Silence, dead silence. Except for exhale of the exhaust and the grinding of the jeep motor in the background. Isa sat beside me in the driver's seat, and had been quieter than a corpse the whole trip. Everytime I tried to start a conversation, she would train her eyes on me like the muzzle of a gun. But after an hour of silence, I felt nearly qualified to enter the insane asylum. To prevent that from happening, I decided to take on the risk of death and spoke:

"Sir, you look very young. I was wondering how old are you?"

She shot me a glance, like a sniper looking through her scope, then returned her focus to the road.

"21 years, 9 months and 23 days. Is there a problem fresh meat?"

"Of course not sir!"

"Good. Now be quiet fresh meat."

"I have one more question sir..."

"...Fine. Just spit it out."

"I was just wondering how you joined up with the army...what inspired you to sir?"

Silence again. Except for the constant rhythmic tapping, which continued for several blocks. At some point when I felt qualified for the mental asylum again, she spoke:

"As Roshans, we begin our military training as soon as we can walk."

A pause.

"Those who are 'unfit' are separated. And those who succeeded their training move on."

"Move on to what?" I started at her, then quickly realizing my mistake, added: "Sir..."

"It depends. It is our duty to defend mother Rosha. The ones that are the most physically capable are to join the ranks of the 'Knights of Pale' division."

"I am guessing you are a member of the 'Knights of Pale' sir?"

Her eyes stared into me like daggers, for a moment I even forgot how to breathe. Only when she took her eyes of me was I reminded again how breathing was such a wondering thing.

"Do you have something you wish to say dead meat?"

"Nothing sir!"

I went mute after that. Seemingly satisfied with my silence, she continued:

"I joined the ranks of the 'Knights of Pale' for 3 years 9 months and 23 days. Throughout the time, we conducted over 134 missions, 78 of them involved military conflict, 18 of them involved a threat to national security, and one involved a close call to a global scale conflict."

I tried to hide my surprise, but my jaw wasn't doing a great job of it.

"When we are not on a mission, we underwent routine training. And those who failed to meet the demands are removed from the division immediately."

"My mission is to train you and turn you into something useful." She paused, looking straight ahead through the windshield. "Though I can now see now this is the hardest mission I have undertaken yet."

I felt a jab inside me, I really really felt it. Because all of it was true.

"There is a saying in Rosha: There are no heroes without Konderbach."

Before I could even figure out what that saying meant, the car came to a stop. Without speaking further, Isa climbed out of the car and I followed suit trailing behind her as she went to the back of the jeep. She opened the trunk, revealing a large sealed metal case. After a few clinks and adjust, she defeated the password then proceeded to opening the case. Inside were two weird looking guns; it had the body of a shotgun but the muzzle of sprinkler.

"Sir...what are those? Shotguns?"

She looked at me as if I was some sort of illiterate fool.

"This is a net gun." She said as she picked up one and held it for me to see.

"Though there are some modifications made for this one. The original Titanium silk net has been switched out for Anti magic nets, designed to capture and contain elementals."

"Will it harm them?"

Isa just stood there and stared at me for about a good minute. Honestly though it felt more like forever, I was unable to meet her gaze for that duration. Disappointment, her gaze was full of it, for the second time today, I wished she just beat me up and get it over with.

"Fresh meat, let me ask you..."

I continued to look down.

"Will your enemies harm you?"

She was right, and I agree with that 200%. But before I could answer, she shoved the other net gun into my chest, then slammed the metal case closed.

"Don't bother with answer. You are already a dead meat."

Just like that, she left without another word.

***

The Vino neighborhood was one those "poster quality" countryside neighborhoods. Grass like vast green carpets swayed comfortably in the breeze, white clouds floated sheepishly in the sky, for a moment I thought even the sun was smiling at us. To be honest it just seemed all too good to be true, if it were true, then I know where I am moving when I retire.

"Quit poking around fresh meat! We're not here to look for retirement homes." Isa snapped, as I forced my gaze back at her in an instant.

"Yes sir!" She stopped in her tracks almost causing me to run into her.

"Enough of this nanny talk, listen fresh meat." She said, turning to face me. Her expression was cold and sincere and betrayed no other emotions.

"Your life depends on my next words, so listen carefully."

I was all ears.

"The 'Threat level' is the measurement of danger that a hostile individual or organization poses. There are 6 levels of threat in total, but you only need to know the bottom three."

"Why?" I blurted out, which I realized was a huge mistake.

"Because anything beyond that is out of  an individual league. Without an army those beings cannot be stopped."

I was just glad she didn't me beat me up for interrupting her.

"The flaming weasel is a C level threat, which stands for community level threat. The lowest of the low."

I was eager to ask about the levels beyond, but I the end I decided to bite down on my lip and save myself from another meaningless beating.

"But that does not mean you should underestimate them, because anything that has a threat level has the potential to take your life." To emphasize her point, she jabbed her finger at my chest, which caused me to nearly fall.

Luckily I was able to adjust my balance at the last second and ended up backing one step.

"6 hours." She said, as she turned her back towards me again.

I waited for her to finish her sentence.

"You can use whatever methods you want to capture the target alive. If you do not capture the target within the next 6 hours, or kill the target in the process, then it's all over. Any question fresh meat?"

"Sir, what do you mean by 'it's all over'?"

"It means it's over. The mission, the contract, the training, all over. And you can return to your regular life."

My jaw was just left hanging.

For that past week, which felt like the longest 7 days in my life. Every day was torture, every day I was living in fear. And here was it now, the opportunity to get away and say good bye to this tortuous lifestyle. I wasn't a solider, I didn't have to do this, forget about revenge. At that point I just wanted to get away, but at the same time it just didn't feel right. Not in a morale sense of way, but in the sense I rather failed myself, and I would never be able to recover the pride I lost that day. Torn between shadow of cowardice and the right out fury of pride, I hardly noticed heard Isa said 'Dismiss' then leave without another word. Leaving just me and my internal struggles.

Dang.

I guess I am on my own now...

Q: Have you ever hunted before?