(That was fast, hey? Only one day for the next chapter. Thanks for the
review, Rose.)
When Rafe glanced up from his more than uncomfortable position in the mud, which had built during the rainy night, he saw the smirking face of his 'drill sergeant'. His hands were cold under a thick layer of mud and his body felt numb, while he tried to push himself up once more. The shaking of his tensed up arm and stomach muscles told him, he couldn't take it much longer. When he glanced over at Danny, he saw that his friend wasn't doing much better. His PT uniform was already covered with dirt. The sun hadn't come up yet and it was still very cool. Despite this they had to wear short sleeve t-shirts.
"Alright, that's it!" the voice rang across the field. "15 minutes to shower and gather at building 108. Dismissed."
Rafe sat down on the grass next to Danny and Red and watched his arms shake from exhaustion.
His friends watched him without a word. Danny didn't like early mornings not to speak of early morning PT, so he was even quieter than usually.
"I don't get it!" Rafe mumbled: "What's this gotta to do with flying?"
"I don't know. Maybe they need pilots, who are physically extremely fit. Maybe those planes demand that." Red thought out loud.
Danny got up and slowly walked towards the barracks: "We only have 15 minutes." He didn't feel like even thinking about this now.
Under the shower Rafe shot him a glance: "What's in 108?"
Danny shrugged and grabbed a towel to rub himself dry: "No idea, man. Let's find out."
"I just hope it's not a vision test." Rafe replied.
"Close enough" he desperately mumbled, when he received the test papers from their instructor, who happened to be a very good looking female civilian with short blonde hair. Nervously he looked for help. Unfortunately all his mates were seated quite far away from him.
"You can now open the papers. These are general knowledge tests specifically fitted to the needs the pilots will have to fly our new Huck 4 80." Suddenly slight noise filled the room. It came from pilots turning around, shuffling their feet, moving their chairs.
The lady gave them an insecure glance: "You haven't been told yet?"
"No, mam." Somebody said in a low voice.
Someone else asked: "Can you tell us more."
But she cut him off with an abrupt gesture: "Start your test, officers!"
For a second only the ceiling fan was to be heard before everybody turned towards the test again and started reading the questions.
Danny bit his lip. The first question wasn't easy to understand, especially not, if you can't read properly. It was a multiple choice test and the answer on the first question was number two. Slowly he turned around until his gaze felt on Rafe's worried expression. Danny could tell his friend was trying hard to get the letters sorted out. He was about to make his first x, when Danny hissed his name. Rafe looked up to see his best friend was trying to help him out. Unfortunately the lady wasn't deaf either and Danny had caught her attention as well. Her heels were slowly clicking towards him. Danny carefully slid his hand behind his back, showing two fingers, while he turned towards her.
She had already reached his desk, bent down, slowly placed her hands on his papers and looked him in the eye: "Lieutenant Walker. I will not tolerate any cheating whatsoever." She now raised her voice and looked at the other soldiers. One of the happened to smirk mischievously at Danny.
"This goes for all of you. If I catch anybody cheating, I will take away your papers immediately and you can pack your bags and go home. Understood?"
The choir of soldiers answered: "Yes, mam."
Once again she turned towards Danny and said in a dangers tone: "Understood?"
"Yes, mam."
Danny swallowed and didn't turn back for the whole next hour.
Out in the hallway Mitch passed him by and mumbled: "Too bad, you didn't give McCawley any more signals. I bet the dumb @@@ could have used some help." For some reason this really annoyed the young man. He stopped dead in his tracks and faced Mitch. Standing face to face with him, he was in fact at least half a head taller than Mitch. He narrowed his eyes and spat: "What's your problem?"
"I ain't got no problem. But maybe your friend does?"
"No, he doesn't. Tell me why you constantly keep annoying us?" Danny grew quite angry now: "What the hell does that give you? Does that make you feel a man? Or what?"
