Alright here's Chapter 2 for you all.
Chapter 2 – Mess Hall Low-down
"So... Tired..." Soul slumped over onto the stiff white mattress of his bunk. He could hear Black Star's groans as he climbed the ladder to the top bunk. He gave a small smile. 'That is why the bottom is better.'He thought smugly, letting his limbs hang off the sides of the bed.
"All right, Maggots!" Sergeant Thompson stood in the barracks door way, fists on her hips. "Dinner is at eighteen hundred hours and lights out is at twenty two hundred hours!" With that, she spun on her heel and marched out of the men's barracks to relay this to the women.
There was some squeaking and groaning overhead before Black Star's head peaked over the side of the bed. Tired red eyes turned to look up at him.
"When the hell is that?" He grumbled as he rubbed his sore shot wounds. Soul counted in his head. Military time worked on the scale of a 24 hour day. Midnight being oh zero hundred and every hour after added a hundred.
"Dinner is at eighteen hundred so... 6 o' clock... And lights out is twenty two hundred which is four more hundred, so four more hours... So... 10 o' clock." Soul counted off. Black Stars wrinkled brow stared at him...
"What? That's confusing... Why the hell do they do it like that?"
He shrugged. "So they don't have to say AM or PM?" Sitting up he gathered the extra duds he'd been given.
"Where are you going?" Black Star asked, watching him.
"Shower, if dinner's at 6 then it's in thirty minutes and I'm all sweaty." Black Star nodded tiredly. Not moving anymore then he had to. "You gonna shower?" Soul called back to him." A low groan was his answer. "I'm not sitting next to you at dinner if you don't shower." He called over his shoulder. Black Star just stuck his tongue out at his retreating figure.
Black Star ran into the mess hall, the prospect of food boosting his tired body into action. Soul followed at a more leisurely pace. It wasn't like they were gonna run out.
He pushed through the mess halls doors and peered around. It was just as bland as the barracks. He strolled over to the line, it wasn't too long, but he had waited a little longer so it would be shorter.
He grabbed up a metal tray and scooted through. Getting closer to the end he could see the cook. A tall dark blonde women with familiar looking blue eyes and a cigarette hanging from her lips. She wore the normal camo and green clothes, with a dingy looking apron over it, but he could see the black embroidered lettering. "Lt E. Thompson"
He must have been making a face because she laughed. "This what you're looking at?" She grinned tugging at the last name. "Uh..." she laughed.
"I haven't seen you around before. You must be a newbie, guess you've had your run in with my little sister, the Sergeant Major." She looked him over curiously. "No obvious gunshot wounds... You must be alright." She nodded spooning what he thought might be mashed potatoes into his tray. "Well..." he mumbled as she forked meat onto his tray." I have one." he grinned sheepishly rubbing his stomach.
She grinned nodding. "Once is usually all it takes..." He nodded, moving to go. "Hold on, I didn't catch your name."
"Soul Evans." She gave a nod. Hooking a thumb to herself. "First Lieutenant, Elizabeth Thompson. Liz for short. I'll be your 'Chef de gourmet.'' She emphasized by holding up a spoonful of mush with a grin. He grinned back, walking out of the line.
He managed to squeeze into a table that was slightly less crowded. He kept his head down to his food until there was tap on his shoulder. He looked up to face the women sitting next to him. She had long black hair in a high ponytail. She wore a loose dark grin jacket. A gold leaf emblem shined at him from her shoulder.
"Excuse me, but would you pass me the pepper please?" He looked over at it then back to her before nodding his head. He grabbed it, setting it in her outstretched hand. "Thank you." She smiled. He nodded. She stopped and looked at him.
"You must be a new recruit; I haven't seen you in the infirmary before." She added thoughtfully.
"The infirmary...?" he blinked. "Oh yes, well I'm the resident nurse here at the Fort." She held her hand out. "Major Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, it's nice to meet you." She smiled. He shook her hand dumbly. "Oh... Uh... I'm Soul, Soul Evans." He looked thoughtful. "Hey, Nakatsukasa? You're the one with the record for the obstacle course."
