Page 82 of Remnants
Dane leans on his arms on the front of the equipment, releasing a small huff. “It’s not a race, babe. Running the fastest on this thing isn’t what’s going to give you the endurance Jack’s talking about. Slow and steady.”
“I don’t think he meant this slow, either. It’s more work holding myself back right now than if I were to jog at a normal speed.”
He laughs softly and shakes his head, shifting himself upright. “Onehigher, then. Let’s see how you do with that for some time before we make any more adjustments.”
The machine beeps when he increases the speed for me, and I correct my pace to match. It’sjustpast a relaxed jog for me, which is exactly what I want. If I’m not pushing myself at least a little, then I don’t feel like I’m doing it right.
Dane waits for my quick nod that I’m okay before he pats the bar. “I’ll be back. Everyone else is showing up now, so I need to get them set up.”
I wave him off and focus back on my screen which shows how far I’ve gone and my current speed. I’m itching to increase it now that Dane’s not here. According to Jackson, he thinks my gift has jumped in strength after what happened during the GE agent…cleanup. Before I try using my gift to that degree again, I’m under strict orders to build up my strength and stamina.
Dane’s keeping track of my current baseline and will be sending the end-of-day and start-of-day numbers to Jackson for review. I’m not to test out the full strength of my gift until he says I’m ready.
With nothing else to do, my mind wanders to the news Aiden had shared with us over breakfast. He’d had cameras and motion sensors installed at Old Red to keep an eye on things since the last time we’d been there and were ambushed by Gordon and GE goons. Last night, he got an alert and found Vera snooping around. Considering the cuffs are with us, I can’t imagine what else she might have returned there for. She didn't take anything we could see, but she disappeared into the room she’d stayed in where there wasn’t a camera. Maybe she forgot something?
Her look of shock and confusion when Dane dove between her and the knives flashes to mind. Did she retreat because of it? Or had she already accomplished what she came here to do? Does that moment have anything to do with her returning to Old Red? She’d given me the cuffs back, too. Why?
I can’t figure her out. First, she wants to kill me and get Dane. But then she helped us by giving me the cuffs, she’s had multiple opportunities to kill me and didn’t, and she called the GE agents back from the attack on the Guild. She could have grabbed Dane and tried to escape, but she poked him with something instead. Unless that was the attack and we have yet to see what it’ll do.
I’m happy to report that I don’t touch any settings before Dane returns to check on me. He drops me to a walk and sets a timer for fifteen minutes. “We’ll bring you back to a jog when the timer goes off.”
Frowning, I take a sip of water and screw the cap back on. “How do you know so much about all of this?”
He shrugs, his eyes scanning the room of people working at their assigned stations. “When you can’t leave a building for two years, you’ll do anything to get out of the apartment. I wound up here or the Guild Hall most days when I needed to get out. And one of the Guild members who was around in the beginning was a personal trainer. He taught me the right way to use each piece of equipment without causing more harm than good.”
“What happened to him?” I ask, assuming it had to be something if Dane and Aiden were the ones running these sessions in the exercise room.
“Nothing bad. He just moved out of state.” Dane checks the timer. “After your next jog, we’ll switch you to weights and then finish out with the box.”
He leaves to do another sweep through the room, adjusting members or switching up their exercise or equipment they’re on. He gets me through the rest of my session at a steady pace. Each exercise gets my heart rate up and creates an almost pleasurable burn in my muscles without pushing me so hard that I’m ready to drop.
Until the box burpees.
Fuck. Those.
I lie frontward on the mat, one side of my face sticking to the plastic as I struggle for air in my lungs. Each breath is accompanied by a sharp pain, like a tiny needle jabbing me in the chest.
Dane crouches beside me, his smirk dripping with arrogance. “Was that too tame for you, too?”
I’d swipe at him, but everything hurts. I know I’d been making comments all morning about not being worked hard enough. Okay, maybe they were more likecomplaints, but still…no one deserves punishment like that. All I can manage back is a groan.
“Come on. Let’s go for a walk.” He offers me his hand, and I glare at it.
“You’re joking,” I manage, my tone flat.
He chuckles. “Nope. I’m not. You need to walk a bit and then stretch before you’re done.” Dane holds up a chilled bottle of water in his other hand. “You get to drink all of this a little bit at a time, too.”
Oh, goodie.
By the time Dane releases me for Kellan’s session in the main gym, I have a smidge of energy back. It’s nowhere near where I started this morning, but at least I won’t be lying on the floor.
Guild members and Pits fighters gather in the large space, a quarter of the numbers from the initial training day, but still a decent-sized group. I stay at the back, too tired from what I thought would be my easiest session to stand out at the front.
The whispers begin almost immediately.
I ignore them at first, assuming it’s some circulating gossip within the Guild that I’d have no clue about until I make eye contact with a couple of the whisperers and realize it’s about me.
Wonderful.
