VI

- You can not give up!

 My muscles were screaming. I did not know how much longer could run like that. right was the fact that even training for just one week, my skills had improved a little. However, he did not catch light at all. That was good, because I really would be ready when the time came.

- Get up! No enemy will take pity on you with that! You will become easy prey!

 My legs throbbed and my head too. The weather was dry and the sun did not give truce. Anyway, I could not give up. Axel would not give up. My father did not give up. Paul was not giving up on me. That pain I felt when I lost my father and my brother are infinitely greater than the muscle pain.

 I managed to get to the starting point, panting.

- As you have stopped along the way, your time decreased by 1 minute.

- I'm not training for a marathon.

- The battlefield becomes worse than a marathon, girl. With this short time you could escape the weapons whose shooting is slow but not escape those faster. You need to cross a field with this distance in less than one minute.

- That means I'll have to accelerate more.

- Exactly. However, I must make it more difficult for you.

 Paul grabbed his gun and took aim at me. Before I think about getting up from the ground, he shot. All I could do was roll, action taken only by involuntary reflexes.

 I almost died.

- I thought I would kill you. But you moved in time.

 I looked at him incredulously. And if I had really died? Well, he surely knew I would do it, otherwise he would not shoot.

- Pull up. This time I will not take it easy with you.

- You never take it easy with me.

 He smiled and started shooting. Yes, I knew I had to run and had to give up to me to dodge the shots. Even though only one person, Paul could shoot different directions to confuse me. In addition, he made me fight back in training dummies. I thought I could not, but I came out unscathed.

- That was good. In time all this will be automatic for you.

- Hope so.

 However, the worst thing for me was learning to climb. Yes, as crazy as it may seem Paul taught me how to climb. You never know where you have to hit the enemy, he said, so it is extremely important to be prepared for anything, for any terrain.

 He said that just as my greatest fear was of high places. He made me climb an equivalent iron structure to a ten-story building - in fact it was actually a ten-storey building, however was completely destroyed - which made my stomach turn.

- What are you waiting, Oreans? Your father never was afraid to climb a building like that.

- I'm not my father.

- But you need to get over it if you want to find your brother. If you were on the battlefield, you would already have been identified and killed.

 I gulped. Paul did not play with such matters. I jumped back on the floor and let security cables that he had placed in me.

- What are you doing?

- I'll start again.

- And about the cables?

- Will I have cables in the war to hold me?

 He smiled, satisfied.

- Your father would be proud of you. Let's see if you really deserve to carry the name Oreans.

 I started to climb so he gave me sign. I admit that without the cables was much more difficult to climb the rubble with only one hand. My feet slipped and I was just about to fall, but would not give up. After all that Paul put me through so far I would not give up fear. I ignored the knot in my stomach and struggled to shoot the targets that were prepared by the field faster than I imagined it. It was as if someone else was controlling me at the time.

 I jumped and fell standing up. Paul kept the stopwatch and approached me, clapping and smiling.

- You are physically ready for war, but this is not enough. When you become a general you have to command a part of our soldiers and will have to kill enemies. Therefore, you should not waver or hesitate; always keep in mind that a misstep can bring you to the death, as well your subordinates.

 I nodded, knowing that. I would have to care for my life and the lives of others that follow me, and it would not be easy work.

- Let's go home. Rest and meet me at five in the office. There's something you need to know and I think now is the ideal time for this.

 I looked at him, confused.

- I can not say now. You will have to wait.