Apocalypsis 02 - Warpaint

group and went over to stand with the rejects. I was happy to see they were the ones who’d looked reticent about the exercise earlier. The one girl who was left without a partner glanced in my direction. I could tell she thought she was going to get stuck with me as her new partner, but she stood firm. That impressed me more than anything I’d seen so far today.
    I looked at her. “You can just wait. Let’s see what happens with the others.”
    I picked the biggest guys first. “You two, move this way a little. And go!”
    They stood there for a moment, looking unsure. But then the one nearest me took the bull by the horns and ran at the other. His partner wasn’t totally ready, but he recovered quickly. They entered into a wrestling match of sorts before the guy who’d charged got a good punch in. The injured kid jumped back up and went after his attacker, kicking his legs out from under him.
    “Finish him!” I yelled, angry that he was stepping back, giving the other kid time to get up. “No one gets up once he’s down! Take him out!”
    The guy rushed in and jumped on him, no fear on his face whatsoever. He was sloppy but he got the job done. He clearly overwhelmed the guy he was partnered with, even though he’d initially been at a disadvantage. The other guy was aggressive but he lacked any skills at all, other than brute force. His partner had shown everyone that it wasn’t enough.
    “You, step out,” I said, ending the sparring and gesturing to the guy on the ground. “Next!”
    And so it went, through all the partnered guys until it was just the girl left. I had eventually eliminated almost everyone. I looked at her and decided that I had to do it - either make her or break her with this one exercise. There was no point in keeping her in the mix if she wasn’t up to it. I was actually surprised to see any girls still standing, knowing that without training, most of them were at a distinct disadvantage.
    “What’s your name?” I asked.
    “Winky.”
    “Winky?” I wasn’t sure I had heard her correctly.
    “Yeah. Winky.” Her shoulders went back a fraction of an inch as she stood straighter. I could tell she’d gotten some crap over her name before, the way she stared at me in challenge.
    “Okay, Winky. Face off against … Rob.”
    Her eyes opened a little wider, but she moved into position across from him in the clearing.
    Rob had recovered from his earlier ball-racking by me and had been standing off to the side, laughing at his friends as they went down, one by one. He opened his mouth to protest, probably thinking it wasn’t a very fair fight, but I cut him off.
    “Rob meet Winky. She’s about to have your heart for breakfast. Better take her down before she takes you down.”
    I looked at Winky. “Winky, meet Rob. He kidnapped and attacked Celia. He’s got a group of kids in his pool house he plans to eat later this week. Better do what you can to take him down or you’re going to join them.”
    Her face took on an expression of grim determination, her eyes narrowing as she looked at Rob. Even I was a little intimidated by her at this point. She went from looking like a sweet, innocent fourteen-year-old to a cold-blooded killer.
    Rob made the first move, but Winky was ready for him. He came rushing at her, looking like he was going to choke her, but she ducked down and punched him hard in the thigh. I think she was aiming for his nuts, but he twisted to the side, causing her to miss.
    He turned and came at her again, but she faked him out a second time, sweeping her leg out to trip him up. He stumbled, and might have recovered, if she hadn’t spun around and jumped on his back like a lunatic monkey. She grabbed a fistful of his hair, yanked his head back and bit his ear, hard.
    Rob screamed, reaching up to take her wrist, but she slipped out of his grasp, using her free hand to poke her fingers in his eyes.
    He went down on his knees, yelling, “I give! I give! Shit, that hurts! Get off me, Winky , you crazy bitch!”
    Winky let go of his hair and jumped off his back, doing a couple quick hops on the balls of her feet before stepping over a few paces to join the group watching her. She almost looked like a dancer, the way she moved, with her feet turned out a little, bouncing as she walked. I watched as she morphed from a street fighter into a sweet, peaceful-looking teen. The only thing that indicated she had just been in a fight was her heavy breathing and messed up