Children of Evolution (The Gateway Series Book 2) (44 page)

Nikki turned and started down the trail, feeling pretty proud of herself for getting the better of Ace in a bet. If Impact stayed true to form, he'd find some place high enough to get a good running jump over that water, and he'd spend hours "training."

"Tell you what," Ace said. "Since you had such a rough night, I'll even wait a few minutes before I tell him about the bet."

"What? You can't…you didn't say any—"

"Better kick it into gear, kiddo. Clock's ticking."

*
 
*
 
*

When Nikki jogged out of the trees into the small clearing around the back porch, Impact was already there stripping off his sodden shirt. Apparently he'd found a spot high enough above the lake. He'd probably taken a half dozen running glides into the water and still made it back first.

Nikki leaned over, resting her hands on her knees, and tried to catch her breath. She'd pushed herself hard to beat that jerk back. All for naught.

Impact noticed Nikki eyeing him and gave her a curt nod by way of greeting as he hung his shirt over the porch rail. No gloating. No acknowledgement of the bet in any way. No emotion. Typical Impact.
 

Then he proceeded to strip off his pants.

Nikki watched for a few seconds as she caught her breath. Impact stripping down was a sight worthy of a little consideration—more than a little, really. His extra lean, genesis-ripped body glistened with the lake water steaming off into the cool air. The view was something. Of course, she couldn't think about him in a romantic way. Like Coop, he'd become more like a brother than a man—a grumpy, unfeeling brother. Still, if he wanted to put on a show…

The show ended with just as little pomp as the circumstance that started it. Ignoring Nikki like she didn't exist, Impact draped the rest of his clothes over the rail and went inside without a word.
 

Ace had already signed off, which meant Nikki was alone at the edge of the morning-lit wilderness. Just Nikki, the birds, the squirrels, and Savior's man-killing predators that were sure to show up at any moment.
 

Last night's victory didn't seem quite so thrilling in the light of day.

A sharp crack of wood against wood made Nikki jump. She turned and backed closer to the porch, her eyes scanning the woods around her in twitches and starts, her heart rate spiking. She felt the fear rising with her pulse, so she took a long, cool breath. She could hear Ace's words from last night like her voice was still coming through the com.

"There's nothing wrong with fear…it shows you where the danger lies."

Nikki relaxed her shoulders with her next breath, readying herself for whatever might fly out of the woods at her. Whatever it was, she wanted to face it like a woman—or, if it was one of those monsters, run like hell. She wasn't an idiot.

"Fear brings out who you really are…"

"I'm not an idiot," she whispered to herself, her eyes moving more slowly, tracking more carefully across the trees and whatever they were hiding.
 

I'm a survivor
. She actually smiled at that thought. She was a survivor through and through. She and Michael had always done whatever it took to keep going, to survive, no matter what life threw at them. That hadn't changed with Michael's death. If anything, Nikki was more motivated than ever to keep kicking now that she was literally living for both of them. Sometimes that meant running. Sometimes it meant standing her ground. Sometimes it meant charging in with fists flying.
 

Right now it meant keeping her cool.

The crack sounded again, echoing off the cabin, but Nikki didn't flinch this time. It sounded like it was coming from near the garage shed Sam had mentioned last night. Moving as quietly as her new kicks allowed, Nikki crept toward the edge of the cabin. When she peeked around the corner and saw the source of the noise, she reconsidered that not-an-idiot thought.
 

Elias stood in the cleared ground between the shed and the cabin, axe in one hand, adding freshly split logs to the neat stack against the shed with the other. He turned toward the bigger stack of un-split logs and spotted Nikki.

"Morning," he said, pausing in his work to take in her exercise clothes. "Couldn't sleep?"

"I didn't have a choice," she grumbled, but with only feigned bitterness. She actually felt surprisingly awake and alive after her forced workout. "Hard to stay asleep with Ace yammering in my ear."

 
Elias smiled slightly, but his eyes still held more concern than amusement.
 

