Project Servile : Defect [Book #1] ✔ Complete!

➽ E l e v e n : Field Work

"Use what talents you possess, the woods will be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best."
- Henry van Dyke

I spent a week training, hardly ever leaving the gym other than to shower or sleep. Although, unintentionally, sleep was taking a back seat. Jaxon tried to hover behind me and quickly realized I still wasn't ready to talk. A part of me cowered behind the excuse of needing to be as strong as possible before my first assignment. At night, when I was honest with myself, I felt the real reason I couldn't face him.

My small lapse of attention landed me face first into the mat with the person I was sparring with that day. Her name was Devon and she was amazingly quick. Even with newly enhanced eyesight, her body blurred with immeasurable amounts of speed. I felt my anger flare. Anger was almost a default emotion inside of me. I was pushing myself to unrealistic heights, I knew that. Yet I couldn't stop. Every time someone managed to make me face the mat, I would punish myself.

She held her hand out to help me up but I just shook my head and clamored to my feet. Her shoulders shrugged then she ran her fingers through her honey brown hair. "Amazing round Maddie. I've been learning so much from you."

I only gave her a tight smile. She knew by then that I wasn't much for talking. I just wanted to keep fighting. To keep the adrenaline coursing through my veins, like a drug addict constantly keeping high. I walked past her to the small indoor track in the middle of the gym.

A face-plant requires a ten mile run. Even with the wonderful speed I was graced with, I made sure to push myself to the absolute limit, where I could feel the muscles in my legs begging to relax. Even to the point where I was sure they would fall off on their own because of my abuse towards them.

Losing myself in the fog of speed, I tuned everything out. All sounds, all the whispers that followed me around ever since discovering my new defect status. The panicked glances and the slight, distinct smell of fear from a few. I was dangerous now. I was starting to enjoy that.

I lost track of how many laps I took after twenty. I knew I was about to completely run out of energy but I pushed on until I noticed a steady figure keeping pace with me. I slowed my insane dash to a normal run and peaked beside me to see Harley, silently staring ahead still keeping in time with my stride.

We finished five more laps in silence before I finally stopped to wipe the sweat from my face. Harley pulled a towel out from his waistband. "Here, you should really start carrying one around."

"Hey, Harley. Are you up for some sparring?" I flexed my arms in a mock show of strength. We both knew my arms hadn't had time to change, I was still a string bean walking on two legs.

"I think you've sparred enough Mads. Hand to hand combat will only get you so far." He pulled something shiny and metallic from his pocket. "The second day you came in here, you seemed fond of these when I threw them at your head."