Chapter 21

Rod's POV

I yawned.

"Hey, marine guy," I said, dragging my feet after him. "Are we almost done? You know me and Nicky still gotta go talk to that Sludge guy for a physical exam and I am rather bored. So how 'bout we—"

"Okay, look kid, I don't want to take you around anymore than you do, but I have orders. So will you please shut up and follow me to the end?" The marine said, turning around to face me. "We're almost done. I just have to go show you the locker rooms and then we can be finished."

"Alright fine," I groaned. "Not like I have any other choice."

"Pff, look at it this way, you're not training right now, so be happy."

"Yeah Rod, isn't this place just fabulous!" Nicky said, excitedly.

"I don't know why you're so ecstatic. There's nothing fabulous about this place. We're basically walking to our deaths!" I said, annoyed. Why is Nicky so stupid? "Even if we survive training, then we'll be thrown into an endless battle with giant monsters! You really think that this'll be fun?"

"Hey buddy, war has its high points," the marine interrupted. "There's no better feeling than to watch the Zerg run for their petty lives."

"Yeah, if I don't die the second I step onto the battlefield," I mumbled, hanging my arms.

"You always this negative? How do you live with yourself?" the marine said, opening a door that lead inside the main building.

"I am not negative!" I said, in defense.

"Oh please, what do you call it?" He responded heading down a hallway.

"I don't call it anything. I am simply stating facts."

"Uh, whatever you say," the marine said, opening another door. "Okay this is where you will come every evening after your physical training, which will mostly consist of running, pushups, working out; etcetera, etcetera."

"How long will I be doing this?" I asked.

"Doing what?" the marine responded.

"Like staying here. Training," I said, following him inside.

"Eh, it depends on the persons thinking capacity and learning capability," he said looking at me. He must have noticed my blank look because he continued. "Basically how strong your brain is. Everyone can grow, so if they are having trouble with the injections, then they will probably have to take some other variety of implants until their mind can function properly."

"Oh don't worry about it kid. It's not that big of a deal. You'll be fine," the marine said, caring on. "So to answer your question, the average person spends two to three weeks here. Then they ship them off to war."

"Two to three weeks?" I gasped. "How could I possibly learn that much in such short a time frame!? I've been in school for ever and have barely made it past calculus. And my muscles, how do I have any chance of getting stronger. I am not taking steroids. I would have to be here for years!"

"Calm down kid. Look, you'd be surprised at how well Selethicks work. It's a bit overwhelming, but after the first couple days you get used to all the knowledge coming in. Your mind adapts," the marine reassured. "And as for your strength, there is certain chemicals and tech in your suit that will automatically enhance your muscle growth rate. I am not an expert on the stuff, so if you're really curious go talk to our injection specialist Hank Ioney. He'll explain it to you for hours."

"Heh, sounds fun," I said, sarcastically.

"Well anyways, after you come in the locker room and change clothes you're free to go eat at the cafeteria I showed you earlier. Then you can go sleep or do whatever you feel like. But during the day you have to give your full attention to your trainer," the marine said, leading the way out of the locker room. "It's really not as bad as it sounds. Especially once you get to actually fighting in real combat. It can be a lot of fun… most of the time."

"Heh, so now do I go for my exam?" I asked, nervously.

"Yup. Do you remember the way?"

"Huh, barely," I responded, sheepishly.

"Alright follow me. But remember, I was only given orders to take you through the tour. Don't expect me to lead you everywhere you go," he said, walking back down the hall and up the stairs.

"So… I never asked your name," I said.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I am unit 343Q9 also known as Pole," he responded.

"First name or last name?" I asked.

"Eh, I can't remember. Going through Selethicks and being in the military as long as I have, you tend to forget little things like that," Pole said, continuing down, yet, another hallway.

"Your last name isn't a little thing," I said, shocked.

"Oh well, it doesn't matter," he responded, approaching a glass door. Pole slid it open and motioned for me to walk inside. "This is it. The test won't take too long, so when you get done you're free to wonder the base. Get a feel for it."

"Heh, okay," I said, rubbing my hands together. I did as he said, and went through the entrance; Nicky not far behind. There was a desk with a girl in a white outfit sitting behind it. I approached her awkwardly.

"What is it private?" The girl asked, not even glancing up.

"Well uh, I am here for—"

"A physical exam?" she asked. "Thought so."

I was about to respond but decided against it.

"Please have a seat to your right. You'll both be called in shortly," The girl said, writing quickly on a parchment. I looked over at Nicky, who had taken a seat next to me. He didn't seem very nervous at all. He sat twiddling his thumbs and mumbling to himself. How can I let Nicky go through with this? If I know I am going to die, then he for sure isn't going to last very long… We've got to get out of here.

"Pst, hey Nicky," I whispered.