Mitch backed off slightly: "Whoa..hold your horses, Danny boy."
"If you keep doing this shit I ain't gonna hold no horses. You better start understanding we're on the same team." He stared him square in the eye breathing hard and Mitch understood he meant it, which didn't mean much to him except for he finally found a way to make this guy explode. Angrily Danny added: "And don't call me Dannyboy!" With that he walked off trying to hold his steam in instead of jumping at Mitch's throat.
The afternoon sun had warmed the air considerably. So when the group set out for more PT after lunch, they broke out in sweat soon. Today's exercise included running, swimming-in clothes, of course,- abseiling as well as crossing a river on a flying fox. Later on they trained parachute jumps from a platform before they eventually heard the desired announcement: "It's time to have a look at those babies."
Not a single sound disturbed the silence when they all stood around the outer door of the hanger in sweaty dirty uniforms, their faces glowing in the late evening sun and hot with anticipation. When the doors were finally slit aside their eyes started to glow like the ones of children when it Christmas morning. None of them dared to speak and right at that moment they were all united in the bliss. They were all equal and all wanted to be the one to fly one of those splendid, metal eagles, that were spread out in the hangar in front of them. Carefully they set their feet inside the hangar to inspect the beauty and grace of those steel birds walking along their side with so much respect as if it they were standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and touching their material as if it was the tender skin of the woman they loved.
Rafe's eyes beamed when he looked at Danny, his face full of excitement. Danny grinned like the Chesire Cat as well. He grabbed Rafe's arm: "You and me, Rafe!" Then he pointed at the plane. Rafe nodded because he understood. He hugged his friend and replied: "Yeah, you and me!"
Soon their instructor told them a few technical details about the planes and handed out papers, which made them even more excited because they were supposed to fly faster than anything that had ever been up in the sky. Also the planes were supposed to be more easily maneuvrable and therefore they would be able to train all new complicated moves and maneuvers.
That night none of the pilots went to sleep at lights out. The excitement was present in the air. Rafe climbed down to Danny's bunk with his flashlight. He was still excited like a schoolboy: "You know what this means, Daniel Walker?"
Danny raised an eyebrow: "No, Rafe McCawley? What does it mean?"
"WE ARE GOING TO BE FAMOUS! We're gonna be the pilots who are the first ones to fly that fast." Danny joined in: "And do outrageous maneuvers like no one ever before!"
Rafe hopped up and down on Danny's mattress and almost kicked him off the bunk: "Yeah, it's our dream come true!! We're so close!" Then his expression changed: "If I passed that test today."
Danny searched his face. Then he said: "Do you think you did? Could you read it?"
"Most of it. Sometimes, I wasn't completely sure.and then all this pressure. You know how it is when I really need to be able to read something because my whole future might depend on it. I get all tense and my vision gets blurred."
Danny clapped his back: "I'm sure you did alright. You always do!" Slowly he rubbed his foot: "I'm not so sure about myself though."
"What do you mean?" Rafe followed his glance to his ankle. When he shone his flashlight on it, he gasped. "Oh no. What happened?.I saw you limp earlier but I didn't ..didn't think.how?" he studdered.
Danny swallowed: "Leave that up to Red. You know the game 3 days ago?"
"Yeah?"
"That's where it's still from."
Red now approached the two: "I heard my name. What are you doing?" He also glanced at Danny's foot, which was swollen to about twice the size and had turned into an ugly shade of blue-green. "Tthhaat doesnnn't look gooo od." he pressed out. Danny closed his eyes for a second: "What am I gonna do now? How can I pass these PT tests if I can barely walk?"
"Who did that?" Rafe asked angrily.
"I don't know, it just happened at the game."
"I bet it was Mitch." Anthony, who had joined them, threw in.
Danny shook his head: "No, it just happened. What's the use in blaming somebody?" He tried to twist his foot slightly, which sent sharp pain up his leg. He flinched and he quickly decided not to do that again. The expression on his face clearly reveiled that he was close to loosing his confidence.
