Our training progressed well, though I had to work around the various injuries I'd received during my fight with Grey. I managed to throw my opponents on the mat more and more often but I still couldn't land a hit on Laurie. My best attribute by far was my aim. By the end of training, Laurie said I could throw a knife and aim a gun as well as a Warden.
At the end of our final day of training, Laurie gave us a few tips on surviving the trials.
"I'm hoping of course that you won't need any of this training, but I'm happy with the progress you’ve all made nonetheless. Your role as a messenger is fairly easy in theory. Just don't take stupid risks. Your only job is to run back and forth between units of your team’s fighters. Realistically, they should be using walkie-talkies but they do it this way so they have a low level punishment to hand out to people like you." She smiled like that was a good thing.
"How will people know not to shoot at us?" I asked, trying to hide my nerves.
"You’ll have two red stripes running around the front and back of your jackets which mark you as messengers. If someone purposefully attacks a messenger the punishment is fighting their next battle unarmed on the front line so it doesn't happen often. You'll have weapons, so don't be afraid to defend yourselves if you have to."
"Not often isn't the same as never," Taylor pointed out.
“No, but it is really rare. I've never seen it happen," she said, flicking her braid back over her shoulder a little too casually.
“Are we supposed to split up or can we move around together?" I asked.
“Technically you should split up," she said lowering her voice. "But don't bother. You'll be safer together and I don't want you getting hurt." Hook-nose was walking past us as she spoke. He stopped to look at us with a frown on his face and Laurie cleared her throat uncomfortably.
“Thank you Laurie," I said, taking her hand. "I know you had to oversee our training but you didn't have to take such an interest in making sure we were good. And you didn't have to be my friend either."
"That's okay. Just please try not to get yourselves killed." She squeezed my finger then left so that we could have one last night's sleep before our first day in the Lawless Trials.
As she moved away, Hook-nose narrowed his eyes at her and turned to join a group of Wardens who started talking in hushed tones. I bit my lip, wondering if our friendship might get her into trouble and hoping that my obvious display of affection for her wouldn’t cause her any issues.
***
I woke with a feeling of dread in my stomach. As Laurie had said, our black camouflaged jackets now had two bold, horizontal red stripes which ran around our torsos marking us out as messengers. There were also holsters and belts for the weapons we would receive later waiting for us alongside our normal uniform.
We dressed in silence, no one wanting to mention the elephant in the room while we all tried to hide our nerves before we headed down to the practice room.
The huge chamber had been cleared overnight. All of the training equipment was pushed against the walls and the convicts were assembled in a group in the centre of the wide space.
We were the last to arrive and the three of us moved quietly to join the back of the crowd.
“You'll be joining with units that already know what to do, so just take your lead from them. You may see Wardens surrounding the area but you are not to address us or try to engage us in combat. If you attempt it, you will be shot down." Uni-brow addressed the group from the front of the room, gazing around at the convicts like he was hunting for anyone who might not be taking him seriously. Once he was satisfied, he turned and opened a large, shuttered door that had been concealed behind the gun rack at the far end of the training room.
The crowd surged forward and we spilled out into the bright sunlight
Outside, a line of convicts who had completed their sentences were waiting to come back in. They were dishevelled and some were sporting various injuries but they all shared a look of relief clearly written over their faces. They’d survived their time and would be heading back on the train to rejoin the population in Harbour City. I just hoped I'd be in their position in a few months.
Laurie moved along the line of convicts until she was next to me, offering a reassuring smile which I tried to return.
We marched in a fairly well organised unit for about three miles. The immediate area was primarily brown dust and mud, just like the land outside the city, but we were surrounded at a distance on all sides by a huge, all consuming barrier of green. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. It was hard to make out any details but my heart pounded with a mixture of fear and longing as I gazed towards the distant trees.
?
??Is that the contaminated area?" I asked Laurie in a low tone.
"Yes." She glanced at the green wall with a shudder. "It gives me the creeps, but we do the contamination checks constantly and this cleared area is fine."
I couldn’t agree with her opinion, but I kept my mouth closed on the subject. It looked beautiful to me, like the way the world should be.
It was soon apparent that the arena wasn't just some flat, open area. As we drew closer I realised it was filled with trenches, tunnels, hideaways and general lumps and bumps in the terrain to make it easier to hide and harder to find your opponents once you were out there.
All sorts of things from big sheets of metal to brick walls were strewn about, creating pathways that crisscrossed the combat zone.
Ahead of us the other units in our team were ready for the trial, already lined up and waiting to go. In the distance, far across the arena I could just make out the opposing units lining up too. Their uniforms were dark green to mark them out as opposing soldiers and I shifted uncomfortably as I looked over at them.
"I'm patrolling the east side." Laurie pointed over to our left. "If you can aim to stay over there I can try and keep an eye on you," she whispered.