Only one way out

Chapter 5

(Austin)

I walk down the hall and see curly blonde hair. I suck in a breath. That must be Zeenat! I speed walk to the direction where she disappeared around the corner.

“I hope she still doesn’t hate me…….I’d hate me too with the way I acted,” I whisper and continue until she is stopped right in front of her father’s office.

“What do you want Austin?” Zeenat whispers and her head leans against the door. I sigh and gaze at her.

“I came to apologize for how I acted when I was training you last month. Will you please forgive me?” I mumble and step closer to her. I lean against the door frame with my arms crossed over my chest.

“I accept your apology, and I forgive you. But now if you’ll excuse me, I must begin showing a friend around the institute.” Zeenat says and turns away from her father’s office. I grab her wrist and she looks over her shoulder at me.

“What are you doing Austin?” Zeenat asks and turns fully around to face me. My heart beats ever so slightly at touching her.

“I was thinking, and you don’t have to say yes or anything if you’d like to…… go on a date with me?” I ask and drop my hand to my side and look at my feet. I hear Zeenat gasp and put her hands on her hips.

“I would enjoy that very much, Austin. I will meet you Friday evening at the training room at 7:30. I will expect you to be there. And don’t be late.” Zeenat says and starts walking away.

“Wait! Can I call you Zee?” I ask and run to catch up with her.

“Yes, you may,” Zeenat says and looks over at me. She’s so small I could cover my body over hers if need be. I smile and look back at her. She smiles back and keeps walking. I keep following her until she stops suddenly in the garden that we have next to the training room. I look around and see the cherry blossom tree in the middle of the garden still growing, but it has a black mark about the same height as Zee.

“Do you know how this handprint got here?” Zeenat asks and turns to look up at me. I shake my head and look down at her. Her eyes are like large bowls of green salad. I sigh and hug her. She stiffens at my sudden touch but relaxes and hugs me back. I feel her shaking, and I look down and see that she’s crying.

“What’s wrong Zee?” I whisper into her hairline and breath in her scent. She smells like spearmint and lavender.

“When I came home today after visiting Robert, I opened the front door to see my parents and little sister dead in a pool of their own blood…… I didn’t know what to do, I just sat on the rug with the door wide open bawling my eyes out. I was so scared.” Zeenat whispers into my chest and her voice cracks a little. My heart breaks for her. I knew how much her family meant to her. I just hope she can bond with the people from the institute to have her call them her family.

“I’m so sorry to hear that, Zee. We’ll get to the bottom of who killed them. I promise. I’ll help you find the person or demons responsible.” I say and rub her back. She grips the front of my shirt like it’s a lifeline. I look down and see that she’s stopped crying, but tears are still running down her face as if it was melting snow in the hot summer’s day. Then suddenly she pulls away from me and wipes her tear streaked face.

“I will see you on our date or during training, Austin. Have a good rest of your day.” Zeenat says and walks away from me and the tree. I sigh and watch her retreating back with her hands clutched tightly behind her. I look back at the tree and feel the wind through my tear soaked shirt.

“Why do you have to be so stubborn, Zeenat Goldscar?” I whisper into the wind and close my eyes, to feel the warm sun on my face and shoulders.

~15 minutes later~

I walk into the training center and look around the room. It had changed a lot since last time Zeenat Goldscar was here. The walls of the training room have been painted a creme color with dark oak wood trim. I sigh and look at the dark cherry wood table. It’s covered in all the battles that are being staged in the coming war against the Demons that keep popping up around the world.

If we don’t stop them, the world as we know it would collapse and die and begin to look a lot like Hell. I’d like to keep living in peace instead of having in always consumed with war. I sigh in frustration and punch the punching bag until my knuckles are busted and bleeding like a river.

“Why does our world always have to be under a threat to have people notice?” I grumble and continue punching the now reddening punching bag. I open and close my fists and suck in a breath at how sore my hands have become in such short minutes.

“What are you doing in here, beating that poor punching bag?” Someone says behind me. I carefully move my hand that wasn’t showing to the person, and grab me short, sharp sword. I spin around and hold the sword up to the person’s throat.

“Whoa, cool it there tiger.” A guy with black hair says and holds up his hands, level with his throat.

“Who are you? I’ve never seen you here before.” I say and gently press the tip of the sword against his throat.

“I’m John Jones. I just got here, from Alaska.” John says and gently moves the sword away from his throat.  I roll my eyes and keep my sword out and watch him closely.

“Did you tell anyone about you being transferred here?” I say and narrow my eyes at John. He walks around the training room, looking at all the weapons that were hanging on the walls. My eyes follow his constant movement, something about this guy set me off. I didn’t like it.

“Yes, I told a bold man that I was transferring here, from Alaska. He said to go try and find his son. Austin I think it was.” John mumbles and picks up a wooden staff and twirls it in his hand for a little while.

“Well, I’m Austin. So nice to meet you, I guess. You’re training will start here soon.” I say and watch him twirl the staff over and over again. My eyes narrow as they see something black creep over his wrists.

“What do you have on your arms?” I say and walk slowly and carefully towards John.

“N...Nothing.” John says and frantically covers his wrists with his long dark blue shirt. I raise one of my eyebrows and glare at him.

“What are you hiding from me, John Jones, of Alaska?” I growl and stalk up to him. We are standing face to face when I feel something sharp against my stomach.

“I’m not hiding anything Austin, but you better watch your back. Because if I find you sneaking around behind my back to find something that could get me killed, I’ll kill whoever you love the most. And I’ll stick to that promise, and I won’t ever, ever break it. Because I want to see you in pain.” John whispers and sinks the small pocket knife into my abdomen. I groan and fall to the floor holding the place where he stabbed me. Before I could close my eyes I see someone, with golden blonde hair,  rush into the training room and apprehend John.

“Help….me….please……” I whisper and roll onto my back to look up at the white colored ceiling. I feel someone’s freezing cold hands touch my warm, sticky, blood covered stomach. I suck in a breath and cry out as I feel the knife come out. I will end John if it’s the last thing I do!