The Purge
Chapter 9: Bri

“You’re still hiding in that box. It’s time to come out.”

After Earth (movie)

“Stand up.” I told Halley.

She forced herself up with trembling arms as she leaned her weight unto them. Heaving, she poised herself in a fighting stance. Conleth made his way in front of her, blocking my view.

I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes skyward. “Get out of the way, soldier.”

He met my eyes levelly. He stood in front of me without wavering. I sighed deeply.

“I’d step back if I were you. Last warning, Conleth: save yourself from body ache.” I warned him one more time.

He stayed very still on his ground. He’s testing my patience.

“No.” he said firmly.

“Okay.” I threw him out of my way. He landed at the opposite side of the wall where I threw Halley. I didn’t regret it. He was wasting my time.

Halley tried to extract some force out of her stigma. She threw her energy right at me but I already felt it coming and with one hand I blocked it off like waving an irritating fly. She tried to lunge at me but before she could even reach me, I got a hold of her vision and I temporarily took it from her. she stopped dead on her tracks, eyes blind to the world around her.

“What did you do? I can’t see!” she shouted. I started walking silently around her. Conleth stood up and came rushing towards the blind little girl, but I created a glasslike wall to separate him from our lesson.

“I can’t see!” Halley cried. “I can’t see…”

I moved towards her swiftly and I hit her hard on the face. Her head snapped sideward and she writhed on the floor in pain.

“I’m hurting you, little girl.” I told her as she swung her feet in the air. “What are you gonna do about it?”

Halley’s tears fall as she struggled to get free from my illusion. I threw her off the floor once more. It was as light as throwing a piece of haystack. I borrowed her power as I felt it passing through the airwaves separating us. I forced it to bend on my will and I released it back to her. The force had slammed her back to the wall as the pain course through her veins violently. She curled herself into a ball and sobbed.

“Fight back!” I said through gritted teeth. She grasped at the invisible air in front of her. Tears started to fill her eyes as I forced her hand down. I doubled the pain in her body and she started to screech.

“Please! Stop! Stop!” she screamed.

I paused and I bent down to my crying soldier. “Defend yourself.” I pushed gravity towards her forcing her to stand back on her own two weak feet.

A tear fell down her cheek as curtains of her blonde hair cascaded down her face. “Please stop.” She whispered.

“My soldiers don’t beg.” I retorted and I tortured her once more. She squeezed her eyes shut as she accepted the blow one after the other. “I will not train soldiers just to be weak. I will not train you just to see you lose.”

I stopped. Despite years of training I could not believe I could still show mercy. Halley lay on the ground like a crumpled rug. Her tired eyes were looking at Con who looked like I had tortured him too.

“What a shame.” I said as I stood before her. “How dare you call yourself a soldier if you can’t even defend yourself?”

She propped herself up on her feet. Tears started to fall down her cheeks.

I forced her down.

“Bri,” I heard Con say. “That’s enough.” I turned to him. “She can’t do it.”

I ignored Con and I turned back at the weeping girl. I wielded the pain to surge through her lungs. She grasped for air. “I hate people who have so much potential yet they still refuse to be great.” I walked towards Halley. “Addonexus do not yield.”

Halley furiously wiped the tears off her little face.

“Fight back, Halley. Are you always gonna depend on people to save you?” I sneered at her.

I initiated a punch that was intended to land on her chest but she found me, knew where I was going to hit her and she blocked me and pushed me off of her force.

Good. I told her inside her head. Upon hearing me, her head tilted. I hit her again and she slipped on the ground. Eliminate the distractions and focus on your opponent.

I turned my stigma towards my hand to which I intend to hit her. But when I did, she managed to block me. She threw a center line punch which I blocked with my own sheer force. She moved backwards from the strike but she fought back by throwing another punch on my way, but this time as I blocked her attack, she grabbed my other arm with her free hand and positioned my into a lock. With a scream she grabbed my arm and the pain course through my veins. The force of her power almost took me off balance. I grinned at her as I allowed her to savor that short victory. The pain was blinding but I’m not used to losing. Her power felt like a hail storm. It sliced through skin like acid. But as I blocked it, it wiped out just as easy as the flow of a calm lake. But in martial arts, when a person is in a particular lock he or she doesn’t really have control over their body to maintain it. Once she adjusted her position to compensate and make another attack, she lost her optimal position for the lock. I knocked her off her feet with one heel. But she fought back by doubling me over and I fell on the ground. She was about to get her hands on me when I blocked her way. I forced her knees down and she sank to the ground. Her hands made contact to the cold metal floor and it cracked. It made its way to me but I encapsulated myself in crystal. And once she tried to break it, I let loose and she flew out of the way.

The broken crystal shards made its way to her. But she was quick to act by turning them into dust. She was thinking. She formed them back, and the broken crystals were now heading my way. I snapped my fingers to make them disappear. Once again I took the air out of Halley’s lungs and she dropped to the ground.

“Is that the best you can do, little soldier?” I asked her once I stood in front of her. I let go of her and she buried her face in her hands, crying.

“If you’re going to cry, you better leave.”

“I don’t want to leave.” She snapped. She turned to me with burning eyes. “I’m going to be a soldier.” She sniffled as she wiped away her tears rudely. “Way better than you.”

I smiled down at her. She might have not expected it. Her eyes widened at me. “This is a cruel world, Halley. You can’t be a soldier if you keep on cowering.”

“So that’s why you have to hurt me like that?” she said. Hatred laced her words as she glared at me.

“If you will not hurt, you will never learn.” I prompted. “When they come, they will show no mercy. Don’t allow them to hurt you.”

“I just wanted to survive.” She said quietly as she looked up at me.

“I know.” I sighed. “Me, too.”

Without thinking twice I offered her my hand as I returned her sight.

“Trust me.”