Hey, a slightly quicker update time! However, I'm starting college on Friday and with 5 As-Levels to learn about, updating may be hindered again. Hopefully not as I have a direction for this story, it's just getting it to co-operate and move along! Anyway, thank you to everyone who corrected me about MI5/6. I swear there is something in my brain which rebels against this piece of information. I love getting reviews so even if you just want to correct me, go for it! Enjoy...

Alex was on a plane. He was on an exercise in which he couldn't participate; a man crouched at the door visibly quivering and Alex started to move towards the figure, ready to push him out...

The sound of the door being swung open so forcefully that it's hinges were sure to need tender loving care stirred Alex and the other boys in the extra large cabin from their dream worlds. Scrambling upright and clambering out of bed with his hand snapping to a salute, Alex was realised the soldier sent to rouse them was the very man he'd been about to dream-push out of a plane.

Taking advantage of the fact the other boys were lazily rolling in their covers, Wolf slipped Cub a quick wink. The boys were starting to eye Alex like he was crazy but that stopped when Wolf snapped.

"When a superior enters the room you stand and salute immediately. Is that clear?" The boys were too stunned to respond.

"Is that clear?" Wolf was starting to look dangerously like his name-animal. The boys seemed to move as a single organism, freezing in shock and then scrambling to match Alex's position at the foot of their beds. They were quite a sight in an odd mixture of over-long pyjamas and baggy boxer shorts, all with rumpled hair and dream-crusted eyes. This, mixed with the unsure way they were standing to attention made Alex want to smile. He didn't though, too well trained. The boys muttered hastily an affirmation that the subject was as clear as crystal.

"Today is starting with an assault course. Clothes on, outside in ten minutes. Washing and eating is for afterwards." Wolf was rather enjoying to looks of dismay plastered onto his charges' faces. An idea then sprang to mind, "Rider, a word out here please,".

Alex wondered what Wolf was playing at, singling him out so obviously from the rest of his cabin. It then struck him and he'd like to think that the earliness of the hour (6am) excused him from how slow his mind was working. He'd provided himself with an excuse, of course a soldier would want to know where an ordinary boy of fifteen would be ingrained so deeply to stand to attention that he would jump from sleep into it. Wolf had clearly figured it out before him.

He stood facing Wolf outside the log cabin, a smirk on his lips. "You shook them up in there," he smiled. Maybe his classmates would become more bearable after a week of soldierly living.

The older man smiled, which looked strange at first to Alex, then he had to admit that it quite suited the grizzled man. "The Unit has decided that you're going to have a time to beat on the assault course this morning, Cub."

Now the reason for the smile was clear. Alex drew his arms around him, the cabin wasn't exactly sweltering, but the early morning was a freezing. In hindsight, Alex was glad for the heat of the Chariot of Hell from yesterday. It now seemed improbable that anything could be that warm in this November chill. "Name it," he challenged, arching an eyebrow. Wolf certainly didn't beat about the bush.

"Whole course in under four minutes, that's what we do," Wolf obviously thought he was throwing down the gauntlet. Alex only nodded, pushing back his bed-rumpled hair. "One more thing, Cub. If one of us makes eye contact with you and taps our chest three times, pretend to have a breathless moment and we'll come and speak to you, 'check you're alright' sort of thing. Blame it on the 'chest-infection'.".

Alex assented then quickly rejoined his cabin members, he had to be ready in time for the course. When he went in, he quickly diffused the questions with 'wanted to know where I got the salute thing from', when they demanded to know for themselves, he replied that his Uncle sent him to many summer camps and one had been military themed.

He tied his boots and followed the rest of his male classmates outside. Surprisingly, the girls were already there. He wondered who'd had the pleasure of waking them up, their reactions would have been worth paying for. He reckoned that it must have been Eagle; Snake wasn't the most intimidating man and Fox wasn't likely to shout at girls. Whilst Alex respected Eagle, he deduced that he was the only one likely to frighten the girls into being up and dressed so early. He remembered being intimidated by Eagle which made him smile now. The whole of K-Unit were a lot softer than they liked to let on. Alex had to remind himself that they were possibly only acting and really resented him.

The assault course was relatively simple yet very physically demanding. Some of his classmates turned to each other, rebellious notions that would never be carried out slick on their lips. ('This is like child abuse or something!' 'Gonna sue!') They were to be set off five at a time. Team work was optional ('sometimes soldiers have to rely on themselves') and the groups would be staggered, setting off every two minutes. The official target was under six minutes and no-one wanted to find out what would happen if they didn't meet it.

Alex was in the third group. He'd been warming up whilst the other three (two girls and a boy) stood despairing as their dreams of a perfect week away from school shattered as abruptly as the door crash had shattered their sleep that morning. When the whistle was blown, he ran off fast and hard.

The night had obviously been bitterly cold as the ground was lightly covered in a fairy-powder-like dusting of frost. This, however, did not stop the mud being particularly sludge-like. A thought flashed into his head as he dived over and ducked under poles; did they import the mud from somewhere? Surely nothing should be that evil naturally.

Alex ran on, impervious to the astonished cries of his classmates, he had to show K-Unit he was just as good as they were, then maybe they'd accept him for real. Clambering up the cargo net, he became aware that he could feel a curious tugging sensation where his scar was. It didn't hurt so he wasn't worried, it just felt like someone had stretched his skin too tightly and it twisted with every movement.

Pushing that to the back of his mind, pushing every thing but pure animal instincts to the back of his mind, Alex jumped off the zip wire and squeezed through a narrow tunnel. He could see the end of the course now and Eagle was stood there with ten fingers up. A boy from the group before him was just dragging himself over the finish line and Alex set his jaw in steely determination.

One of Eagle's fingers fell, showing Alex that he had only nine seconds to finish the course. After running through ten tyres, Alex looked ahead as he sprinted to the finish. His legs were burning with lactic acid and his eyes were streaming with the cold wind. Throwing himself over the line, he collapsed into a sitting position and tried to ask Eagle for his time. He was so out of breath that he had to resort to crude hand actions; tapping his wrist and raising his eyebrows.

"Four-oh-two, not bad for a Cub!" Eagle finally understood him, and he answered with a mix of teasing and admiration in the tones of his voice.

Alex felt weirdly disappointed but then buoyed his spirits with the thoughts that the rest of the Unit probably didn't get sub-four minutes on their first go either.

The rest of the class started to pour over the finish line, high-fiving exhaustedly as they heard that they got under six minutes.

Wolf pointed them towards the showers and Alex jogged on ahead, hoping against hope that they finally had hot water and that he'd get there before it ran out.

Voila, I am quite fond of this chapter. Review it for me? Please :)