Chapter 2


“COME ON GET UP YOU LAZY MAGGOTS! WE’VE GOT WORK TO DO! GET UP NOW!” Sgt. Resear shouted.
My eyes burned due to lack of sleep. I could see it was still dark out. I woke flung myself out of bed with a mighty effort and managed to hit the ground without hurting myself, but fully waking myself up. I knew it was going to be a long day.

Resear made us put on packs filled with rocks and took us for a long run around the campus. Claiming it was a tour but it really wasn’t fun at all. It was a painful, joint-breaking run. Then, as if the run wasn’t enough he made us do an obstacle course that featured running through barbed wire fencing. Luckily, after the obstacle course, it was breakfast time. As soon as the glop of most likely tasteless oats was poured onto my plate, I hurried over to my barrack mate's table. “Hey guys sorry about this mornings start-off.” I said feeling sad.
“It’s cool man, we’ve all caused the welcoming ceremony. It’s just something that happens to people here, new people anyway. So what’s your name.”
“Seth Wester,” I said feeling joyful that these guys were friendly, “What about you?”
“My name is James Crawn. This is Ryan Fuler,” James said pointing to a tall, slim boy, “This here is Adam Shentel,” Adam was apparently a guy who had the bottom bunk under me and looked like a mini-pro-wrestler, “and this is John Nelser.” John was the smallest one there and looked like he hadn’t gotten any food in years. “Why is John so thin?” I asked. “Because he didn’t mind his own business.” came Sgt. Resear’s voice from behind me. “Sorry sir, I was just a bit curious, that’s all.” I said sounding frightened out of my wits. Sgt. Resear walked slowly away. “John was caught eavesdropping last week.” James said.

After breakfast we did another run around the perimeter. Sgt. Resear was pushing us so hard that Ryan vomited as he was running. I knew I couldn’t let Sgt. Resear see me go down like Ryan. I had to prove myself better than the others. After running for hours on end, we went back to the mess hall to have lunch. I was exhausted. After lunch we had classes in the main building. The classes were mainly on how to pick locks, break down doors, and on the parts of the M16. By around 6:00PM we had shooting practice. As it turned out. I was the only one who got a bulls-eye Adam came close, but that only counts in hand grenades and explosives. The dinner was short lasting and silent, but the barracks were opened up to us now. “Wester! Get over here! Double time!” Sgt. Resear shouted. I walked cautiously towards Sgt. Resear. “Wester! You are wanted by Lieutenant Noble ASAP! Do you understand me?!” Sgt. Resear shouted.

I entered Lieutenant Noble’s office. He was doing paper work at the moment. “Lieutenant Noble, sir!” I saluted. Lieutenant Noble looked up. “You requested me here sir!” I saluted feeling a bit more nervous. There was a long period of silence. Then, Lieutenant Noble said “I requested you here, because you have proved to be an exceptional trainee. Your perseverance has shown today, you seem much better off than most new people. Because of this surprising feat, you can be moved up to the advanced levels if you wish. But if you choose the advanced classes, you won’t be able to degrade your self and you won’t be able to stay in the same barracks as you are now.”

“I understand. If you were in my position, which would you take?” I asked knowing that I would probably never see my bunkmates again if I didn’t stay.

“I would take the advanced classes, unless you have already made friends. Then I wouldn’t take the advanced classes. It is highly likely that if you go to the same job then you will be grouped together. So I would try to keep together even after graduation.” Lieutenant Noble said.