For a minute they just looked at each other, then anywhere but at each other. Finally, Elias positioned another log on the much wider stump that looked like it had been used for this purpose for eons.

"So, where are we?" Nikki asked, enjoying the chill in the air now that she'd run her body temperature up to boiling.
 

"Canada," Elias replied. He brought the axe around and down in a smooth, practiced motion, shearing the log in half in one stroke.

"Eh?"

"Canad—" He caught himself and gave her a slow glance and head shake as he collected the two pieces to add to the stack. His half smile said he got the joke but didn't find it anywhere near as funny as Sam had once upon a time. "Western Alberta, on the edge of Blackfeet territory."

She nodded, looking around. She'd never been this far north. Come to think of it, she wasn't sure she'd ever been to Canada. It didn't look all that different from parts of the States. She didn't know what she'd expected, but for some reason she just assumed a different country would look…well, different. It was stupid, she knew, but the idea of national borders being some kind of magical dividing line was one childhood thought she'd never outgrown.

"Pretty far away from the bunker then," she said after a minute.

Elias positioned another log but paused to look over at her before he attacked it. "Approximately four hours, direct flying."

From the way he was looking at her, she could tell he knew why she was asking.

"How long before they get here?" she asked, surprised at her lack of discomfort. Maybe all she'd needed to beat the fear was to realize it wasn't making her weak.

"That's hard to say," he began. "Cole is trailing them. Based on his last check-in, they're headed this way but not moving as fast as we've seen them move. If they keep to this pace—a week, maybe more."

Nikki nodded and wrapped her arms around her chest. Now the cool air was starting to get a little uncomfortable.
 

"Don't worry," Elias said, "we'll move on before they get here. I was serious when I said you wouldn't have to face those things again, not if I can help it."

Hearing they were still coming for her wasn't the best news in the world, but it wasn't surprising either. Running might feel good at the time, but it rarely solved a problem. Eventually they'd have to turn and face their pursuers. She was coming to accept that inevitability. Between now and then, she intended to make sure she was ready.

"So, when are we starting this thing?" she asked, earning a confused look from Elias.

"What thing is that?"

"Training," she answered slowly, like the answer was obvious. It should have been. "We always do fight training after PT. Is it different out here in the sticks? I won't complain if we're doing breakfast first."

Elias split another log then took his time adding the pieces to the stack.
 

"You want to continue training?" he asked at last without looking away from his work.

"Why wouldn't we?"

He thunked the axe into the stump and turned to face her, brushing the dirt from his hands. "After what happened with Cole, I assumed you wouldn't see the need."

"Well," she said, looking around the yard, "you know what happens when you assume—you look like a jackass."

"I don't believe that's the saying," he said, but she could see a hint of his smile hiding in his serious expression. Maybe.

"You
assume
it's not."

He shook his head and stepped closer, letting the hint fade away completely. He crossed his arms and looked down at her, but not in a condescending way. More like she was a puzzle he was trying to figure.
 

"Don't you think Cole's right?" he asked after a minute. "You're a natural fighter. You're at your best when you let go and fight on instinct. Our training was teaching you how to fight with control. If Cole's right, that's not the kind of fighter you are."

"Two things," she said, holding up a finger. "One—I don't care what Hillbilly thinks. He sucker punched me. As a rule, I don't agree with people who do that." She flipped a second finger up. "Two—why can't I be both?"

Elias tightened his eyes slightly as he studied her. Otherwise, his face gave up nothing about what he was thinking. "Explain."

She ignored his commanding tone. He didn't mean anything by it. She could tell. Slipping into that tone was as much instinct for him as going crazy in a fight was for her. People shouldn't be faulted for their instincts.

"I'm saying why can't I be the best at both?"

He laughed softly, but his serious expression stayed in place. "With a little training and practice, I believe you could hold your own with just about any style you choose."

"You mean be the best."