She scratched the back of her head. "Yes, I set the record six years ago when I joined and was stationed here."
"That's impressive." Soul whistled. She blushed. "It's nothing special. The other Officers have much more impressive records then mine."
"Don't sell yourself short, Tsubaki." Liz plopped down on Soul's other side. The dingy apron still hanging around her neck and a fresh cigarette in her mouth. "She's the best medic we got, all things considering."
"Whadaya mean?" He mumbled. Liz looked around cautiously before leaning in. "The Brigadier General of this base is the Forts Doctor."
"Brigadier General Franken Stein," She nodded her head over to the far side of the hall. The Officers tables were mostly empty save for one man, wearing normal gear save for an officers hat with a silver star on its front. He was hunched over the table writing. He had shaggy grey hair, a large pair of glasses that hid his eyes, stitches ran down his face and what scared the hell out of Soul was a big screw that seemed to just through his skull.
"Is he a bad Doctor?" Soul asked curiously. "Best in the business." Tsubaki gave a nod. "What's the deal then?" Liz gave a shudder.
"He's just as likely to cut you open for the fun of it as he is to stitch you up." He looked to Tsubaki who looked uneasy as well. "He's... A little unorthodox..." she admitted. "He's nuts." Liz argued.
"He's our superior." Tsubaki challenged. Liz was quiet as she flicked ashes onto the floor. "He's still nuts." She affirmed crossing her arms and taking a long drag. Soul smirked, shoving his fork into his mouth. He happened to glance up as the mess hall doors opened.
A man and woman walked in, around his age if he had to guess. He was tall, lean and had piercing gold eyes and black hair, three white stripes running diagonally on the left side. Save for the hat, he wore an officer's uniform despite the heat, with a leaf insignia like Tsubaki but silver instead of gold.
She was at least 23, it looked like. Dark green shirt camo pants and boots same as everyone else, but she wore a dark green officer's cap. He couldn't see the emblem on the front. She had dark blonde hair put up in pigtails.
He snorted. "What is she 12?" he snickered to himself. Liz and Tsubaki looked up and seeing the woman, both slapped a hand over his mouth. Liz leaned in close.
"Do you want to die?" She asked seriously.
He shook his head vehemently. That was last thing on his to do list. They both eased off. "You better put that out before she catches you Liz." Tsubaki mumbled quietly.
"That's Colonel Albarn." Tsubaki informed him as Liz put the cigarette out and stuffed it into the pocket of her uniform. "And the idiot in full uniform is Lieutenant Colonel Kidd. Her right hand man." Liz added her two bits.
"Her? A Colonel? No way." He mumbled. They nodded. "It's like what I was saying about the other officers having more impressive records. Colonel Albarn is the youngest to ever receive the rank." Tsubaki informed him.
"She doesn't look all that impressive." He watched the Colonel as she marched up to Stein, gave a crisp salute, which he returned then sat and began to speak to him.
Liz gave a snort. "She an expert at hand to hand combat. She could break your neck before you even knew what happened." Tsubaki nodded. Soul looked at both of them. It seemed they had a decent respect for the Colonel.
"You'll get to meet her yourself soon enough." Liz went on. "Once your basic with Patty is over you'll be moving to their team, where you'll be trained in weapons and hand to hand. Be warned, Kidd has some crazy OCD going on and Colonel Albarn is one tough bitch."
"Liz!" Tsubaki chastised her. "What? It's true."
Soul tuned out there conversation and focused on his superior. She stood saluted Stein again and walked but this time right past him. He could see her better now. The insignia on her hat was defiantly a colonel's eagle. He also noticed her eyes were a dark olive green.
They shifted and he suddenly caught her stare. He looked away quickly back to his tray. His face a little warm at being caught. He looked up after she had walked by. She walked past Kidd grabbing the back of his jacket as he rearranged the trays on the counter into neat stacks. He flailed wildly as she dragged him through the doors.
"There not symmetrical!" echoed inside as the door swung shut.