Rafe watched him worriedly.
Finally Anthony suggested: "You should see a doctor."
"Great idea. So he gets send home right away?" Rafe shot at him.
"Ok, then not!" Anthony defended himself.
"I'll get you some ice. There's a machine in the main room."
"Thanks." Danny nodded with little hope.
"You guys better shut up, now. It's after lights out. And turn that flashlight off!" somebody hissed from a few bunks down.
Anthony nodded and said: "It's gonna be ok, I'm sure. Good night."
Then Rafe and Danny were alone again. Danny could feel his throat tighten and his head getting hot just like it is before you start to cry. What if he couldn't make the PT test in two days just because of this? Would he miss out on the chance to fly? Why did this have to happen now? As much as he liked Rafe and the other guys, he wanted to be part of it. Slowly he took a deep breath to clear his throat. He moved his foot again and then let his head fall back onto the pillow.
Rafe nudged him and whispered :"Has something like that ever stopped you? Remember when we were 5 or so and you cut your foot open all the way because you never wore your shoes and we were gonna go on my Grampa's fishing boat for the first time? Your dad said you could't go cause the water would sting and cause an infection or so but you still wanted to go. You said you didn't care and it wasn't bad. Everybody knew you were lying but we still went and you caught your first trout. A huge one I must say."
Danny looked at Rafe in the dark with a slight smile on his lips: "Did you just make that up?"
"What, you don't remember?"
"No. But it's a good story." Danny bit his lips: "Alright then. I think you should go to bed now, story uncle."
While Rafe climbed up onto his bunk he mumbled: "You don't remember? How old are you? 80?"
"Night, Rafe."
Rafe looked down at his friend once more: "Don't worry, I won't let you miss out on this. I'll think of something."
Danny heard him and nodded. For a while he lay awake on his side and stared into the dark.
Please R&R..I know this is a bit much guys stuff and little love but sit tight.
When Rafe glanced up from his more than uncomfortable position in the mud, which had built during the rainy night, he saw the smirking face of his 'drill sergeant'. His hands were cold under a thick layer of mud and his body felt numb, while he tried to push himself up once more. The shaking of his tensed up arm and stomach muscles told him, he couldn't take it much longer. When he glanced over at Danny, he saw that his friend wasn't doing much better. His PT uniform was already covered with dirt. The sun hadn't come up yet and it was still very cool. Despite this they had to wear short sleeve t-shirts.
"Alright, that's it!" the voice rang across the field. "15 minutes to shower and gather at building 108. Dismissed."
Rafe sat down on the grass next to Danny and Red and watched his arms shake from exhaustion.
His friends watched him without a word. Danny didn't like early mornings not to speak of early morning PT, so he was even quieter than usually.
"I don't get it!" Rafe mumbled: "What's this gotta to do with flying?"
"I don't know. Maybe they need pilots, who are physically extremely fit. Maybe those planes demand that." Red thought out loud.
Danny got up and slowly walked towards the barracks: "We only have 15 minutes." He didn't feel like even thinking about this now.
Under the shower Rafe shot him a glance: "What's in 108?"
Danny shrugged and grabbed a towel to rub himself dry: "No idea, man. Let's find out."
"I just hope it's not a vision test." Rafe replied.
"Close enough" he desperately mumbled, when he received the test papers from their instructor, who happened to be a very good looking female civilian with short blonde hair. Nervously he looked for help. Unfortunately all his mates were seated quite far away from him.
"You can now open the papers. These are general knowledge tests specifically fitted to the needs the pilots will have to fly our new Huck 4 80." Suddenly slight noise filled the room. It came from pilots turning around, shuffling their feet, moving their chairs.
The lady gave them an insecure glance: "You haven't been told yet?"
"No, mam." Somebody said in a low voice.
