she glared in response.
“But each of you also smells like…” Harrison added before thinking better of it.
“Like what?” Mei asked, unyielding.
“Well…like…like blood.”
“Mmmm,” Beverly remarked, “tangy, metallic, and a mixture of chemicals… Fantastic.”
Moving on from the conversation of odor seemed like a good idea then, so I asked, “And what about your hearing?”
“It’s better, more powerful, but other sounds can merge and convolute what I hear. Their breathing can be blended with the wind. Their footsteps across carpet can sound like someone’s heartbeat. Their movements can also blur together so that it’s hard to know if what I’m hearing is…what I’m hearing. But I can pick up these sounds several yards away. Maybe about three hundred in the open.”
“And sight?” Mei pressed.
“It’s not so much our ability to pick up movement from a distance—though we can up to a few miles away—but, from what I understand, our eyes move faster than yours so we take in more detail. It’s why their head moves back and forth so fast. They’re absorbing their surroundings.”
Mei drew in a deep breath and sighed as if a heavy burden had been laid across her shoulders. “All right, so you can smell up to a mile away, if you’re downwind and unobstructed; hear three hundred yards away, unobstructed; and you can see us a few miles away. My gosh, how are we ever going to beat you?” She seemed appalled.
“Them,” I corrected.
“Right, I’m sorry. Them. How will we beat them?”
Harrison grinned, bent down, and collected the rods, handing the first one to Beverly. “There’s really only one way to do that.” He didn’t add to his statement as he distributed the rods, which drew an eye roll from Beverly.
“So, mindreading isn’t something I’ve perfected quite yet, therefore how about telling me what that has to do with this.” She attempted to lift the rod off the ground, making it a whole inch into the air before it went stabbing back into the decomposing leaves.
“If you’re going to fight the Infected,” Harrison said, “you’re going to need to practice against one.”
There was a stiff moment of silence.
“So you’re our guinea pig?” Mei assumed.
“More like a punching bag,” he called over his shoulder.
I heard the grin in Harrison’s tone but didn’t feel like joining him.
“You think that’s a good idea?” I asked.
The muscles across his shoulders tensed and he stopped before picking up the last rod, but he didn’t turn around. “I think it’s a good foundation to use to prepare them for what they’re going to face.”
“You took a good beating yesterday,” I pointed out.
“Oh…,” he said, and this time I knew he was grinning, “I think I’ll be all right.” As he turned to face me, I noticed that he had rolled his sleeves up his arms giving me a clear view of his wounds. His incredibly able body had almost entirely healed itself.
He paused to allow my eyes to take in the sight of him, serving to both drill home his point and to tease me, like I had done to him the night before. When I caught the upturn of his lips, I knew both reasons carried equal weight with him.
He approached me watching for my reaction as he handed a rod to both Doc and Mei. “We need to do what we can with what we have, and right now we need a defense.”
That’s fine, I just didn’t want to test it out on someone I love. He knew this, which is why I only counted three metal rods. I wasn’t given one. Doc, Mei, and Beverly held theirs down, below the waist, in a sign they wouldn’t either.
He moved a few yards away and spun around. His expression became chillingly serious, commanding attention from the rest of us.
“All right, come at me.”
No one moved.
“Let’s go, come on.”
“This is insane,” Mei said, vocalizing all our thoughts. “We’re supposed to be protecting you…not beating you with metal sticks.”
“You can’t
“But each of you also smells like…” Harrison added before thinking better of it.
“Like what?” Mei asked, unyielding.
“Well…like…like blood.”
“Mmmm,” Beverly remarked, “tangy, metallic, and a mixture of chemicals… Fantastic.”
Moving on from the conversation of odor seemed like a good idea then, so I asked, “And what about your hearing?”
“It’s better, more powerful, but other sounds can merge and convolute what I hear. Their breathing can be blended with the wind. Their footsteps across carpet can sound like someone’s heartbeat. Their movements can also blur together so that it’s hard to know if what I’m hearing is…what I’m hearing. But I can pick up these sounds several yards away. Maybe about three hundred in the open.”
“And sight?” Mei pressed.
“It’s not so much our ability to pick up movement from a distance—though we can up to a few miles away—but, from what I understand, our eyes move faster than yours so we take in more detail. It’s why their head moves back and forth so fast. They’re absorbing their surroundings.”
Mei drew in a deep breath and sighed as if a heavy burden had been laid across her shoulders. “All right, so you can smell up to a mile away, if you’re downwind and unobstructed; hear three hundred yards away, unobstructed; and you can see us a few miles away. My gosh, how are we ever going to beat you?” She seemed appalled.
“Them,” I corrected.
“Right, I’m sorry. Them. How will we beat them?”
Harrison grinned, bent down, and collected the rods, handing the first one to Beverly. “There’s really only one way to do that.” He didn’t add to his statement as he distributed the rods, which drew an eye roll from Beverly.
“So, mindreading isn’t something I’ve perfected quite yet, therefore how about telling me what that has to do with this.” She attempted to lift the rod off the ground, making it a whole inch into the air before it went stabbing back into the decomposing leaves.
“If you’re going to fight the Infected,” Harrison said, “you’re going to need to practice against one.”
There was a stiff moment of silence.
“So you’re our guinea pig?” Mei assumed.
“More like a punching bag,” he called over his shoulder.
I heard the grin in Harrison’s tone but didn’t feel like joining him.
“You think that’s a good idea?” I asked.
The muscles across his shoulders tensed and he stopped before picking up the last rod, but he didn’t turn around. “I think it’s a good foundation to use to prepare them for what they’re going to face.”
“You took a good beating yesterday,” I pointed out.
“Oh…,” he said, and this time I knew he was grinning, “I think I’ll be all right.” As he turned to face me, I noticed that he had rolled his sleeves up his arms giving me a clear view of his wounds. His incredibly able body had almost entirely healed itself.
He paused to allow my eyes to take in the sight of him, serving to both drill home his point and to tease me, like I had done to him the night before. When I caught the upturn of his lips, I knew both reasons carried equal weight with him.
He approached me watching for my reaction as he handed a rod to both Doc and Mei. “We need to do what we can with what we have, and right now we need a defense.”
That’s fine, I just didn’t want to test it out on someone I love. He knew this, which is why I only counted three metal rods. I wasn’t given one. Doc, Mei, and Beverly held theirs down, below the waist, in a sign they wouldn’t either.
He moved a few yards away and spun around. His expression became chillingly serious, commanding attention from the rest of us.
“All right, come at me.”
No one moved.
“Let’s go, come on.”
“This is insane,” Mei said, vocalizing all our thoughts. “We’re supposed to be protecting you…not beating you with metal sticks.”
“You can’t
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