Liz slid off the bench with a sigh. "If I don't go make those symmetrical he's going to be back when he gets away from her and he'll tear apart my kitchen." She waved over her shoulder. "See ya later Tsubaki." She stopped and turned to look over her shoulder. She shot Soul a toothy grin. "Good luck Evans."
"Thanks, Lieutenant." He nodded and she disappeared behind the kitchen doors.
"I should be getting back to the infirmary. It was nice meeting you, Soul. I hope, given the nature of my job I won't see you soon." He grinned, "It was nice meeting you too, Major." She gave a wave as she picked up her tray and left the hall.
He peered back down at his tray. His food was pretty cold now. He shoveled it down and washed it down with a bottle of water. He threw the bottle into the recycling bin and set his tray with the mountain of others. He had some time to kill. Stepping out through the mess hall doors. Looking around he walked down the sandy road away from the mess hall. He looked at the already half set sun. Shading his eyes from the glare it made as it set behind the distant mountains.
Being November, the days were getting short. Less sun to have to deal with. Walking around side of the mess hall He could see the bright red plus painted on one of the camo buildings sides. The infirmary obviously. He stopped. A loud cackling reached his ears.
He threw himself against the side of the building just as a jeep sped past. His psychotic giggling Sergeant behind the wheel. He let out a sigh of relief. She hadn't seen him. He wiped the nervous sweat from his brow. Unaware of the eyes on him.
"Soldier." Soul turned, and whipped to attention at the sight of Lieutenant colonel Kidd. He saluted the officer. "Lieutenant Colonel Kidd." Soul called as firmly as he could despite his nervousness.
Kidd nodded. "At ease." Soul relaxed a little. His hands going behind his back. Kidd eyed him carefully. "You're new, I can tell, but you already know who I am, you're well informed. That's good." He paused, as though considering what he should say next.
"The barracks are in the other direction, so where are you headed soldier?" His hands folded behind his back as he watched Soul.
"Exploring the grounds, Sir" Kidd nodded. "I see, very well. I must now be on my way to fix the asymmetrical disaster that is Lieutenant Thompson's kitchen!" He cleared his throat. "Carry on."
Once he disappeared around the corner Soul scratched the back of his head wearily. Was there a high concentration of crazy out here? Watching Sergeant Thompson driving around shooting at her new recruits he decided that maybe that was enough sight-seeing for one day, and snuck around the building, back to the barracks.
Soul lazily stood brushing his teeth in front of one of the bathrooms many mirrors. His eyes drooped dangerously. He just had to finish this and make it back to his bunk. It was only 8:30 but he felt like he'd been awake for days, and tomorrow they were going on a hike outside the fort to the nearby mountain range.
He grunted.'8 miles on foot in the desert in full gear is NOT near bye. 'He gargled before giving the mirror a sharp, white grin. He grabbed up his bathroom things and dumped them into his foot locker. Digging through it he picked up a hulking book, roughly4 inches thick.
'Across Enemy Lines' was the black embossed title. He'd picked up to flip through during his off time. He'd heard good things about it. It was supposed to be an action, romance, spy kinda book set in World War II or something like that. He chuckled. He'd liked the irony of that when he'd seen it.
He flopped onto his bunk; pulling the blanket up to his chest he flipped it open...
Maka flipped the cover of her book closed. She just had too much on her mind to read tonight. She had to accompany Patty and her new recruits on the 8 mile hike to the nearby Bone Mountains. They were still very new but she wanted to assess their abilities for herself. She would take other peoples opinion into consideration but when choosing her own men she had to see it for herself.
A pair of blood red eyes flashed through here. She shook her head. 'That one's strange. 'She thought to herself, but he'd finished the obstacle course pretty fast. She dropped the book onto her bedside table. She needed new blood for her unit, but not just anyone.
She needed determined, tenacious and tough soldiers. Soldiers that also had brains. They were severely lacking in those. Her thoughts turned to her father. She scowled pushing away the image of the red headed womanizer. She would train a group of elites that would put her worthless papa and his team to shame. She slammed her fist on the table.
Only time would tell if this batch of new recruits had what she needed.
Alright. Chapter two complete, I hope you all like it so far. Stay tuned for more! -Malthazar LOS