Someone else asked: "Can you tell us more."
But she cut him off with an abrupt gesture: "Start your test, officers!"
For a second only the ceiling fan was to be heard before everybody turned towards the test again and started reading the questions.
Danny bit his lip. The first question wasn't easy to understand, especially not, if you can't read properly. It was a multiple choice test and the answer on the first question was number two. Slowly he turned around until his gaze felt on Rafe's worried expression. Danny could tell his friend was trying hard to get the letters sorted out. He was about to make his first x, when Danny hissed his name. Rafe looked up to see his best friend was trying to help him out. Unfortunately the lady wasn't deaf either and Danny had caught her attention as well. Her heels were slowly clicking towards him. Danny carefully slid his hand behind his back, showing two fingers, while he turned towards her.
She had already reached his desk, bent down, slowly placed her hands on his papers and looked him in the eye: "Lieutenant Walker. I will not tolerate any cheating whatsoever." She now raised her voice and looked at the other soldiers. One of the happened to smirk mischievously at Danny.
"This goes for all of you. If I catch anybody cheating, I will take away your papers immediately and you can pack your bags and go home. Understood?"
The choir of soldiers answered: "Yes, mam."
Once again she turned towards Danny and said in a dangers tone: "Understood?"
"Yes, mam."
Danny swallowed and didn't turn back for the whole next hour.
Out in the hallway Mitch passed him by and mumbled: "Too bad, you didn't give McCawley any more signals. I bet the dumb @@@ could have used some help." For some reason this really annoyed the young man. He stopped dead in his tracks and faced Mitch. Standing face to face with him, he was in fact at least half a head taller than Mitch. He narrowed his eyes and spat: "What's your problem?"
"I ain't got no problem. But maybe your friend does?"
"No, he doesn't. Tell me why you constantly keep annoying us?" Danny grew quite angry now: "What the hell does that give you? Does that make you feel a man? Or what?"
Mitch backed off slightly: "Whoa..hold your horses, Danny boy."
"If you keep doing this shit I ain't gonna hold no horses. You better start understanding we're on the same team." He stared him square in the eye breathing hard and Mitch understood he meant it, which didn't mean much to him except for he finally found a way to make this guy explode. Angrily Danny added: "And don't call me Dannyboy!" With that he walked off trying to hold his steam in instead of jumping at Mitch's throat.
The afternoon sun had warmed the air considerably. So when the group set out for more PT after lunch, they broke out in sweat soon. Today's exercise included running, swimming-in clothes, of course,- abseiling as well as crossing a river on a flying fox. Later on they trained parachute jumps from a platform before they eventually heard the desired announcement: "It's time to have a look at those babies."
Not a single sound disturbed the silence when they all stood around the outer door of the hanger in sweaty dirty uniforms, their faces glowing in the late evening sun and hot with anticipation. When the doors were finally slit aside their eyes started to glow like the ones of children when it Christmas morning. None of them dared to speak and right at that moment they were all united in the bliss. They were all equal and all wanted to be the one to fly one of those splendid, metal eagles, that were spread out in the hangar in front of them. Carefully they set their feet inside the hangar to inspect the beauty and grace of those steel birds walking along their side with so much respect as if it they were standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and touching their material as if it was the tender skin of the woman they loved.
Rafe's eyes beamed when he looked at Danny, his face full of excitement. Danny grinned like the Chesire Cat as well. He grabbed Rafe's arm: "You and me, Rafe!" Then he pointed at the plane. Rafe nodded because he understood. He hugged his friend and replied: "Yeah, you and me!"
Soon their instructor told them a few technical details about the planes and handed out papers, which made them even more excited because they were supposed to fly faster than anything that had ever been up in the sky. Also the planes were supposed to be more easily maneuvrable and therefore they would be able to train all new complicated moves and maneuvers.
