Chapter two of what should become quite an epic.
"I swear I will never love a sunset on the beach again," moaned Jade, one of the women in A squad. She was about six feet tall with eyes the color of her name, chestnut hair and a soft complexion. All of that would probably change eventually, but none of them had even had their heads shaved yet. Maybe military life wouldn't be as bad as they thought.
Then again, the training was a lot worse than they had expected.
The squad had jogged for a few miles away from Junon until they reached the beach, and then they turned around and started jogging back along the sand. Once they were halfway back, Striker ordered all of them to go out into waist-deep water and swim the rest of it. This was made extra hard by the strong current pushing them inland. They needed to keep swimming back out again, or else Striker would bark at them until they did. Finally, when they got back to the starting point, they all received a little rest. But it wasn't much.
They had enough time to dry themselves and have a protein bar, but that was it. Then the group jogged to the cliff that Junon was nestled in front of. Striker smiled wickedly at all of them.
"So, is anyone hungry?" he asked.
"Sir, no sir!" they all said, trying not to stutter through their panting.
"Too bad! Like I promised you before, you get to eat some rocks now. See this?" he asked, grabbing a rope that hung down from the top of the cliff.
"Sir, yes sir!"
"Each one of you gets one, and you all get to climb up there!" he said, pointing to the top of cliff. Mouths dropped.
"You've gotta be kidding me! What if we fall?" Darren, one of the men, asked. He was a little over six feet and was already bald through natural means. He was a little overweight as well, but that wouldn't last long. Striker shrugged.
"You tell me. I could care less if five of our crunchies fall to their deaths. Just try not to fall down on any of the other squads! They'll be climbing up after you soon enough."
Everyone sighed heavily. This was nuts!
"Sir, permission to speak freely, sir?" Garvin asked. Striker stared at the six and a half-foot man, well muscled, a fuzzy blonde head and powerful blue eyes.
"Speak up, dirtbag."
"Sir, this is suicide! What purpose could this exercise possibly serve?" he asked. Striker chuckled softly.
"Listen up, dirtbag. There are things a lot scarier then a climb up this cliff, and when I'm through with you you'll be facing them. Got it? So if you can't get up this piece of rock here, then you might as well go home!"
Everyone suddenly wanted to go home. But no one made any more objections, and they all gripped the rope. But just as they were about to start climbing, Striker laughed loudly.
"Ha! Did you numbskulls actually think I was gonna make you climb up there with just your bare hands? You're stupider than I thought! Here, some harnesses for ya," he said, tossing each person a harness to keep them from falling off the rope. They all grumbled a bit, but they were thankful for this unexpected piece of assistance.
"Well, don't just stand there like dolts! Climb! I'll meet you at the top," Striker said, hopping back into his ATV and driving off. Everyone decided to take a while to talk first.
"What a bastard," said Rachel, the other woman in the group. She had blonde hair, blue eyes and was a little less than six feet.
"No kidding," agreed Eric, the last one in the group. He was just a hair shorter than Garvin, had black hair and pale hazel eyes.
"He's just doing his job," Garvin pointed out.
"And what would that be? To kill us?" asked Jade. There were shouts of 'yeah' from the others in the squad. Garvin just sighed.
"Look, we don't have time for this. I'm sure that by the time this is over we'll all be glad we went through it," he said, not believing a word that came from his mouth but wanting to sound optimistic. Maybe it would be better if he did.
"Hey, I'm all for strength training and whatnot, but this is ridiculous! I think we're supposed to get a break," Darren commented. More murmurs of agreement flew around, but it was too late. Garvin had already begun his climb, and was making fairly steady progress. The others clipped in and followed in suite.
Two exhausting hours later, they reached the top. The grinning face of Sergeant Striker and the rest of their training group - B squad, C squad, D squad and E squad - greeted them. About half an hour earlier, a number of choppers rose up past them, with the insignias of the various squads marked on them. All five of A squad cursed loudly, but continued their ascent. Garvin was the first to make it up, and five minutes later Jade and Eric finished the climb. After another seven minutes, Darren and Rachel got to the top. They were given cold soup and some strange fruit. It was not very refreshing at all.
When they were all about halfway done with their meal, Striker gave them their next orders.
"Okay troops. It's five thirty in the afternoon right now. You have one and a half-hours to get your dirtbag butts back to base camp. Do I make myself crystal clear?"
"Sir, yes sir!" they said, fierce as usual but full of reprisal in their minds. Garvin was the exception; he was just as tired as everyone else, but he understood that this training would make him the strongest of everyone in the training group. But what he heard next almost shattered his opinion.
"One more thing, A squad. You'll need to carry these," he said, indicating a pile of packs.
"They are your equipment packs. This simulates what you'll be wearing when you go into real combat. Now, you better get to it! It's a long way back," he said, promptly taking a pistol out and shooting each of the five ropes. They split into two, and fell down to the base of the cliff. Everyone moaned, while the other squads just stared almost blankly. That was really unnecessary, going and cutting the ropes like that.
Before A squad could make any sort of physical response, the squads got back in their choppers, Striker with one all to himself.
"Well, what do you say now, Garvin? Is Striker still such a nice guy?" Rachel pressed.
"Yeah, Garvin. You have to admit, this is pretty extreme," Darren added. Eric and Jade kept their silence for the time. Garvin just sighed, finished his soup, and put his pack on.