"I mean—" He was doing a fair job keeping his smile under control, but she could tell it was taking an effort. "You could be better than good."

"The best," she insisted.

He just raised one eyebrow.

"Agree to disagree," she said. "Back to the point, if I master your style, I'll be able to handle myself when I'm calm and cool too, not just when I'm fired up. Best of both worlds."

Elias looked at her for a long stretch. Long enough that she started to wonder if she'd said something wrong. Finally, he let the smile go.
 

"Good answer, Nikki," he said.

"Thanks," she replied, feeling pleased with herself. Her answer had taken her a little by surprise, but she realized she meant every word. She wanted to learn. She wanted to practice. Fighting was the one thing that had always come naturally to her. She didn't want to lose that now that her power was…whatever it was. If learning Elias's way—Michael's way—could put her back on top, she was more than ready to get back to it. "So when do we start."

"Right after breakfast," Elias replied.

Nikki gave him her best smile. "Good answer."

Nikki

"Ten seconds," Ace announced through the com. "Hold your pace."

Nikki charged up the rocky slope, huffing through the effort and keeping her eyes on the tricky ground in front of her feet. The trails on this side of the mountain were more rugged than those closer to the cabin, harder to navigate. They required constant focus to avoid twisting an ankle or tumbling into a ravine unless you slowed down and took your time, which Ace wouldn't allow.
 

Nikki crested the rise just as Ace called, "Five seconds—pick your target."
 

Nikki lifted her eyes, rapidly scanning the trees ahead as she leveled out into a gentle curve in the trail. She caught a glimpse of clear blue sky and a view of the lake through the thinner trees on her left, but she ignored it. No distracted thoughts. She needed a target, now. One of the wider trees on the right was her best bet. It had a low branch that looked just about—

"Go!" Ace barked. "Climb."

Nikki was a little disturbed at how easily Ace had programmed her to obey without question, but she was too focused to dwell. Plus, this was the most fun she'd had on a workout in…ever.
 

Nikki jumped and just caught the drooping lower branch with one hand, the rough bark digging into her palm. She slapped her other hand on the branch and hauled herself up with a grunt. As soon as her belly hit the branch, she swung a leg up, pushed off, and kept climbing. She climbed as fast as she could, kicking off from each foothold, pulling on each handhold with everything she had. She climbed like death was at her heels, which wasn't too hard for her to imagine.

As it did every time she hit this level of exhaustion, her mind reached for some distraction from her protesting muscles. This time it tried to figure out the right word to describe what she was doing, a word for climbing with a vengeance. Something like scurry, but more strenuous. What was the run version of climbing? Or the sprint version?
 

Rimbing? Clinting?
 

Nope. Those sounded terrible.
 

"Down. Go," Ace called.
 

How she knew when to order the switch was a mystery. Nikki was almost positive the earpiece didn't have a camera, but she still had a tinkle of doubt. Ace always knew when the branches were getting a little too flimsy, when the trunk started to get a little too thin, when the tree started to sway a little too much.

Nikki scaled down as quickly as she'd come up. No quicker though. Going down was a fair bit trickier. She didn't want to take another pinballing tumble down through the branches. Once was plenty. Her earlier fall had left her dazed and shaken more than injured, but it had also left her vulnerable when she wanted to be anything but.
 

They'd been at the cabin for four days. Four days of grueling workouts and training sessions broken up by more chores and duty shifts than she'd thought possible. Four days of watching the empty woods around her with growing unease, waiting for black-armored nightmares to come leaping out.
 

Cole had stopped checking in almost two days ago, which had nearly sent Nikki into heart failure, but Elias shrugged it off. He said he'd expected as much. Cole apparently had "issues with technology." Elias remained positive, saying Cole would find a way to let them know long before the creatures got close. If they were holding their pace, they were still a few days out. He said not to worry.
 

Helpful.

She dropped the last couple of meters to the ground and had a couple of seconds to catch her breath before Ace called, "Up, Nikki. Push."