I wiped away a trail of blood that was coming down from my split lip. My body ached from the dozen or so bruises I had and my clothes were torn in several places. All that said, I’d won. The healers were just arriving and began healing the fliers. I winced as I noted the severity of some of their wounds and regretted not being more careful Captain Hill was grinning like the madman he was and drifted down where I stood.

“Good work, Private,” he said.

I flashed him a salute as I turned away from the unpleasant scene.

“Thank you, Captain. Sorry I was so rough on them.”

“Don’t worry about it. What do you say we let them have another go at you, this time without your surprise attack?”

I wasn’t too interested in that. I was hungry after skipping breakfast and didn’t want to lose my appetite entirely from more fighting.

“I missed breakfast,” I said. “Could I eat lunch first?”

Captain Hill checked his watch before responding.

“You have thirty minutes,” he said. “That’ll give my fliers time to regroup and form a plan for taking you on again.”

I saluted once more and then turned towards the mess hall. I’d have to run if I wanted to make it in time so I sped my way across the open ground. I wanted to change clothes as well since what I was wearing was pretty torn up but there wouldn’t be time for that. As soon as I arrived, a member of the kitchen staff greeted me.

“Captain Hill radioed ahead,” he explained, holding out a tray of food for me.

I accepted it and immediately began scarfing down the food. Spaghetti, meatballs, garlic bread, and a cup of jello were today’s offering. It tasted fine but I didn’t have time to enjoy it. Eating so fast after a long morning or fighting on an empty stomach was a swift recipe for nausea. Halfway through the meal I thought I might throw up but managed to keep everything down. I slowed my pace and drank some water which helped to calm my stomach.

By the time I was finished eating I had just under ten minutes to get back to Captain Hill so I tore out of the mess hall and dashed back. A bullet from the firing range pinged against my ribs but I ignored it. I arrived just as my time ran out and Captain Hill nodded while tapping his watch.

“Right on time,” he grinned.

The fliers were nowhere to be seen and I kept a wary eye out for them as they were certainly going to try and get a surprise attack this time.

“One of the fliers has a packet of important information,” Captain Hill said. “I need you to recover it.”

“Yes sir,” I nodded and saluted.

I still wasn’t sure on all the proper ways I was supposed to salute or address the officers but there hadn’t been much instruction on that aspect of serving in the military here. Most of the training was more about combat and using our powers. Regardless, Captain Hill flew up into the air to observe. A few healers were still nearby as well, undoubtedly waiting to heal any of the injuries that were bound to happen soon.

I scanned the skies and the horizon. I noticed a small group to the East and another to the North. Not sure which group had my target, I picked the group to the North and began running towards them. I picked up a few stones along the way but mostly focused on keeping an eye on both groups. As I drew nearer the first group, they spread out and began firing down on me with their machine guns. Such weapons couldn’t hurt me so I ignored it. Then the grenades began to land.

There wasn’t be enough time to stomp them all so instead I leapt straight up into the air. An unlucky flier was passing overhead as I jumped and I grabbed hold of his leg. Below us, the grenades went off harmlessly and the flier began to swerve in an attempt to shake me off of him. It was a futile effort and I climbed up his leg until I could put my hand on his head.

“Got you,” I said.

“I don’t surrender,” the flier replied as he continued to try and shake me off.

“I close my hand, you’re dead. I got you,” I repeated.

“I do not surrender,” the flier replied again, visibly shaking with fright.

I didn’t want to hurt him. I regretted being so violent the first time around and in the past I could just tag them like this and we’d count it as a kill or capture.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I pleaded with him.

He was about to open his mouth when a grenade went off in the air right beside us. We dropped, the flier landing in a bloody heap, unmoving.

We’d been relatively stationary and paid a price for it. Before my eyes or even my mind could fully process what was happening, a sonic boom echoed around me as a flier sped by. At the same time, a rocket struck me from the side, tossing me back down to the ground.

My vision swam but I forced myself to move, knowing more explosives would be close behind. I leapt, avoiding the first barrage, and when I landed I spun and threw a rock at the first flier I saw. My aim was off and the rock went wide, sailing harmlessly into the distance. My second rock was on target, however, and the flier dropped, crying out as the rock tore a chunk of his ribs away.