"We should get going. Like he said, it's a long trip," Garvin informed them. They all stared blankly as he jogged off.
"What a guy," Jade said almost silently. Eric nodded in agreement, and he and Jade grabbed their packs and headed off. Darren and Rachel shouted after them.
"Hey! Where are you guys going? You CAN'T be serious!"
But they never got a response. Reluctantly, they got their own packs and headed off after them.
None of them moved very fast, but they kept a steady pace. In an hour and fifteen minutes, Garvin made it back to the base camp. Striker was nowhere to be seen, so Garvin walked around a bit to walk off the throbbing pain in his lung and side. A few minutes later, Eric and Jade arrived, and the three of them got to talking as they walked a lap around the small training base outside of Junon.
"Hey, are you two okay? That was a really rough run," Garvin admitted. They shook their heads.
"Naw, it wasn't that bad. I mean, what could be so hard about jagged rocks, uneven terrain and the occasional monster to ward off?" Eric asked jokingly. No one laughed, but they all thought it was kind of funny.
"I guess it's a simulation of an enemy minefield, maybe," Rachel put in. Nods came from the others.
"All I know is that we had better not be repeating this exercise tomorrow," Eric said. Garvin sighed.
"It will probably be worse tomorrow," he said. The others nodded gravely.
They continued their walk around the camp, and by the time they got back to their barracks, Rachel and Darren had shown up.
"Hey! Good to see you guys made it," Eric offered. They were too tired to notice it, really, but they were thankful nonetheless. Then Striker appeared.
"Well, dirtbags, you made it back in the time limit. Congratulations! But don't think it gets any easier."
Everyone, even Garvin, moaned.
"Hey, why'd you have to go and cut the ropes, anyway?" Jade wondered. "I mean, was their any particular purpose in going through that awful field of rocks and whatnot?" she asked. Striker chuckled, and cupped her chin in his hand, shaking her head a little bit.
"You'll figure it out later. Right now, though-"
"Get your hands off me!" she said fiercely, shoving him away. His eyes flashed, and before anyone could do anything he had punched her in the face. The force of the blow knocked her to the ground, and her cheek began to bleed. Garvin glared at Striker.
"That'll teach you to talk back to a superior ranking officer, missy," he said, as if to justify his action. Garvin growled.
"Cut the crap, you jerk," he said.
"What was that, dirtbag? You have a problem with my behavior?" Striker demanded. Garvin spat at Striker's feet.
"Yeah, I do. Apologize to her!" he demanded. Jade managed to stand up, and tried to get Garvin to stop.
"Garvin! You don't have to do this!" she said, but lost her balance from a dizzy spell. Eric caught her, while Rachel and Darren just watched. Soon, the entire camp had shown up to see the ensuing fight.
"Oh, well I'm so sorry if I made her cry and upset you, little baby. How can I make it better?" he asked as he got close up in Garvin's face. Once more, Garvin spat at him, this time landing it right between Striker's nose and mouth. Striker licked it off.
"You're in dangerous water, dirtbag. I suggest you back off before it's too late," he said in a menacing voice. Garvin suddenly realized that he was on a suicide mission, but it was too late to turn back now.
"Suck it, 'God'," he said, chuckling. Striker sent a swift knee into Garvin's gut, which placed him on his knees, gasping for breath. Striker turned around to address the others.
"Let this be a lesson to any one who tries to AHH!"
Garvin had gotten up despite himself and tackled into Striker, sending him face first into the dirt. Striker stood up and turned around to see the recovering private.
"Soldier, you just made one hell of a mistake!" he shouted. Garvin stood his ground as the sergeant charged at him. Striker leapt into a flying sidekick, but Garvin sidestepped it easily enough and sent a punch towards Striker's gut. Striker blocked it though, and after landing he turned around and sent all of his weight into a body slam at Garvin. It was a direct hit, but as Garvin fell, he sent a kick straight up and nailed Striker in the chin. He staggered backward, and realizing rather quickly that his nose was bleeding, he decided to end this once and for all. Garvin was getting to his feet slowly, but Striker wouldn't give him the chance. He whipped his pistol out and trained it on his head. Garvin froze.
"Say goodbye, Private!" he shouted. But before he could pull the trigger, someone knocked him over the head with a powerful hammer blow. He fell down to the earth, unconscious, and in doing so revealed his assailant to be Jade. They had no time for discussion though, because the camp medic made her way through the crowd to see what was going on.
"What happened here?" she demanded. Darren trotted up and gave an improvised answer.
"These people were attacked by, uh... a monster!" he said. The medic was skeptical.
"A monster? What did this monster look like?" she asked. Jade quickly caught on and continued the story.
"Oh, it was horrible! It was a winged beast that came up to me and slashed my face. I managed to get away, and when I made it back to camp, the Sergeant and Garvin here were warding off the same type of creature!" she acted, putting on a worried face. The medic didn't have much choice but to believe her.
"Well, it's not likely, but what the hell. What matters is that you three are hurt! Someone get the Sergeant, we need to get you all into the medical ward. Lordy, it will be a miracle if Striker survives that wound," she said, observing the massive lump on his head. A squad looked a little nervous, especially Garvin. They were in trouble now.
Thank you for reading. Later.
Rusty