That night none of the pilots went to sleep at lights out. The excitement was present in the air. Rafe climbed down to Danny's bunk with his flashlight. He was still excited like a schoolboy: "You know what this means, Daniel Walker?"
Danny raised an eyebrow: "No, Rafe McCawley? What does it mean?"
"WE ARE GOING TO BE FAMOUS! We're gonna be the pilots who are the first ones to fly that fast." Danny joined in: "And do outrageous maneuvers like no one ever before!"
Rafe hopped up and down on Danny's mattress and almost kicked him off the bunk: "Yeah, it's our dream come true!! We're so close!" Then his expression changed: "If I passed that test today."
Danny searched his face. Then he said: "Do you think you did? Could you read it?"
"Most of it. Sometimes, I wasn't completely sure.and then all this pressure. You know how it is when I really need to be able to read something because my whole future might depend on it. I get all tense and my vision gets blurred."
Danny clapped his back: "I'm sure you did alright. You always do!" Slowly he rubbed his foot: "I'm not so sure about myself though."
"What do you mean?" Rafe followed his glance to his ankle. When he shone his flashlight on it, he gasped. "Oh no. What happened?.I saw you limp earlier but I didn't ..didn't think.how?" he studdered.
Danny swallowed: "Leave that up to Red. You know the game 3 days ago?"
"Yeah?"
"That's where it's still from."
Red now approached the two: "I heard my name. What are you doing?" He also glanced at Danny's foot, which was swollen to about twice the size and had turned into an ugly shade of blue-green. "Tthhaat doesnnn't look gooo od." he pressed out. Danny closed his eyes for a second: "What am I gonna do now? How can I pass these PT tests if I can barely walk?"
"Who did that?" Rafe asked angrily.
"I don't know, it just happened at the game."
"I bet it was Mitch." Anthony, who had joined them, threw in.
Danny shook his head: "No, it just happened. What's the use in blaming somebody?" He tried to twist his foot slightly, which sent sharp pain up his leg. He flinched and he quickly decided not to do that again. The expression on his face clearly reveiled that he was close to loosing his confidence.
Rafe watched him worriedly.
Finally Anthony suggested: "You should see a doctor."
"Great idea. So he gets send home right away?" Rafe shot at him.
"Ok, then not!" Anthony defended himself.
"I'll get you some ice. There's a machine in the main room."
"Thanks." Danny nodded with little hope.
"You guys better shut up, now. It's after lights out. And turn that flashlight off!" somebody hissed from a few bunks down.
Anthony nodded and said: "It's gonna be ok, I'm sure. Good night."
Then Rafe and Danny were alone again. Danny could feel his throat tighten and his head getting hot just like it is before you start to cry. What if he couldn't make the PT test in two days just because of this? Would he miss out on the chance to fly? Why did this have to happen now? As much as he liked Rafe and the other guys, he wanted to be part of it. Slowly he took a deep breath to clear his throat. He moved his foot again and then let his head fall back onto the pillow.
Rafe nudged him and whispered :"Has something like that ever stopped you? Remember when we were 5 or so and you cut your foot open all the way because you never wore your shoes and we were gonna go on my Grampa's fishing boat for the first time? Your dad said you could't go cause the water would sting and cause an infection or so but you still wanted to go. You said you didn't care and it wasn't bad. Everybody knew you were lying but we still went and you caught your first trout. A huge one I must say."
Danny looked at Rafe in the dark with a slight smile on his lips: "Did you just make that up?"
"What, you don't remember?"
"No. But it's a good story." Danny bit his lips: "Alright then. I think you should go to bed now, story uncle."
While Rafe climbed up onto his bunk he mumbled: "You don't remember? How old are you? 80?"
"Night, Rafe."
Rafe looked down at his friend once more: "Don't worry, I won't let you miss out on this. I'll think of something."
Danny heard him and nodded. For a while he lay awake on his side and stared into the dark.
Please R&R..I know this is a bit much guys stuff and little love but sit tight.
