Tilly woke up the following morning to find everything outside the tent had got very, very wet overnight, including most of her classmates.
Tilly dug the wood that she had the sense to put into the tent bag out and proceeded to rebuild a fire. She lit it with a strike of another match. Immediately she felt the warmth wash over her and she saw a couple of her classmates inch closer to it.
"Right. Last night was a test to see how much you lot know. I was appauled to find that it is very little. Today I am going to teach you how to survive when you are alone in the woods with nothing but your weapons belt." Ward told them when he had got out of his tent.
"Unlike those two who stayed nice and dry last night, we can't magically pull a tent out of our asses." The kickboxer, who Tilly now knew was named Mike said. He and his partner had had it worse off as their pitiful attempt at shelter had blown away overnight.
"They didn't make it appear out of their asses. There is an old man who lives about a ten minute walk over there." Ward said, pointing down the path Tilly and Carl took the night before. "He's been loaning tents to students for years. All you have to do is ask him for it. It's called being resourceful."
"You could have told us that?" Mike complained
"That wasn't the point." Ward told them. "The point is, Matilda and Carl decided on a safe place to stay for the night before scouting the surrounding area."
"Then how do you explain the fire? Who carries matches in their weapons belt?"
"I do. You never know when a match could come in handy."
"When was the last time you used a match on a mission?" Sarah asked sceptically.
"Last week. My partner and I had our hands bound using tie wraps. My partner got the matches out of my belt and we managed to burn through the wraps getting free." Ward lied.
That statement shut the class up.
"There are many places around here that could be used as shelter from the rain." Ward went on to explain. "Those rocks you are sat on. Take a look underneath. There's a large enough gap to protect you from driving rain."
Some of the students were kicking themselves, they had not thought about sheltering under the rocks.
"Food. How many of you ate last night?" Ward asked. Tilly and Carl held their hands in the air.
"What did you have?"
"Fish."
"Where did you get it?"
"The stream."
"Exactly, food. If you aren't prepared to catch it and kill it then be prepared to starve."
"How? We don't exactly have anything to catch or kill food with?"
"This is what I am going to spend the day teaching you. Now empty your belts in front of you."
The first years all emptied their weapons belts in front of them. Some of them had kept their belts as basic as when they were given to them, while others had the sense to bulk them out a little. Ward walked up and down the pairs and stopped in front of Tilly and Carl. Between them they had a pretty well stocked belt. He fingered through the items and came to rest on a garrotte. He looked at Tilly and swiftly put it in his own belt before moving onto the next pair of students.
"What was all that about?" Carl asked Tilly.
"I've met Agent Ward before and I may have 'borrowed' his garrotte." Tilly told him, which was half the truth.
"You've met him before?"
"Yeah. When that tac team came after me I was kept at Phys Acc for a couple of months for my safety. He was there recovering from some sort of injury to his back."
Again, it was a half truth.
"Tilly, what aren't you telling me?" Carl asked her.
"Nothing." Tilly answered, shrugging her shoulders. She could tell he didn't quite believe it, but he let it rest for now.
"Alright people. Listen up. You are probably the most ill equipped bunch of first years I've ever come across. In your weapons belts you should include a book of matches and either string or a length of wire." Ward said to the group of first years, walking over to the sack he had brought his equipment in.
He pulled out several lengths of wire and distributed them, one length per pair. When he gave one to Tilly and Carl she took it and immediately began to fiddle with it.
"I am going to teach you how to tie a snare. When you find yourself alone in the woods and you've run out of bullets, this is the one skill that could save your life." Ward explained.
He proceeded to teach the class, step by step how to tie a perfect snare, before indicating it was their turn and walking among them, correcting their mistakes.
Carl watched for a few minutes to gain some more pointers and turned to Tilly to find she had already tied the perfect snare with their wire.
"How did you do that?" Carl asked her amazed.
"I have a photographic memory. I see something once and I can usually copy it."
"That explains a lot actually."
"Like what?" Tilly asked, confused.
"How you seem to be able to do everything first time and how you know so many languages. Oh God! He's coming over here."
Ward reached Tilly and Carl. He looked over the snare, told Carl to put his hand in it, which he did, then pulled. The snare tightened around Carl's wrist and Ward untied it.
"Your turn." He said to Carl, tossing him the wire.
The first years spent the rest of the morning learning how to tie snares and setting them in the best place for prey to happen on them.
"I don't think we're going to get anything here. It's too noisy." Carl whispered to Tilly.
"I know. Why don't we go and find somewhere better?" Tilly agreed.
Together they set off into the woods and found a place where they thought animals would frequent more. They set their snares and returned to their class to find Ward in the stream.
"Water, not only can you drink it, but in a place like this can also provide a source of food. I want everyone to take their shoes and socks off and get in the water." Ward ordered. The class started removing their shoes and socks and rolled the legs of their S.H.I.E.L.D suits up before entering the water.
"It's cold" one girl screamed while others started chattering.
"Enough! We are all going to stand here until the fish in the stream have got used to us being here. Then, slowly you are going to reach down into the water and catch one with your hands."
They all stood in the water, waiting for the fish to return. About half an hour later Tilly felt something brush up against her leg. As she looked down she saw a fish swimming away from her.
"Oh my God! This is gross!" she heard someone cry as the fish started butting up against everyone.
Tilly looked into the water again. There was a fish there. She reached in to get it. Wrapping one hand around the head and one hand around the tail she lifted it out of the water, where it immediately struggled against her hands, and as it was slippery, she lost her grip. She stood in horror as the fish hit Ward in the face and landed back in the water.