"What is it Rod?" Nicky responded, loudly. I horrifically looked up at the girl, hoping she didn't hear. She continued writing on her piece of paper, so I turned back to my friend.

"Shh!" I said. "Okay, we need a battle strategy to get us out of here."

"Why?" he asked. "If we don't get the physical we can't go through with training."

"No I mean we need to get out of this entire mess. You know how to drive a medivac, Xelnaga knows how, but anyways; we can jack a ship and you can take us back to our planet," I said, getting excited. This could actually work! "Sense the Terrans said that there wasn't any Zerg there, we should be fine. We'll go back to college and get a degree—"

"No Rod. These people need our help," Nicky responded. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "And what the crap is a Xelnaga anyways?"

"I don't know, it's something I heard Crip say. But that's aside the point. We're going to get ourselves killed out there."

"Well what about Derk, Tenny, Leary and all them? We can't just abandon 'em?" Nicky argued.

"They can take care of themselves. How could we help?" I asked, horrified.

"Well that's why I wanted to be a medivac. So I can heal all the injured warriors. I want to help," Nicky said, leaning closer to me. "Now I know I don't understand everything about flying, Ben had just given me a temporary injection or something like that, but I know if I come and train, I'll be able to—"

"Rod Lifferjingle?" someone said from behind the desk. I looked up. "Come with me. Sludge is ready to see you."

I suddenly went stiff. Oh crap. They're ready now? I stood up and followed the black guy through the door behind the white girl's desk. He was wearing white as well.

"Now I don't normally tell people this, so keep it between you and me, but Corporal Sludge is being very grumpy today, so do what he says without question. You'll be done in no time," the man said, leading me into a small room with a large machine hanging over a bed type structure. It looked like some sort of thing they used in the movies to mutate humans into monsters. "Have a seat on the bed and Sludge will be with you momentarily."

I nodded and looked around the room. There was a computer sitting on a desk next to a wall with a lot of needles lying beside it. Containers aligned the wall with different looking fluids in them. I breathed slowly in and out, staring at the needles. I sat for a couple minutes until a man walked in the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Okay let's jump right into the test. I need you to lie back on the bed," he said, grabbing a syringe off of the counter. "Sit back for a moment and relax while the machine scans your brain."

"What?" I asked, scared.

"Just relax, if we hurry through this, you'll be out in a jiffy," Sludge said, preparing the syringe. I lied back down and looked up. A green laser began lighting up my face. "Please do not look at the light. It could potentially blind you. We wouldn't want that now would we?"

I quickly looked forward away from the scanner, afraid for my life. As the machine continued its process, Sludge was typing something on the computer.

"Alright pal, sit up," he said, bluntly. I did as I was told and then unexpectedly he stepped toward me and shoved the needle into my leg.

"Agh!" I yelled. He drew out some of my blood and took it over to another contraption. "What the heck was that for?! You could've warned me!"

I grabbed my leg, shocked at what he had just done. I looked up to see the man place my blood into a holder which took it inside the wall. A couple seconds later it came back out, to which Sludge retrieved it.

"Hmm, okay that'd be all," he said, pulling me off of the bed. "Now go back where you came from and tell the other kid to come in."

"Hmph, fine," I mumbled, rubbing my leg again. I marched the way that I had come until finally make it into the waiting room. "Okay Nicky, you're up. Walk down that hall and it's the third door on your left."

"Okay then, see you in a sec," Nicky said, walking past me.

"Alright, I am going to go and well… I'll be back," I said. "Come find me later."

"Sure thing Rod," he said, cheerfully. I nodded to him and walked out the door. I walked back down the hall and wondered around a bit. I didn't know exactly what I was looking for. I just didn't want to sit down and wait for Nicky.

Ugh what am I going to do about him? He wants to stay and join these guys. What is he thinking? Back home we have something to live for! Here we'd just be fighting for someone else's cause. It's not like I would be protecting my family. I wouldn't even be anywhere near them!

Suddenly I bumped into someone. Looking up I saw a man with large shoulders and a slightly smaller right eye.

"Watch where you're going shrimp!" The man yelled in a hoarse voice. I am getting real sick of these "Orange Terrans" who think they're so big and bad. But to avoid conflict, I simply apologized and walked past them. "Yeah that's right little pick, just keep on walking."

And I did just that. Man these people need to relax. Seriously, is all these worlds filled with gruff, rude, pigheaded douche bags? I turned down a hall and headed back to where I had left Nicky. I hope he's done. And now after some time to think about it, he'll hopefully agree that this is no place for us and will come back home with me.

Why hello everyone. Here is another chapter for you. Sadly, even after revising it, I didn't feel very good about this one... If you guys would tell me what you thought about it in the comments it would make me very happy. :D Was it choppy? Did it jump around to much? Anything would be useful.