Survival. That was the key in this exercise. The trainees had been left in a forest in god knows where with no food, no money and no shelter. Their aim was to somehow get to a checkpoint that was circled on their map about one hundred miles from where they were. They had two days to do it in.
Mr Large had had great pleasure in dumping the CHERUBS in this situation, he said it would test their intuition and inventiveness but Lily just thought it was a way to see how many he could get to fail. The threat had been that they would not continue basic training if they did not find themselves at the checkpoint at five o'clock on Wednesday.
He had split the trainees into two groups that he claimed were equal but Lily wasn't so sure. All her brothers were in the other group, which she thought was slack whilst she was stuck with Eloise, unsurprising considering they were partners and Ralf and Frodo. Mr Large said that whoever reached to checkpoint first, if they ever got there at all, would get a day off until they started the final piece of basic training.
At the moment Lily, Eloise, Ralf and Frodo were standing in the clearing of a forest in the pouring rain absolutely soaking wet. Lily shivered and Frodo looked at her worriedly.
"D'you wanna borrow my coat?" he asked, his grey eyes full of concern.
"No, I'm ok," Lily replied, her teeth chattering.
"Seriously, we've barely started and you already look like an ice cube," Frodo smiled comfortingly, shrugging his coat off and wrapping it around the girl. Lily offered a small smile in thanks and pulled the coat tighter around her, happy for the warmth. She really should have put more clothes on when they started out.
"Alright, just ignore me," Eloise spoke up, "I'm bloody freezing too. Why'd you give her a coat?" Frodo turned round and frowned at her.
"I only have one coat, you know, and she looked like she needed it more," the boy told her.
"Well, are you gonna give me your coat then?" Eloise looked pointedly at Ralf who in turn found something very interesting on his shoe and looked at the floor.
"Right, we need to get moving if we're gonna get to the checkpoint," Lily announced, feeling much better with Frodo's coat on, "We need to get out of this forest and find a road. That's the only way we'll get to the checkpoint on time. Also, if I know Mr Large he'll have dropped us in the middle of nowhere so we're gonna have quite a walk. Let's go."
"Huh, who put you in charge?" Eloise flicked her hair back, "You're like the youngest here."
"So," Frodo came to Lily's defence again much to her surprise, "At least she's giving us ideas. It doesn't matter what age the leader is as long as they know what to do. Do you suggest anything else?"
"Er…um…" Eloise couldn't seem to come up with anything so she just returned what she was best at, "Why are you suddenly defending her? Are you like her knight in shining armour or something? Do you fancy her?"
"No!" Frodo said a little too quickly and flushed.
"Erm…" Lily said, trying to hide a grin as she saw Frodo's reaction, "Come on. We have a challenge to win!"
Josh scratched the back of his head and looked left then right at the rolling hills surrounding them. He hadn't a clue where they were going but he supposed that was because his younger brother, Adam, was doing the map reading. He wasn't sure whether he even knew north from south. Robin was desperately trying to get the map off him put Adam was adamant he knew what direction he was going and that nobody else should know the route except him. Kailyn was adding her opinion and everyone was getting rather load and frustrated. Josh decided it was time to step in.
"Hey, Adam, I know you're our map reader and everything so no one else needs the route but think about the fact that if you got injured or disappeared how are we supposed to know where to go? It's safer for all of us if you let us see the map," Josh reasoned and silence fell on the group. Adam looked at the paper in his hands and then nodded reluctantly, handing it over to his older brother.
"What I don't get is why he listens to you and not me!" Robin shouted, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation, "And it's not just him, everyone listens to you. You're like the perfect boy with the looks, the intelligence and the strength. We're supposed to be twins yet I get all the bad traits and you get all the good ones. It's not fair." Josh raised an eyebrow at his twin's outburst.
"D'you wanna take that back now?" he asked, knowing Robin was exhausted and not thinking straight.
"Yeah," Robin replied quietly, head hung low.
"Well then, from the looks of this map Adam was taking us in the right direction, so let's move."
Mr Large smiled to himself and took a swig of the coke on the table in front of him. Those trainees were never going to make it to the checkpoint in time. The task he'd set them was impossible and he knew it. Two days to cover one hundred miles and even if they tried to hitch a lift he'd made sure that there were no roads within the thirty miles they were in. That would take at least two days just to cover on foot let alone get in a car and drive here.
He chuckled and looked across at his fellow instructors who were snoozing on their beds in the small hut they'd rented on the outskirts of a large wood. It was well hidden from view so even if the CHERUBS arrived there on time they'd think they'd got it wrong and turn back, completely missing the checkpoint.
The training instructor almost punched the air in glee, he had this all planned out. Nothing could allow those little brats to pass this time; no matter how hard they tried.
James groaned and rolled off the training mat, rubbing his stomach in agony. A smug looking Bruce stood over him, arms crossed and legs apart. He had just pummelled James for the third time and he felt like he was going to hurl.
"You fight like a pansy," Bruce stated.
"Pansy's can't fight," James wheezed, hauling himself painfully to his feet, "And don't insult me. I'm getting my butt kicked for you so you can practice."
"Ha, not much of a practice," the other boy laughed, "You're crap and you spend most of the time on the floor."
"Well, I'm sorry," James spat, "But this isn't my idea of a fun Friday evening."
"I think I would've had a better fight with a girl, in fact, make that a red shirt girl."
"Yeah, probably, but I wasn't the one who got beaten by a titchy guy with a dislocated shoulder," James retorted and stepped back swiftly to avoid a swipe from Bruce.
"You just wait and see when Josh comes back from basic training. I'll thrash him," Bruce yelled.
"Whoa, calm it. Even if Josh does come back, people are saying Large is making it near impossible, then he's not gonna wanna fight you right away. He'll be exhausted," James pointed out.
"Then I'll wait till he's recovered and then fight him," Bruce answered.
"Dude, I still bet you'll lose!" James grinned and Bruce leapt forward to deck him only to find that he'd done a runner.
"You coward!"
"I may be a coward but I still have all my limbs working, thank you very much!"
Random and not much happens but young love is blossoming so...Yay! Erm review and have a flapjack!