Chapter 1: The Chosen Fate
The sun rose up high and proud .The cockerel gave out its usual shrill cry; three teenagers, Hawkins, Jim and Leonard were striding towards the temporally set up barracks to volunteer in the fight against the Nazis .In the barracks, there were two lieutenants at the desk .One of them, Lieutenant Neil eyed the trio with wide eyes and asked for their names. The three almost answered immediately when the lieutenant finished his question. Impressed, the lieutenant gave a nod to the teens' relief.
The next day, each of the three teens bid farewell to their individual families, then proceeded to the barracks after reuniting at the church. The officers did a check though a name list, and then waved them through. Before walking through the barbed checkpoint, Hawkins turned and took a last glimpse of his hometown, sighed and went to collect uniforms along with his friends.
The first day of training began, and it could be considered as very tough: Crawling across barbed wire, chin-ups, long-distance marches, and many more. Two days later, while having breakfast at the canteen, Jim accidentally knocked into a well-built person whose name was Rick, causing his food to be splattered on his newly-washed uniform. Infuriated, Rick grabbed Jim by the collar and gave a low and menacing growl, Jim soon felt something heavy on his stomach which made him grimace in pain he also saw a lanky person joining Rick, his name is Joe, a person with a rather cunning character .Soon the whole thing evolved into a fist fight when Leonard joined in the fight against Rick's side. Hawkins desperately attempted to separate the two groups, which were like two lions but to no avail. During the fight a familiar voice hollered, "Stop the fight! Now come here at once!" The five teens, including the crowd, which formed a circle during the fight, turned around to see Lieutenant Neil standing behind them. The crowds separated into two, letting the lieutenant see the bruised bodies of the five in the fistfight. "Well if all of you are having a 'meeting', why not have another at the court, at 1400 hours sharp." And that is how the rivalry between Jim and Rick was born.
As you can see, the "meeting" means either "fight" or "punishment". That day at 4pm, the five reported at the court .The punishment- stand rooted to the ground with both hands holding up one's rifle for 10 hours. At the court, both Jim and Leonard tried to apologize to Hawkins who was looking away in anger. "Look, Hawkins, we didn't mean to be so brutal, we're .real sorry. Still friends eh?" Hawkins thought it over and decided to reconcile with his buddies again. During the punishment, Hawkins almost fell to the ground of dehydration. The five were called back after 10 hours, Hawkins was immediately sent to the sick bay thanks to Lieutenant Neil's kindness.
A day later, Hawkins recovered and the whole brigade was assembled at the court during the roll call to be separated into different infantry type. Leonard, Jim and Hawkins were lucky enough to be selected as engineers and also in the same company. To their dismay, Rick and Joe were also in the same company.
The sun rose up high and proud .The cockerel gave out its usual shrill cry; three teenagers, Hawkins, Jim and Leonard were striding towards the temporally set up barracks to volunteer in the fight against the Nazis .In the barracks, there were two lieutenants at the desk .One of them, Lieutenant Neil eyed the trio with wide eyes and asked for their names. The three almost answered immediately when the lieutenant finished his question. Impressed, the lieutenant gave a nod to the teens' relief.
The next day, each of the three teens bid farewell to their individual families, then proceeded to the barracks after reuniting at the church. The officers did a check though a name list, and then waved them through. Before walking through the barbed checkpoint, Hawkins turned and took a last glimpse of his hometown, sighed and went to collect uniforms along with his friends.
The first day of training began, and it could be considered as very tough: Crawling across barbed wire, chin-ups, long-distance marches, and many more. Two days later, while having breakfast at the canteen, Jim accidentally knocked into a well-built person whose name was Rick, causing his food to be splattered on his newly-washed uniform. Infuriated, Rick grabbed Jim by the collar and gave a low and menacing growl, Jim soon felt something heavy on his stomach which made him grimace in pain he also saw a lanky person joining Rick, his name is Joe, a person with a rather cunning character .Soon the whole thing evolved into a fist fight when Leonard joined in the fight against Rick's side. Hawkins desperately attempted to separate the two groups, which were like two lions but to no avail. During the fight a familiar voice hollered, "Stop the fight! Now come here at once!" The five teens, including the crowd, which formed a circle during the fight, turned around to see Lieutenant Neil standing behind them. The crowds separated into two, letting the lieutenant see the bruised bodies of the five in the fistfight. "Well if all of you are having a 'meeting', why not have another at the court, at 1400 hours sharp." And that is how the rivalry between Jim and Rick was born.
As you can see, the "meeting" means either "fight" or "punishment". That day at 4pm, the five reported at the court .The punishment- stand rooted to the ground with both hands holding up one's rifle for 10 hours. At the court, both Jim and Leonard tried to apologize to Hawkins who was looking away in anger. "Look, Hawkins, we didn't mean to be so brutal, we're .real sorry. Still friends eh?" Hawkins thought it over and decided to reconcile with his buddies again. During the punishment, Hawkins almost fell to the ground of dehydration. The five were called back after 10 hours, Hawkins was immediately sent to the sick bay thanks to Lieutenant Neil's kindness.
A day later, Hawkins recovered and the whole brigade was assembled at the court during the roll call to be separated into different infantry type. Leonard, Jim and Hawkins were lucky enough to be selected as engineers and also in the same company. To their dismay, Rick and Joe were also in the same company.