I didn’t dwell on that image and instead turned and ran. The ground around me began to pop and explode all on its own as the fliers pursued me. They were faster than me, though, so I skidded to a stop and slammed my fists down onto the ground, tossing up yet another dust cloud. This time, however, they were ready for that. A moment after my dust cloud was up, I was rocked by another sonic boom. My ears rang, blood dripped from one of them. Still, I was hidden for the time being. I needed a plan. The supersonic flier needed to be dealt with, as did the super who could create explosions all on their own since they were the ones who could most reliably hurt me.

As I thought, explosions continued to go off in the dust cloud. I kept moving around, striking the ground from time to time to keep up the cover. Another sonic boom tore through the dust cloud, dazing me for a moment. When I got my senses back, the dust cloud was almost gone and I saw a long skid mark on the ground, ending in the supersonic flier. He must have flown too close to the ground and crashed on his own. That was the risk of flying blind.

An explosion rocked me and I tumbled through the air. My full stomach had had enough and I threw up, spraying sick everywhere. I didn’t have time to worry about that, though. As I landed I scooped up handfuls of rocks and threw them in every direction. The scatter shot caught a number of the fliers, though their injuries were mostly superficial. It did buy me some time where I was able to locate the explosion flier and leapt at him, catching him midair. As I’d done with the other flier, I placed my hand on their head.

“Got you,” I said.

They winced, let out a small whimper, and then detonated an explosion right on top of us both. The point blank explosion threw me into the ground hard enough that my vision swam for a moment. When I got my senses back a moment later I realized I was still holding the flier.

I told myself they were just unconscious as I pushed their body off of me, refusing to look at how badly they were damaged from the explosion.

I leapt at another flier and tackled them to the ground.

“Stay down and we’ll pretend I actually hurt you,” I told them, hoping I wouldn’t actually need to hurt them.

My offer was met with a grenade to the face. I swatted it away, breaking the fliers arm in the process before slamming him down onto the ground just hard enough to knock them out. The other fliers nearby began to retreat since those who could harm me were all down. I couldn’t let them get away, though, since I still needed to find the documents. As the fliers tried to retreat, I began throwing handful after handful of rocks in their direction, it was imprecise but worked as one by one they fell.

By this time, the group to the East had come to join in the fight. They flew in three sets of pairs where one carried a rocket launcher and the other carried the ammo to reload. I had to begin dodging once more to avoid getting pelted by rockets but still got tagged a couple times.

Both eardrums were burst and all I could hear was a high pitched ringing. The pain was terrible but I gritted my teeth and forced myself to keep going. There were another dozen or so bruises all over my body and I thought a couple of ribs might be cracked. Still, there was only so many rockets the fliers could fire at me and most of them were missing.

I took the first pair down by jumping up and catching them, then throwing them back down into the ground. The next pair were taken out by a barrage of stones. The final pair was tricky since they kept the farthest back. It wasn’t until I thought to use one of the dropped rocket launchers myself that I succeeded in bringing them down. I had to be especially careful not to break the rocket launcher but managed to raise it up, aim, and fire it.

The healers had a time of it, collecting the pieces and putting them back together and I resolved never to do that again in a training scenario. While the healers worked, I went from body to body, searching them until I found the documents I was supposed to collect. They were slightly damaged but not beyond legibility.

Captain Hill came over, clapping, but I couldn’t hear him. I pointed to my ears, shaking my head. He clearly understood since he called for a healer and soon my hearing was restored, not to mention the numerous other pains dealt with.

“You really know how to make a mess,” Captain Hill said, pleased.

“Sorry,” I replied, finally wiping my mouth and spitting until I cleared the taste of vomit from my mouth. My hands were shaking and I couldn’t bring myself to look at any of the fliers as they came to join us after being healed. “I don’t think I can keep doing this,” I finally said.

“Don’t worry,” Captain Hill said, patting my shoulder. “I think that’s enough for today.”

“No,” I said, “I don’t think I’m the right fit for this. For the Protection Force. “I…it’s a bit too much for me.”

Captain Hill’s smile vanished. “I understand today was a bit much,” he said. “Why don’t you take the rest of the day off and just think things over, okay?”

All I wanted was to get away from there so I nodded and left, walking on unsteady legs back towards the my barrack.