It was starting to get cold before school started.
Michael couldn’t quite see his breath yet, standing outside the building with an egg sandwich in hand far before the day actually started, but it was on the way there. The first frost of the season couldn’t be far off, and even if the sandwich was warm, he knew that soon he’d need to be careful with how much time he spent outside when the sun was down.
Everybody else clearly agreed, with how few people were lingering outside. That would probably help. If Sarah decided to show up, it would be easier to not look as suspicious. That was assuming she would show up. He hoped she would, if only to make this interesting somehow.
He took another bite from the sandwich, taking in the chill. The sun was up and shining, but it was still cold, a thin layer of fog covering the ground in moisture and the parking lot in the smell of rain. Cars were slowly trickling in, either dropping students off or being parked by said students, and the one bus that ran through town was just arriving. A standard start of the day. Uneventful. Not one he’d typically be paying much attention to, but he had something that might keep him interested. If it worked out to be like that.
The last bite of the sandwich went down as he noticed Sarah walking over to him, bundled up in a coat and her head held high. He balled up the bag and stuck it in his pocket, waiting for her answer to yesterday’s announcement.
“I’m in,” she said as soon as she got in earshot. “I want to know whatever you’ve got to teach me. I want to actually survive until I leave, and there’s a lot that I still need to do before I go.”
“That was a long answer to just say yes.”
She scoffed. “It matters when you need to be clear. I don’t want to engage with this stupid scheme or stupid any more than I want to, and I don’t want you to think that I’m going to get myself involved in anything at all that doesn’t get me out of here.”
Michael shrugged and turned, walking off towards the small back lot behind the school. He didn’t need to gesture for Sarah to follow him, but she did anyway, and he cut her off before she could say something again.
“I don’t actually care why you’re leaving, or even really that you are. I’m not here for a deep discussion of all the reasons you hate Ravenville. I’m here to keep myself busy, and right now, that’s teaching you.” He stopped in the middle of the concrete lot, a dumpster behind him and trash bags lying by the backdoor to the school. “And the first step is seeing how much you can fight.”
She cocked her head at him. “I thought this was about things like body disposal.”
“In order to be able to dispose of a body, you need to be able to kill one. Violence is the fundamental feature underpinning everything here. I assume you have a weapon on you now?”
Sarah grimaced, reaching inside her coat and keeping it there. “I always keep it on me. I haven’t had to use it yet, but it’s mine.” She clearly didn’t like having it, but there was something in her voice that made her seem glad she hadn’t ever used it. A rarity, he supposed.
“Good. You should keep spares, it’ll make it more difficult for them to track you if you have disposables. But it’s good that you have one.” He nodded. “How are you with it?”
“I’m solid,” she replied immediately. “I’ve practiced. I think I could hold my own for a bit in a fight, at least.”
He believed her. There was enough confidence that she was probably as capable as she sounded, but the underselling showed an understanding of her limits. It could be the sort that happened when you wanted to look humble but really did think higher of yourself, he knew there were a lot of people that did that here, but Sarah seemed genuine.
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“That’s really all you need,” he said. “As long as you can be sure you won’t be killed by any random person you walk into. There will always be people that are threats to you, but the skill ceiling only goes so high in a fight.”
“Unless you’re you?” She prodded.
He didn’t respond to that. “There will always be a chance you die, but not dying is a low bar to cross. I believe you when you say that you’re good, but it’s important to assess your weaknesses.”
None of the school’s windows faced towards the back lot, and he knew that the staff wouldn’t be emptying out any of the trash cans before lunch. It was a good place for a lot of things. Certainly not a murder or a substantial planning session, but for a short fight, the trash-dotted stretch of pavement, covered in a low haze burning away under the rising morning sun, it was ideal.
Michael’s knife glinted in the light as he pulled it out from the hidden holster at the small of his back, the sharpened edge stealing the light from the black metal of the blade and shimmering a silver gray like freezing clouds. He kept it sharp, in the edge case he’d need to use it on the spot, like right now.
Sarah flinched back immediately. “Wh–no! Why are we fighting?”
“Because I need to assess your weaknesses,” he answered. “I want to be able to shore up any of your problems with fighting before we begin addressing the other things I want to teach you.”
“Can’t I just tell you what my problems are? Do we need to have a knife fight in the dumpsters before class?”
“The best way to tell what your weaknesses are is to have somebody else tell you. They’ll be unbiased and honest. I certainly would be. This wouldn’t even be a serious fight, you’d walk out almost entirely unharmed.”
“I–I–absolutely not.”
“Why not, then?”
“Because I don’t want to!” Sarah’s hands were back outside her coat and raised in shocked surrender. “There’s way easier ways to figure out what I need to work on or how I can improve myself, we don’t need to fight over it.”
“You can’t be violence-averse in Ravenville.” It was a pretty simple fact.
“I told you that I don’t want to become some bloodthirsty fighter.”
“It’s just a test.”
“I don’t want to fight.”
Michael stared at her for a moment longer, judging her with a blank face, before sighing and sliding the knife back into the holster. If she didn’t want to fight, fine. There were other things to worry about anyway. Disregarding active, intentional plans, being able to cover up reactions or spin things well would keep her alive anyway.
“Okay.” She was alert at his first words, and he took a moment to consider what to say before speaking. “If you don’t want to fight, then we’ll move on to other subjects. Hiding evidence, searching places, how to avoid direct fights while still achieving results. If you don’t want to engage in a direct clash, you should still know how to get what you want without needing to commence a frontal assault. Is that more palatable to you?”
Sarah nodded. “Yeah, that’s good.”
“Good. Meet me back here on Monday then.” He looked to check his watch, and gestured towards her with the other hand. “We’ve got about three minutes before class starts, so if you want to start hurrying, I would say now is the time.”
She did, taking off at between a jog and a run towards the main door, and he followed behind at a leisurely stroll. The fog was totally gone now, withered away as the morning marched on, and he had something of a plan. It was only Thursday, which left him with plenty of time to come up with something resembling a lesson plan for whatever Sarah would need explained on Monday. It wasn’t something he was familiar with, or any sort of hobby, but it might keep him entertained for a bit.
He knew that was probably all he could ask for.