Chapter 12

Week one of training wasn't as gentle as they had been lead to believe. They were truly thrown into the deep end. There had been an Attestation, a formal ceremony to join the Army and then they were in full training mode. Up at 7:30 for a morning run, followed by the values and standards exercise. By the end of that first week they were all exhausted but nothing prepared them for what was about to happen next.

It was 3am and all the recruits were asleep, desperately in need of their sleep. An incessant alarm stared to siren into their room, the lights flared on, several people waking into the room. Lauren flickered her eyes open immediately fleeing from her bed and standing to attention.

"Come on Everybody up!" his voice echoed around the room and he waited for all the girls to get up. They all stood staring at him, completely dazed by what was happening. "10 minutes to get into uniform…" he and the other intruders left the room, and all the girls started to make their beds and get their uniforms out.

"What's going on?" Lauren asked

"I guess this is the night exercise. My brother told me about this, I thought he was winding me up." Nancy gushed as they all quickly dressed and filed outside the dorm room.

Sergeant Adams stood with a stop watch in his hand. He walked up and down the line of girls, briefly stopping in front of Lauren. Her breath hitched as he stared up at her eyes. "Every 4th person creates a new team. You have three hours to locate and retrieve a missing item. consider this your first taste of military action. Use your maps, compasses and communicate with your team."

"You're sending us on a scavenger hunt Sarge ?"

"Correct Davis. You're looking for a box, it contains all you need to know. When the whistle sounds, you have three hours. It sounds again, your time is up and you return to the courtyard. Hear the siren and you return immediately. If there is an emergency, by which I mean an injury you cannot deal with, not a broken nail... you blow your whistle three times, and use your radio's to send through your location. May the best team win… " he placed the whistle between his lips and gave one fluid toot.

All the girls shot off out of the accommodation building, all of them accept Laurens group. They held back, making plan of action, a move that had already caught their Sergeants attention. He circled them a few times, noting they'd already mapped out their route. He tapped their map with his finger and Lauren looked up at him. "West courtyard looks a good place to start" He told them.

Lauren nodded, smiling gratefully "Come on girls lets go…" she said taking the lead as they jogged from the building.

*JL*JL*JL*

It didn't take them too long before they realised that the boys were on this hunt too and that made them all the more determined to get there first.

After an hour of searching, the girls were halfway to the destination, not that they knew that though. All four of them were soaked through, covered in mud and desperate to get back to base first.

"I think I see it!" They saw where Nancy was and began to sprint towards her, the mud splattering up around them. Lauren lost her footing slightly but caught her balance, or so she thought. Her feet seemed to give way underneath her and she fell to the floor, hitting her head as she went down. "Lauren! !" the scavenger hunt was long forgotten as they gathered around their fallen team mate. "come on Lauren!" there was no response. The rain was falling heavily around them now, and they knew this would be considered an emergency situation.

"Put her in the recovery position" Ella suggested as she pulled her whistle from her pocket and gave three desperate blows.

Nancy reached into Laurens pocket then pulling out the radio and putting through a call "This is Private Carter. Man down, Sarge , Man down. Over"

The radio was quick to tune back in a fuzzy voice coming though "It's Sergeant Adams, Carter. I need a location, over."

"We're by the woods at the back of the accommodation block, we've found the box." She informed him "It's Branning…she's unconscious. Over." Nancy knew telling him the last bit of information would speed up their recue, she'd seen the looks between Lauren and the sergeant and had identified a connection there.

"Shit." Was the muffled response heard through the radio. "We're on our way. Over."

And Just as he'd said, Sergeant Adams arrived in under 5 minutes. The girls had heard the emergency siren sound as their sergeant arrived. "What the hell happened Carter ?" he moved right across to Lauren, concern all over his face as he looked her over.

"she just collapsed, hit her head on the way down, Sarge." Nancy responded "She won't wake up"

"Lauren, come on Lauren" He tapped her face gently, and moved her hair behind her ear but got no response. "Lauren, can you hear me? Come on Laurens..." he tried again but still got no response "Right, Carter, Davis, get her things." They did as they were told and watched as he effortlessly lifted Lauren into his arms.

Now i's run and say see you tomorrow :) i'll reply to reviews later on xxx