Page 81 of Becoming Super

CHAPTER 7 – Chloe

I was really startingto like this training that Zack insisted I go through. First, we worked on shooting. When I hit the bulls-eye, wait for it, twenty-seven times in a row to his fourteen. Zack looked like he had sucked on something sour.

Then they turned on a simulator, much like the virtual gaming that they had on earth. I totally smoked him. My team took out Zack’s three times before he pussed out.

Next, we talked about survival skills, I can’t remember when I have laughed so hard. First off, it was clear that whoever taught this course to Zack had never had to rely on their own survival skills. And second, the poor boy wouldn’t have lasted a day in the streets. There is one basic rule to survival, and that is to survive.

I am not stupid, I know that having shelter, water, and food are important. But basic survival is about self-preservation. You might not be able to eat or to find shelter on a given night. The driving force is that you survive. If someone attacks, you have to make the choice: is it you or them? There are no second chances when your life is on the line.

It seemed like the more stories I told about my life the more pensive Zack became. I wasn’t sure what kind of life my pretty boy had led, but I knew it was a far cry from the one I had.

Hand to hand combat was one area that I could have improved upon. Granted I won most of the fights, but he said that was only because I employed dirty tricks. I knew how to fight, go for the weak points, eyes, neck, groin.

Use whatever necessary to distract, cry, scream, fake a seizure if necessary—that saved my life once. I didn’t stand correctly or use my body the way that he wanted me to, but I’d be damned if I didn’t walk away and he wasn’t curled up in pain on the mat.

I conceded that perhaps there might be more to this hand to hand combat than I realized.

We were sparring, and I snapped my head up, knowing that he would likely have the underside of his chin vulnerable. Sure enough, he let out a horrible scream and blood coated his mouth.

My hands automatically went to his face. Zack tried to shake me off, but it was as if my body knew something that I didn’t. I felt a warmth rush from the pit of my belly up my arms and into Zack.

He jerked back, “What was that?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know, did you bite your tongue off?”

He moved his tongue around and then stuck it out, “Can you see anything?”

It was hard to tell with the blood that was in there. I handed him a water and told him to rinse his mouth. He stuck his tongue out again and there wasn’t a mark on it.

“Chloe, I think you healed me. You did it once before. I had something burned into my forehead and when we first touched it was healed. I wonder if that is your power?”

I looked down at my hands, they looked like the same ones that I always had. It seemed impossible that I could heal someone.

We went on training, but I sensed Zack’s eyes on me.

Two days later Rylee came in screaming; there had been an accident and Betty was badly burned. I dropped what was in my hands and ran behind Zack and Rylee to where Betty was in the kitchens.

Her arm was already blistering and the smell of burnt flesh filled the air.

Just as before with Zack, my hands went to Betty. I took her arm carefully and felt the warmth pool in my stomach. It grew until it raced up my arms and into her. Before our eyes, we watched the blisters fade and her arm heal.

The med unit arrived moments later. “Unhand the Head Commander’s wife!”

I looked at the large man with a scowl on my face. But before I needed to defend myself, Zack was in the giant’s face. They were nearly eye to eye, and it surprised me again how fucking big these aliens were.

“You will not speak to her that way. She is a healer!”

The medic stumbled over his words. “That can’t be! We haven’t had a true healer in generations.”

Betty turned a cold eye on the older man. She lifted her arm and everyone in the kitchen gasped. It looked no different than it had before the accident.

Then she turned to me. “I can’t thank you enough.”

The Head Commander came in just then, sweat beading on his forehead. “I ran the entire way. Are you alright, darling?”

Betty showed him her arm.

“I don’t understand, I was told that you could lose the arm.”

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