Apocalypsis 02 - Warpaint

you. These people are closest to you in size. You … ” I pointed to the largest one of the group standing in the front, the farthest on the left, “… step out. The rest of you, match yourselves up with one person of equal size and get ready to spar. Do it now!”
    They were moving faster now, giving each other a quick once-over and then nodding to indicate their partnership. I had four teams standing together, and one odd guy out, looking confused. He kept glancing at the teams and then at the group of kids who’d already been asked to leave.
    I got his attention and motioned for him to join me. “You’re with me. The rest of you, get in one long line, one partner on one side of the clearing, the other partner on the other side. Like this …”
    I walked up to my partner and grabbed him by the upper arms, pushing him back forcefully until he was at the edge of the clearing, his back to the group of rejected kids who had moved away until they were nearly in the trees. They were watching with rapt attention.
    I let him go and backed myself up until I was about twenty feet away, and then looked at the other teams. “Spread out. Line up with me and …” I looked at my partner. “What’s your name?”
    “Rob.”
    “Other partners, line up with Rob.” In less than a minute I had two lines of kids, facing off against their partners.
    “The goal in this exercise is to overwhelm your partner. I’m not looking for any special moves, just natural talent. I’m going to demonstrate a possible scenario. Please do what you need to, in order to show me your skills. I know we don’t want anyone hurt, but if you hold back too much, I won’t be able to accurately judge what you can do.”
    A couple of the girls looked at each other warily. Others seemed totally ready for the challenge. I could probably just eliminate candidates based on that, but decided to hold off until I actually saw them in action. George’s journal suggested that people who love fighting too much were almost more trouble than they were worth. He said that rational, thinking warriors were the most valuable - the ones who didn’t rush to violence, but used it when necessary, and only in the amounts needed to neutralize the threat.
    I looked at my partner. “Rob, I need you to attack me.”
    He gave me a half-smile. “Do you have a cup for me to wear? I’ve heard about you.”
    That earned him a few laughs and smile back from me. “Sorry, dude. Do what you can to protect yourself. Pretend I’m a canner and I’m going to eat you for dinner.”
    That wiped the smile off his face. He took on a crouched stance that instantly had my back up. I could see he had good balance already, the way he held himself before he moved. I got ready, shifting my weight back and forth between my two feet. He had me by at least eight inches and sixty pounds, maybe more. It was difficult for me to figure out what his plan was for attack. He was one of those kind of fighters that didn’t broadcast much, which was good for him but not so much for me. I only had about a second to think before he charged me.
    I knew protecting his sensitive parts was his goal, since he’d been stupid enough to tell me, so that meant he was going to be wasting a lot of time focusing on that and not enough on taking me down. A second before he was in range, I saw how he was going to execute. I was going to be his football tackle dummy and his nuts weren’t going to be anywhere near where my feet could reach.
    His tactical error was in lowering himself down to a point that could easily put him off balance. He hit me like a ton of bricks, but my plan was to let him. I used the opportunity of having his upper body bent over to grab him in a headlock and gouge his eyes, using the momentum of his own forward movement to bring him down to ground-level. I twisted my body around and went down with him, but ended up on top instead of under him like he’d probably planned. I laid across him perpendicularly, using my superior position to slam him in the face a few times with my upper arm and elbow, before twisting around and hammering a fist down into his crotch.
    I pushed him away from me as I sat up, and he curled into himself, grabbing for his aching body parts. I stood up and brushed myself off, re-tightening my ponytail before speaking again.
    “Okay, so that’s what I’m looking for. Who’s first?”
    They all just stood there, staring at me. Then three girls walked away from the