked.
“Sounds good to me!” Should be easy enough.
“Shouldn’t take too long, maybe a couple hours. Then you’ll be free for the rest of the day. The real work will begin tomorrow, though,” he warned.
The first test was sprinting. They had me stand at one end of the giant cavern while they stood at the other. The longest section seemed like it must be at least a quarter-mile wide. Halfway between us was a radar speed indicator, like one might see on the side of the road. I chuckled to myself when I first saw it. How fast were they expecting me to go?
I stood at my end for almost a minute before I heard James’ voice boom and echo its way down to me.
“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?” I thought I heard him say.
“AREN’T YOU GOING TO COUNT DOWN?” I shouted back.
“WHAT FOR? JUST GO WHENEVER!” His voice echoed back.
Oh.
I took a deep breath and leaned forward. I felt the air rushing through my nose into my lungs. I felt my feet plant hard into the ground, muscles in my legs tightening. The soles of my shoes started to deform as I sprang forward with everything I had. My arms pumped in time with my legs, each stride reaching farther than the last. It felt much less like running as I remembered it and more like springing forward from one foot to another. As I ran, time slowed down, the colors faded, and my vision tunneled. All that mattered was putting more force into each step, launching myself forward each time my foot came into contact with the ground. I could feel my body turning at each impact, bracing and balancing almost at a forty-five-degree angle, and launching forward, turning to hit the other foot at the opposite angle.
The other side of the cavern came up quickly, so I tried to slow down. Then my shoes gave out. The soles were shredded, and they came apart as I tried to plant my feet more to slow down. I slipped and fell. I barely had time to brace and roll through the fall. I came to a halt in a tangled mess about five yards in front of James and Holly.
“Are you ok?!” Holly ran forward and leaned over me.
I lay on the ground panting, arms and legs splayed out. I wiggled my fingers and toes, turned my ankles and wrists, and finally moved all my major limbs.
“Doesn’t seem to be any major damage,” I observed as I sat up.
Holly breathed a sigh of relief while James watched us intently. She reached out a hand and helped me up. I kicked off what remained of my shoes. Holly helped me do another, more-thorough inspection. No damage to me as far as we could tell, but my shirt and pants had some new wear-and-tear.
“Well… How fast did I go?”
James led the way as we walked the distance back to the radar. He checked something and frowned. He pressed several buttons on the back of the screen before turning to me with a slight grimace.
“I guess it didn’t pick you up. Seems to be no record. But I think we can all attest to the fact that you were moving pretty damn quick. I’ll have Derek look into getting some custom-made shoes for you. Maybe something Kevlar.” He stroked his chin.
“We’ve never had that problem before,” Holly said with a wry smile.
“Not the worst problem to have,” James answered. “I’d like to do some agility drills, but we’ll have to wait on those new shoes. I don’t think anything else will survive with that much force.” He gave me an admiring look. “Impressive display today, nonetheless. How about you two go get a new pair of shoes and I’ll see you both tomorrow?” he suggested.
“Sounds good to me!” I couldn’t help but smile at the praise.
Holly and I headed back upstairs. Luckily I had a pair of boots packed with the rest of my stuff, but Holly took this as the perfect opportunity to take me out shopping. We spent the rest of the afternoon picking out new things. She paid for everything, citing it as a work expense. She told me I could pay for my own things once I was on contract. We had a nice dinner at a small steakhouse and returned to the base.
I retired to my room and checked the time. Not too late for a call home. I used the flip phone Holly had given me to call my parents’ landline. It only rang twice before my sister answered.
”Hi! Cooper residence. May I ask whose calling?” Her bright, cheery voice greeted me.
“Hey Ema, it’s me,” I answered.
“Mom, Dad, Ryan’s on the phone!” I heard her shout away from the receiver.
“Hi Ryan! How’s the treatment going?” She asked excitedly.
“Hey Ryan!” My mom clicked on.
“Hi Mom,” I answered her.
“Is this the party line?” My dad’s gravelly voice joined in.
“Hi everyone,” I answered.
“Hi Ryan,” they chorused.
“So, I’m at the clinic now. They are just doing some testing, but we should be starting tomorrow if that all goes well,” I told them.
I looked at my surroundings, the bare walls and Spartan furniture. Probably far from what a high-end clinic might look like… unless the trial really was government run. Then maybe this was accurate.
“What kind of testing are they doing?” my dad asked.
“Oh you know, basically taking a bunch of blood and tissue samples. Some other basic health checkups,” I answered.
“Are there other people with you there? Are they in the trial too?” my mom asked, not quite able to keep the concern from creeping into her voice.
“Yeah. There’s some others here,” I admitted.
“Is your doctor friend there?” Ema asked.
I chuckled. Of course that’s what she would have taken from our last conversation.
“She’s here too.”
“How long did you say you were going to be there?” my mom asked.
I felt a little bad about the way this was going. I knew my parents were excited I was finally “seeking treatment.” They knew I was dying. They were left hoping for a miracle. That this Hail Mary from some experimental government procedure would do what nothing else could and save me. But they had no idea I was cured. Perfectly healthy. Even better than before. Unfortunately, this charade was necessary to keep them in the dark about the true nature of what I was going through. Not to mention this very secret nature of this particular group I was with. At least their hope would be rewarded.
“Just the rest of the week. Then they said I should be able to go home. Should be just in time for Christmas!” I told them.
I didn’t feel too bad about missing some Christmas vacation. They gave us almost four weeks off. I knew I’d be bored long before almost a full month at home. Taking a week to learn more about what I could do, with people like me—that sounded a lot more interesting. Plus, Holly was here. Not to mention, I would be bringing home the best Christmas present my parents could ever ask for. I would be bringing the news that I was well on my way to cured.
“Well, just know we all miss you and can’t wait to see you,” my dad said.
I looked at my phone incredulously. I guess this whole treatment routine was even getting to him.
“Thanks. Yeah. I’ll be home before you know it!” I replied.
We talked for another few minutes. Ema told me about her classes. Mom embarrassed Ema by sharing a story about a crush she had. Dad stayed mostly silent. Normal family affairs.
After a lull, I let them know I was tired from the day’s events and needed to get to sleep. We all said our goodbyes.
I plugged the phone into the wall and dropped onto the bed. My mind was still buzzing from everything that had happened today. I knew I had been strong, but apparently it was far more than even they had expected. But even more than my personal physical capabilities… Holly. I didn’t know what kind of rules or regulations they had on